Exodus 11-12:28 | The Tenth Plague and the First Passover, Part One Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (142)

“Something Will Have Your Heart”

As we’ve been studying the opening chapters of Exodus, we’ve seen Pharaoh stubbornly refuse to let go of his idols, his false gods of power and wealth.  Why did he refuse to let the people of Israel go, especially after the first nine plagues?  Why didn’t he submit to God when he saw the power of God all around him?

From God’s point of view, it’s because God hardened his heart.  But what did that hardening do to Pharaoh?  It made him love his idols more than God.  He loved his idols more than he loved God.  God demanded that he let his idols go and he hated God for it.  Jonathan Edwards says that this is why we all hate God.  He says:

“God is opposed to the worship of our idols.  Everyone worships the true God or some idol…It is impossible that it should be otherwise.  Something will have your heart, and whatever you give your heart to will be called your God.  Nothing will so soon excite enmity as opposition to that which is dearest to your heart.  A man cannot serve two who claim to be his master (Mt. 6:24)…If a man loses their idol, they lose their all.”

What “has your heart”?  One of the best ways to know is to think about what provokes anger in you when it’s threatened.  When something bumps up against our idols, we get angry and often double-down on refusing to loosen our grip on the thing that’s destroying us.

Sometimes pain is the only voice we can hear when we’re stuck in our idolatry.  God loves us and wants to give us what’s best for us, which is more of himself.  To do this he sometimes has to loosen our hands from the things we’re holding onto too tightly.  In love, he wants to replace our false gods with the real comfort and hope that only comes from him.

Salvation through Judgment

This is where Pharaoh finds himself after nine devasting plagues.  He refuses to acknowledge Israel’s God as the one true God.  Yahweh has demanded to be known and demanded that Pharaoh let the Hebrews go, but he would not.

So God has to force his hand.  He must compel the strongest power in the world to let Israel go when his fixed intention was to keep them as his slaves.

Pharaoh’s persistent idolatry and his refusal to obey God provokes Yahweh’s judgment in one final plague.  But this judgment will also be the means of Israel’s salvation.  Through the final plague, Pharaoh will be judged and Israel will be saved.

This is the main idea of our text today and of this sermon, and arguably the whole Bible.  From the Garden of Eden to Noah to the exodus to the cross, God saves his people through judgment.  In a singular act, the judgment and mercy of God fall down together.

Exodus 11-13 are about the tenth plague.  In these chapters, we see that judgment is coming (ch. 11), judgment is averted (12:1-28), judgment comes (12:29-32), salvation comes (12:33-42), and salvation remembered (12:43-13:16).  We’ll look at the first two today, the next three in a couple weeks.

Judgment is Coming

In chapter 11, we see that judgment is coming in the form of one final plague.  This is the climax of the plague narrative, the final blow against Pharaoh.  God’s patience is out.  This is the only plague with no hope of reversal.

The plague is related to what Pharaoh did in chapter 1 when he attempted to kill all the male children of Israel (v. 16).  This decree wasn’t against Israel’s children, but God’s children, so God comes after Pharaoh’s children.  There will be no distinction between rich or poor (11:5).  It will be Egypt’s turn to “cry” (v. 6), just as Israel cried out under their oppression (2:23, 3:7), but not even a dog will bark among the Israelites during the tenth plague (v. 7).

This plague is divine retribution for what Pharaoh did to the Israelite children.  God’s ethic is “eye for an eye.”  Pharaoh’s punishment will meet his crime.

But the plague is more than retribution.  It’s also part of God’s larger purpose in hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that he can make his wonders known in Egypt (vv. 9-10), and to all nations (9:16).

Judgment is Averted

In 12:1-28, we see that judgment is averted for some.  The result of the tenth plague is put on pause while God gives Israel instructions for what’ll become one of the defining marks of their identity as a people: the Passover.

What is the Passover?  Simply put, it’s when God passed over some while he judged others, a benefit provided because of the blood of a substitute.

This meal would reorient time for the nation of Israel (v. 2).  They’ll date all future events with this night in mind.  This historical event becomes the foundation of their national identity, the event that makes all the other events possible.  It’s their founding festival, their July 4th.  It’s the oldest of the Jewish festivals and will be fixed in their national consciousness as the night a bunch of poor slaves became a mighty nation.

But their deliverance wasn’t automatic.  They had to trust and obey God’s word first.  Chapter 11 says that judgment is coming.  Chapter 12 says that Israel isn’t exempt from this judgment just because they’re Israelites.  The Passover taught Israel that they aren’t inherently better than the Egyptians, that they deserve judgment too.

In mercy, God tells them that his judgment can be averted if they trust him and follow his instructions.  He tells them that a substitute would be needed for every Israelite family (v. 3).  They were to make a meal of the lamb, making sure that there was enough for everyone so that everyone could participate, but not too much so that none is wasted (v. 4).

This lamb had to be special (v. 5).  It had to be “without blemish.”  We’re all tempted to keep the best for ourselves and give God what’s leftover, but God commanded them to give him their best.

