Saved to Sing | Exodus 12:14-28

Introduction

If you were to google the words “white Christmas synopsis”, here is what you would find at the top of the page:

“Singers Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) join sister act Betty and Judy Haynes to perform a Christmas show in rural Vermont. There, they run into Gen. Waverly, the boys' commander in World War II, who, they learn, is having financial difficulties; his quaint country inn is failing. So what's the foursome to do but plan a yuletide miracle: a fun-filled musical extravaganza that's sure to put Waverly and his business in the black!”

White Christmas is a fantastic movie, a must-watch during the Holiday season, and songs and dances that just scream “Christmas” and “nostalgia”. And while this Google summary captures the major movements in the plot, it fails to capture a key element that marks the film…that of remembrance.

This is seen throughout the film in two ways—the first being petty. Phil Davis saves Bob Wallace’s life during a German attack, receiving an injury himself, and doesn’t let Bob forget it. He uses this to his advantage from the start…constantly reminding Bob in not-so-subtle ways of the terrible cost it was to save his life…and so accomplishes his goal of joining Bob’s singing act back home.

But this theme of remembrance actually undergirds the entire film. When they discover the General and his failing lodge, it is a remembrance of all that he did for them in the war that becomes their chief motivation to help save the lodge. It is not unique to them…the same motivation moves all the men who served General Waverly to travel all the way to cold Vermont in order to declare, “We’ll follow the Old Man wherever he wants to go…because we love him.”

Remembrance. These men were bound to their general in such a way that the remembrance of their service to him, and ultimately his service to them in leading them through the war safely, led them to honor and thank him. 

We do this, don’t we? Anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day…these are annual holidays that we set aside time to think of other people and honor them. Here in Exodus 12, fresh on the heels of the first Passover instructions, we see the Lord calling his people to remember what he was about to do and to give honor and worship to him. 

Exodus 7–11 could be summarized or titled as “God v. Pharaoh''. This battle, if we can call it that, is essentially a battle answering the question, “Who is the Lord?” Is it Pharoah? Or is it this Hebrew God? That question, which were the very first words recorded of Pharaoh in Exodus 5:2, is then answered by God in Exodus 6:6–8…

“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’ ”

This is not ambiguous. God is not hiding the ball here. Before a single plague is released on the Egyptians, before the bell even rings for Round 1 of the boxing match between Pharaoh and God, the Lord has won. He has, as Pastor Ryan said a few weeks ago, called his shot. This is not a battle where the outcome is uncertain…the Lord has other plans for this squirmish—namely, to reveal himself as Lord to the watching world and to secure for himself his people who will honor and worship him as Savior and Lord.

And as the plague narrative takes off we inevitably pick up on the fact that there are key elements that happen throughout the narrative. A sort of rhythm is found: warnings, hardenings and rejections, plagues, relief, rejection…and if you were to delete this section, Exodus 12:1–28 from the Bible, the plague narrative would read uninterrupted. There is a warning, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, and the plague is executed…but this time, with a new outcome. Pharaoh’s back is finally broken, and the people exit the bonds of slavery, just as God has said.

So, there is something unique about this 10th and final plague, and there is something important about Exodus 12:1–28. And the fact that Exodus 12:1–28 interrupts the narrative flow informs us, clues us in, that we are to pay special and careful attention to what is being said here. Exodus 12:1–28 is a single literary unit that changes everything. What is recorded here will affect every aspect of the relationship between the sovereign Lord and his people. This unit consists of 2 speeches; the Lord speaking to Aaron and Moses (Exod 12:1–20), and Moses and Aaron communicating that word from the Lord to the people (Exod 12:21–28). Last week, Greg covered a significant part of the opening stanza of this speech, which functions as a summary of the whole unit: God will act to save his people. Not only will he save them from the bondage of slavery under the tyrannical Pharaoh, but he will save them from his own divine and just wrath. And he will provide a substitute in order to purchase for himself a people. 

Here in Exodus 12:14–28, the Lord fills out the implications of this sovereign grace. And here is what I believe Moses means to communicate to us in this section…

The Lord purchases our salvation in order to secure our worship.

As we walk through the rest of this section, we are going to unpack different aspects of our salvation that lead to worship. I think we can derive the following commands from the Lord from this passage: remember your deliverance, be made holy, proclaim his salvation, and worship the Lord.

Remember your deliverance.

It’s worth looking back and recalling the instructions the Lord gave for the Passover in Exodus 12:1–13. The Israelites were to take an unblemished lamb from the flock, slay it without breaking in bones, roast the meat, and sprinkle the blood on the doorframes of their homes. The angel of the Lord, the Destroyer, would see this blood and pass over. The lamb was to be completely eaten by the family, and if there were any leftovers, they were to be burned.

