Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20060503.htm
EXODUS: FUNCTIONING WELL IN A HOPELESS GROUP ASSIGNMENT
Part I: God's Deliverance Of Israel Amid Humanly Helpless Trials
R. God's Commemorating His Deliverance Amid Humanly Helpless Trials
(Exodus 12:1-36 et al.)
- Introduction
- When God delivered Israel from Egypt, He instituted the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread, cf. Ex. 12:12-17. Yet, these feasts also prefigure Christ's death and the Christian's holy walk, 1 Cor. 5:7-8.
- Well, some hold the Church is to celebrate the Lord's Table as a "new Passover", that Christ instituted the Lord's Table as the "new covenant" (cf. 1 Cor. 11:25) predicted for Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Yet, this view conflicts with Colossians 2:13-17 where Christians are no longer subject to the Law's holydays!
- Thus, we view the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread to discern their proper applications for us:
- God's Commemorating His Deliverance Amid Humanly Helpless Trials, Exodus 12:1-36 et al.
- The original institutions of the Feasts of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 12 were given to Israel to commemorate God's deliverance of her as a nation from Egyptian bondage:
- God explained these feasts were begun to celebrate His deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Ex. 12:26-27.
- The details of the festal celebrations themselves recall this deliverance rather graphically as follows:
- The death of Egyptian firstborn when the Passover protected Israel's firstborn (Ex. 13:12 with 12:12-13) was the plague that finally convinced Pharaoh to release Israel from Egypt, Ex. 12:29-32.
- Then, when the people of Israel left Egypt, they had to rush so that their dough was taken bound in cloths before it had time to rise, Ex. 12:33-34. Thus, the Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed the Passover Feast recalled this rapid, great deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Exodus 12:15-20.
- Yet, according to 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, these feasts also prefigure the atonement of Christ and the holy walk of the Christian, and we can verify this typologically from other Scriptures as well (as follows):
- The Passover lamb was to have no blemish (Exodus 12:5), foreshadowing how Christ as the sinless Son of God was thus our adequate representative before God, 1 Peter 1:19.
- The Passover lamb was to be slain as a substitutionary sacrifice for life of the firstborn, a fact that prefigures Christ's substitutionary death for us on the cross, Ex. 12:6 with John 1:29 and 2 Cor. 5:21.
- The Passover lamb was slain "between the evenings," between 3 p.m. and nightfall, Ex. 12:6; Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to Ex. 12:6. Jesus died at 3:00 p.m., Ibid., ftn. To Matt. 27:45 (27:46-50).
- Not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken (Ex. 12:46b), and not a bone of Christ's body was broken on the cross, Jn. 19:33, 36. (Ibid., ftn. to John 19:36 that alludes to this Exodus 12:46 reference)
- The Passover lamb's blood had to be applied to the doorposts for the firstborn to be saved, Ex. 12:7, 13; so it is with us -- only the application of the blood of Christ saves us, cf. Hebrews 9:22, Ibid.
- Then, as Christ is the Christian's Passover Lamb that was slain (1 Cor. 5:7), so we are to live free of the "old leaven" of sin typified in the Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed Passover, 1 Cor. 5:8.
- Yet, the Lord's Table is not a "new Passover" that we Christians are to observe as being under the Law:
- Christians are "dead" to the rule of the Mosaic Law via the cross (Romans 7:4a), so we are not subject to its holyday rules re: the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread or a "new Passover ," Col. 2:14-17.
- Thus, the Church is distinct from Israel in God's plan, and so partakes in only some of the blessings of the New Covenant that God will yet make with Israel, Jer. 31:31! (Bible Kno. Com., O. T., p. 1172)
- Since the "new covenant" is mentioned in connection with the Lord's Table instituted for the Church in 1 Cor. 11:25, Christ's cross is also the basis for God's New Covenant with Israel to be formed in the Kingdom (Jer. 31:31-34), so the cross undergirds all of God's redemptive work in history, Col. 1:20.
Lesson: (1) Passover and Unleavened Bread were begun for ISRAEL under the Mosaic Law to recall God's deliverance from Egypt, (2) but they ALSO prefigure Christ's CROSS and its EFFECTS that apply to us CHRISTIANS who are NOT under the Law! (3) Thus, the cross is the BASIS for ALL of God's redemptive work, (4) making possible these provisions: (a) it underwrites the New Covenant God will make with Israel in the coming Kingdom AND (b) applies SOME of that covenant's benefits to the CHURCH today (c) WHILE ALSO keeping the Church free from the Law's rule on keeping holydays!
Application: May we teach the grace of God's salvation while keeping Israel and the Church distinct! distinct!