[Steve Myers] A profoundly significant event was about to take place. The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for hundreds and hundreds of years. And Pharaoh wasn’t about to let the people go. But God was finally going to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites from his slavery and they would be saved through a significant, special event, a final plague. Death was coming to Egypt. And even the Israelites would not automatically be spared, as the Lord was to come and strike the firstborn, both of man and beast as well. It was to be God’s judgment. It was going to be a terror in the night. And only those within the homes that were marked by the blood of the lamb could have any possibility of being spared. It was called God’s Passover, the Lord’s Passover. It was called the Passover Sacrifice of the Lord. And in Exodus 12, that section of Scripture promised them that when God would see the blood, He would pass over and the plague would not destroy them.

And within this amazing event, that seems sometimes to be relegated to a little kid’s story or sometimes to just an Old Testament event, that there’s actually vital lessons for us to learn in the Passover parallel. When we look to Exodus 12, there are tremendous fulfillments that were brought about through Jesus Christ, and not only Messianic fulfillment of those things that were prophesied at that time, but also spiritual applications for us today. So, it’s not relegated to some little child’s story. But Exodus 12 holds amazing lessons in the Passover parallel. So, I’d like to, this afternoon, take some time to look at Exodus 12 and see how it applies, how it applied then, how Jesus Christ as Messiah fulfilled many of those things that are listed there, and most importantly, for us, the spiritual application today.

So, if you will, turn over to Exodus 12. And if you happen to have a little ribbon in your Bible or a little bookmark, you might want to take that thing and put it right there in Exodus 12. We’ll bounce back and forth a number of times throughout the sermon this afternoon, as we read about this particular plague that was about to come upon Egypt. And beginning in chapter 12, we read, “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, in the land of Egypt.” That’s where they’ve been slaves all this time. Notice what God says, verse 2, “This month shall be the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.” Now, oftentimes, we’ll just start the story there and we’ll read right over some significant things right here in these very first two verses.

There’s a spiritual application to this particular time of the year. First of all, Nisan is the first month of the Hebrew sacred year. And Passover is the first of the Feasts. So, if it’s the first, that’s where we start. That’s the beginning. It’s the beginning of months. And as we begin to think about that spiritually, when did you begin? When was your spiritual beginning? Not necessarily when God began to open your mind. But if you had to have a marker from where you started, when you really had a full commitment to live God’s way, what does that point to? Baptism.

Spiritually speaking, baptism is the beginning where we proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ. He is our personal Savior. He is our Lord, our Master. We’ve repented of our sins and had them washed away in the waters of baptism. We had hands laid on us and we received the Spirit of God. And we began, and Passover is intricately involved in that. In fact, if you hold your place here and turn over to the book of Romans, Romans 6 describes the beginning. It describes the beginning.

But here’s the Israelites, most of whom really didn’t know much about God, really didn’t know much of His way, certainly had no personal relationship with God, but they had to start somewhere. And this Passover was to be that start interconnected to spiritually where we began. And Paul, the apostle, describes that in Romans 6, when it comes to baptism. First one says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Now, it’s not all about grace. No, we have to come out of sin. So, he says, “Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin, live any longer in it?” Those Israelites were to come out of Egypt. They were to get out of that symbol of sin that Egypt represented, and they were to come out and worship God.

Baptism has similar symbolism in itself. He says in verse 3, “Don’t you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we should walk in newness of life.” And so, we came under the terms of the New Covenant at baptism. It was going to be a whole new way of living. We had repented. And now we were walking with Christ, much in the same way that the Israelites were not going to be accompanied by God, all the way to the promised land. And they had to have faith that God would follow through on His promise, just as we do. We have faith in that sacrifice, faith in the shed blood of Christ. That’s where it begins. It begins in that first step, that beginning walk with God, much in the same way that God began to work with ancient Israel in Egypt.

