to the Adult Sunday School and our lessons, especially from the return of history today. Let's open together Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12, and we'll read a few verses. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of month. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, They shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening, and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Let's pray. Lord, as we come to your word, we pray that we would hear your voice as we were listening this morning, not just with our ears, but with our minds and our hearts. Lord, make us receive these words with faith. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. As I'm distributing this to you so that you may follow or you would like to write, I'll make a quick revision on what we have said before about the Pentateuch A very quick revision for those who are here. This may refresh their memory. And those who are new may have a kind of a small glimpse of what we were talking about in the Pentateuch. The word Pentateuch, if you remember, we are talking about the five books of Moses. And in these five books, we talked about what we call a caustic structure, that there is a structure in these five books that the first and the last, they are connected together, Genesis and Deuteronomy. And then we have Exodus and we have Numbers. And the heart of the Pentateuch is the book of Leviticus. We saw that here they are going out of Egypt and here they are going to Canaan. And here is the heart of the issue, the heart of the five books, and especially chapter 16 and the day of the atonement. was the heart of the Pentateuch, was the main topic or the main theme that the whole books are talking about. Not just the sacrifice, but this is the day on which there is a general reconciliation between God and his people, that his people can come again. and meet him. There is cleansing that happens to the whole people on this day. This is the heart, the heart of the five books. And if you remember when we were talking in the book of Genesis, we said the creation story was written to reflect this centrality. Six days of creation, but the main theme of the first chapter of the scripture is the Sabbath. that God's people are coming to God's place, worshiping him as the true God. And the book of the Pentateuch and the Day of the Atonement is the heart of it, is the heart of it. Some people think most of the Pentateuch is talking about the people of God in the wilderness. That's not true. Most of the Pentateuch is not about being in the wilderness. In fact, the majority or the most important time for the people of Israel in the Pentateuch is at Mount Sinai on the mountain, meeting God on the mountain. Mount Sinai is the heart of the book. They spend from Exodus chapter 19 up to the book of Numbers chapter 10, they are in this place. This is the heart of it where God is meeting them and showing them what does it mean for him to be their God and they shall be his people. Even when we read the 10 commandments, we'll come to this in following times. They began like that. Every time we read them, they begin like that, right? I am the Lord, your God who saved you, who get you out of Egypt. This is who I am. And you shall be my people. What does it mean to be your people? Oh God, these are the commandments. This is how you live. And he's giving them this at Mount Sinai. This is how we will live together. But now at Exodus 12, we are so close to going to Mount Sinai. They reached there at Exodus 19, but they were in Egypt. And Egypt, as we said before in the previous time, Egypt represented death. You remember the book of Genesis began in the garden? We were in the garden on the mountain of the Lord, and the book of Genesis ended talking about Joseph being buried, is he in a coffin, in Egypt. This is the direction in Genesis, away from the Lord. But now in Exodus, they are in Egypt, slaves. And God is taking them to the mountain, Mount Sinai. And as he's going to do this, to bring them back to Mount Sinai, first he needed to teach them who he is. What does it mean to be their God? So as he's bringing them out from Egypt, from this death, we saw the 10 plagues. This was the last time. And we ask this question, was God able to get them out of Egypt by just one plague? Yes, he can, he could, but he did not. Why he gave them 10 plagues or he showed them 10 plagues with the Egyptians? So that they may know who God is. Because they can come back to the mountain and meet him so that he may be their God and they shall be his people without knowing him. They have been in bondage for 400 years, in death, in death in Egypt. Worshiping other gods, impacted by other gods, but he showed them who he is through the templates. But then the last one is the one we are talking about today, which is the Passover event, or the killing of the firstborn. This was the 10th plague. And the question is, why particularly was this plague the last one? Was there something behind this 10th plague that God said, I will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, including the firstborn from the Israelites, if they don't kill the lamb and put the blood on the two side posts and the upper post. I will kill the firstborn. What is the sign about that? Why did God use this sign to teach them something? Open with me, Exodus chapter four. This can give us a glimpse to understand how the redemption and the Passover lamb are connected, are related together. In the book of Exodus chapter 4, God was calling Moses and telling him what he is going to do. From the very beginning, before even sending Moses to talk to Pharaoh. And in verse 21, this is what the Lord is telling