A Blossom Bible Podcast
A Blossom Bible Podcast
Good Friday 2025 - Exodus 12
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Have you ever found yourself struggling to explain the significance of Easter beyond bunnies and chocolate? You're not alone. This powerful exploration delves into the heart of Christianity's most important holiday, tracing its profound meaning through the ancient Passover story to Christ's ultimate sacrifice.
We journey back to Exodus, where God's people faced the tenth plague in Egypt. Each household was instructed to select a perfect lamb, bring it into their home for four days, and then sacrifice it – applying its blood to their doorposts so death would "pass over" them. The progression from selecting "a lamb" to it becoming "your lamb" reveals the deeply personal nature of sacrifice. Children would inevitably name these lambs and bond with them, making the sacrifice genuinely costly on an emotional level.
Fast-forward fifteen centuries to John the Baptist declaring Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The parallel becomes crystal clear: Jesus is our perfect, unblemished sacrifice who willingly laid down His life. His blood doesn't merely cover our sin like the Old Testament sacrifices – it completely washes it away, making us righteous in God's sight.
Through communion, we remember this sacrifice personally. The bread representing His broken body, the cup symbolizing His blood shed for us. While sin's wages is death, Jesus paid that price in full. He didn't just say He loved us; He proved it through the cross and validated it through the resurrection.
Whether Easter has always been meaningful for you or you've struggled to connect with its deeper significance beyond cultural traditions, this message will transform your understanding of why Easter truly matters – and why it represents good news for everyone who believes.
Okay, so Easter. I don't know if you've noticed this in your life, but Easter is probably one of the most well, it's the most significant holiday in Christianity but probably the hardest to explain, right? Especially when you put together all the things that it's become. You get questions like you know, why is it called Easter? For one? What's with all the chocolate, bunnies and plastic eggs? How does that fit into the Bible story? And a lot of folks just kind of scratch their heads. Honestly, a lot of believers. We're just kind of at a loss when it comes to what it's all about and what those things really mean. Even the name Easter, you probably realize, is a little bit of a mystery. It's not a word you'll find in the Bible. Thus was born the Feast of Easter. You know it's not. And even the background of that. We could just really have a real downer study here tonight and talk about that. Perhaps it's associated with Germanic pagan rituals and maybe Canaanite goddesses is where this comes from the fertility goddess, the bunnies, the eggs, all these things, and we go. Well then, why would we call it Easter? And that's probably a good question. I hate to say it, but probably between now and Sunday I'll refer to it as Easter a few times, to it as Easter a few times. But, as with Christmas, as with anything else in the Christian life, we need to know why we celebrate. We need to bring meaning to what the world has made very meaningless, and so that's what we want to do, as simply as we can tonight. We want to bring it back to Jesus and the center of what he's done for us. Bring it back to Jesus and the center of what he's done for us, specifically his death, what we celebrate tonight, and his resurrection. So let's kind of look at the origins if we could, the best we can maybe of the event.
Speaker 1:Exodus 12 is where I'm going to land tonight. The book of Exodus, if you haven't considered it in a while, is a history of God's people. Right, it takes place 1,200 to 1,500 years before Christ, and it describes a time where God's people, the Jews, were in bondage to Egypt, and you remember there in the book of Genesis, they got there through one of their ancestors, joseph. You remember that whole story. Joseph sold into slavery, thereby his brothers, who hated him, and God works it out for good. Right, I'll ruin the story for you, but through a process of events, god takes care of the whole family and brings them to Egypt, where they thrive. Well, they thrive.
Speaker 1:And the book of Exodus starts toward the beginning there verse 8, with this idea that there arose a king in Egypt that did not know Joseph's people. And you know the story Pharaoh, a new pharaoh, came on board and he was afraid of God's people. They were getting strong and he wanted to make sure that they stayed in their place. So he put them into slavery and oppressed them there. In chapter three, you know, god purposes a deliverer. He calls a guy named Moses. Moses right, and they're at the burning. Bush, he tells him I'm going to use you to deliver my people from slavery.
