#115 – An Eternal Memorial

AN ETERNAL MEMORIAL

Exo. 12:14 "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever."

The passover is a graphic illustration of the deliverance one gets when he trusts Christ as his personal Saviour. Someone has said, “The story of the first Passover is just an early edition of the gospel of Christ. The first item in this story is a change of dates where a NEW YEAR begins.

THE NEW YEAR FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD

Exodus 12:1 2, "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." The passover began a new birth day for them. This is exactly what happens when one is saved. Now the world does not recognize it but the new birth starts a new beginning for us. I was born the first time in 1930 and I was born the second time in 1939. My body still hangs on to the old calendar but the new man in Christ has a new birth day that extends into the eternal ages. It is not affected by time and does not age. It is wonderful to be on the eternal time clock.

THE SLAIN LAMB OUR SUBSTITUTE

There was no way around this. It was the death of the first-born or the death of a carefully selected lamb. “Ye shall take every man a lamb, a lamb for an house” (vs 3).

Either the firstborn or an innocent substitute must die. This was God’s method, there was no escape from it. The Lord Jesus Christ is the divinely appointed Lamb (John 1:29). I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins... “Christ our Passover sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7).

Substitution is the only way of salvation for man. Man has fallen into sin and is totally depraved and cannot save himself. Jesus our slain Lamb has paid the price. The Father in heaven has accepted the payment and has promised to save those who will put their faith in Christ as a personal Saviour.

THE SLAIN LAMB MUST BE APPROPRIATED

“Ye shall take the blood, . . . and it shall be a token upon the houses where ye are” (vss 7-12). The death of the Lamb availed them nothing until the blood was applied. There are those who discount the value of the blood by saying it was symbolic. They say that it was the death of Christ that set man free.

There are those who would say that the death of the Lamb was enough. It took the death of the Lamb and the application of the blood to save the first-born. Exodus 12:13, "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."

The implication of this verse is that the first-born of every Jewish family would die along with the Egyptians if the blood was not applied.

Jesus shed His blood for all mankind, but if that blood is not applied by faith to each individual, there will be no forgiveness. The person who refuses the blood as an atonement for the Soul chooses his own destiny. Next we see the—

CONFIRMATION

The message was in verse 13, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” When God came through the land of Egypt that night, He was not looking for Jew or Egyptian but for the blood. The blood made them safe and the promise made them sure. Next we see that in the Passover there was—

PURIFICATION

Exodus 12:15, "Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel."

Leaven as typical of secret and hidden sin must be put away (1 Cor. 5:7-8), and put away on the first day. The blood without not only justifies, but also leads to cleansing within. 2 Corinthians 7:1,