- Today’s wonderful passages of God’s rescue of His people, the Israelites, from slavery are some of the most well known and celebrated words in all of the Old Testament. The 400 years of silence is well and truly over as God powerfully works to set the people free from their miserable life as slaves in Egypt.
- In Exodus 11, what plague does God warn the Pharaoh about through the obedient words of Moses?
- How do you think Moses’ relationship with the Israelites and the Egyptians might have changed since he first arrived back in Egypt?
- You may have heard about today’s passages before hand, but do you remember all the specific stuff that God commanded the people to do? I always forget those parts – the commands about the way they should make bread and prepare for the events that were to come. Why do you think that God commanded the Israelites to make such precise preparations?
- What was specific about the lamb that had to be killed for the meal and the mark they were to make on the doorposts?
- The event that occurs in 12:29-32 is called the Passover. It’s called that because the Lord “passed over” the houses of the Israelites as He came to kill the firstborn children in Egypt. The actual Passover event only occurred once, but every year the Jewish people would celebrate the day to mark the occasion. You can read about this in Exodus 12:43-49
- When the awful event occurred, what did the Pharaoh command? How many people left Egypt, and what loot did they take with them?
- Our Old Testament readings finish on a real high note. God’s mighty work has been done, and the people are obeying and praising His name. They were walking away as free people with plenty of gold and silver to boot. What do you think they were talking about and thinking as they set off on their journey into the unknown?
Today’s events are a wonderful pointer to Jesus, and there are several things I want you to see. You might find it helpful to make a table of this information in your journal. This is quite deep stuff, but it’s pretty major, and it’s worth thinking about carefully.
Firstly, this is a dawn of a new era. It’s a new era for the life of the Israelite people as they moved towards the Promised Land. Jesus’ sacrifice began a new era of the church too – the worldwide group of believers of which you and I can be a part.
Secondly, we see that the blood of the lamb on the doorpost was a substitution that rescued a specific group of people, not everyone. In the same way, Jesus “the Lamb” would die not to save everyone, but those who came to trust in His name with faith.
Thirdly, the lamb needed to be “without blemish”. Jesus, by living a sinless life, was thus the only One who could be in a place to take our punishment. The man who knew no sin became sin for us.
Fourthly, we see a new festival created today – Passover. Christians don’t celebrate the Passover because Jesus instituted a new festival – the Lord’s Supper – which we still also join in with today when we have communion.
Finally, the lamb took the judgement to provide the people with salvation. The lamb, along with Egypt, was punished, whilst the wrath of God “passed over” those who sat under that blood. Jesus was the perfect “once and for all” sacrifice. He took the wrath of God upon himself to take the punishment that we deserve in order that we might be saved – not only from our sin but to eternal life too.
God worked a miracle then. He worked a miracle through His Son. And God continues to work in each and every believer. What an awesome God we worship!