Exo 12:3-11 | KingComments | STEP | Moses must speak to “all the congregation of Israel”, an expression that is being used here for the first time. It indicates the unity of God’s people. On the tenth day, the beginning of the three-day darkness, every household must take a lamb into their house. God’s redemption of His people as a whole is known and seen in the households. The world does not see what the church does when it meets, but it does see what happens in the households of the believers. The lamb must have the central place in the household. For three days the whole family can observe the lamb. The significance of the household is highlighted in this chapter in a special way. The lamb must be there for three days. On the fourteenth day it must be killed. The Lord Jesus, the true Passover ( ), we also can observe during the three years of His walk on earth. We see this when we read the Gospels. Then we always have to remember that He is on His way to the cross to be slaughtered there. We can think of His death especially on Sunday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. If a household is too small, it can share a lamb with its neighbors. The lamb is the standard. We must comply with the Lamb, not the other way around. Each household enjoys the Lord Jesus to different degrees. If there is much enjoyed, one can let others share in it. The lamb must be taken from the sheep or from the goats. The sheep is usually used as a burnt offering, the goat as a sin offering. It has to be “unblemished”, there may be no defect on it. The Lord Jesus is the true burnt offering and the true sin offering. He is “a lamb unblemished and spotless” ( ). He is the One “who committed no sin” ( ), “who knew no sin” ( ), and of Whom is true: “In Him there is no sin” ( ). All this can only be said of Him. Therefore John the baptist could point at Him and say: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” ( ). It must be a male lamb, a year old. This relates to the manly power with which the Lord Jesus accomplished the work on the cross. We also see in the word “a year old” an indication of tenderness, sweetness. So the Lord Jesus was as well. Will the children in a household not have observed the lamb like this?

‏ Exodus 12:3-11

A Lamb

Moses must speak to “all the congregation of Israel”, an expression that is being used here for the first time. It indicates the unity of God’s people. On the tenth day, the beginning of the three-day darkness, every household must take a lamb into their house. God’s redemption of His people as a whole is known and seen in the households.

The world does not see what the church does when it meets, but it does see what happens in the households of the believers. The lamb must have the central place in the household. For three days the whole family can observe the lamb. The significance of the household is highlighted in this chapter in a special way.

The lamb must be there for three days. On the fourteenth day it must be killed. The Lord Jesus, the true Passover (1Cor 5:7b), we also can observe during the three years of His walk on earth. We see this when we read the Gospels. Then we always have to remember that He is on His way to the cross to be slaughtered there. We can think of His death especially on Sunday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

If a household is too small, it can share a lamb with its neighbors. The lamb is the standard. We must comply with the Lamb, not the other way around. Each household enjoys the Lord Jesus to different degrees. If there is much enjoyed, one can let others share in it.

The lamb must be taken from the sheep or from the goats. The sheep is usually used as a burnt offering, the goat as a sin offering. It has to be “unblemished”, there may be no defect on it. The Lord Jesus is the true burnt offering and the true sin offering. He is “a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1Pet 1:19). He is the One “who committed no sin” (1Pet 2:22), “who knew no sin” (2Cor 5:21), and of Whom is true: “In Him there is no sin” (1Jn 3:5). All this can only be said of Him. Therefore John the baptist could point at Him and say: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).

It must be a male lamb, a year old. This relates to the manly power with which the Lord Jesus accomplished the work on the cross. We also see in the word “a year old” an indication of tenderness, sweetness. So the Lord Jesus was as well. Will the children in a household not have observed the lamb like this?

The Procedure

After the lamb has been the center of the household for three full days, it must be killed on the fourteenth day (Exo 12:6). This means that blood must be shed. This indicates in picture that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb 9:22). It also shows that the life of the Lord Jesus does not bring salvation, but that only through His death reconciliation is possible (Rom 5:10). Although the Passover is killed in the individual houses, it is killed by all households at the same time, so it can be said that “the whole assembly of the congregation” kills it.

Then, for the first time in the Bible, there is spoken about the meaning of blood (Exo 12:7). In Genesis we read about sacrifices, but not about blood. This blood must be put on the two doorposts and on the lintel. Not on the threshold, because that could show contempt for the blood, there it could be trampled on.

How important it is to put the whole household behind the blood. It is really more important for parents that their children shelter behind the blood of the Lamb than that they have a good position in the world. Sometimes a shift can be observed. If a household no longer feeds on the Lamb, the darkness will slowly but surely return in the household.

The lamb should not only be observed and killed, it should also be eaten (Exo 12:8). Eating the lamb roasted on the fire means that by faith we make Christ our own. It means that we spiritually feed ourselves with the Lord Jesus as the One Who has borne our judgment (Jn 6:53-55). The unleavened loaves speak of His sinless life.

The bitter herbs remind us that it is our sins that have brought Him into the judgment, with which suffering and sorrow are connected (cf. Lam 3:15). This must be our food in the dark world in which we live.

The lamb has not been spared suffering (Exo 12:9). We should not think that the Lord Jesus was not exposed to the full heat of judgment. God has not softened the judgment because He is His Son.

The head, the legs and the entrails of the lamb are a picture of the different aspects of the Lord Jesus in His suffering. The head speaks of the thoughts of the Lord Jesus during this judgment; the legs show the strength and perseverance with which He carried this judgment; the entrails remind us of the feelings He had during the judgment. In Psalms we read a lot about this.

Nothing of the lamb may be kept until the next day (Exo 12:10). On the same day that it is killed, it should be eaten. The eating must always be done in connection with His death, with the judgment of sins. It shows the close connection between the sacrifice and the meal as a result of the sacrifice. When we think of our delivery, as it were, feeding ourselves with it, it must never be separated from the work that the Lord Jesus did at Calvary.

We will never be able to fully appreciate His work. There is much that we do not understand. God wants us to say that to Him, as it were offering that to Him as an offering by fire.

The Passover includes an attitude of being ready for immediate departure from Egypt (Exo 12:11). To gird the waist, or loins, means that the long clothes are put on and attached to the waist. In this way the legs are free to be able to walk fast. To gird the waist indicates that there is no need to arrange things anymore and that one can immediately start moving at the right time.

Thus the Lord’s Supper reminds us each time of the coming of the Lord (1Cor 11:26). Is our life influenced by the Lord’s Supper? Are we therefore ready to leave the place over which the judgment comes? Whoever celebrates the Lord’s Supper should be ready for immediate departure out of the world when the Lord comes to take us up. He has promised three times: “I am coming quickly” (Rev 22:7a ; 12a ; 20a). Is our answer: “Amen. Come Lord Jesus” (Rev 22:20b)?

It is the Passover for the LORD. Salvation is not primarily about the consequences for the people, however glorious those may be, but about the One Who has brought about this salvation and how He has done that. We see the same with the Supper. It is the Lord’s Supper (1Cor 11:20). Every time we celebrate it, we proclaim the Lord’s death. It is about Him. He has asked both of the bread, of which He says “this is My body”, and of the wine, of which He says that it is the new covenant in His blood: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1Cor 11:24-25).