Exodus Types: 1. The Passover, A Type of the Cross

(Exodus 12-13) The Passover was to the Jews their day of independence, even as the cross of Christ means to the Christian his freedom from the bondage of sin. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exodus 12:1, 2). Passover was like New Year’s Day or like the American July Fourth or Independence Day. On this day they celebrated deliverance from Egyptian bondage. And because of the cross, the Christian has deliverance from bondage to sin. "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin" (John 8:34). "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14). Because Jesus died upon it, the cross has been transformed from a thing of shame to a thing of glory. The Passover provided salvation for the Jewish household, even as Christ provides salvation for the family of the believer. "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house" (Exodus 12:3). "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover" (Exodus 12:21). Killing the Passover lamb was a family matter, providing protection for the family against the loss of its firstborn. Even so, the salvation of Jesus makes salvation possible for all the household of the one who believes in Jesus. "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31). Is your home covered by the blood of Jesus? Beneath the blood-stained lintel I with my children stand; A messenger of judgment is passing through the land; There is no other refuge from the destroyer’s face - Beneath the blood-stained lintel shall be our hiding-place. the tenth to the fourteenth day before it was slain; and Jesus was the fulfillment of all this. "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up to the fourteenth day of the same month" (Exodus 12:5, 6). As the Passover lamb was to be a male of the first year, so Jesus died at the age of thirty-three in the prime of His manhood. Like the lamb, Jesus was without blemish, morally. The lamb was kept until the fourteenth day under scrutiny looking for possible faults. Even so, Jesus was under scrutiny the last few days before His crucifixion, yet Pilate said of Him, "I find no fault in him" (Luke 23:4). The Passover lamb was killed the same time of day as Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. "And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening" (Exodus 12:6). "In the evening," means literally in the Hebrew, "between the two evenings." The first Jewish evening began at noon, and the second at sunset. The lamb was slain midway between noon and sunset or about three o’clock in the afternoon. Jesus hung on the cross from the third hour to the ninth hour, or six hours. He was in three hours of light from nine o’clock till noon, and in three hours of darkness from noon till three o’clock. He died at three o’clock. The sprinkling of the blood of the Passover lamb is a type of the application of the blood of Jesus to the heart of the believer. "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it" (Exodus 12:7). "And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning" (Exodus 12:22). The Israelites showed their faith in God’s provision for them by sprinkling the blood as instructed. This is a type of the Christian’s appropriation of Christ’s blood for his salvation. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience" (Hebrews 10:22). Let us see to it that our heart’s door is sprinkled with Christ’s blood. Only then will we be safe from judgment for sin in the day of reckoning. The eating of the Passover meal is a symbol of the Lord’s Supper. "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it" (Exodus 12:8). "Eat the flesh" means appropriation and fellowship. "Roast with fire" means judgment. "Unleavened bread" means without sin. And when the "bitter herbs" were eaten, the Israelites were remembering their former bondage and thanking God for deliverance from it. "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (I Corinthians 5:7, 8). And Paul also wrote in his instructions regarding the Lord’s Supper: "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." The "passing over" of the judgment angel is a type of deliverance from judgment through Christ. "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:12, 13). "For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you" (Exodus 12:23). Judgment fell upon the Passover lamb, and the firstborn escaped judgment. "Even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (I Thessalonians 1:10). Jesus on the cross received God’s wrath in our place. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). The believer in Jesus escapes the judgment of God for sin’s penalty. Jewish parents were to answer their children’s questions about the meaning of the Passover; and Christian parents should answer their children’s questions regarding the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. "And it shall come to pass, when ye come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses" (Exodus 12:25-27). The questions of the children gave opportunity to the parents to explain the reason for the Passover celebration. And when our children ask questions about the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, let us take time to explain the reason for it, because it gives us a glorious opportunity to teach an important truth. "And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). [Old Testament Types - FHW]