Exodus 12 - Word Made Visible
- Chad Werkhoven
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Sacraments help you see what God sees.
Exodus 12:1-36
12 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
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6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
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12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
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21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
Q&A 66
Q. What are sacraments?
A. Sacraments are holy signs and seals for us to see.
They were instituted by God so that
by our use of them
he might make us understand more clearly
the promise of the gospel,
and might put his seal on that promise.
And this is God’s gospel promise:
to forgive our sins and give us eternal life
by grace alone
because of Christ’s one sacrifice
finished on the cross.
Summary
Imagine the tension everyone was feeling in Egypt as Exodus 12 begins. Nine increasingly awful plagues have been poured out on the Egyptians at this point, and word likely spread quickly through the land that Pharoah and Moses were still at loggerheads, and now even more so than ever before. What would happen next?
The plagues themselves were not just a set of random, disconnected disasters. Each one dripped with deep irony, specifically designed to demonstrate the utter emptiness of the Egyptian pantheon. Remember, God had one specific primary objective in mind - an objective He repeated over and over: that the world know that He is the LORD (Exodus 7:5, 7:17, 8:10-11, 8:22, 9:14-16, 9:29, 10:1-2).
The nine plagues up to this point came in all sorts of different forms: the Nile turned to blood, various swarms of bugs and pests infested everything, devastating hail rained down and a thick and dreadful darkness covered all the land. But all of these plagues had one thing in common: they could all be seen by everyone.
God's ordinary way of making Himself known is through His Word. It was His Word that brought the universe into being; His spoke His covenant commandment to Adam, called out to Abraham, gave dreams to Joseph and verbally summoned Moses from with a burning bush. He speaks to you through the Bible, a collection of inerrant, infallible Words He inspired. But at times He makes His Word visible, as He did to the Egyptians, so that all can see and know that He is the LORD.
But in His grace, He makes His Word visible to His covenant people through sacraments - visible signs and seals that help us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel.
Dig Deeper
The tenth and final plague is different than the rest - for sure in its severity, but also in its stated purpose. Whereas the first nine plagues were demonstrative in nature - designed to make God known - the final display of God's power was designed to bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. It would wreak more than just economic havoc, it would bring sin's ultimate penalty: death.
But not every firstborn would be struck down as the LORD passed through Egypt. The effects were certainly comprehensive, including every first born from Pharoah, the prisoners, and even from the livestock. But no destructive plague touched anyone whose doorposts were covered in the blood of the defect free lambs.
Moses told the people that the LORD will see the blood... and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
What an amazing contrast! The first nine plagues were so that the pagan world could see and know the LORD is God, but the final plague that brought judgment was designed so that the LORD would see the blood of the lamb and pass over. The sacraments we've been given as Christians differ in their forms from the circumcision and Passover meal prescribed for Israel, but their purpose is exactly the same: so that we can see what God sees.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who sees the blood of the Lamb when He looks over us, His covenant people;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will trust God in the midst of the chaos just as the Israelites did on that fateful night;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