Now, if you head back to Exodus 12, we’ll see they had some specific instructions they were to follow, as this plague was about to strike Egypt. So, in Exodus 12, if you go back to verse 3, we see some instructions from God. He says to Moses, “Speak to the congregation of Israel, saying of the 10th of this month,” this is the first month, “every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.” And then we see what they’re to do with this lamb. If we skip down to verse 6, it says, “You shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month.”

So, they go and pick it out of the flock on the 10th and then keep it until the 14th. And, in fact, tradition is they actually brought that little lamb right into their house. So, if you can imagine how exciting the kids would be to see a little pet come into their home. I’m not sure mom and dad were that excited about it, because little pets can make a little bit of a mess. But there is a responsibility besides doing this very thing, besides bringing it into the house, besides taking it out of the flock for those just about four days, the spiritual symbolism that’s going on here. They had to make sure that this lamb was going to be a perfect sacrifice. And so those days allowed them to watch this little lamb, to make sure it wasn’t lame, to make sure that it was the kind of sacrifice it needed to be.

And, you know, when you look at this, Jesus Himself literally fulfilled these days. When Christ came and ministered on earth, He went into Jerusalem just before the crucifixion. And you know what day He went into Jerusalem? It was the 10th of Nisan, that first month. And it’s actually recorded for us. Hold your place here in Exodus 12. Go to Matthew 21:1. And what we begin to find is that bringing that lamb into their house gave them the opportunity to examine it, to make sure it met all the qualifications for a Godly sacrifice. Now, here, we found Christ going into Jerusalem for much the same reason. Is He a Godly sacrifice? He was going to be on public display for the next four days from Nisan 10 to Nisan 14. And in verse 1, Matthew 21, we see that event described. “Now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent His two disciples.” So here they are coming to Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives.

Skipping down to verse 9, “The crowds gathered together as He was coming into Jerusalem.” And it says, “The multitudes who went before and those who followed, cried out...” So Christ entering Jerusalem, the crowds gathered, and they cried, “Hosanna,” to the Son of David, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”

You see, they recognized the Messiah. And Hosanna signified, “Save us. We need saving.” They recognize they needed a Savior, the Son of David. Some recognition of who Christ was at this point. And so, Christ comes into Jerusalem immediately being recognized as Savior, the one who could save now. So, verse 10, “When He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, “Who is this?” And the examination begins. Skipping down to verse 23, “He came to the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching. And they said, ‘By what authority are You doing these things and who gave You this authority? Is this the correct sacrifice or not? Is this really the Savior? Is this the Lamb?’” And the examination began.

Now, if you flip back to Exodus 12, here we see some of the requirements for that particular sacrifice. It spelled out very clearly when we look back at verse 5. Exodus 12:5, God describes this sacrifice, this lamb, as it says, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year, take it from the sheep or the goats and then keep it until the 14th.” It has to be free of any defect. No defects whatsoever. And that’s what happened to Christ as He came into Jerusalem, because He was perfect for the whole time of His ministry. But just before the crucifixion, it is absolutely verified, “This is the Lamb that has no defect.”

If you turn to 1 Peter 1... Hold your place there in Exodus. 1 Peter 1:18, here we have Peter writing, explaining exactly that very fact that not only was Jesus the Lamb of God...and when He came to be baptized by John the Baptist, that’s what John said. He said, “Here is the Lamb of God.” So, we have that connection, but Peter spells it out even more clearly. Look at 1 Peter 1:18, Peter writes, “Knowing you are not redeemed with corruptible things, things that wear out or grow old, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers.” Traditions don’t cut it. But instead, how are we redeemed? How are we purchased?

He says, “With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, absolutely no defect.” Verse 20, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” So, Christ entering Jerusalem had this opportunity to be examined. And boy, did they do some examining. And whether it was the elders, or whether it was the priests, or whether it was the former high priests, Annas reviews Christ, and Caiaphas reviews Christ. And yet it didn’t stop there. Not only were the religious people analyzing and examining this potential Messiah, so was the government. Pilate examined Christ. Herod examined Christ. In fact, if you read those sections of when Christ was in Jerusalem for those four days, you find the centurion examined Christ. And even at the very end, when He was being crucified, the thief examined Christ. What did they find? A perfect sacrifice. No blemish, no spot, no defect in this sacrifice.