Speaker 1:And the big thing here is that it's this sort of battle of the wills. It's God through Moses saying let my people go, and Pharaoh stubbornly saying I don't know this God that you're talking about. Why should I let you go? And God says let him go. Pharaoh says not going to do it. God sends plagues, you remember Ten plagues total in increasing intensity, you could say, and God uses it for a lot of different things there, but really to bring Pharaoh to the end of himself. Now Pharaoh becomes more stubborn and God more insistent. I guess if you could say that he does, that he's not giving up. And finally we come around to this final plague, the 10th plague, and in chapter 11, god says this is what's going to happen I'm going to send death through the land of Egypt, death to all the firstborn in the land, from Pharaoh to his servant, man and beast right. And God promises that after this plague, after this death goes through the land, that not only will Pharaoh let you go, he's going to force you out, he's going to push you out. And so, chapter 11, it's all laid in order. This is what's going to happen Now. Chapter 12, god gives them the instructions for their Independence Day, the Passover feast, in chapter 12. And this really is where I think we get a clear picture of Easter, the resurrection and the cross.
Speaker 1:Chapter 12, let's look at verse one. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. So here we're, given a month. It's interesting this would be the month of Nisan, not the car, but the month, the month of Nisan. And that falls March to April on the Hebrew calendar, a little different system. There it's based on the sequence of the moons, but it falls usually March to April. Now, interesting, this year 2025, it almost exclusively falls in the month of April, almost perfectly. And so what's funny is that as we get to this Feast of Passover this week is the Feast of Passover Usually it doesn't work out that way and Easter, our Resurrection Sunday and Good Friday fall in the week of Passover. Kind of neat how that all worked out this year. What does it mean? I don't know.
Speaker 1:Anyways, verse three speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying on the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb According to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons, according to each man's need. You shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be, without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. All right, we stop there. So the feast involves a lamb.
Speaker 1:Now notice in verse three every household is to have a lamb. Verse five tells us it's the lamb of the first year, so it's a baby, right. And it must be a male, perfect, without blemish. Now we're told here in verse three it's a lamb. That's pretty general, right, a lamb. Just take a lamb, Notice in verse four. In verse four, they're told that it will be the lamb.
Speaker 1:I think this is interesting and not an accident. Verse 4, it is the lamb. A little more specific, you choose one of those lambs and it becomes the lamb. Now notice what you do, though. You take this lamb into your house. Verse 3 lets us know the process starts on the 10th day and it ends on the 14th day. So just picture this For four days you have a lamb, a little baby lamb, fuzzy, cute lamb, living in your house.
Speaker 1:So it seems. Now, as a father, I know this is a mistake. This is a big, big mistake. Now, if you read this, it's interesting. It can be a lamb or it can be from the goats. You can use goats too.
Speaker 1:Now we've had goats and we've had baby goats, and what I know from having goats is nobody wants a goat. You know, when you go to sell goats. Nobody wants a goat, but when they see a baby goat, oh people go crazy. When they see baby goats, baby goats are dangerous. They got their little itty bitty hooves, you know, and just to say hooves, it's just cute, right. And they got their little baby goatees, and you know what? They don't walk. I don't know what it is. They don't walk. They actually hop everywhere they go. And they don't just hop, they hop sideways. I mean, this is true, baby goats, like they just are full of energy or something, and they hop sideways and you just look at them and you go, they're so cute and we have brought them into our house before. But what happens at that point? When you bring them in your house for four days, it is 100 percent guaranteed that those children named that baby lamb by that point.
Speaker 1:Now this is going to get dark here in a second, but picture it the baby lamb is a lamb, it's the lamb. And then in verse five, god knows, he says your lamb right. So we've gotten closer and closer to this lamb, a lamb, the lamb, your lamb right. And there it is. And I imagine those little kids they're guaranteed Somebody tried to dress their little lamb up by that point. You know what I mean. Put a bow on it, gave it a name it's our lamb, this is our lamb, freddie, or whatever you know, and, and it's very personal, it is a pet at that point.
Speaker 1:Now, this is not an accident either. A lamb, the lamb, your lamb, notice where we go from here, verse six. Now you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And so here we find that this lamb is a sacrifice. At sunset they would kill the lamb. The father of the house, no doubt, would go and would kill this lamb, and that's graphic, right. There is no clean way to do this. And I'm with every child at that point and I would probably say why? Why do we have to kill our lamb? Why?
Speaker 1:Now we find out in verse eight. I guess we didn't read on. We better read on In verse 8,. I guess we didn't read on. We better read on Notice, verse 7. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lentil of the house where they eat it. And they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread without yeast and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. So this lamb is dinner. Now, that's not too unusual, especially in their world, but I guarantee nobody enjoyed that feast. The kids did not enjoy that feast right, because that was our lamb. But the whole reason is not just because we needed something to eat for dinner. We understand. There's more to it. Notice verse seven. They would paint the doors with the blood. Yeah, strange but specific. They would put blood on the top of the door and on the sides of the door and on the sides of the door.
