"The Redeemed Community And The Lamb Of God" (Audio) - Nov 7, 2004 Text: Exodus 6:6-8 & 12:1-14
“The Redeemed Community and the Lamb of God” Date: November 7, 2004 Scripture: Genesis 11:17-12:9
Series: “The Great Story of Creation and Redemption” Pastor: Larry Kirk
THE REDEEMED COMMUNITY AND THE LAMB OF GOD
Recently I read a commentary on the popular movie of a few years ago, The Matrix, which pointed out a turning point in the movie that many people miss. The hero is a character named Anderson. He is also a computer hacker called Neo. In the course of the movie he is introduced to the idea of the Matrix, an alien, machine-controlled virtual reality. It's an unreal world that keeps the human race in a kind of slavery.
Neo is told that he is will help the human race overcome this thing, but he spends the entire first half of the movie denying that he is the one. The alien agents he runs into along the way feed this denial of his destiny by calling him only “Mr. Anderson.” Finally, an agent who is about to kill him says, “Good-bye, Mr. Anderson.” Neo looks at him and says, “My name is Neo.” That moment is the first time in the entire movie that he had ever used the name Neo himself, and that's the turning point. It's when he finally owns up to his true identity that he begins to be the person he had been destined to become.
Of course The Matrix is just science fiction, but the importance and the power of a sense of identity is reality. Physiologists, teachers, police officers, and parents have all seen for years how a sense of identity, the way a person conceives himself or herself to be, has a powerful influence on how the person experiences life and chooses to live. The person who sees himself as a loser has a hard time mustering the energy needed to really compete. The child who sees herself as slow has a harder time finding the determination to persist in difficult studies.
Of course the opposite is also true: a strong sense of positive personal identity is empowering. That sense of identity can shape your life in many positive ways. It can powerfully influence your decisions, emotions, reactions, and ambitions. That's why the Bible says it is very important to have a good and true sense of identity that can empower as you live your life.
The problem that a lot of people struggle with is, Where does one find a sense of identity that can be a source of strength in life?
Do you get it from your family and your friends? Do you try to build an identity from the outside through the things that you buy and own or do and accomplish? Are you defined by your possessions, your positions, your style preferences? Do you just assume an identity and then adopt that style? Those are some of the modern and post-modern ways of trying to get a sense of identity. But none of them is very satisfying or strengthening, and all are pretty superficial. The Bible comes at the issue of identity from a completely different direction. It says that your identity is something you get from God.
One place in the Bible where we see that is in the story that we've come to this morning in Exodus 12, the story of the Passover. In the beginning of this chapter God says this was an event that was going to shape the calendar for the people of Israel. The month of the Passover (our April) would to be the first month of their calendar year. At the end of the chapter He says that this meal that they shared on the night of Passover was to be a yearly celebration of remembrance. Why? Because this event gave them, as a community, a sense of unique identity. That's why years later, at a Passover meal., Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, which Christians now practice. By connecting the Lord's Supper with Passover, Jesus was saying that our identity as Christians is linked to the larger story of redemption that runs through the whole Bible.
Here's what this means in terms of a sense of identity if you are a Christian:
You Are Part of an Ancient Story of Redemption That Is Rooted in the Promise of God
In Exodus 6:6-8, God sends Moses on a mission to lead His people into a whole new life. God says to Moses: "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.'" God is saying, “I am going to fulfill My ancient promises.”
From Adam to Abraham God Shows Us That He Keeps His Promises
God had promised Adam and Eve that He would create a people who would stand with Him and that He would send a Savior who would defeat the devil, the serpent. In the early pages of the Bible, many centuries unfold and great events take place in human history. The Flood and the Tower of Babel occur. Great civilizations rise and then are broken down through human sin and divine judgment. God is working in all this, sometimes dramatically and sometimes quietly, to preserve a people who know His presence, trust in His promise, and are guided by His precepts.
In Genesis 12 God chooses one man, Abraham, and says that he and his family will be the channel through which God advances the cause of His kingdom on earth. He calls Abraham to leave everything he knows in one of the great centers of power and civilization in the ancient world and go to a land that God promises to give to him and his descendants. It is to be a promised land in which a chosen people will find a home that will be the place on earth from which God will bless the world with truth and grace.
So Abraham begins a new kind of human life, a life of faith. It will be a life that doesn't depend on what one can have or hold right now but rather depends completely on what God has promised for the future. Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob all have to learn to live by faith.
From Abraham to Moses God Shows Us That He Keeps His Promises
A famine in the Promised Land leads Jacob and his sons, the fathers of the tribes of Israel, down to Egypt, where something surprising happens. They discover that another of Jacob's sons, Joseph, who had been hated, sinned against by his brothers, and sold into slavery, has not only ended up in Egypt before them but, blessed and protected by God, has risen out of slavery to a place of great honor and power. He forgives and helps them. So Jacob and his family settle in Egypt, and you wonder, How are these people ever going to end up as a nation of their own, under God and in the Promised Land?
