Exodus : Passover

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Have you ever been given mercy? There’s plenty of times I remember getting in trouble at school or at home and instead of getting a shalacking, I was given mercy. You could say I was lucky but I really did deserve a beating for some stupid immature things. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is different. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. God not only gave the Israelites mercy, but he also gave them grace. And God can do the same to us today through his Son - You can be given mercy and grace through trusting in his Son.

In Exodus 12 we come to the last plague : The Destroyer. God warns Pharaoh that it will come and take out all the firstborns in the land, unless they let the Israelites go. Yet, Pharaoh hardens his heart and refuses to comply. So God sends it down in judgment. But what of the Israelites? Were the firstborns there going to be punished as well? God warned the Israelites and gave them specific orders in what to do. If they were to do what God had said, then the destroyer will “pass over” them. This is what they had to do:

1) Get a good young lamb - God wanted them to get a lamb without any defect. The lamb must be young. Everyone pretty much had a lamb and if they didn’t they could have borrowed a neighbours one.

2) Kill the lamb – They were to kill it as a sacrifice, which is something they usually did.

3) Put the blood of the lamb on your doorpost - They were to take the blood of the lamb and paint it over the doorpost of their house. The reason was that when the destroyer came, he would see the blood on the door and would “pass over” that house and not judge them.

4) Roast and eat the lamb - God told them to eat it whole and roast everything. They were told not to break the bones though. They were to eat the lamb that night before the destroyer came.

5) To eat the Passover meal in a hurry – They were to eat the meal that night with a staff in hand and ready to leave Egypt the next day. God will come down and judge the Egyptians and Pharaoh will finally tap out and let the Israelites go. This is the beginning of the mass Exodus of Israel.

6) To repeat the meal every year to remember how God saved them from slavery – The Passover meal was to be inaugurated each year. Why? So that generations down can remember the character of God and how he saved them from slavery to the Egyptians.

But, if they were to not kill a lamb and place the blood on their doorpost, then judgment will come to them too. They deserve judgment just as much as Egypt because they too were sinful. Yet, if they were to comply with God, then they will be given MERCY.



The blood on the doorpost was a sign that they were believing in the word of God. We too, when we trust in Jesus, are believing in the word of God.

So God came down and he took out all the firstborns of Egypt. You might remember that it was Egypt a generation before that took out all of Israel’s firstborn males. This was God getting them back for what they did to Israel.

The Israelites continued to do the Passover meal for a thousand years. It came to the point that everyone knew the script of the night and knew what to do, until it came to Jesus and his buddies one Passover meal. JESUS COMPLETELY CHANGED THE SCRIPT! This is what he said the day before he was going to be crucified. ”

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Luke 22:19-20

What is Jesus saying? He is changing the script! He is saying that HE IS THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB! He will be the sacrifice that will be killed and broken for us. This is really significant. Jesus, in a few hours, will be taken captive by the Jews and the Romans, and he will be strung up on a cross and will die for the sins of the world. Here is how Jesus is similar to the Lamb

1) Jesus was sinless- Like the good lamb that was without defect, Jesus was that man who was sinless. He was the perfect sacrifice then to be offered for our sins.

2) Jesus died as the sacrifice – Like the lamb, Jesus died as the sacrifice that would deviate the punishment of God away from us and onto Jesus instead.

3) Jesus was innocent – It wasn’t his fault. He was not guilty. We were the guilty ones, and like the lamb, Jesus has nothing to do with the punishment.

4) Jesus’ blood gives us new life - Just like the Israelites who left Egypt after the Passover event, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross brings us new life. We now, like the Israelites, can be free from the power of slavery, not just physical slavery but spiritual slavery to sin.

But what Jesus did for us is on condition of faith. You can either accept the free gift, or reject the free gift. At the end of the day, you must be willing to place the blood of Jesus over the doorpost of your own heart. Because there will be a day when Jesus will come back and judge the world. Those who have the blood of the Lamb on them will not taste judgment. They will be given mercy and grace, even though they are just as guilty as the rest. But those who do not have the blood of the Lamb, they will be judged justly.

So the choice is yours : Do you want mercy? Then follow the Lamb of God : Jesus.