And it’s such an amazing reminder when we think of the spiritual application to that, that applies to our examination as well. We must examine Christ. As we come to the Passover, that’s part of our responsibility, that we have to make sure we are discerning Christ. Now, if you look over at 1 Corinthians 11, that is described here by the apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 11:27, it speaks to how we’re to observe this Passover in the New Testament, by the New Testament Church. By those of us who are under the terms of the New Covenant, we keep the Passover. We observe this special occasion. And the apostle Paul writes about this very fact and connects us all the way back to Exodus 12, as he gives us instructions for the New Testament Passover. He writes this in verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 11. He says, “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” But he says, “Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself.”

But he doesn’t stop there. He says, “That judgment comes for not discerning the Lord’s body.” Christ came into Jerusalem to be examined. That lamb in Exodus 12 was to be a perfect sacrifice. We too, must examine Christ, and recognize by doing that, what do we find? We find how far short we fall of the example of Christ, how much we need to grow in Godly character, how much we need sin forgiven in our life. We recognize that. We recognize that Christ is the perfect sacrament and how desperately we need Him. We have nothing without a Savior. Nothing. Absolutely zero. And so we discern the Lord’s body at the time of the Passover and recognize He is sufficient. Without Him, we have nothing. And we examine ourselves to realize how much we need that sacrifice, how much we need Christ, that we are certainly weak, and we fall short. And without a Savior, we have no hope. And so, we test ourselves, we prove ourselves, we examine ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ.

And so, Passover isn’t just some ritual, it isn’t just some ceremony we walk through. But it becomes so deeply meaningful, that we do it very thoughtfully, and we do it with care. And we celebrate the Passover, recognizing it’s not the ceremony that makes us righteous. It’s not the ceremony that forgives us of sin. We don’t come to Passover to be forgiven of sin. That’s not why we’re there. We’re forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Maybe more specifically, we’re forgiven by our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That’s how we’re acquitted of sin. That’s how we’re brought into a right relationship with God. It’s not through some ceremony. But yet the ceremony is deeply significant and one we definitely do not want to overlook, because we acknowledge our acceptance of Christ. We acknowledge our faith, our confidence, that what God has promised, we believe, and we know it to be true. And we recognize our deep need for a Savior, a Passover lamb, a perfect sacrifice. And we recognize He did it willingly and didn’t deserve it at all. And so that lamb applies to each and every one of us. And, in fact, as we see the tremendous symbolism back in Exodus 12, it just rings so true to us.

If you look back at Exodus 12, we see some aspects of this sacrifice that help us to understand the thoroughness and the effectiveness of what God was instituting here and then more appropriately for us, this spiritual aspect of Passover. And in Exodus 12, if we notice, verse 3, once again, he says at the end of that verse to take this lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. In fact, he even says it again, “If the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the people. Each man’s needs,” it says, “you shall make your count for the lamb.”

So, a lamb for a house, and there’s this beautiful spiritual application. We are God’s house. We are God’s household. We are the people of God. We’re not strangers. We’re not foreigners. We are the people of God. He’s called us and opened our minds to His truth. We’re fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, and members of His household. And He’s called us to His home. And so, here we see the salvation for a household for all who have faith. And so, when we recognize that, we see there’s this amazing progressive fulfillment in this particular sacrifice of this lamb, a Messianic connection, if you will. When we notice initially, it says, “Take a lamb.” We see in verse 3, once again, if you cast your eyes at the end of verse 3, “You take a lamb from the flock,” a lamb. But a little bit farther down in verse 4, it refers to the lamb, end of verse 4, should take your count for the lamb. And then verse 5, what does it say? Your lamb. Your lamb. And so, we have this progressive revelation, you might say, that it’s not just any lamb. It is the Lamb. And it is exactly what you need, a lamb for a house, for the household of God, certainly interesting spiritual fulfillment there.