This lamb “without defect” makes us think of Jesus.  Peter says, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pet. 1:18-19).  John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God” (Jn. 1:29, 36), and John the Apostle saw in heaven, “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne” (Rev. 5:6).  It says in Exodus 12:6 that the lamb was to be killed “at twilight.”  The historian Josephus tells us that the Passover lamb was killed in the temple at 3:00pm, the same time Jesus was dying on the cross (Lk. 23:44-46).

It’s the blood of the lamb that was especially important for the Israelites (v. 7).  The Israelites were to put the lamb’s blood around the entrance of the house where they would eat the meal.

Verse 12 tells us why they should do this.  Yahweh, the Creator and Judge of the whole earth, will come that night to execute judgment on the people, animals, and gods of Egypt.  Why the animals?  Many of the Egyptian gods were represented by animals, so Yahweh wanted to show them how utterly helpless their gods were to save them.  Their gods couldn’t protect them from Yahweh.  “All the gods of Egypt” will be judged that night, including Pharaoh.  They’ll all be shown to be non-gods.  The “battle of the gods” begun in the plagues is about to be over.

The Israelites, however, would be saved by the blood of the substitute (v. 13).  God again makes a distinction between his people and Pharaoh’s people.  Those who belong to him will put on their houses the “sign” of blood and be spared from the plague.  Those who do not mark their houses with blood will experience the plague.

The blood is called a “sign,” meaning it’s a physical symbol pointing to a spiritual reality.  The reality it points to is that the people inside the house that was covered in blood belonged to Yahweh.  Leviticus 17:11 tells us that the blood of an animal symbolized the life of the victim and the life of those for whom it was substituted.  The blood doesn’t cause the people in the house to belong to Yahweh but acts like a billboard announcing that they do.  Their faith in his word is what unites them to Yahweh.  The blood on their doors stands as a sign and symbol of their faith.  Just as baptism and the Lord’s Supper don’t unite us to Jesus but stand as signs and symbols that show that we belong to him.

The Israelites weren’t exempt from the judgment of God just because they were Israelites or because they lived better than the Egyptians.  They also were under the wrath of God and needed to be protected.  If they were to be protected it wouldn’t be because God had no claim against them.  It would only be because he saw the blood of the lamb on their doorframes and would in grace pass over their homes as he judged.  The blood symbolically covered the people who were within the house whose own blood should’ve been rightfully shed for their sins against God.

Verse 8 says that they should eat bitter herbs with the lamb to remember the bitterness of their slavery (1:14).  Then in verse 9 he tells them to not eat the meat raw and not to boil it.  What’s behind this instruction?  Eating raw meat with the blood was part of pagan festivals, so God didn’t want his people to think that he was somehow giving them magical powers from the animals they ate.

But he was also teaching them to think in terms of “life for a life.”  The whole lamb was to be roasted and sat before them (v. 9).  There wouldn’t be a stew with unrecognizable or hidden meats, but rather a whole lamb.  This was, as Mark Dever says, “an uncomfortable reminder that they as a community were dependent on another being slain in their stead.”[1]  The dead animal that they were eating died so that they could live.

Verse 10 says that the lamb must be eaten in its entirety and that no leftovers were to go in the fridge.  The lamb was set apart for the Passover and was too sacred to be eaten any other time.  Eating the lamb completely points to the completeness of the sacrifice.

Verse 11 says that the meal must be eaten quickly.  “Loins girded, shoes on, staff in hand” means that they must be ready to depart at a moment’s notice during the meal.  The Hebrew word for “in haste” implies trembling and a sense of alarm at all that’s going on around them.  This was the night of their deliverance, their rescue.

Can you imagine all that they were feeling that night?  The only thing they knew was slavery, poverty, back-breaking work, and a hopeless future.  Yet, here comes Moses with a word from God, with signs and wonders, with promises of freedom, with directions from the Lord about a spotless lamb and blood and judgment and death.  They undoubtedly felt the full range of human emotions that night!

But notice the end of verse 11, “It is the Lord’s Passover.”  This is the first time the word “Passover” is used in the Bible, and it’s used to tell us what the Passover is primarily about.  It’s not primarily about deliverance for Israel or judgment for Pharaoh.  It’s primarily about the glorification of Yahweh: “It is Yahweh’s Passover.”  Everything happening that night is so that God might be known and feared and loved and worshiped “in all the earth” (9:16).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

Verses 14-20 are the Lord’s instructions to Moses about the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This Feast, the oldest in Jewish history, was how Israel would remember the night they were delivered.  More instructions are given in verses 43-51, which we’ll look at in a couple weeks.