Speaker 1:And the reason why we find, as we read on, let's look at verse 12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, that plague we talked about there before. I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, andborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. Now. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are and notice this. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So we get it now right. God says, when I go through the land, the plague, the plague to take the firstborn in all of Egypt, the final plague where Pharaoh will make you leave, when I see the blood on your door, I'll pass over.
Speaker 1:And the feast was called Passover because death would pass over the houses where the blood was on the door. So there was a real reason. It wasn't just for something to eat, it wasn't just for the feast, it was to save the firstborn in every house. It was redemption for the people, it was salvation from certain death, and so, as that father man, I wouldn't want to be a father during that time. Why, dad? Why do we have to kill our lamb? The father knew, though, it's just gotta be. If this blood is not on the door, then death will come to our house, the firstborn will be taken. That's what was gonna happen. So it made it a little more tolerable as a father, knowing that this is what needed to happen. And yet it became their salvation right. It became their independence, they were redeemed from slavery and bought out of slavery. In that, now, this was a feast that they would celebrate every year. They didn't always do it, but it was to remember what God had done for them.
Speaker 1:But then we fast forward again about 1500 years ahead, and and we remember John the Baptist, the guy that baptized. He was kind of a little strange, maybe, you know, wore camel's hair and ate grasshoppers and honey and all these things, but he came with a pretty certain message. Remember that. He told people to repent, turn from your sins, turn to God. You brood of vipers, right. But he also pointed at Jesus at one time. Remember that Jesus, his relative, was coming towards him to be baptized, and John looks at him, and for no good reason. I don't even know what he didn't, did he know? I don't know, but he pointed at Jesus and he said behold, check it out. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Did he know what he was saying? I don't know, but he knew he needed to say it. Jesus was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And John lays it down for us so clearly.
Speaker 1:Then, as we look at this account of this feast of Passover, that Jesus was that lamb right To the world. He was a lamb right, in reality, he was the lamb, but ultimately he has to be our lamb, but the lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. We look at this evening, we come together really simply here tonight. We come together to remember what Jesus did for us. And you know, I can take communion and I can go through the motions and sometimes I don't think about it, but to think that Jesus was a sacrifice, oh, he was a sacrifice, he was the sacrifice, but he was my sacrifice. You know, when we look at sacrifice in the Old Testament sin sacrifice it's kind of along the same lines. Check it out.
Speaker 1:They would take a lamb and it had to be a perfect lamb, it had to be the best, and they would put their hand on that sacrifice when they would bring it to the priest. They would put their hand on that sacrifice and they would confess their sins right Now. If I had to say, right now, let's all confess our sins, that could be awkward and uncomfortable, but you can go through your week and go. I got a couple examples, keeping it to myself. I got a couple of examples. And you could say in your heart and go, I got a couple examples, keeping it to myself. I got a couple of examples and you could say in your heart God, I confess I was wrong when I acted that way. God, you know what was in my heart, god, you know what I did. No one else knows what I did, but you know, and I was wrong. And that's what happens.
Speaker 1:When they would come with the sacrifice, they put their hand on the animal and they would say, god, I messed up, I lied, I sinned, whatever it was, and then the sacrifice would take place and they would kill that animal. And you go why, why, why does God have to have a sacrifice like that? Well, because sin is serious. Paul tells us Romans 3.23,. The wages of sin is death. It's not 3.23, it's 6.23. The wages of sin is death. And I look at my sin and I go, yeah, it's bad, but you know, everybody does it. You know it's bad, but you know everybody does it. You know, but yet death is what my sin deserved. And think about how real that would be if you can put your hand on something. And then you had to sacrifice it and you saw it die. And you saw it die because of what you did, taking your place.
Speaker 1:Well, that's exactly what Jesus did on the cross. We don't always stop to think about it, but in reality, we come to the cross. What does it mean? To believe and receive what Jesus did for us? I think it means to come to the cross. And if we could put our hand on him and say, god, you know, I messed up. I'm messed up. Since the very beginning, I've always been messed up and I always will be messed up. Now, god changes us for sure, but we will always be sinners. We will always need a savior. And we come to Jesus on the cross and we need to see him there. That's a good Friday. That's why it's good we see him there dying.