But it goes beyond that, especially when you recognize the Lamb. This is the Lamb for a nation. The apostle John referred to it in John 11:50, that at the Passover time, in ancient Israel at the time of Christ, they would often kill someone for the benefit of the nation. Christ was the one who was killed at that time for the benefit of the Jews of that day. They didn’t recognize it. They didn’t realize it, but, ultimately, how badly they needed it. Then, of course, when we think about how this Lamb and the sacrifice applies, it’s for everyone. It’s the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. So, it’s a lamb for a house, a lamb for a nation, a lamb for the world. And then they were instructed to kill that lamb. Kill that lamb.

And so, when we read that in chapter 12:6, it says, “The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.” So, who was involved in the death of this lamb? Everybody. The whole assembly. The whole congregation of people were involved in the death of this little lamb. And I can only imagine how the little kids must have just cried that their little pet for four days had to be killed right there and they had to be a part of that. Now, of course, fast forward to the time of Christ and His earthly ministry. Was the whole congregation involved in His death? Absolutely. The whole congregation cried out, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.” And you can read about that in Mark 15. The gospel showed that it wasn’t even just the people. It was the Sanhedrin. It was... The Supreme Court, at that time, wanted Him dead. The priests wanted Him dead. And it didn’t stop there. The Roman government, the government wanted Him dead. And then, of course, the people did, as well.

And what a stark reminder for each and every one of us. Every person who has ever lived is guilty of killing Christ, everyone, because He died for all sinners. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” He loves everyone, and He died for all. He died for all. No human being could take His life. He willingly laid it down. But we’re reminded of that very fact of how we are involved in that death.

And one of the obvious places in Scripture, I think, that really bears that out, is an Acts 2. Hold your place in Exodus 12. Go over to Acts 2. And here we find the story of that first Pentecost, after the crucifixion. That day, the New Testament church began. And, of course, this was where we had things that looked like tongues of fire and sounded like wind. But it wasn’t that. We had these miraculous occurrences. And, of course, the people were wondering what is going on? And the apostle Peter stands up and he begins to explain what’s happening. In fact, he points, in a way, back to Exodus 12, that this world needed a Savior. They needed a sacrifice. And he points to the fact that sacrifice was Jesus Christ. And so, he calls them out and shows them that very clearly, as he explains the circumstances.

And in verse 36, he tells the people, “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” He is Messiah, He is Lord and Master. Verse 37, “When they heard this, they were cut to the heart.” Probably because some of them were yelling, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.” And so they were cut to the heart, and they asked the men and brethren, “What shall we do?” Peter said, “Repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized.” And so, what we find here is, it points exactly to every one of our involvement in the death of Jesus Christ, because everyone who ever lived on this planet has to have a sacrifice in order to even have life that’s lasting, because He died for all sin. And it’s interesting. It’s not just recognizing that. It’s not just realizing, “Oh, I’m a sinner and I need a sacrifice.” No, it takes some action. Something has to be done. It’s not just knowledge and understanding. It’s not just knowing Jesus. That’s not good. It’s not just taking Jesus in your heart and recognizing that He was an amazing rabbi. That’s not it at all. It’s more involved than that. And in one sense, you could even say Christ didn’t do it all for us.

Let me explain. If you go back to Exodus 12, that aspect is shown by the people’s involvement. What did they have to do? Once they killed the lamb, once the sacrifice was made, what had to happen next? Well, that blood had to be applied around the door. So, let’s notice Exodus 12:7, once they kill that lamb, it says, “They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.” In fact, they’re told, if you skip down to verse 13, “that the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague will not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” So, this was key. The blood had to be applied. It wasn’t just, “kill the sacrifice.” The people had to do something. In fact, it’s pretty specific what they’re supposed to do.

