The Passover, The Gospel, and Jesus Christ
Excerpt from Sermon:
My attempt today is to explain the Lord’s Supper, but to do so we need to go back to when the Israelites were in bondage. I hope today we can reach more deeply into scripture and uncover some things about the Passover that you may have never been taught or realized. To understand the Lord’s Supper, you must understand the Passover, to understand the Passover, we need to understand substitutionary atonement. We really need to go back to the Garden of Eden to understand substitutionary atonement where we see the first glimpse of it. After the Fall, God handed His judgment down to Satan, Adam, and Eve. Genesis 3:21 states, “the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”
Though it does not say, somewhere in the white space, the white space is between the verses, God killed an animal to cloth them. The atonement for sin is blood. Leviticus 17:11 states, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” God provided a substitute to atone for the sins of Adam and Eve. Here we see God’s grace and mercy because He could of easily killed both of them and created another man and woman, but He did not. **Why do you think God told Noah to put the animals, unclean and clean, in the ark? There had to be animals for sacrifices. Sacrifices were even done before the flood.
When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in the mountains in the land of Moriah, Abraham obeyed and took the wood for the fire, two servants, and the sacrifice Isaac. As Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain, Isaac asked, “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” and Abraham replied, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:7-8). Abraham knew something about God that I am not sure some Christians understand about God and that is He faithful and He is not a liar. Abraham knew that Isaac was the “only son” of the promises of God and if Isaac died, then His promises would fail.
Abraham took the knife in hand, lifted it up to slaughter Isaac and the angel of the Lord shouted and said, ““Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” Some may say that this was cruel of God and to come so close to conducting a child sacrifice, but Abraham knew something about God. Intrinsically, Abraham knew something about God through his walk with God and a deep intimate relationship with Him. Hebrews 11:19 states, “He (Abraham) considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”
God provided a substitute, the ram, for Isaac, but also Isaac was symbolically raised from the dead. God provided a substitute for Abraham’s first-born son, but there would be no substitute for God’s “only son”, because His Son, Jesus Christ, was the substitute.
When we read the story of Exodus and the institution of the Passover by God, we look at the Egyptians as the only ones that deserve the plagues, punishment, and death. This is far from the truth. Yes, Pharoah dealt harshly with the Jews, but the Jews were just as sinful as the Egyptians and here is where Election comes into play. Here is why Election is so important and to understand it. The Jews had to make the preparation for the Destroyer to pass over them. The Lamb of the Passover was to be a substitutionary sacrifice so that the Destroyer would not kill the first-born sons of Israel. Why?! Because this 10th plague made no distinction if you were an Egyptian or Jew, or specifically here, a Jew or Gentile.
The 10th plague was about sin! Remember, I said Election is important and here the story of Exodus teaches us something important about Election. Election does not save you. I say again, Election does not save you, Election marks you out to be saved! Amen! God is a Redeemer, He is a Savior, and the ones He has chosen “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), He will REDEEM you! God the Redeemer and Savior will go to such great extents to REDEEM those marked out, that He veiled Himself in flesh to those He set His love on in eternity past.
Though the blood of the lamb was to be a substitute, it does not truly atone for their sins, but it only protected the household from God’s wrath. This is not penal substitution or atonement, but the sacrifice pointed to and foreshadowed what was to come. The Israelites were just as guilty as the Egyptians in not worshipping the true God and worshipped the Egyptians idols. God in Ezekiel 20:7-8 said, “‘Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.” Not only was God getting them out of Egypt, but He also wanted Egypt out of them! He methodically showed Israel who the true God was. They had adopted the pagan gods of Egypt and God showed through the plagues that their gods could not save NO one!
What God did with the 10th plague was to show that sin results in death and they were in need of a Savior. Phillip Ryken states, “The Israelites were as guilty as the Egyptians, and in the final plague God taught them about their sin and His salvation.” All the 9 plagues showed that none of the Egyptians gods were not real and they could save no one. Only the Creator of the Universe, YAHWEH can save anyone, not some manmade idol fashioned by the hands of mere men. Here, God is showing the world how and what salvation is by redeeming a sinful people and saving them. He is effectively showing the world there is no other salvation but in Him! He is the only way and all these other counterfeits, so called faiths such as we see here with the Egyptian gods led to DEATH!