For any of you have ever been in a moment of sheer panic and chaos, you understand how valuable it is to have someone there who knows what to do and has a plan. When everyone else is confused and scared, they serve as that beacon of hope. You think of the paramedics who rush onto the scene and speak calmly to the person who has just been in a severe car accident. Or maybe it’s the parent who offers sage motherly or fatherly advice and care to their child who’s just had their dreams crushed.
For 440 years, the people of Israel had lived in a strange and foreign land. For a good chunk of that time, they were slaves. For them, I imagine it wouldn’t have just been moments of fear and chaos, but perhaps lifetimes of it. Although God was with them through every portion of this, we heard last week how his presence became visible and tangible for the people through the plagues. You may ask, though, if God’s presence was so valuable, why did he have to send 9 plagues up to this point and still not have his people out of Egypt? Well, those 9 plagues were beneficial. It gave the Egyptians time to repent, it allowed the Israelites to see more examples of their Father’s power, and it allowed the message of who God was to spread throughout that entire area of the world. God knew, though, that there would be one, final plague. With patience, all those who were there would see God save his people and witness that God’s plans never fail. Because this plague would accomplish what he had promised. He would bring them up out of Egypt.
In his description of how he would carry this out, you can’t help but sit back in amazement at God’s overall grasp of the situation. I said just a bit ago that so often in those moments of adrenaline and terror, we’re not exactly sure what to do. But here, God shows that he doesn’t just have a semblance of an idea of what to do. He had every last detail planned out to perfection. I suppose God could’ve just come in and killed off anyone who would’ve stood in his way. But, he instead allowed everyone a chance to get involved in his deliverance, taking part in the plan themselves. And most importantly, he used this opportunity not just to show them how they would be delivered from Pharaoh, but how his Son, the Lamb, would save them from a much worse enemy in time.
God knows his enemies well. He knows their tactics, he knows their personalities, he knows their plans, and he knows the limits of their power. Pharaoh was no different. God knew that Pharaoh liked to change his mind because he had a short memory. God knew that Pharaoh thought a lot of himself too. So God knew that Pharaoh would not react differently to this plague than to how he had with all the others. Pharaoh would once again see the power of God in the plague, submit for a time, but then come back with a vengeance. And in fact, as we’ll see next week, this was exactly what Pharaoh did!
Because of this, God made sure that his people had time to think and soak it all in, that they would be informed of what would be necessary, and that they would be ready in a moment’s notice to react when God wanted them to. You see this in multiple details from the plan. One, God had the people take a sheep or a goat into their homes. But not just any one of their flocks. It had to be without defect and a year old. It could also be from the sheep or the goats. They needed precise directions like that because in moments of great power, our minds often are confused and feeble. Then, for four days, they would be able to prepare themselves mentally for what was to come. Everything about their subsequent preparations was precise too so that they would be able to act quickly. After they killed the sheep, they were to roast it, the quickest way to prepare it. Their sandals were to be on their feet, their staffs in their hand, and their loins girded. I mean if you’ve ever had to run in a dress, thankfully I’m not speaking from personal experience here, you need to hike it up to allow your legs room to move. This would’ve been similar to the clothes they wore.
God was also very gracious in his plans. He wanted the people to be able to celebrate this celebration in peace. We can see that he didn’t want consciences bound here. He allowed them to choose an animal from either the sheep or the goats. Maybe not everyone had sheep, maybe they just had goats, or vice versa. He also thought about the small families who wouldn’t have been able to eat the whole animal by themselves, so he allowed them to eat with their neighbors. And he even went so far as to tell the people that if something was left over, he allowed them the opportunity to burn it up.
But most gracious of this all was how this all pointed to Jesus and what he would accomplish. For in this last plague, God would bring about great destruction. All the firstborn of the land, both men and animals, would be killed by God. Except for those who sacrificed and painted the blood of their lamb on their doorposts.
In a very similar way, all of us face the judgment and destruction of God too. For if we do not listen to him and follow him, we will have to face him in death. And you know how you have fared in this. You haven’t listened to him always. You haven’t followed his paths. All of us have been a Pharaoh in our own sense, humbled by God for a moment, only to react in arrogance and self-trust in the next. We’re brought low by the trials God gives us, but then when the next one comes we try and buck God’s authority. Thinking that either he doesn’t have the right to do that to me, or that I know better.
But also in a very similar way, God has given you a Lamb. A Lamb whose blood brings salvation to you, much like these lambs brought salvation to the Israelites. The blood of those lambs in Egypt upon the doorposts served as a sign to the people that God would not destroy them. The blood of your Lamb, Jesus, serves as a sign for you that God will not destroy you either. But that is not the only similarity between what happened there and what happened at Golgotha. Jesus was young, just like the lamb, in the prime of his life. He too had no defect, he brought forth no sin of his own to his sacrifice. He lived with the people for a time, as the lamb spent time within the homes of the Israelites. And as we see further in Exodus, none of his bones were broken, just as these lambs were not have their bones broken either. The difference between your Lamb and those lambs is that they saved the people from an earthly enemy. Your Lamb, however, has saved you from sin and hell.
Although you and I thankfully contribute nothing to this sacrifice of salvation, in joy God allows you to take part in its memory. V14 reads, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.” In the Old Testament, the Passover was considered by many to be the greatest event ever to transpire, besides perhaps the promise of the Savior in the Garden of Eden. God wanted his people to dwell on his mercy, how his arm alone worked their deliverance from the land of Egypt. They were to celebrate this down throughout the generations. As wonderful as an event as what that was, and still is, we have been given a similar command to celebrate an even greater salvation, namely the remembrance of Jesus’ death whenever we partake of Holy Communion. Jesus gave this command on the night he was betrayed: 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.” In this supper you are to take and eat, for this is the body of our Christ. And you are to take and drink, for it is the blood of Jesus poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. As it was in the past, so it is even more clearly evident now: you are saved by the blood of the Lamb! Likewise, as the Passover supper was to be celebrated down through time, God commands you to celebrate this new and greater Supper throughout generations too. Let’s be clear on this, though. This command is not given to be an additional burden on Christ’s followers. It is a privilege, what’s sometimes called a gospel imperative, which means that was given to free and forgive you from sin.
In the midst of trouble, God had a plan. Not a murky plan, but one that had been given much attention and detail. God carried out that plan, both in the Passover and in the Sacrifice of the Lamb, to perfection. No stone was left unturned. No detail forgotten. This is the one who sets your ways and watches your path. Follow him home. Amen.