After giving the Passover instructions, the Lord now demands that they not only perform this sacrifice once but that it would function as a “memorial day”. There is something going on here that the Lord does not want the people to miss or forget. And the fact that this is to be a statute FOREVER cements his intentions. We are to remember what God is doing here…and what is it that he is doing? Saving, purchasing, delivering his people from not only the bondage of Pharaoh but from their own sinful, Egyptianized hearts. Scholar Bruce Waltke highlights this well when he says:

”The severity and universality of the tenth plague, its manner of accomplishment by a direct act of God instead of by Moses’ staff, the breaking of Pharaoh’s hard heart leading to Israel’s commencement of a new way of life, and the unique celebration of the tenth plague as a lasting ordinance underscore the importance of the event in Old Testament theology. None can escape this final and decisive divine judgment on wickedness. No pharaoh, no deity, no status can provide protection. Not even Israel is exempt apart from the Passover blood, for they too have been unfaithful. Deliverance rests solely on Israel’s trusting God’s Passover provision. Israel is delivered because a death that satisfies God’s wrath has been made and applied by faith.”

The Passover is the OT paradigm for our salvation. And at the heart of the Passover is sacrifice and substitution. That is what the Passover is. A sovereign, gracious, merciful act of God by which he perfectly executes his justice while not destroying the objects of his justice…his people. The wrath of God needed to be satisfied—blood needed to be shed. We might be tempted to think, since the name of this event is the Pass-Over, that all the angel of God did was pass over the people. While that may be true, we must not fail to recognize WHY it was possible for the Destroyer to pass over and not enter the home…because blood had to be shed. The wrath of God did not just pass over the people, it was actively put on the lamb.

And the aim of the sacrifice and substitute is not just to NOT destroy Israel…but the purpose is one of communion, one of fellowship. The Lord is saving them in order to dwell with them! Notice that this sacrifice is unique in that the sacrifice immediately becomes a celebratory meal with the sacrifice itself as the main course. And what is a meal other than fellowship? The one being sacrificed to suddenly becomes the host of a feast. The Lord is purchasing for himself a people with whom he could dwell and have fellowship.

And this deliverance is what is to be remembered through a yearly Passover feast. Every year, the people would sacrifice a lamb and feast to the Lord to remind themselves of the saving works of the Lord.

This is such a kindness from the Lord. He really does know our frame. He knows that these Israelites were likely to quickly forget all the Lord had done. And aren’t we just like the Israelites? How regularly do you—how regularly do I—think on the saving work of God in our lives? What would the effect be if I daily considered the price that the Father paid—namely, the spotless Lamb of God, Christ Jesus his son—in order that I might be reconciled to God?

I often feel like Jill Pole at the beginning of the Silver Chair. When Aslan gives her the 4 signs to follow in order to make her and Eustace’s task of finding the lost prince easier, he urges her to…

“Remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the mornings and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night…and secondly, I give you a warning…here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind.” 

It seems like there are times throughout the year (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter), and even throughout our weeks (this gathering, Missional Communities, Huddle) when the air seems really clear. We’re surrounded by loved ones in sweet gospel community. The Gospel seems clear, beautiful, magnificent…but then I go home, I go to work, my kids are screaming, I’m passed over for a promotion that I believe I deserve, and the air seems to thicken. As frustrations and anxiety and suffering come at me, I find myself not thinking about the saving works of God, but rather on how hard my circumstances are.

We are prone to forget…but the Lord does not. Recall all the way back in Exodus 2:24–25:

“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”

When God remembers something, it doesn’t mean that it slipped his mind and he just says, “Oh ya!! That’s right…now I remember!” No, rather it means that he is about to act to accomplish his purposes. And act he does. He’s the one who saves Moses from the waters, he’s the one who calls Moses in the Midian desert, he’s the one who tells Moses that he will execute his wonders on Egypt in order to be known as the Lord! He is acting decisively…and now he calls us, his forgetful people, to remember.

When troubles come, when suffering threatens to overwhelm me, thinking on the cross has a humbling and stabilizing effect on my soul. In the midst of troubling circumstances, look to Christ, the founder, author, and perfecter of our faith. Like Peter, stepping out on the water, look not to the wind and the waves but to Christ. He is the spotless Lamb that was slain for you and for me, and it is to that slain lamb that we will forever be singing (Rev 5:12)…

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

And it should be noted, and this applies to all these derived commands from this passage, that the best remedy to forgetfulness is to be in community. Notice, these instructions, the feast and its statutes were given to the nation of Israel…to a certain people. They had to be obeyed individually but were to be enjoyed corporately. Being in gospel community is a means of grace from the Lord to help clear away the fog of our daily lives and helps us stir one another to fix our eyes on Christ and to remember what he has done for each of us. So today, this week, this month, this year remember the Lord and his deliverance of you.

