We find ourselves in chapter 12 of Exodus, and we're going to be in chapter 12 for several of these sessions because it's so packed with content that isn't just about Israel, but about our life with our Lord as well. I've entitled this section, verses 1 through 6, “A Lamb Without Blemish.”
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
You notice that the directions here are very specific because God is taking what is happening at this moment very seriously. And this is another one of these passages that demonstrates the importance of reading your Bible, like an archeologist or detective, looking for clues. And I want to pay special attention to six words in the passage that I read, “Your lamb shall be without blemish.” These words foreshadow God's plan of redemption. They point you to the necessity of the birth of Jesus and his perfectly righteous life; and they confront us with our inability.
The lamb without blemish, in Exodus, is a finger pointing to what God would do to rescue his children and his creation from the death and destructive blight of sin. God wouldn't compromise his holiness by just turning his back on our sin and acting like it never happened. So his anger with sin had to be satisfied and a payment for sin had to be made. Since there were no spotless lambs in the human community, God sent his Son, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the King of kings, the promised Messiah to be that lamb. Jesus would be born of Mary, out of Judah, Son of David, out of the very people being rescued from Egypt. God was preserving Israel so that there could be another sacrificial lamb.
These six words remind us of something else–that Jesus didn't just come to die; he had to first live that righteous life. Every thought of Jesus, every word of Jesus, every action of Jesus, every reaction, every encounter, was for us because he was demonstrating his perfection so that he would be, for us, the perfectly spotless Lamb, an acceptable sacrifice in the eyes of God. These words really do confront us with our inability to rescue ourselves from our slavery–that slavery to sin, just like the children of Israel couldn't rescue themselves from Egyptian slavery. We have no ability whatsoever to present ourselves to God as perfectly righteous. That's why the apostle Paul tells us that no one is justified by keeping God's law.
It's really amazing that here, way back in Exodus, in directions made to Israel, you have six words that capture the entire plan of redemption and the entire gospel story spoken, as I said, to Egyptian slaves on the occasion of the miraculous release. Again, this reminds us that the Bible is not a collection of stories, but one story unifies the whole Bible, the grand story of redemption, the story that right here, right now, is our hope in this life and the life to come!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. How does this section from Exodus 12 impact your understanding of the gospel now that we’ve seen what God was foreshadowing all those years ago?
2. How do the words “Your lamb shall be without blemish” help you appreciate the sinless life of Jesus? As you think about the reality of Jesus’ sinless life, what kinds of details from his 33 years on earth do you marvel at? How does his perfect life confront you with your inability to rescue yourself from the enslavement of sin?
3. In the past, what were the areas of your life that you were tempted to point to in order to justify your own righteousness? What has helped you to realize that your own righteousness will never live up to the standard God requires? How has that helped you to see and feel your need for the perfect righteousness of Jesus?
For Younger Children:
1. Why do you think the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is the only thing that can save us from our sin? Why is our sin so bad that Jesus had to die for it?
2. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but what do you think the main point of the entire Bible is? How can the Old Testament point to Jesus in the New Testament when he wasn’t even born yet?
For Older Children:
1. Can you think of any stories from the Old Testament that point directly to Jesus in the New Testament? Why is it such a big deal that places in the Old Testament point to Jesus?
2. What do you think the main theme of all of Scripture is about?
3. Why did Jesus have to be perfect in every way? Why is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross the only thing that can save us from our sin? If our sin is so bad that Jesus had to live perfectly and die perfectly for it, what does that tell you about the purity and righteousness of Christ himself?
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