James Philip - The Glory of the Cross: Exploring the Meaning of the Death of Christ

In Exodus 12 we have the story of the Passover, which was to be celebrated with thankfulness and solemnity each year for the generations to come (Exodus 12:14,42). The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years, since Joseph had been appointed its governor (see Genesis chapters 4147). Now they numbered around 600,000 men, besides women and children, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, would not let them return home. Moses and Aaron had pleaded with him to let them go, but he refused. God sent plagues, but Pharaohs heart remained hard. Now came the most painful plague of all: the death of every firstborn son and animal in every Egyptian household. The Lord would, however, pass over the homes of the Israelite families.

In preparation for this plague, the Lord instructed Moses in detail. That month would become the first month of the Israelite year. On the tenth day each Israelite household was to select a one-year-old lamb (or kid) without defect; on the fourteenth day the animal would be slaughtered at twilight, roasted that evening, and eaten with bitter herbs and with bread made without yeast. All Israelites were to mark their homes by smearing the blood of these animals on the lintel and the doorposts. This is how the Israelite homes would be recognized and passed over, while the Egyptian firstborn sons and animals died.

In fear, Pharaoh now drove the Israelites out of Egypt. Their dramatic journey into Sinai is recorded in Exodus 1214. They left Egypt not just as the Israelites, but as Gods covenant people.

To understand the new Covenant we must understand the first Covenant. For as we remember our Lords death in the holy communion service, we find ourselves in a long trajectory of grace, reaching forward from ancient times from the Israelites exodus, and their delivery from slavery.

As we celebrate the Lords supper in our churches today, we look back to that Thursday evening in Jerusalem, and we look further back, as Jesus and his disciples did, to the events of the Passover. It is true that there is mystery here, but mystery is not the same as mystification. It is a mystery which is meant to be understood. It was God who arranged for the betrayal of Jesus to be on Passover night.

The Israelites, brought out of bondage, were the people of God. That is the context in which God gives them the Ten Commandments, opening with the words, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. He was not just giving them laws to be obeyed, but establishing his covenant with them, the covenant described in the New Testament as the old covenant.