By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
Exodus 12:1-14/ Luke 22:15-20
June 18th, 2023
Today we are launching into a new summer series on the middle part of the book of Exodus. Exodus has 40 chapters. We are going to look at chapters 12 through 20. Even then, we are going to skim through a lot of what is there.
I tend to preach out of the New Testament a lot because our faith is focused on Jesus. But the Old Testament brings a rich background to what is happening in the New Testament. Admittedly some of the Old Testament is hard to understand. Some of it is boring to read through. (cough -Leviticus) But at the same time, the Old Testament enriches our understanding of the New Testament.
Today we are going to be looking at how Passover started. Passover was the meal that Jesus was celebrating when he instituted Communion, which we will celebrate today. I am hoping that as we look at who God is, it will bring depth to your faith.
Let me give you a two-minute overview of the Old Testament. The first book of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis, tells the story of creation, and that explains why the world is in the shape it is in. It also describes who we as humans are supposed to be and who God is in relationship to us. Through the first part of Genesis, we become familiar with the devastation of sin and what it has done to the world.
The Second part of Genesis introduces us to a guy named Abram, who God later renamed Abraham. He is important because he was the father of the Jewish people. The Messiah would be a descendant of his. That Messiah, Jesus, would be God’s answer to a messed-up world.
The rest of the Old Testament is the story of the Jewish people, God’s people, and how God interacted with them. It is also the story of how the people of God learned about God.
We believe in progressive revelation. In other words, Abraham knew something about God. Moses came after Abraham and built on that knowledge so he knew more about God than Abraham. But then God revealed himself more and more through the history and the prophets of the Old Testament. God’s full revelation of himself was in the person of Jesus.
We, as Christians, believe that what the Old Testament was pointing to the promised Messiah – Jesus. Sometimes it is helpful to examine those pointers. When you see them, you see a little more about who Jesus is.
My prayer for you is that as you get to know Jesus more and more, as you see God’s plan from the beginning of time, and as you start to see God’s heart, your love for God will grow deeper. Your appreciation of what Jesus has done for you will grow. When that happens, worship will flow naturally from your heart.
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This morning we are going to start in Exodus 12. At Asbury, we celebrate Communion about once a month. I want to take some time to think a little more deeply about Communion by examining the feast that it came out. But before we do that, let me give you the background of Exodus 12.
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Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons. Out of these sons, his favourite was Joseph. That did not make for good sibling relationships. They ended up ganging up on Joseph and selling him into slavery. The slavers took him to Egypt, where through a series of miracles, Joseph went from being a slave to becoming the second most powerful person in Egypt and because of the foresight and plan that God had given to store up food for a famine that was going to ravish the land.
The famine was so widespread and so devastating that even Joseph’s family had to come to Egypt to buy food. Through a number of great events, family relations were restored, and Joseph’s whole family, including his father Jacob, who thought Joseph was dead, moved to Egypt.
Well, God blessed the descendants of Jacob, and they flourished in Egypt. A few generations later, a Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. He looked at how the Hebrew people were flourishing. He became afraid, so he made these people his slaves. The decedents of Abraham, the decedents of Jacob, the Jewish people were in bondage for over 400 years.
But the story of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had filtered down through the generations. They cried out to him. After 400 years, through a series of miracles, Moses was born as a Hebrew, but was adopted into the house of the Pharaoh and then had to flee Egypt because he murdered an Egyptian taskmaster.
But after 40 years, in the backside of the wilderness, God met Moses in a burning bush – and this is what he said.
Exodus 3:7–10 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—…. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”
God sent Moses back to Egypt with this message to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” But the Pharaoh would not. So, God sent plague after plague against the Egyptian people, but still, the Pharaoh would not relent and let the Hebrew people go. Sometimes he would say he would, but then when God took the plague away, he would change his mind.
As we arrive at Exodus 12, the 10th plague, the last plague, is just about to unfold.
You heard the story read. God gave instructions to Moses and his brother Aaron. On the 14th day of the month, each household was to take a one-year-old sheep and slaughter it at twilight. They were to take some blood and smear it on the door frames of their house. They were to take the meat and roast it over an open fire and eat it with bitter salad and bread made without yeast.
Exodus 12:11–14 (NLT)
11 “These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover. 12 On that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! 13 But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time.
The people of God did what Moses said, and the Lord went through the land and the Oldest male of every family and even of the livestock died that night. Pharaoh came to Moses and said to leave Egypt. Go – or we will all die.
And every year since that time, the Jewish people celebrate Passover. Generation after generation, They celebrate their deliverance from slavery. They celebrate God’s work on their behalf. They celebrate God going to war on their behalf. They celebrate the Passover.
I want to lay another passage of scripture on your mind. About 1500 years have passed by.
Luke 22:8, 14 –20 (NLT)
8 Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”
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14 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. 15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. 16 For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”
17 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”
19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
In the middle of the Passover meal, Jesus instituted what we have come to call Communion. Did you catch what he said about the meal?
Luke 22:15–16 (NLT)
15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. 16 For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”
Until its meaning is fulfilled. The Passover is a celebration of a historical event that happened over 1500 years ago. But Jesus says its meaning hasn’t been fulfilled yet, but it is going to be. It will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.
