This is the fifth article of the gospel in exodus series. Up until now, we have seen the gospel centric meaning of the first few miracles of Moses. We have also seen the similarity of the ten plagues with the final judgments of God. In articles prior to it, we had seen that Moses was a type of Christ in Gospel books, and the villain of the exodus (Pharaoh) was a type of the beast ruler of the book of revelation (click here). Let us move ahead in our study.
Feast of Passover
Israelites celebrated the feast of Passover, as instructed by God before the final tenth plague struck the land of Egypt (Exodus 12). Passover was celebrated by sacrificing a lamb for each family, which was then roasted in fire, eaten with bitter herbs along with unleavened bread. It had to be eaten with loins girded, with shoes in feet, with staff in hand and in a hurried manner. The idea was to signify that they are ready to leave the old world of Egypt. They applied the blood of the sacrificed lamb to their doorposts.
The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt
Exo 12:13
We know that for the New Testament Church of God, Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). The preparation for Passover began from 10th and continued till the 14th day of the first month
Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb[a] for his family, one for each household.
Exo 12:3
Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight
Exo 12:6
Similarly, Jesus did his ministry for 3.5 yrs (11th, 12th, 13th day and half of the 14th day). In Gospels, we read Jesus says,
“Go you and tell that fox …today tomorrow and the third day I will be perfected.”
Luke 13:32
Secondly, as the lamb had to be a male lamb in his first year and without blemish so was Christ the ‘Lamb of God’ without blemish (1 Pet 1:19-20, John 1:29). And finally, on the symbolic meaning of eating the sacrificed lamb, we see that as the lamb had to be taken with bitter herbs, so also accepting Christ and his gospel is expected to be in affliction, persecution and bitter conditions (1 Thess 1:6, 2 Thess 1:4). The Apostles preached that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).” Not only with bitter herb, but it had to be consumed with unleavened bread, by girding their lions, wearing shoes and having staff in the hand. The symbolic meaning of girding lions, wearing shoes and eating in haste [as if being ready for redemption] is mentioned in various epistles (1 Pet 1:13, Eph 6:15, Gal 5:9, 1 Cor 5:7, Luke 12:1, Matt 16:12 ).
We all know that as Israelites’ firstborn sons were saved from death by the blood of the lamb, so shall we be redeemed from this earth, not by our holiness, or by our great ethical standards, but only and only by the blood of the lamb. The commandment to remember the feast of Passover throughout the generation of Israelites resembles the commandment of Jesus to his followers to remember his death on the cross.
19 And he(Jesus) took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Luke 22:19
Note:
We read in the book of numbers that certain unclean men came up to Moses and informed him that they had touched a dead body and so they were defiled. Therefore, they asked Moses whether they should keep the Passover or not. Moses then went into the presence of the Lord and enquired about the same. God told him “If anyone of you is unclean he shall still keep the pass over (Numbers 9:10).” In the New Testament, people are asked to do a self-examination before taking part in the Lord’s Table. The men who came to Moses to enquire were kind of examining themselves. But on finding it that we are defiled, they were still asked to keep the Passover. Contrary to this TPM’s self-acclaimed, over righteous apostles, prohibits believers from communion, if a believer had taken medicine in the previous six months, or had married a spouse from another church. Therefore no matter what kind of show them make by their own strict rules and regulations of their own imaginations, TPM’s communion is unbiblical. It violates God’s commandment “if he is UNCLEAN he shall still keep the Passover.”
The Red Sea
With the tenth plague striking upon the land of Egypt, Pharaoh called Moses and asked him to quit Egypt (Exo 12:31-32). Six hundred thousand men, woman and children along with cattle and mixed multitude came out of Egypt the self-same day. They took gold, silver, clothing and jewels from the Egyptians. It was as if they had looted the bounty. Then as they reached the borders of the red sea, Moses struck his staff on the sea and parted it in two halves. Israelites passed through the sea over the dry land. Pharaoh tried to follow Israelites but the red sea returned to its normal course and the Pharaoh was destroyed along with his army and chariots. None of them escaped.
The Red Sea experience, as you all know, signified water baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-3). Our baptism in Jesus, as we follow him in his death and resurrection, is the death of our old life of slavery of sin and beginning of new life in Jesus. Moses said, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord (Exo 14:13).” Salvation is thus totally the work of Lord. We cannot help God to help us.
Just like Pharaoh and his army were cast alive in red sea, so the beast and the false prophet will be cast alive in lake of fire (Rev 19:20).
