Last time we fed on Exodus 12’s amazing picture of how God sets people free. Israel were enslaved; just as many of us are enslaved by materialism, lying, temper, lust; by things we can’t forgive, bad habits, status seeking; most of all, by our sin and independence. God’s judgment came on the sin in Egypt – but everyone could be saved from it, if – if – they chose to shelter (v22) in a house with the blood of a lamb on (as!) its entrance (vv7,23). And those who so sheltered were not only safe from God’s judgment, they also found themselves set free from their slavery. And inside that house (v4) there was a feast!
What an astounding picture of how `Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed` (1 Cor 5:7), how deliverance comes as we shelter (and feast!) in a house that has as its entrance the blood of the `Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29)! God ensured that the story of how He redeemed Israel was retold each year (12:14,24-27); and just so we too take communion regularly, to grasp again our having been `redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish’ (1 Peter 1:19), in all its wonder, and in all its implications. And just as we can say the whole of our faith is working through those implications, so the central old testament reality of Passover generated all-important implications too. Let’s dig more deeply.
First, why blood, why death, on the doorposts? Well, Passover was messy, like the cross was messy. Both help us grasp that the cross happened because God’s holiness and God’s judgment are real. God hates the sins you and I commit, and takes them very seriously; and unless we encounter God’s holiness under the shelter of the Lamb’s saving blood, it will be seriously bad to meet Him. (People sometimes say, If I could see God I would believe; but we learn from Exodus’ parallel section that God is such an intense force of life that no one can see His face and live (33:20). Only new birth can change us into something that can live in the presence of God!) God didn’t allow the Israelites to evade this; every year there was real blood on the doorposts. (And 13:11-15 make clear that this flavoured the whole year, as every firstborn animal had either to be redeemed or killed.) The Israelites had sinned too, and they needed to face the question `How do we escape God’s judgment?` A lamb had to actually die, in their place, and only so could they have peace with God; Passover meant each generation were to be reminded of that, just as we are reminded by communion.
But then: inside the house, under the shelter of the lamb’s blood, there was a feast! (Just like the party when the prodigal son came home!) Once we really grasp we have peace with God, now and forever, the psychological result is joy! Christianity becomes grim if we think God’s favour is something we must work for, must keep on earning. It’s putting our faith in what Jesus has done, what the Lamb’s blood has done, leaving us nothing at all to do or earn, that gives us freedom and joy. Christian traditions that lose that certainty of once-for-all, unearned new birth through faith end up saying sadly and repeatedly, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy; and we can imagine God saying, But I have, now let’s rejoice together! (A friend said about one traditional-catholic country that you could tell people who were born again by whether they knew the door to heaven was safely behind them, because once and for all they’d put their trust in what Christ has done; rather than it being ahead of them, if, if, if they could keep on doing the right religious things…) Joy comes once we see that it’s not about the religious things I manage to keep doing (nor how hard I work for God, or how close to God I feel): it’s simply, Have I come to God and put my whole trust in what Jesus has once for all done, the blood of Jesus the Lamb? And then we’re safe, we’re inside the house, we know we’ve taken God’s free gift of salvation, we’ve nothing left to do or earn; we have peace with God (Rom 5:1); and out of that, flows joy and celebration… Inside the house, under the Lamb’s blood, there’s unsurprisingly a feast going on!
So where do God’s people go from there? What was their liberation to mean in their lives?
At least three things. First, this was the start of a whole new life. That’s why God starts Exodus 12 by making Passover the first month of the new year (v2). Israel’s whole previous life – ours too – had been interrupted, and a whole new life had begun. We too need God to help us grasp what a huge difference new birth must make; `new birth` starts a whole new life (obviously!); it’s nothing less than passing `from death to life` (Rom 6:13). `You are not your own, you are bought with a price`, says Paul (1 Cor 6:19); we’ve not just been redeemed from something, we’ve been redeemed for something, for a whole, different new life lived for God!
And then secondly, we notice there’s lots in these chapters about unleavened bread (12:15-20, 13:3-10). In the days of Passover there must be no yeast in the house (v19). Apparently this causes lots of fun for our Jewish friends, as mothers hide yeast in their houses and the kids seek it out. But what’s this about? Paul explains in 1 Cor 5:6-8: yeast, leaven, is a symbol of sin. So Exodus 12:19 is saying something very serious: those who are redeemed get rid of sin. Not to earn redemption, but because they are redeemed. (Look which comes first in 13:3.) Because Jesus has redeemed us by his own blood, if we’ve truly repented, we passionately seek holiness, and loathe sin. Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (12:17). Part of the Jewish celebration of Passover is this hunt for any yeast; what about us? Do we search our hearts for anything alien to God? Paul says it’s something we should do each time we take communion (1 Cor 11:28). It’s not very postmodern; we’ve been trained that sin doesn’t matter much – temper doesn’t really matter, lying doesn’t matter, greed doesn’t matter, lust doesn’t matter. But that’s an outrageous (if not unusual) parody of grace; what God wants is, Be holy as I am holy (1 Peter 1:16)!
And thirdly, in Exodus 12 redemption begins a journey. Look at v11: they’re to eat the Passover with their cloaks tucked in their belts (`loins girded`), as people about to hit the road. Once again it’s fun: like everyone eating a meal in waterproofs and hiking boots. They’re going somewhere together, people with a future. So are we! Christ is risen, and now He says to us, Follow Me, I’m on a journey, come too! To be redeemed is to have our minds set on an `exodus` (Luke 9:31), out of this world to heaven. In the old KJV 1 Peter 1:13 tells us to `gird up the loins of your mind`, like Passover, looking joyfully to `the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus`. Think journey! We’re to make the journey to Jesus’ return and heaven the whole shape of our lives, so that our primary investment is laying up treasure in heaven, not on earth (and see Colossians 3:1); people with a new direction, a new loyalty and citizenship (Phil 3:20), a 100% commitment to a journey that will lead us out of this world altogether to the ultimate Promised Land…
(And the first bit of the Israelites’ journey was the Red Sea. Paul has something rather surprising, and relevant, to say about that. Next time…!)
