Exodus 12:3-14

Notice in verse 3 that on the tenth day each person was to take a lamb for himself. In verse 5 we see that the lamb was to be without blemish, a male of the first year.

Think of Jesus when you look at these instructions. It could be either from the sheep or the goats. Jesus is a type of both sheep and goat. Remember in the atonement offering that one of the two goats typified Jesus. He was represented as a goat in that ceremony.

We are told that the lamb was to be kept until the 14^th day of the same month and that it was then to have been killed at twilight. This was done by slitting its throat. They were then to take some of the blood and smear it on the doorposts and lintel of the houses where they would be eating the Passover.

So we see that the innocent lamb actually bled to death. This was how it died. Scripture says that the bones were not to be broken. It was to be roasted whole. Remember that Jesus' bones were not broken either.

We see in all these things that Jesus was the perfect antitype of this lamb that was slain at the Passover service. The blood was put on the lintel and on the doorpost as a sign for the death angel to pass over that house. And he was not to kill the firstborn who were inside. By means of the blood that was smeared on the lintel and the doorposts they were saved from the tenth plague—the plague of the death of the firstborn. It was the blood of the lamb that redeemed them. It bought back the firstborn of Israel. Otherwise, they would have been killed.

Jesus' ghastly death—the terrible scourging He endured—did the same thing for us. It bought us back. It redeemed us. The Protestants say He died of a broken heart. That is not true. Like the Passover lamb, He bled to death. His blood spilled onto the earth and He expired as an innocent and pure Man. He had never sinned—just like that lamb without blemish and without spot.

Exodus 12:11-14

So they have the lamb that they are supposed to kill as a sacrifice, and they are told, then, to eat it on the same evening in which they killed it as the 14^th day begins as we know it, and they were to roast it and eat it then that night.

Now, I find this, too, to be very clear. The instructions are just 1, 2, 3, 4, right down the line. The lamb or kid was to be slain on the 14^th at twilight, and its blood was to be smeared on the lintel and the doorposts of the houses, and they were to eat it that night after it had been roasted.

The blood that was put on the lintel and doorposts was a sign to God that they had been set apart for deliverance, or we could say that they had accepted His sacrifice and salvation. And so they were passed over when the death angel went through the land.

Exodus 12:11-13

The next thing that we established is that Passover is named for the passing over of the Israelites, who were still in their homes (not "going out" of Egypt) while the Death Angel was going through. We saw that verified by Josephus, who very clearly stated such.

The day is named for the passing over—not the sacrifice. The sacrifice came to be named because of the pass-over.

Exodus 12:10-12

That word "through" is interesting. It appears in the Bible only a few times. That is not passed over. He definitely said pass through. It is applied in the Hebrew language as though a person is walking through a stream. God is saying that He personally will pass through.