The Basics of Passover

Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we saw last time the announcement that a plague was coming that would be so bad that it would crack even Pharaoh's stony heart. That plague was the death of the firstborn, and it was scheduled for the beginning of the first year of Israel's national existence. We are going to spend five Sundays (counting today) looking at the teaching on Passover that is to be found here in Exodus 12. Remember, the issue throughout the book has been the status of the firstborn son — Israel, God's firstborn, held in bondage by Pharaoh, and God's demand that Pharaoh let His firstborn son go. Rather than do so, Pharaoh had sought to kill Israel's sons; now God responds by slaying Pharaoh's firstborn son. The reversal is ironic, and fully deserved. Indeed, the death of the firstborn assumes a ritual importance commensurate with its actual importance in the course of this chapter. How does Israel find freedom from bondage? Only through the death of the firstborn. Egypt's firstborn died so that Israel's firstborn could live. That event, and its ritual commemoration, are the subject of this evening's sermon. We'll see that through the Passover event and ritual, God protected His people under the blood of the Lamb.