Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 12;John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 1 Pet. 1:18-20
I. The detailed account of Christ's redemption typified in Exodus indicates that God intends for us to remember Christ's redemption in a specific and detailed way—12:14; 13:9; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Matt. 26:28-29; cf. Rev. 22:1:
A. Fallen man ended up "in a coffin in Egypt" (Gen. 50:26); this is the reality of being "dead in your offenses and sins" and of "having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:1, 12).
B. On the day we believed into Christ as our Passover, we had a new birth, a new beginning, and our age according to the "sacred calendar" began—Exo. 12:2-3:
1. The Passover, a new beginning for the children of Israel, was held in the first month of the sacred year, the month of Abib—13:4.
2. Abib, meaning "sprouting," "budding," denotes a new beginning of life and the beginning of life's energy; God's people have two births, two beginnings: a physical birth with a physical beginning and a spiritual birth with a spiritual beginning for their salvation (cf. John 3:5-6).
II. The passover is a type of Christ, who is not only the Passover lamb but also every aspect of the passover—1:29; Exo. 12:13; 1 Cor. 5:7:
A. The noun passover, from the verb pass over (Exo. 12:13), indicates that the judgment of God passes over us because of the blood of Christ, the real Passover lamb (John 1:29).
B. The lamb being for every house reveals that the unit of God's salvation is the house, the family—Exo. 12:3-4; Luke 19:9; Acts 11:14; 16:30-31.
C. Just as the passover lamb was examined for four days and was to be without blemish, so Christ was examined and found to be perfect, without fault, before He was killed on the day of the Feast of the Passover—Exo. 12:6; John 8:7, 46; 18:38; 19:4, 6; Luke 22:7-8, 14-15; John 18:28.
D. For the lamb to be a year old reveals that in the eyes of God, when the Lord Jesus was put on the cross, He was fresh, never having been used for another purpose—Exo. 12:5; Heb. 10:5-10.
E. Just as the lamb was killed by the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel, so we all had a part in killing the Lamb of God—Exo. 12:6; Acts 3:14-15; John 19:20; Isa. 53:5-6.
F. Just as the flesh of the passover lamb was to be eaten for life supply, so we need to eat Christ for our life supply—Exo. 12:8-10; John 6:53, 55-57:
1. To solve the problem of the fall of man and to accomplish God's original intention, both life and redemption are needed.
2. God's judicial redemption through the blood of Christ is the procedure to reach God's goal of dispensing Christ as life into us for our organic salvation—Rom. 5:10.
G. The flesh of the lamb was to be roasted with fire and was not to be eaten raw or boiled—Exo. 12:8-9:
1. To be roasted with fire signifies Christ's suffering under the holy fire of God's judgment—Isa. 53:4, 10; Psa. 22:14-15; John 19:28.
2. To be eaten raw signifies not to believe in Christ's redemption but to regard Him merely as an example of human life to be imitated.
3. To be eaten boiled signifies regarding His death on the cross not as death for redemption but as the suffering of human persecution for martyrdom.
H. The children of Israel were to eat the lamb with its head, legs, and inward parts, signifying that we must take Christ in His entirety, with His wisdom, His activity and move, and His inward affection and feeling—Exo. 12:9; John 6:57; 1 Cor. 1:24; Rev. 14:4b; Phil. 1:8.
I. The lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, signifying to eliminate all sinful things and to have a bitter taste regarding them—Exo. 12:8.
J. The children of Israel were not to break any bones of the passover lamb—v. 46:
1. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, His bones were not broken— John 19:33, 36.
2. Christ's unbroken bone signifies His unbreakable and indestructible eternal life that imparts His life into us—Gen. 2:21-22.
K. The children of Israel had to eat the lamb with their loins girded, with their sandals on their feet, with their staff in their hand, and in haste—Exo. 12:11:
1. The eating of Christ as the Lamb energizes us to move out of Egypt, the world.
2. The redeemed ones applied the passover in such a way that they could become God's army—vv. 17, 41, 51; 13:18.
L. The blood of the lamb in a basin was applied to the lintel and two doorposts of the house by a bunch of hyssop—12:22:
1. Hyssop, the smallest of plants, signifies our faith, which is the smallest in quantity; it is by such little faith that the blood of Christ is applied—1 Kings 4:33; Matt. 17:20.
2. The blood of the lamb being in a basin, not a large vessel, signifies that in our experience of conversion, the redeeming blood of Christ was made available to us in a way that was small and easy to apply.
M. Christ is not only the lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs but also the house whose lintel and doorposts have been sprinkled with the redeeming blood—1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7:
1. The blood opens the way for us to get into Christ, who is typified by the house, and protects us from God's judgment— Heb. 10:19; Exo. 12:13, 23.
2. The children of Israel were required to stay in the house whose door had been touched with the blood; they were not to go out of it until the morning—v. 22:
a. We should maintain our identification with Christ, with a constant realization that we are nothing and that He is everything— John 15:4-5.
b. The redeeming blood keeps us in Christ—1 John 1:7, 9.
III. The children of Israel were to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days as a continuation of the Feast of the Passover—Exo. 12:15-20; 13:6-7; Matt. 26:17:
A. Christ is our unleavened bread, our sinless life supply of sincerity and truth, absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality—1 Cor. 5:7-8.
B. No leaven was to be seen with the children of Israel; this signifies that we must deal with the sin of which we are conscious,with any sin that is manifested, that is seen—Exo. 13:7; 12:19; 1 Cor. 5:7a; Heb. 12:1-2a:
1. To deal with manifested sin is to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; if we tolerate sin once it is exposed, we will lose the enjoyment of the fellowship of God's people—Exo. 12:19; 1 Cor. 5:13.
2. The only way to eliminate sin is to daily eat Christ as the crucified, resurrected, and sinless life, signified by the unleavened bread.
C. The entire Christian life (signified by seven days), from the day of our conversion to the day of rapture, should be a feast, an enjoyment of Christ as our banquet, the rich supply of life— Exo. 12:16, 18-19.