Moses. And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my son. Notice this. Israel is my son, even my firstborn. So God is saying, I have a firstborn son, and his name is Israel. This is my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. So this was the point. Getting Israel of Egypt through this plague particularly was because Israel is God's first son, firstborn. And so if you do not let my firstborn to go, I will kill your firstborn son. When we think of the Exodus story or how they got out the night of the Passover, We may think of the households of Israel, each one of them, as we read earlier. Each house should put the blood to redeem the firstborn. It was not just about redeeming the firstborn of Israel, of every household. It was a picture of what does it mean that God is redeeming Israel itself. for God's firstborn to get out of Egypt, there must be a redemption that takes place. God wants to take Israel from Egypt, from death, to the mountain of the Lord, to meet them in Sinai. But to return to the mountain of the Lord, to return to a place similar to Eden. You can't return to me without redemption. There must be a price. The restoration will be through a sacrifice, through a mediator. Without that, you cannot return back to me. You cannot come to worship without this sacrifice, without the Passover lamb. So in the Passover, there is threatening. death for the firstborn, for the first son in every household. And for this son not to die, a lamb must be sacrificed. And for the whole nation of Israel, they are threatened by death. They are in death, in Egypt. And for them to be redeemed from death, to be delivered from the death in Egypt and come to the mountain of the Lord in Sinai, there must be a sacrifice. This is the main lesson that God is not just giving to the Egyptians, to the Israelites. That's why it was not only the Egyptians, Moses did not go to the Egyptians and say, God will strike the firstborn in your families today with the blood. But God told Moses, every, every Israelite house must do this. The Egyptians are in problem. They are in sin. So do you. And you cannot come and be my people and meet me at the mountain. without the blood, without the sacrifice, without Christ. That's why there is no worship. There is no worship apart from Christ. There is no worship to God without the cross. But now let's see the significance of this Passover lamb because there are three things that we read in the few verses in Exodus 12 that has to happen in this day. And I will summarize them in three things. which is the significance of the Passover Lent. First of all, there is an atonement, a sacrifice. So God told Moses, this is in verse four and five, And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish and made of the year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. There must be a kill. A sacrifice on this day. Something will die. The lamb must die. And if the lamb doesn't die, the first born will die. There must be death. So the first thing, the first thing with this Passover lamb, that there is death. And this is what we call in theology, this is the penal substitution. And notice these two words, penal and substitution. I will start with the second word. For the first born not to die, a substitute must die. What is the substitute in this case? It was the Passover lamb. But then the word penal. The word penal comes from punishment. It's a judicial word because it means that there is a sentence of death coming from God because of sin. And for Israel to be redeemed from death from Egypt, there must be a price for us to come back to Eden, to the fellowship with God in the context of the fall. There is no fellowship with God without the death of the mediator, of the sacrifice. So the first element, they must get the lamb and kill the lamb. Second, verse seven, and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two sides of posts, the two side posts, and on the upper door post of the house, wherein they shall eat it. So this is the second thing. Every house would have a gate. And he said, every house you should sprinkle the blood here and here and here. If you go to verse 22, he will talk more extensively about this. And he shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, the blood of the lamb that's been killed. and strike the lentil in the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of this house until the morning." So now we have two things. We have the idea of sprinkling the blood, and we have this plant which we call the hyacinth. Does this plant remind you of anything? Does anyone remember where was this word or the hyacinth was used? There's a famous psalm, right? Psalm 51, where David was asking God, cleanse me, right? With the high sword. So it's a sign of, and it has been used like this in Leviticus, in Numbers, it has to do with cleansing. Cleansing with the blood. All those who are in the household are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. all those are cleansed before the Lord. They can come and meet him without being cleansed. So God is teaching them this, that you have to be cleansed. It's an act of cleansing. All those, everyone in the house has been cleansed. Not just the first born by the way. He's saying all those in the household will be cleansed. And the third thing in verse 8 from Exodus 12, and they shall eat the flesh in the night, roast with fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. So the first thing we saw the atonement, second we saw purification, cleansing, And third, we see them eating from the lamb. And now we need to think, why did God ask them to eat that and to eat it completely? If you read the text, you'll see