If we look over at verse 22, God said, “Here’s how you do it. You take a bunch of hyssop,” kind of make your own little paintbrush type of thing, “dip it in the blood that’s in the basin and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that’s in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.” And so here we find, they had to take action. There was an application of what they had to do. And so, as members of the household, they had to recognize, there’s only one way into the house. How do you become a part of the household of God? You’ve got to walk through the door. We all got in this building somehow, today. How do we get in here? Well, we walked through the door. We walked through the door to come in.

There’s only one way into the house of God, and it’s by the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s it. That shed blood is what makes it possible. In fact, when we notice in the New Testament, Jesus is even described as the door. He is the door. And so, God has symbolically applied the sacrificial blood of Christ to us, to us, just like the Passover lamb’s blood was applied around their doorposts that caused God to pass over, not to pass judgment on that house but to pass over. Same way as Christ’s blood is applied to us, God’s judgment passes over to you justify us so that we can be declared righteous. We can be forgiven of sin. We can be brought into a right relationship with God. But that blood has to be applied, and we have to accept that sacrifice. And so, applying that Passover lamb’s blood is literally what caused the Passover. That slain Christ must be applied to us. It must be applied to us.

And, in fact, that wasn’t even the end of the application, when you really begin to recognize what happened back in Exodus 12. Yes, they had to take that blood, and they had to apply it to the door. They had to take action. Just like we have to take action to accept that sacrifice and proclaim it. And we do that in our baptism, don’t we? We accept Christ as our Savior. We recognize the need for a Savior. And we recognize He is the only way and so we can receive God’s Spirit then. But it’s also interesting how Exodus 12 takes it to the next level.

If you skip back to Exodus 12, look at verse 8. Look at verse 8. In verse 8, we see what else has to happen with this lamb. Once they put the blood on the doorposts, it says, “They shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. Leave none of it left until morning.” And so, we see, they had to take action and eat this lamb. They had to eat the flesh of this lamb. Both the body of the lamb and the blood were used. And the body and the blood certainly points to Jesus Christ.

We read a little bit in 1 Corinthians about that very fact. And that’s exactly what Christ said when He instituted the New Testament Passover in Matthew 26. And just make a note of that. Matthew 26 is where Christ took the bread and He said, “This is My body that is broken for you.” And then He took the wine, the cup, and He said, “Drink it. This is My blood of the New Covenant.” He said, “It’s shed for many for the forgiveness of sin.” And so, figuratively, we do what those ancient Israelites did. They literally ate the lamb, and literally put that blood on their doorpost, but we figuratively eat the body of the Lamb. We recognize we need Christ. In fact, we recognize He shed blood on our behalf as well.

Now, it’s not only that this lamb, that this body represents His body, this bread also is connected to what we have before us today, the Word. Christ said He was the bread of life. And, spiritually, His Word is bread for us. I mean, didn’t He command us when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” not just physical food but spiritual... We need spiritual food every day if we’re going survive spiritually. And, spiritually, the Word of God is that food, because He even said, “It’s not by bread alone but every Word of God.” Every Word of God. And so those ancient Israelites had to eat that flesh.

In fact, it’s interesting. They couldn’t hang out and fellowship and wait around and, “Maybe we’ll get to it in a couple of hours. Maybe tomorrow, we could eat it.” No, He said, “That same night. You better do it right away, and you better do it with unleavened bread, and you better do it with bitter herb. Do it now. Don’t wait around. Eat it.” And He says it over and over again. “You consume this, you feed on this, you ingest this sacrifice.” And just like we need food to survive, and we need food, spiritually speaking, to survive as well. And we’ve got to get rid of the unleavened...or the leavened bread, the leavening that represents sin, and consume this unleavened offering.

