1. Introduction
We have considered that Christ was the Lamb taken, and for the best part of four years His life, was publicly examined and was found to be without any sin and blemish.
As a result, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, was found worthy to be the Passover Lamb for us.
The Passover Lamb, once selected, and proven to be without blemish, was taken and slain. Its blood was daubed on the door posts and lintel, and the Lamb itself eaten by the household.
We will now consider that Jesus was the Lamb slain. This will be under two headings: (1) Judgement & (2) Redemption.
We shall consider the first of these headings.
2. The Plagues
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgement I am the Lord, Ex.12:12
The purpose of the death of the firstborn was to set Israel free from Egypt, and the slavery they were under. It was the tenth, and final plague God sent on Pharaoh and Egypt.
As the passage above states, the plagues were judgements on the gods of Egypt.
2.1 Summary of the Plagues
The Egyptians had more than a thousand gods which, according to their scheme, managed every aspect of their lives. The plagues were directed at specific gods. The plagues show that the system, they had built up over the centuries, was incapable of saving them from God’s judgements.
It is not the intention here to develop these thoughts in detail, but to give a brief summary. It will give the plague, examples of the god(s) targeted, and the reference. The reader will notice that there is an escalation of judgement as the plagues unfold. The last one being the most devastating.
Commentators have identified that the first nine can be grouped into groups of three.
Group 1.
1. River turning blood, (Khnum, guardian of the Nile; Hapi, god of the annual flooding). Ex. 7:17-21
2.Frogs (Hequet, rebirth, fertility. Had the head of a frog). Ex.8:1-15
3. Lice (Geb, god of the earth. The lice were from the earth). Ex.8:16-19
In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord, Ex.7:17
These plagues affected everyone in Egypt, including the Israelites
Group 2
1. The Flies (Shu, god of the air and sky). Ex.8:20-22.
2.The plague on the cattle (all the animals that died had a god behind them, e.g. Aphis, the sacred bull) Ex.9:1-7
3.The boils (Sekhmet, god of averting plagues, the patron of physicians). Ex. 9:8-12
It is in this group that God separates the Egyptians from the Israelites.
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end that thou mayest knowest that I am the Lord.
Ex.8:22 see also Ex.9:4 and Ex. 9:11 where it is implied.
These plagues did not affect the Israelites
Group 3.
1. The hail (Nut, god of the sky; Seth, storm god) Ex.9:13-35
2. Locusts (Bastet, god of crops; Osiris, god of agriculture) Ex. 10:1-20
3. Darkness ( Ra, the sun god – supreme god of the Egyptians) Ex.10:21-29.
2.2 The Tenth Plague
With the tenth, and final plague, everybody was affected. The Israelites were not exempted. The angel of death would come and the firstborn of each family would die if the particulars of the provision weren’t met.
This plague targets the Pharaoh, himself. He was considered a living god and the killing of the firstborn attacked the ‘divine succession’. It also targets Osiris – the god of death.
We point out that it was the firstborn who was singled out because, God said Israel was His firstborn, Ex.4:21-23 and that early on God threatened to kill Pharaoh’s firstborn.
The plan was in place before Moses went to see Pharoah the first time. This immediately gives us our first lesson. Jesus’s death was planned before creation Rev.13:8. Ever before sin was a problem, God had made provision for it. This was to be the once and for all eternal sacrifice of the Son of God at Calvary.
2.2a Why was Israel included?
On the surface it appears strange that having separated Israel from the plagues of Egypt, after the third one, God should now include them, especially, as the plagues were a judgement on Egypt’s gods.
A passage in Ezekiel gives us a clue as to the reason.
And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me. Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you. Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers: And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God; In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt, Ezk.20:1-8
This is a lengthy passage and the whole of the chapter needs to be read for the full context.
In brief, the prophet Ezekiel was saying that the Israelites in Egypt were engaged with the gods of Egypt. They refused to forsake them. God then said He would pour out His fury on them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
The plague of the death of the first born was the ultimate judgement on the Egyptians and Israelites. So, unless the people fulfilled the requirements of the Passover, their firstborn sons would be killed.
This gives us our second lesson. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory, Rom.3:23. All deserve God’s judgement, and unless we come to God in obedience and put our trust in the one true Passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, we will have to face the judgement of Almighty God.
3 The Substitute Lamb
God made provision by a lamb, which was to be killed, in other words the lamb was to take the punishment for the sins of the household. It was the substitute for the household, dying in place of the firstborn.
Its blood was placed on the door posts and lintels, as a token to say that the lamb had been slain. Those inside would be then under the protection of the blood from the angel of death.
3.1 Jesus our substitute
This is a picture that the whole of the human race is under God’s condemnation. Unless there was a sufficient sacrifice no one could be saved from God’s wrath. God Himself, though, provided the all-sufficient Lamb for the sins of the world. His only begotten beloved Son.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God…I Pet.3:18
For He hath made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, II Cor.5:21
On the cross the Lamb of God was slain. He was made sin for us and bore our sins on His body on the cross.
The angel of death passed over when he saw the blood applied to the door posts and lintels. When God sees Jesus’s blood applied to us, He passes over us from judgement.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past …, Rom.3:23-25
It was no good if a first-born son, having slain the lamb and applied the blood to the door posts and lintel, then sat outside waiting to see what would happen. He had to be in the house under the covering of the blood. Otherwise, judgement would have fallen on him.
It is no good for us just knowing that Jesus died for our sins. It is no good just sitting back, going to church, giving intellectual ascent to truth we have to exercise faith in Christ, trusting Him as our Saviour, and having His precious blood applied to us.
3.2 Jesus our Propitiation
The word propitiation here is translated as atonement in some translations.
NIV – sacrifice of atonement
NASB – propitiation
ESV -propitiation
Propitiation is the idea that God is so fully satisfied with the finished work of Jesus at the cross, that He can righteously justify us and set us free from the guilt & power of sin.
The sacrifice of Jesus was once and for all, never to be repeated.
The word propitiation appears often in the NT
My little children these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and He is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world, I Jn.2:1-2
Herein is love not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, I Jn.4:10
We also note that the Greek word for propitiation crops up as mercy in the English translations
One such place is:
…over it the cherubim of glory shadowing
the mercy seat [=propitiatory], Heb.9:5being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation [=mercy seat] through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, Rom.3:24-25
We can rightly conclude that Jesus is our mercy seat. All this was done so that we could escape the judgement of God. For when He sees the blood of His Son in us, His judgement passes over us.
…how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait from heaven, for His Son, Whom He raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.
I Thess.1:9-10
3.4 Summary
We have seen that God had planned salvation before creation; that we all are sinners in God’s sight, and we all need the salvation He has provided.
Jesus is our substitionary Lamb, Who bore the judgement of God in our place.
A person can only receive the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice by putting their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever, believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference[=distinction] between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call. For Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved, Rom.10:8-13
Dear reader, have you called on the Name of the Lord for salvation?