In the last message in Exodus, we examined the announcement (11:1-10) and manifestation (12:29-30) of the tenth plague. Between the announcement and manifestation, we find in Exodus 12:1-28, the institution of the Lord’s Passover. Unlike the first nine plagues were the Lord separated and protected His people from the effects of the plague, the tenth plague is different; the death of all the firstborn in Egypt required a sacrifice to save the firstborn of God’s people. A lamb’s shed blood had to be applied to the doorposts of the house if the angel of death was going to spare the first born in that home. Lord willing, we plan to
open up this section in two separate messages. This week we will explore the meaning of the Lamb and the sacrifice. God gave Moses specific qualifications as to how the Lamb was to be selected, killed, its blood applied to the doorposts, and the manner in which it was to be eaten. Then the LORD declared to Moses, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (12:12-13). We will explore the great significance of the substitutionary sacrifice of an innocent lamb and its blood covering the Israelite’s firstborn on the night the tenth plague struck Egypt