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You may remember when John the Baptist was out in the wilderness preaching, calling to people to repent – He sees Jesus, and this is what he says,
John 1:29 (NLT)
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Who is Jesus? He is the lamb of God.
Jesus says to his disciples, I have longed to eat this Passover meal with you. But after this meal, I am not going to eat it again – until its meaning is fulfilled.
Jesus is saying, “We are eating lamb, but that lamb looked forward to a different lamb. The lamb of God. The lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.”
The meaning is being fulfilled. Luke 22:19 (NLT) Then
19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
Just like a lamb was given for death to pass by, Jesus says, my body was given so that death might pass by. My body was given for you.
You see, we were in slavery too. We were not oppressed by the Egyptians. Sin was our taskmaster. We were enslaved to sin.
That is what Jesus said,
John 8:34–36 (NLT)
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus tells us that if you sin, you are a slave to sin. We all are slaves to sin. If you know your own heart, you know that to be true. Paul says the good I want to do I don’t do, but that which I don’t want to do I do. You get it.
But Jesus says, those who the Son sets free – those who I set free are free indeed. You are not enslaved anymore. This is my body given for you. Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
The Passover remembered the deliverance from slavery. It remembered the death passed by. It remembered God’s work on their behalf.
But there was a deeper meaning to be fulfilled. The lamb at Passover was looking forward to another Lamb. The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. The deliverance from the Egyptians was looking forward to a deeper deliverance. The deliverance from the slavery of sin.
In Communion, we remember that Christ died for our sins. He set us free. We have been led out of bondage. As Paul says, sin no longer has mastery over you.
We remember that death has passed over, and we have been given new life. John 3:16.
We remember that God went to war on our behalf. And to our taskmasters, he has sent his ambassadors that say, “Let my people go.” And sometimes, it takes miracle after miracle to make that happen.
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I find it interesting that in the context that Jesus celebrated the Passover, the people of God were not enslaved by, but they were ruled and oppressed by the Romans. He was celebrating a meal that reflected a historical reality but not a current one.
I know that a number of you have given your life to God, and he has given you a new life. You have been delivered, but there is still some oppression in your life. I want you to know that God is still at work. He hasn’t forgotten you. He sent Jesus into that world to be with his people in that world.
Jesus didn’t deliver them from the Romans. But he did give life to anyone who wanted it in spite of the Romans. In our salvation, there is an already/not yet aspect of it. Jesus has delivered us, but sometimes we find ourselves being oppressed by the things of life. Jesus is at work in the middle of these things.
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Jesus, at that Passover supper goes on,
Luke 22:20 (NLT)
20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
The bread is about his body given for us. The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Just like the original Passover, where the people ate the lamb, as we eat the bread, we symbolically take part in the lamb of God.
But the cup, the cup has something else going on. This cup is the New Covenant between God and his people. A covenant is something like a contract that says how both parties are to act in a deal. A covenant is deeper than a contract, though, in that when one party doesn’t live up to their end, it isn’t automatically broken.
The Prophet Jeremiah, in the Old Testament, introduces the ideal of a new covenant. He says that in this new covenant, God takes his laws, and he writes them on the tablets of our hearts. His laws become something that is at the core of who we are.
You see, “The “old covenant” stipulated a relationship with God based on keeping God’s law. This covenant failed because the people failed to keep God’s law. The new covenant is based on what God has promised to do in the hearts of believers.
Hebrews 9:15 (NIV)
15 For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
God is doing something different. It is about your heart. It is about eternal life. It is about release from the slavery of sin. It is about forgiveness and empowerment. Jesus says, I am sealing this new covenant with my blood – it is poured out in sacrifice for you.
In this new covenant, when you give your life to me, I am going to give you a new heart. I am going to remove all your sin. I am going to allow you to walk into a new life – we call this being born again. You are born into a new spiritual life.
This life allows you to walk in relationship with God. This relationship gives you the confidence to pray in this life and confidence for the life to come.
When we take part in Communion, we recognize that we have been released from slavery, God has gone to war on our behalf, and we have been given a new covenant; God has walked into a new relationship with us – The covenant is not based on keeping the rules, it is based on the new heart that God has given us.
Communion is an outward symbol of what has already taken place in our lives. When we take part in Communion, we are saying that Jesus is our master, not sin – Although taking part in Communion by no means indicates that we are perfect – Remember the already, not yet. Jesus has done a work, and he is doing a work, and he will complete his work when we get to heaven. But it is saying that we have said, Jesus, I give my life to you – You are the one who sets me free from sin.
When we take part in Communion, we are saying we are part of the new covenant. Our relationship with God is not based on us keeping the rules; our relationship with God is based on the work that he has done in our hearts. And I often find myself saying more, Lord. I need you to do more in my heart.
Communion is an outward symbol of what has taken place on the inside. That is why we ask that only people who are followers of Jesus take part in Communion.
But some of you may be here saying I have never done that, but I would like to. By taking part in Communion this morning, you can say by faith, Jesus, I give my life for you. I am trusting the work that you did on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin. You are the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, that includes me.
You are saying I want to be included in that new covenant, where you give me a new heart; I invite you to do that. It is not taking part in Communion that does that, but it is accepting the work that Jesus has done, in other words putting your faith in Jesus.
So as we talk part in Communion, let’s celebrate what Jesus has done.