Speaker 1:And you've seen recreations of this which are probably nothing close to what it really was like, but it was brutal right. Isaiah 53 says you know, he was wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for our iniquities and he was just beat to the point where he wasn't even recognized anymore. But he did it for us because of our sin, and we would go. Well, I got some bad sins, but I got some not so bad sins, but the wages of sin, every sin, is debt and that's heavy. But the wonderful gift and grace of God is that God loved us. He did what we couldn't do for ourselves. He paid the price.
Speaker 1:Perfect lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and doesn't just cover it, takes it away as if it never happened, so that God can look at us and go perfect, I see, perfect. I mean I really can't imagine God smiling at me. You know what I mean. Like if I were God and I'm not, you know, I would imagine he'd look at me and go oh wow, this is kind of this thing, you know. And yet God, because of what his son has done for us, he looks at us and he loves us and he goes you did everything right and we go I absolutely did not do everything right. Is that what Jesus did? And he took your place and he gives us his righteousness.
Speaker 1:First Corinthians, our second Corinthians, 521, says gives us his righteousness. And so we stand in the righteousness of Christ forgiven and loved because of Jesus, of Christ forgiven and loved because of Jesus. So we do have communion Good, my wife's so wonderful. I'm so unprepared. We're going to take time to remember, because Easter's got to be more than chocolate bunnies and plastic eggs. Right, it's what he's done for us. It's totally what he's done for us that God loved us so much and because of Jesus, he sees us as righteous and forgiven and perfect.
Speaker 1:Well, let's take the bread as you have it. Let's just consider it for a moment. It was actually the same feast, the night before Jesus went to the cross, he took bread. It probably wasn't exactly like this, but it was a little like this. It had the same kind of makeup in some ways here, but he took it and he broke it and he said this is my body broken for you. I'm telling you, do it, remember me.
Speaker 1:And so we consider Jesus. He laid down his body, his life, for us and consider how he was beat and bruised and mocked. And you know, they spoke to him and said well, you're the, you're the son of god. Tell us who hit you now. He was on the cross, you're the. If you're the christ, come down off the cross and we'll believe in you. And he didn't open his mouth, he didn't say anything, he didn't come down and he didn't. You know, if it were me, I would have. Just that's it, I'm done.
Speaker 1:And yet he laid down his life willingly for us and proved it. He didn't just say he loved us, he proved that he loved us. So let's thank him for this. God, thank you. We deserve the very worst and yet you loved us so amazingly. You laid down your life for us. God, we were right there with the mockers we so many times are mockers, we so many times are and the amazing patience that you have for us in life. It just blows my mind that you would have done this for me so willingly. God, thank you for this love. Work it into our hearts that we would know it as more than a fact, but we would just trust in it every single day. In Jesus' name, we pray. Let's take the bread and the cup there, the juice Guarantee. It looked nothing like this little cup that we have here, but the essence is right. Jesus took a cup and he told his disciples this cup is my blood, the blood of the new covenant blood. The blood of the new covenant blood sealing a promise to us.
Speaker 1:I think about I think it's Hebrews, where it says without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins. And I know I've told this story. But there was one point I was taking communion and I spilled some on my hand and I just it reminded me all at once you know how God speaks to you that I needed that blood and that blood was on me, and that blood makes us clean. The Bible uses words like justify it's just as if we never sinned. It's perfect and and blameless. I like that because, man, I feel pretty blamed most of the time and I got a lot of blame, and yet he washes us. He doesn't just cover us, he washes it away as if it never happened. And only the blood of Jesus can do that. Nothing else can do that. No amount of counseling or anything like that can do that. But the blood of Jesus can wash away every sin, and I need it every single day. So let's just thank him for that.
Speaker 1:God, thank you for your blood, lord. Without it we would be without hope, and yet you give us so completely your blood that washes away every sin. God, we can pick apart sins from our childhood and last week and everything, and yet, god, you choose not to remember it. Because of what you've done for us, I pray that you'd make us clean. I pray that you'd clean our minds that we throw so much trash in God. I pray that you'd clean our hearts that hurt us every time we turn around God. We would just be new and fresh this year, a new creation in you. God, help these things to be real in our heart, not words we say, but the truth of our life. Thank you for laying down your life for us In Jesus' name.