The record of the Passover given in Exodus is very detailed. Nowhere else in the Scriptures do we find such a detailed account of Christ’s redemption. The reason for all the detail is that God wants us to know the redemption of Christ in such a thorough way that we could never forget it. Twice the word memorial is used (12:14; 13:9). This indicates that it is God’s intention that we neither neglect the redemption of Christ nor forget it. Rather, we are to remember Christ’s redemption, not in a general way, but in a specific and detailed way.
One of the details in the account of the Passover concerns the eating of the flesh of the lamb. The flesh of the Passover lamb signifies Christ’s crucified and resurrected life that is our supply. In John 6:53 the Lord Jesus said that if we would have life, we must eat the flesh of the Son of Man. In verse 55 He went on to say, “My flesh is true food.” Through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection Christ’s flesh has become our food.
Another detail is related to the bones of the Passover lamb. The children of Israel were told in 12:46 that none of the bones of the lamb used in the Passover were to be broken. This is of great significance. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, His bones were not broken (John 19:33, 36). This indicates that within Christ there is something unbreakable and indestructible. Christ’s unbroken bone signifies the life that imparts life. This is typified by Eve being produced from Adam’s rib. Just as Adam’s bone could impart life into Eve to make her Adam’s counterpart, so Christ’s indestructible life has imparted life into us to make us His counterpart. Adam’s rib typifies Christ’s life that imparts life. In Christ there is a life signified by the unbroken bone of the Passover lamb. This life is Christ’s eternal, divine life that imparts life into us.
We need to be deeply impressed with all the details of the Passover. As we consider these details, we realize that the account of the Passover is not simple or easy to understand.
In this message we shall consider the way to apply the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb is wonderful, but if we do not know how to apply it, the lamb will have little meaning in our daily subjective experience. Therefore, our concern in this message is with the subjective experience of Christ as the Passover.
Exodus 12:11 says, “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah’s passover” (Heb.). As the children of Israel were eating the Passover lamb, they were like an army. Exodus 12:51 says that the Lord brought the children of Israel “out of the land of Egypt by their armies.” Not many Christians today realize that they should be an army. On the contrary, the prevailing concept seems to be that anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus should be placed in a palanquin and carried away to heaven. However, according to the picture in the book of Exodus, the redeemed ones applied the Passover in such a way that they could become God’s army.
According to 12:11, the children of Israel ate with their loins girded. Before we were saved, we were somewhat loose; our being had not been girded up. To be girded is part of the preparation to be a soldier in the army. By girding ourselves we make ourselves ready to fight.
The gospel preached by many Christians today is not complete. When you heard the gospel, were you told to repent, believe in the Lord Jesus, receive Him, and then gird yourself up? Few of us were told that we needed to gird ourselves. However, the matter of being girded is here in Exodus 12. This record is complete. Only when we have girded our loins are we qualified to apply the Passover. If we are still loose, we cannot take the Passover in a proper way.
The children of Israel were also told to have shoes on their feet. This indicates that they were to make themselves ready for a journey. In an army all soldiers need proper shoes. Before we were saved, our feet were not shod. If we would fight the battle for the Lord, we need the right kind of shoes on our feet. I am sorry that the preaching of the gospel in today’s Christianity rarely includes a word about the need to have shoes on our feet in order to apply the Passover lamb. I hope that the Holy Spirit will speak to many concerning this.
Furthermore, in 12:11 the children of Israel were told to eat the Passover with their staff in hand. The staff was also to be used for the journey. In ancient times, when people went on a long journey, they often took a staff. The girdle, the shoes, and the staff were all for the journey that the children of Israel were about to make. This journey was not to be a journey of peace, but a journey of war, for, in a sense, they had to fight their way out of Egypt.
We thank the Lord that although we may not have heard about these things when the gospel was preached to us, many of us had some experience of them at the time we were saved. When we decided to take Christ as our Savior, inwardly we had the sense that we had been made ready for a long journey. This was my experience. It seemed to me that I had given up my former journey and was ready to start on a new journey, to have a new life with a new beginning. Did you not have such an experience when you believed in the Lord? Were you not made ready for a new journey, a new walk? Perhaps you did not have words for it, but the Holy Spirit did equip you in such a way and did lead you into a journey of fighting. You realized that a new life, a new journey, had just begun.
Finally, 12:11 says that God’s redeemed people were to eat the Passover in haste. Because they had to flee from the land of Egypt that night, they were required to eat the Passover lamb hastily. Soldiers are often required to eat their meals quickly. Those who have been in the army realize that soldiers are trained to eat in this way. Because a battle lies ahead of us, we must eat the Passover lamb in haste. Do not excuse yourself by saying that you were born with a slow disposition. Those who are slow may be the first to be attacked by the enemy from the rear. Those who eat fast are probably those who are at the front of the army.
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