Be made holy.

So, the first Passover saved the people of God from the wrath of God, and the angel of the Lord passed over them, satisfied by the blood of the substituted lamb. And the people are called to remember the Lord’s Passover, and they are to do it in a meal. Now that meal, as we’ve seen, highlights the fellowship that the Passover lamb secures between God and his people. But from this point on, the Lord means to teach his people that they have been made holy, and they must continue to be holy.

The blood of the lamb provides purification, but now the Lord institutes another festival, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is an ongoing statute, another gracious means the Lord provides so that they will remember this day. Look at Exodus 12:17…

“And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.”

These twin festivals—the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread—illustrate God saving his people and then calling them to be holy—in theological terms, this is justification and sanctification. The two sides of the coin of the Christian life…repentance and faith. Turning away from the slavery of sin by the saving power of God and towards the promises of God in Christ Jesus.

Why unleavened bread? Throughout the Bible, leaven (a fermented substance, like yeast, that causes the dough to rise) is used as a metaphor for sin. It is an excellent metaphor for showing how one substance can be totally and entirely affected by another substance. Fermentation was seen as representing decay, death, and has a corrupting effect on the soul. And this quality, that of death and decay, made it inconsistent with the holiness of God. Philip Ryken explains the metaphor this way:

“Yeast is an appropriate symbol for sin because of the way it grows and spreads. As yeast ferments, it works its way all through the dough. Sin works the same way, which is why the Bible makes this comparison. Sin is always trying to extend its corrupting influence through a person’s entire life. But God had something better in mind for his people. He was saving them to sanctify them; so before they left Egypt he wanted them to make a clean sweep.”

The Lord is teaching his people, even through the food they eat, who he is and who they are to now be—holy, sanctified, set apart. It is these features that mark the people of God.

Look at what the penalty is for eating any leaven during this festival time…Moses repeats it twice in v. 15 and v. 19—they are to be cut off from the people of God. The Lord is cleansing his people, purifying them through the blood of the sacrificed lamb, and ridding them of the leaven that has worked its way into their hearts in Egypt; namely, sin. The Israelites could not purify themselves—only God could do that. But now that he has, he calls them to a new way of life.

This eating also speaks to the complete nature of this salvation and a new way of life. If eating leavened bread resulted in being cut off from the people of God, then eating unleavened bread resulted in belonging to the people of God. The meals involved in both the Passover feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread speak to the need for the provision of God to be ingested, or taken into our whole beings. We are to eat of the bread of life, the only thing that will satisfy us.

Paul picks up this theme in the NT when he writes in Ephesians 4:17–24…

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

You could almost substitute the word Gentiles with Egyptians and heed Paul’s call to no longer walk as they do in the futility of their minds and hardness of heart. But rather, take off that old, wicked, Egyptian man and put on the new man that has been remade in Christ Jesus, the perfect spotless lamb!

This is the way of the Christian life. Because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross—making us alive and reconciling us to God the Father—we are now able to walk in the newness of life, ridding ourselves of the sin that corrupts and affects our bodies, and turning by faith to the one who has paid the price of our salvation.

Proclaim his salvation.

The “remembering” that the Lord calls the people to is not just to recall what has been done, but to proclaim it as well. After the Lord finishes his instructions to Aaron and Moses, Moses calls all the elders of Israel together and proclaims the word of the Lord to them. And inherent in these instructions is that this will be something that people will be talking about forever.

Notice what Moses says in Exodus 12:26…

“And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” 

WHEN your children ask you…not IF. This event, this Passover would have such a dramatic effect that time and history were not going to forget it. And to be sure, God institutes a holiday, a memorial day, that is a built-in way to tell your children about the wondrous works of God.

I recall the first time Adeline observed and was old enough to know what was going on with the Lord’s Supper. The elements went by her little face and she just watched and stared…when the bread came through she grabbed for it and I stopped her and she looked at me confused. A few minutes later, as I was walking her to the bathroom, I pulled her aside to explain to her in ways that she could understand what we just witnessed. To remind her of the story of Jesus that she had been taught, and how when Jesus died for our sins, his body was broken and his blood was shed for us in our place. And by taking and eating, we were remembering and proclaiming that he did that for you and me. And it was incredible to see her little eyes get big as she processed what I was saying.

Of course, she didn’t fully grasp or understand every theological nuance of the Lord’s Supper, but the next time we took the Lord’s Supper, she knew enough to know that this was no ordinary snack, but there was something bigger going on.

