“What Is To Come, Must Come”

Scripture Text: Exodus 12:3-14

Read Exodus 12:3-7

Today is Holy Thursday, and while our text is about Passover, I believe that they are inseparable. Passover is about a lamb that is without blemish, without fault, that had to be sacrificed, and whose blood would be spread on the entrance to the homes to signify that God’s people lived here and that death was to pass them by.
Passover would become a time of remembrance of God’s grace that survives even to today.
And, of course, Jesus would become, for us, the Lamb of God, who would be sacrificed on the altar of the world, and whose blood is spread, figuratively, on the lives of his followers, so that spiritual death will pass over them. This holy week, a week of remembrance, reminds us of the very great love that God has for each of us.

But for Jesus’ disciples, this day, while it would begin as a day of joyful celebration of Passover, would quickly become a day of confusion, a day of fear, a day of hopelessness. Jesus had told them over and over that he was destined to die, but that he would be raised from that death into new life. He would tell them how he would die, he would tell them why he must die, he would tell them that, even in his death, they would turn away from him.
But they didn’t understand, and to be perfectly honest, they thought that it all could be prevented, that their Lord could turn away from this terrible eventuality.

Read Exodus 12:8-11

Not only was there to be a sacrifice, not only was the doorframe to be “washed” with the blood of the lamb, but it was to be a festive occasion. Lambs were a costly commodity and weren’t normally a routine meal. This would be a special time for Israel, and before the night was over, it would become a frightening experience. They were going to see the full power of God at work, and for the Egyptians and their animals, it would not be a pretty sight. Death would be God’s final sentence on Egypt and all that they prized. The plagues of blood and frogs and gnats and flies wasn’t sever enough. The death of their livestock but the sparing of all that was Israel’s, the festering boils, thunder and lightning and hail that destroyed their crops, the locust, the three days of darkness that only blinded the Egyptians – none of it would sufficiently impress them with the power of God’s request to free his people. So there would be one more plague that would be sufficient – one that would touch every person in Egypt.

But there were some of the plagues that would not strike Israel - the flies, the death of the animals, the boils, the hail, and the darkness – by God’s very word, Israel escaped the onslaught of these. But this final plague – the death of the first born – could only be restricted by the blood and the faithfulness of the people. Sacrifice the lamb, spread the blood, roast the meat with bitter herbs, bake bread but don’t use yeast or any other leavening, eat it in a hurry, and be prepared to run! Strange words, but in faith, the people did just that, and they were spared.

Read Exodus 12:11-14

The final plague came, and Israel was not touched by the death. Why wasn’t the memory of God’s great act enough to convince the disciples and the entire world that the Lord can do all things through faith? They could only focus on the prophecy of death, and would completely ignore the words that proclaimed a new and glorious life. But they would have understood, if they had only considered the implication of the celebration that they were about to enter.

Accept the sacrifice, spread the blood, eat the flesh and leave none behind, and prepare your lives to leave all that you have known behind and strike out in the new direction that God will give you. Passover was about a death that wasn’t deserved, and had no purpose other than it would preserve the life of countless thousands of Israelites. Jesus had tried to tell them, in so many different ways, that he was doing this for them – that his death would guarantee eternal life for countless millions and even more. But unlike the death of the Passover lamb, the death that claimed Jesus would be defeated - Jesus would rise from the dead into a new life, so that he could welcome all who believed in him.

For God, and for us, there was no other way. In Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham, that he will be the father of many nations, that his descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky. And to seal the covenant - the promise - Abraham is told to bring 3 animals and 2 birds as a sacrifice, and to guarantee the covenant, Abraham would see a smoking pot and a blazing torch that would pass between the pieces of the sacrifice.
The passing through the sacrifice, walking in the blood, if you will, meant that if the covenant was ever broken, someone would have to die if the covenant was to be restored. The torch and pot would signify God, and that the healing of the broken relationship would be by the blood sacrifice of God Himself. I expect that the significance was not lost on Abraham at the time, but human memory is not perfect, and Abraham, and all who would come from his line, would forget the Lord’s promise, and would believe that the burden of sacrifice must be on our own shoulders.

Jesus came, not to just be our God, but to be the sacrifice that would heal the Divine bond that we have broken. He would become the Pascal Lamb who would be given up, the blood sacrifice that would be spread on our lives, the feast that would nourish our new life, the very sign that we are ones who live in Christ, and that death can have no hold on us.

But from the days of the disciples until today, people have never seen the sense of this. Why should God have to pay the penalty for what we have done, why should we be restored to God’s love simply by claiming the fact that Jesus has been our healing sacrifice, why shouldn’t we be held responsible for earning the right to regain our eternal relationship? The truth is that it is God’s covenant, that it is his Divine Word that has set it all in place, and even though the Lord has never failed us in the relationship, and while we are the true culprits of sin, the relationship that the Lord created can only be healed by him. We have done nothing to ratify the promise, and we can do nothing to set it right again. Only God can do that – there is no other way.

Even Peter thought that the death of his master could, and should, be avoided, but Jesus would set him right with the words “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:21-23) Peter, like many others, could only see the ways of humanity, and he was blind to the things of God. But Jesus was telling him that “the things of God” were about to be revealed, and there was nothing that the forces of heaven or hell or earth could do to stop it.
For God, there was no other way, and in the infinite love that he has for you and me, he became our Passover Lamb – a sacrifice that was so perfect – so complete - that it would never have to be made again.

And so, we celebrate the great gift of Jesus, and know that life in him has come from him, and that there is nothing that we can do to earn it, or create it, or strengthen it, or renew it.

Today, we remember that Jesus is not only Passover, but he is also resurrection, and he is new life.
Today is the day when we remember that it was Jesus who would put all things right.
Praise the Lord.