And it is a challenge. It was a challenge for Christ. The bitterness of the crucifixion is certainly reflected in this particular sacrifice with bitter herbs, because He had to pay the penalty for sin. But it’s also a reminder for us that just because we love God, and because we’re committed to Him and we’re converted, it doesn’t mean trials go away. It doesn’t mean everything’s peaches and cream, and rainbows, and unicorns. It doesn’t mean that at all. It means we’re going have trials. We’re going have difficulties after conversion, and especially the bitterness of sin. And when we fall short, we recognize sin is awful and cause the death of our Savior.

And it’s shown to be roasted with fire. When we think of fire, fire speaks of judgment and it speaks of refining and purification, that we are judged, and we are tested, and we are refined, and purified to be like pure gold so that we can be like Christ. And I’m always amazed to see the specific instructions that God gives to say, “Don’t boil it either. You don’t eat it raw, but you don’t boil it. You roast it. You roast it with fire.” In other words, you don’t water this down. You don’t water down the Word of God. You don’t water down the sacrifice of Christ. You take it for what it is. So, you leave the water out of it. You make sure you roast it, and you have to cook it with the head, and the legs, and all those other entrails as well, certainly pointing to a complete sacrifice, that Christ was that complete sacrifice. But as we offer a sacrifice to God, it has to be all in all the time, the head, the legs, the body, the entrails. Head to toe as a spiritual sacrifice to God, that’s what we need to be all about. And so, we have to be all in.

And interesting to see here, as well. He tells him in verse 11, that they have to eat it in haste and eat it with... There’s a lot of eating going on here. What are we if we don’t consume Christ? If we’re not consumed by Christ, if Christ is not in us, I mean, this is literally eating this sacrifice, but, figuratively, Christ has to be living in us. And it’s by the power of Christ in us through His Holy Spirit that we can even become like Christ. If we’re going be in the Kingdom, we have to put on the image of Christ. That’s all there is to it. And so He says, “Eat, eat, eat. Devour this. Consume it. Feed.” For us, feed on Christ. So, we eat it in haste, with loins girded, and shoes on our feet. So important instructions that these Israelites had to be quick. We got to get out of Egypt while the getting’s good. They had to get out of... And we have to as well, get out of the ways of this world, and we’ve got to move as quickly as we can toward a Godly lifestyle. And we’ve got to be ready and willing and able, having that eagerness to obey God. This idea of loins girded means you’ve got this long robe tucked up into your belt, so you can run, and you can move, and you’re going to get tripped up over any guard. Nothing in this life is going to distract us or trip us up, because we are focused.

1 Peter 1:3 speaks to that very thing, “Gird up your mind,” the loins of your mind is what Peter talks about, which speaks to that head to your toe. What’s in our head? Our brains are in our head. And our minds have to be focused and be prepared for action. And that’s what that speaks to, with shoes on our feet. And they were ready to walk away from what Egypt represented in sin, and they were ready to follow God. And we must do the same as well, the legs included so we can walk. And this whole way of life is called the walk, the way. And we must be willing. And so, this Passover sacrifice pointed to that spiritual application for us as well today.

And, ultimately, we find in Exodus 12, notice verse 11, Exodus 12:11, after describing how they were to eat it with their belt on their waist, and sandals on their feet, and the staff in their hand, it says, “It is the Lord’s Passover.” It’s the Lord’s Passover. And in fact, just a moment later, He says in verse 14, “This day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord, throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.” So, this wasn’t just an Israelite thing. It wasn’t just a Jewish thing. We see how Christ took this and gave spiritual meaning to this very event. It’s the Lord’s Passover. And so, by the grace of God, we pass from death to life. We pass from judgment to protection. We pass from Old Covenant rules and regulations to the New Covenant. We pass from the letter of the law to the Spirit of the law.

