"The Life and the Way"

Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14

Last week, we began a reflection on sacred moments, those times when we experience the God of creation working in wonderful ways for us. We considered not only what they might be, but more importantly, what they should mean for our lives. Today, we take a look at one of them, the first of our two sacraments – Holy Communion.

Nearly every Christian denomination sees communion as a sacrament – one of those opportunities in faith that Jesus has called us to celebrate. (Luke 22:14-23) It was at the Last Supper that Jesus offered this new truth of salvation – that it was to be seen as the fullness that the Passover had always stood for. Israel had only understood Passover as a call to sacrifice and remembrance, that it was their way of rejoicing in God’s rescuing them from Egyptian slavery, and little more than that.

But as we all have learned in our walk with the Lord, His way is never shallow, and it is seldom understood without study and seeking. So let’s begin with the Passover – not the celebration, but the original that occurred over 3,000 years ago in Egypt.

Read Exodus 12:1-4

After Moses and Aaron had asked Pharaoh to allow the people to go and worship the Lord in the desert, Pharaoh not only refused, but decided to punish the people by placing unrealistic demands on their construction work. (Exodus 5:1-6:27) Moses and Aaron continued to try to convince the ruler to let the people go out into the desert to worship, but to no avail. (Exodus 7:1-13) So God would begin a rain of 10 plagues upon Egypt and her people, but the Lord had hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he refused all pressures. (Exodus 7:14-10:29) The first 9 plagues had no effect on Egypt, except to increase the persecution against the people of Israel.

But it would be the 10th plague that would break Pharaoh’s will to resist, at least temporarily. (Exodus 11) And in our text for today, the Lord God Jehovah tells the people what they must do to escape this plague. And the first step was to focus on the sacrifice of a lamb. The purpose of the lamb was, first of all, to feed all of the people. If there was more meat than one family was able to eat, then others were to be invited to join them in the feast. This lamb – the means to Israel’s freedom from death – was not to be a common or ordinary animal. It was to be chosen on a specific day; it was to be a special gift; its selection had been ordained in every way by their Jehovah God.

Read Exodus 12:5-8

And God gave very precise instructions on the lamb’s characteristics, as well as on its preparation for the meal. It was to be a one year old male animal, and could be either a sheep or a goat. This lamb was born for this special time, and would never have any other purpose for its life – it would be innocent of any wrong doing; it would be too young to produce wool for the shearers; too young to bear other lambs; too small for general use as food – it had no other purpose whatsoever except to die for the benefit of the people Israel.
Remember that it was to be chosen on the 10th day of the month, and now we read that the lamb was to be cared for until it was slaughtered 4 days later at sunset. Its blood was to be reserved and spread on the door posts and lintel of the house where each lamb was to be eaten. The meat was to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs, and unleavened bread.

Not only was the lamb and its meat to be treated in very special ways, but the lamb’s blood was also vitally important for Israel’s rescue, and was, itself, to be utilized in a very specific way. Why would the Lord want the people to go through all these measures, if the result was to simply be their rescue from Pharaoh’s grasp? Why not just change the king’s heart, instead of hardening it so he would oppose Jehovah’s desire? Apparently God had a plan that required these specific details to be carried out exactly as he described them!

The details, of course, weren’t to enable God to bring his plan to fruition, but were to be a means of stimulating Israel’s remembrance of the event. The details, and not just the outcome, were to become part of Israel’s history and tradition, and it was to trigger a celebration of their release from slavery every year for the rest of their existence.

Read Exodus 12:9-14

The meat was to be roasted - not left raw, and not cooked by boiling - and the lamb was to be left whole – not cleaned, not dressed, not separated. The only thing that was to be removed from the lamb was its blood. And nothing was to be left over – anything that wasn’t eaten was to be destroyed.

And the Lord was even specific as to how the people should be dressed for the meal, and how they were to eat the feast. They were to be fully dressed with shoes on their feet and a walking staff in their hand – they were to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. They were even to eat the Passover feast quickly, so that nothing could delay their departure when the time arrived.

There was urgency. There was specificity. There was a divine purpose. There would be a heavenly judgment that no one could stop, and only those who listened to Yahweh, and followed his word, would be able to avoid it.

And the judgment that come down against all first born males – who would it be upon? Egyptian people and their animals and the false gods that were being worshipped! And how was Israel to be spared from the judgment? It would be by the blood of the sacrificed Lamb.

Jesus is that Innocent, Sacrificed, Unbroken Lamb for the people of earth. We are to feed on him, to be nourished through his purpose, to trust in his way and word. His life was given for the freeing of all people from their bondage to sin and death. We are to receive him immediately, without delay, for the time of the judgment is not only unknown, but is rapidly approaching. We are to claim his Blood, we are to receive his Blood, as a sign of our allegiance to him and him alone, and acceptance of this Holy Sign from God will be our only hope of deliverance. And last, we are also to know that when our Sacrificed Offering arose to new life, that nothing was let behind to become either evidence, or to be seen as waste.
And all who do not receive his Body, all who are not anointed in his Blood, all who do not surrender to his way and word, will be subjected to judgment, and they will suffer.

And we are to celebrate God's great gift of freedom on a regular basis. May it be so for each of us.