What was happening that night was so important that it must be remembered for all generations.  As one commentator says, “The purpose of these celebrations is clearly for the benefit of those generations who did not participate in the Exodus itself…Yahweh’s acts on behalf of his people are never meant to be anything less than acts that transcend time and space.  There is more to the Exodus than simply delivering slaves from Egypt.  God’s field of vision is far and broad.”[2]

The importance of this Feast is seen in verses 15 and 19.  Not keeping the festival in the way the Lord instructed is the first step in forgetting what the Lord did, which would eventually lead them to stop worshipping the Lord.  This forgetting is therefore a kind of blasphemy, a rejection and denial of God’s goodness.  That’s why the punishment was so steep for violating the feast.  The Lord wanted to make sure that his people never forgot the night he delivered them from slavery.

God gave Israel this special meal followed by a special week to teach them and their children about himself and his kindness.  This is what the Lord has done by giving us baptism and the Lord’s Supper, baptism as the initial rite and the Supper as the repeated rite, to remind us of the great deliverance Jesus has worked for us in saving us from our sins and delivering us from the wrath to come.

Verse 24 says that they should obey these things for the sake of their children.  Verses 26-27 make this even more clear.  Here we see that in the middle of this horrific final plague, the Lord is concerned with the children.  God is always concerned about the children, even if sometimes we aren’t.  Because he cares about the rising generations, he builds into the very structure of Israelite life a way to teach children about himself and what he’s done.  The story they were to pass down was that they were saved because a lamb was sacrificed.  Not so different from the story we pass down to our children.  I’ll say more in a few weeks about the importance of catechizing our children, but for now see that this has always been what God’s people do.

Verses 27-28 show us how the people responded to all this.  They believed what the Lord said through Moses and did what the Lord told them to do.

Our Greatest Need

Friend, if you’re not a Christian, God is calling you to trust him, to believe his word, to trust that he’s sent a perfect sacrificial Lamb as a substitute for you, to save you from God’s judgment for your sins.  The Lord made us in his image and yet we deserve his judgment because we’ve all rebelled against him.  But God in his great love poured out his judgment on Jesus, our Passover Lamb, so that everyone who trusts in him will be saved.  He’s the Lamb without defect who was our substitutionary sacrifice, if we’ll repent and believe in him.

When we were helpless and unable to save ourselves, Jesus came as our substitute, our perfect sacrifice, to protect us from the death we deserve.  Believing this is the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

Some think that being a Christian means becoming a little religious or wanting to use God to have a little more peace in life.  They want a little forgiveness, a little emotional pick-me-up, a little sense of order or moral reformation, a little bit of God’s blessing so that life isn’t so hard.

But this isn’t Christianity.  The good news of Jesus is so much better than that.  In Jesus, God came not to give us what we think we need, a little hope or peace or purpose or joy or health or prosperity, but to meet a much deeper and more profound need you may not even realize you have.  Your primary need is to be made right with the God who made you and who you’ve sinned against.  You need him to “pass over” your sins and spare you from his judgment.  There’s nothing more important than this.  You don’t need him to make you feel better.  You need him to save you from his coming judgment.  And in Jesus, he has come to do just that for everyone who comes to him in faith and turns away from their sins.

The Sufficiency of the Blood

For those who have put their faith in Jesus, we still have our doubts.  We wonder if we’re really saved.  We sin and feel horrible and feel like God is so far away and question if we really know him at all.  We look around at our friends and see their faith and think that we must not really love Jesus because we don’t look or act like they do.

Let me try to help you with an illustration I heard from Professor D. A. Carson.  He tells us to imagine two Jews having a discussion in the land of Goshen in Egypt on the day of the Passover.  One said to the other, “Aren’t you a little nervous about what’s going to happen tonight?”  The other said, “Well, God told us what to do through Moses.  Haven’t you put the blood of the lamb on your doorposts, packed your bags, and prepared the meal to eat tonight?”  “Of course I’ve done all that,” the other man said.  “But there’s been all this scary stuff happening around here, with the flies and the locusts and now the destroyer is supposed to come and kill the firstborn.  That may not concern you because you have three kids, but I’ve only got one.  I know what God says, I put the blood there, but this is scary stuff.  I’ll be glad when this night is over.”  The other man says, “I’m not scared, I trust the promises of God!”

That night, the destroyer swept through the land.  Which one lost his firstborn?  The answer is of course, neither.  Why?  Because death doesn’t pass over them on the basis of the intensity of their faith, but rather on the ground of the blood of the lamb.

The blood of the Lamb is what purchases our life and salvation.  How we feel or what we’ve done can never change that.  Even if our faith is like shifting sand and even if doubts whip through us like a howling wind and even if we feel that God is distant and doesn’t see us or care for us and even if temptation wins the day, our house will stand and be secure if it’s covered by the blood of the Lamb.

As the hymn says, “I need no other argument, I need no other plea.  It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.”  Is your house covered with the blood of the Lamb?  Remember Edwards, “Something will have your heart…whatever you give your heart to will be called your God.”

Understanding that the spotless Lamb of God died for you is the only thing that’ll bring your heart fully to God. What has your heart?  Is the house of your heart covered by the blood of the Lamb?

[1]Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence, It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 20.

[2]Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 247.