this lamb is holy. You shall not remain anything of it. It is holy. So we call this consecration. This sacrifice is a holy sacrifice. And for someone to eat it, he will be consecrated, dedicated. Now he belongs to the Lord. And if we think of these three elements of the Passover Lent to be done, that it's an atonement, there's purification element, there is eating element. These are the practices. which were commanded by God to be done in the ordination of priests with Israel. So for a priest to be ordained, to be consecrated, to be a priest, he has to do three things with some sacrifices. There must be sacrifices for sin, There must be cleansing or sprinkling of the blood on this priest. And the priest himself must eat from that. Let's have a quick look on Exodus 29 and see how the priests were supposed to be ordained. This is about Aaron. Exodus 29 verse 11. Of course, if you look quickly in verse 1, this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office. It's about being a priest. What does it mean to be a priest? But then in verse 11, and thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger and pour the blood beside the bottom of the altar. And thou shalt take all the fat that covered inward, and the coal that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his tongue shall thou burn with fire without the camp." It is a sin offering. There is a sin offering there. The substitutionary element, the atonement. There is a sin offering for the priest to be ordained. Second, verse 21. and thou shall take of the blood that is upon the altar and of the anointing oil and sprinkle it upon Aaron and upon his garments and upon his sons and upon the garments of his sons with him and he shall be hallowed and his garments and his sons and his son's garment with him. So the second thing, they shall be sanctified by sprinkling the blood on their garments on them of this same sacrifice. Third, Verse 31. And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration and seize his flesh in the holy place and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. They eat, they eat of these sacrifices. And what was this? It was the ordination or the consecration of priests. But now let's go back to the Passover. In the Passover, God is telling all the people of Israel, you shall do this, these three things. You shall have a lamb to be sacrificed. You shall put the blood on the houses and you shall eat it. So what does God is, what did God say to Moses or to them at that time? You as a nation, are priests to me, a kingdom of priests. You are the ones who should bring me the other nations to the mountain. Let's see how the Lord addresses them in Exodus 19 when he brought them to the mountain after the Passover. See how he calls them. So verse four, you have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all peoples. For all of the earth is mine and ye shall be, he's talking to all of them, you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words that thou shall speak unto the children of Israel. All of you became priests, and this is the image of Adam from the very beginning, Adam in the garden. One of his roles was to be a priest, to bring the whole creation to worship God on the Sabbath. And now God is preparing to himself people, Israel, getting them out of death, consecrating them, sacrificing a lamb for them in their place, bringing them sanctifying them, preparing them to be priests, to come and worship him, and to bring others to worship him. That's why when Moses went to Pharaoh to ask him, let my people go, what did he say? Exodus 5 verse 1. See, what was the goal of getting out of Egypt? The goal of getting out of Egypt is not that every Israelite would just go his own way. just being out of the slavery in Egypt. But in chapter five, verse one, and afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. The word feast means that they are going to celebrate worship. And if we go to the New Testament where Paul is talking to the church, teaching them that they cannot be worshiping God and they can, and at the same time they would stay and live in sin. See what are the words that Paul is going to use in first Corinthians five. I will close with this word from first Corinthians five in verse seven. Paul is exhorting the church to remove all sin. And he's saying, purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that he may be a new lump as you are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast. The same word of Exodus 5.1, let us keep the feast. The continuous worship to God, the continuous belonging to God, Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So for the people to come again to the mountain of the Lord and to meet him, they have to come through the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ. Knowing that they have been sanctified, they have been consecrated, they have been cleansed so that they may have this fellowship with God, with God again at Mount Sinai. Amen. Amen. Let's, let's pray. Lord, we, we thank you for all the pictures, for all the types that you have been showing us again and again to show us what does it mean to be restored again to your presence, to your worship, to the Sabbath, to the rest, Lord, we thank you for the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, the one who died in our place, who came to us in our death, and the one in whose blood we are cleansed, we are sanctified, and we are consecrated to be kingdom of priests to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, so that we may bring others, we may bring the whole creation to your worship, O Lord, to submit to the King of kings. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.