All Roads Lead To Jesus - Exodus

July 7th, 2020
by Dan Betters

EXODUS – JESUS IS THE PASSOVER LAMB

400 years is a long time. It had been 400 years since anyone had heard anything from God. The last time He had spoken was to a man named Joseph who had brought his family to Egypt in order to escape famine in their home country. Joseph had risen to a powerful position in Egypt. He was second only to Pharaoh. His immigrant family enjoyed unparalleled wealth, privilege, and riches in Egypt.

But things went south along the way. New Pharaoh’s had forgotten their history. They forgot about Joseph and his family. Eventually, they began to fear the Hebrew people and so they enslaved them, abused them, and tortured them. 400 years is a long time. 400 years of slavery is even longer. 400 years of silence is agony.

But now, God was speaking in powerful ways. A new man of God named Moses had suddenly appeared on the scene. He promised the Hebrew families that their God was listening and that He had heard their cries. Moses had come in the name of a God they hardly knew to deliver them from all they had ever known.

It must have been overwhelming for the Hebrews to watch the world around them suffer while they remained completely protected. Blood water. Frogs. Flies. Gnats. Hail. Lightning. Epidemics. The economy collapsed. People were dying. But the Pharaoh would not let God’s people free. There was one last judgment for Egypt – death. The death of the firstborn. But God’s people would be protected from this horror if they killed a lamb, spread it’s blood on their wooden doorposts, and ate a meal according to God’s instructions.

That first Passover meal must have been horrific as the cries of the Egyptians went up into the skies over Egypt upon discovering so much death in their homes. But Israel was on the Eve of Redemption. God was changing their world and their identity. The blood of the lamb had saved God’s people and covered over them. But it was only a shadow of someone greater.

1500 years later, Jesus ate this same Passover meal with his disciples and revisited the horror of that first Passover meal. He told his disciples that His body would be broken, and his blood would be spilled out – just like that first Passover Lamb. His broken body and his spilled blood were for them. In just a day, Jesus would be betrayed, unfairly condemned, stripped naked, beaten, and killed on a cross. But something glorious was happening. The love of God and our sin collided on that Cross and God’s love won. Our sins were being covered over by the blood of the Lamb.

In Exodus, Jesus is our Passover Lamb. His blood was spilled out for us and his body was broken for us. His sacrifice of eternal worth covers over our sinful nature and sinful actions eternally. God’s righteousness requires that His covenant is fulfilled. He doesn’t change the rules of meeting His standard of perfect righteousness. But since we are incapable of meeting these requirements, God did it for us through His Son Jesus – the true Passover Lamb.

The Hebrew people in Egypt had to trust that God was righteous, that His wrath was coming, and His instructions to cover their doorposts would save them. They would have to act in faith.

Likewise, we have to trust that God is righteous, that His wrath is either coming or has already been meted out on Jesus, and that his invitation to faith in the work of Christ will save us. We too, have to act in faith. We can’t please God on our own. Paul compares our sin to leaven in bread which spoiled a loaf of bread in his day. In the same way, sin spoils us and sets us at odds with God. Paul says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.”

The pages of Exodus shout the name of Christ. Israel was not just saved from the wrath of God by the blood of the lamb, they were saved to a new life and new identity. They were no longer slaves to Egypt but instead made into the sons and daughters of the Living God. Jesus our Passover Lamb has changed the trajectory of our lives if we would put our faith in him. Those who are united to Christ by faith are no longer under the wrath of God – Jesus finished that work on the Cross. We have been saved from sin and saved to a new way of living.

Posted in All Roads Lead To Jesus
Posted in Pastor Dan, All Roads lead To Jesus, Exodus, Jesus, Christology

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Cathy Schreckengost - July 7th, 2020 at 8:12am

Thank you Dan for sharing God is present in the darkest nights of life. In 2005 I felt my world was collapsing into a bottomless pit. My daughter was in rebellion living in darkness, my mom was diagnosed w/terminal lung bladder cancer, my dad was enmeshed in an affair w/a younger woman neglecting my dying mom, my 40 yr. old sister was diagnosed w/metastatic breast cancer. My heart was broken I felt powerless broken beyond anything I'd ever experienced. Thru the daily reading of Scripture prayers, nightly pleas to Jesus to give me strength, wisdom ability to endure the trials submit to His will I was able to keep moving forward. On nights when I couldn't sleep I would sit outside on our patio, staring into the heavens asking God to show me He was there. Time after time God sent me shooting stars just when I was feeling hopeless. Those heavenly gifts assured me God is faithful gives us what we need, encouraging us to hold onto Him always, especially thru the storms.