Psalm 78:4–7 says this…

”We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments”

In his providence, the Lord has given us ample opportunities to tell our kids of the wondrous things he has done. This is a sweet grace from the Lord. We have long-established rhythms as Christians; personal Bible reading, family devotions, coming to church, taking the Lord’s Supper and witnessing baptisms, going to our Missional Communities…there will come a time when our kids ask us, “Why do we do these things?” Do not waste those opportunities to tell your children of the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

And to the parents with little ones…particularly moms of little ones…your faithfulness and your steadfastness in just showing up is teaching, shaping, and molding your children in ways that we can not see now, but trust will bear fruit. So be encouraged and don’t lose heart! As Paul promises in Galatians 6:6–8…

“[W]hatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

So don’t give up! But proclaim his salvation, particularly to your children. And finally….

Worship the Lord.

Exodus 12:27 tells us that after the Lord had given instructions to Aaron and Moses, and after Moses had communicated this to the elders and people of Israel, the effect that this had on the people was that they bowed their heads and worshiped. 

Imagine you are an Israelite in that assembly that day as Moses gathers you all together and declares what the Lord is going to do. You have witnessed plague after plague strike the Egyptians, and you have been spared. But now you hear the news that this final plague, this life-threatening plague is coming and it is falling on everyone…the holy, perfect, just wrath of God executed on all who have sinned—and the horrifying reality that you are one of the deserving ones. Imagine your emotions, the scenes…

And then to hear Moses declare, “God has made a way! He has provided a substitute! Go, follow these instructions, feast on this meal, celebrate, rejoice, and don’t forget what the Lord has done here!” What joy, serious joy, must have broken out among the people! Adoration, praise, and thanksgiving all pour out because God himself has acted.

And this has been the purpose of the plagues themselves from the beginning—to secure a people who would worship, feast, and serve the Lord. Look back with me at some of the petitions Moses and Aaron made to Pharaoh to let the people go…

Ex. 5:1 (The first encounter with Pharaoh) — Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ”

Ex. 8:1 (Frogs) — Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Let my people go, that they may serve (NIV worship) me.

The very same purpose is given in Ex. 8:20 (Flies) Ex. 9:1 (Livestock), Ex. 9:13 (Hail), and Ex. 10:3 (Locust). This has always been the plan. Even all the way back in Exodus 3, when the Lord first appeared to Moses in the burning bush, he says (Exodus 3:10–12)...

“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve (worship) God on this mountain.”

My friends, it is always a question of worship. It always has been and it always will be. Not whether but which. It is not whether you will worship, but which God will you worship and serve. And the Lord revealed himself to Pharoah, the supposed god on earth, to show his might and rule are supreme. That he alone is the Lord! And the Lord revealed himself to his people, to show his power and might, and also, even more dramatically, to save them from their own sin. He is drawing them out of Egypt in order to draw them to himself. He is showing over and over again that he is worthy to be worshiped!

The Israelites’ worship gives way to obedience. They worshiped and they obeyed down to the very last detail. They are beginning to see that this God keeps his promises and he has promised to save them…so they act! And they act by faith, trusting that the God who promised judgment and salvation will keep his word. Like Noah and the flood, they hear his warnings of the coming judgment, receive the promise of salvation, and lay hold of it by faith.

The saving works of God are at the very center of their worship, and it is at the very center of ours. Moses received the word of the Lord, he proclaimed the word of the Lord to the people, they received it by faith and worshiped and obeyed. And that’s what we do here! We preach the word (notice how irrelevant the messenger is) and we respond by faith in obedience and worship. 

And there is joy in our worship, particularly in what we sing. This is why we, here at Emmaus Road Church, sing the type of songs that we do. We love to sing about what the Lord has done for us in Christ Jesus as revealed in God’s word. The Gospel—the life, death, and resurrection of the spotless Son of God who suffered in our place so we can be free from the wrath of God that our sin deserves and be free to worship him—that fuels every aspect of our worship. What else do we have? Just think on the songs we sang just this morning…

“Praise to the Lord the Almighty, the King of Creation—oh my soul praise him for he is my health and salvation!”

“The mystery of the cross I can not comprehend, the agonies of Calvary, you, the perfect holy one crushed your son, and drank the bitter cup reserved for me…You’re blood has washed away my sin, the Father’s wrath completely satisfied, once your enemy now seated at your table! Jesus, thank you!”

“Come rejoice now, oh my soul, for his love is my reward…fear is gone and hope is sure, Christ is mine forevermore!”

These are songs worth singing because they describe a Savior who is infinitely worthy of our praise. And when we gather on Sundays, the air seems clear. But this afternoon, Monday quickly approaching, the problems and sufferings and hard circumstances waiting, the air may seem to thicken. But in those moments, remember, remember, remember your salvation, and sing of the mercies and salvation of the Lord! Peter says it best when he says in 1 Peter 1:3–9…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”