And so, we are told if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. And so, we observe the Passover today. And we do it as a memorial as well. That memorial, of course, sometimes referred to as a remembrance. In the New Testament, Christ even said that, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” literally, “as a memorial to Me.” A memorial is a remembering. And when you think about a memorial, we’ve got at least two aspects of that memorial that are happening when we think of the Passover. First and foremost, God remembers us. God remembers us. We know the Bible is clear in the New Testament that God even says He has a book of remembrance. He has a book of remembrance. He has names written in the book of life. And when we think about that, what a blessing it is that God never forgets. God loves us and cares for us. He’ll never leave us. He never left Israel the whole time. They walked all the way to the Promised Land throughout all those years. And He’ll never forget us on our journey as well. And so, God always keeps us in mind, which then is also reflected in the fact that we better then never forget God. Always remember God.

As the Hebrews were released from slavery in Egypt, we have a release from the slavery of sin. And we recognize the need for the death of Christ and how much that has to be applied to our life. And so, we memorialize it. We remember that sacrifice on our behalf. Maybe one other thing we could look at here, while we’re still in Exodus 12, over in verse 48, we see another specific instruction here, at that time, that certainly has a spiritual application today as well. In Exodus 12:48, it tells us, “When a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord,” it says, “let all his males be circumcised and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as a native of the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat it.”

Now, what’s the spiritual application today? Well, if we think about what this sign of physical circumcision was all about, it was interconnected with the covenant people. In order to be a part of Israel, this was the sign. God gave it to Abraham, and then to Moses, and the people as they came into the Promised Land had to be circumcised. It was a sign of the covenant between God and His people. Now, we know today, physical circumcision is not a requirement. That’s not necessary. That’s the letter of the law. But is circumcision still required today? Yeah. Not physical, spiritual circumcision. Spiritual circumcision. And so when we recognize that, those who have entered into the covenant with God, spiritually speaking, they’re the only ones that are to participate in the New Testament Passover, those who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ and to God the Father, those who have gone under the waters of baptism, have repented of their sins, have been forgiven those past sins, and then got up out of that water and had hands laid on them, and they receive the Spirit of God. That’s that connection, now, to circumcision today, that we are now circumcised in heart. Circumcised in heart.

And that’s reflected in what we read over in Romans 2:12. Let’s notice the way the apostle Paul speaks to the spiritual application of this specific guideline. In Romans 2:28, it speaks to an interesting fact that God has always wanted His people to be circumcised in the heart. Whether we read about it in Jeremiah, whether we read about it here in the New Testament, that was always God’s intent. It was always His intent. By faith, we are to be brought before God. And so, Paul speaks to that in Romans 2:28. And he says, “He is not a Jew, who is one outwardly.” Of course, when we think about Christians today, we are the Israel of God, spiritually speaking. Well, what makes you a part of the household? Well, it’s definitely not outward circumcision. He says, “Not circumcision. That’s an outward one in the flesh.” That is not what it’s about. But verse 29, “But he is a Jew,” talking about a true Christian, someone that is converted before God. He says, “One of those individuals is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.”

And no wonder that’s a requirement when we come to the New Testament Passover, because it speaks to the ultimate intent of Passover. We don’t come to Passover to be forgiven of sin. We come to renew our baptismal commitment to God. That’s at the heart and core of what Passover is about. Our baptism and the covenant we made with God at that time that we proclaimed Christ is our Savior, and His death has covered our sin and continues to cover it when we repent before Him, and He forgives us. But it also speaks to the fact that we’re dedicated to be that living sacrifice, that we’re putting on the character of Jesus Christ. And the Passover speaks to that time that we refocus, and we recommit, and we rededicate our lives. We tell God, “We will do this all over again, and strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ, and His love, and His humility, and His service.”

And so, when we recognize this, we see these beautiful connections, how wonderfully Old Testament, New Testament fit together when we recognize the spiritual application of God’s Word. And so, we can recognize, the Passover has amazing spiritual parallels, tremendous spiritual significance. And so, as we come to the time of Passover, we can certainly see those connections, and we can proclaim that, indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.