The twelve tribes of Israel remain in Egypt for about four hundred years. They grow from what was at first just an extended family to a nation of around two million. At the beginning of the book of Exodus, this growing Hebrew nation is facing persecution. They become a despised minority forced into slavery. To control their population, Pharaoh orders that every male baby be thrown into the Nile River.
One little boy's mother makes a small boat out of a basket of papyrus reeds sealed watertight with tar and pitch and puts her baby boy in it. She places him among the reeds in the river, hoping for his life to be saved. Pharaoh's daughter goes down to the river to bathe, finds the basket, and saves the baby. As is often the case in the kingdom of God, the most important person in the world at that moment is not the Pharaoh on his throne but the baby being lifted out of the basket in the arms of Pharaoh's daughter. God is working silently, even subversively, to accomplish His purposes in spite of human evil.
Do you know what happens next? God arranges for Pharaoh's daughter, without knowing it, to appoint the child’s mother to care for him. Of course the baby is Moses. He is raised by his own mother but educated in the court of Pharaoh in all of the most advanced knowledge of his day.
Moses knows he is a Hebrew. One day, in anger over the way a Hebrew is treated, he kills an Egyptian and has to flee for his life. He lives as an exile in the desert for forty years. When the time is right, God calls to Moses by name from a burning bush. “Moses, I am the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I am sending you to tell Pharaoh to let my people go because I am going to deliver them.” Moses says, “What is your name?” God answers, “Yahweh,” which means “I am.” God is saying, “I am self-existent, and self-sufficient, absolutely adequate, faithful and consistent.”
Moses doesn't want this mission, but God doesn't take no for an answer. So Moses goes, and God delivers. The Lord displays His power through the plagues of judgment that shatter the Egyptians, and Moses leads the chosen people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and toward the Promised Land. They are a rabble. They grumble, but God works with them and for them. God provides for them and guides them, gives them the Ten Commandments, and forges them into a nation with a new identity that would be, after another forty years, ready to re-enter the Promised Land.
The reason this story it is not only interesting but relevant is that the ripples from it reach all the way into our modern world and even into our personal lives. The story is in the Bible because it is not just history but is also our story. Christ came from this nation that was redeemed out of Israel in the days of Moses. The story is part of the story of Christ, and if you have received Christ as your Savior, then you have stepped into this story. What's more, if you have stepped into this story, it's because that was the part God chose for you in His story from before the foundation of the world when he chose you to come to Christ. God wants you to understand that the Bible is telling your story, the story into which you have been drawn by God's grace and love.
The Bible frequently reminds us that one of the dangers of daily life is that we get weighed down by the mundane routine of this physical world and lose our inspiring, empowering, and ennobling vision of the story of God's kingdom into which we have been called. God doesn't want that to happen to you. The same God who called Abraham, appeared to Isaac, wrestled with Jacob, prospered Joseph, and chose Moses, knows you by name. And He wants His name to live in your heart. He wants that sense of being a part of the story of His unfolding promise to be a vital part of your identity. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you are indeed a part of the wonderful story of redemption that is rooted in the promise of God.
And that means that if you have received Christ as your Savior . . .
You Belong to a Redeemed Community That Has Been Purchased by the Blood of Sacrifice
Exodus 12 tells that on the night before God's people were led out of their slavery in Egypt, God told Moses to have each family sacrifice a lamb. They were to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of the lamb and then gather inside in small groups to eat the lamb together. When God sent judgment on His enemies, those who believed God's promises would be saved under the sign of the blood of the sacrifice.
To Understand This We Must Step Back and See the Story of Sacrifice in the Scriptures
Sacrifice is an important part of the story of the Bible. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job all offered lambs as sacrifices to God. Throughout the history of God's people, at the Passover and the Exodus, in the wilderness, and in the Promised land in both the tabernacle and the temple, lambs were sacrificed. Their throats were cut and their bodies were offered up as burnt offerings to God. Why? Why all these sacrifices and all this blood? The Bible tells us that it was for one reason. It was to teach and prepare people for the coming of Jesus.
The sacrifices taught people the seriousness of sin. God was saying, “Don't take My mercy for granted. I will forgive your sins, but so that you won't grow callous toward the seriousness of sin, I will require that you offer animals as symbolic sacrificial substitutes, as if my judgment for your sin was falling on them. Symbolically, they will die the death you deserve to die.” God was teaching in a dramatic way that our sins tear the fabric of God's justice and incur a debt that has to be paid. The only way forgiveness can come is for an innocent substitute to be sacrificed in the place of the sinner to pay the penalty for sin.
What the sacrifices pictured, the prophet Isaiah put into words. One of the greatest prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament is found in Isaiah 53. Beginning in verse 5 the prophecy says: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah goes on to say in verse 7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter.” God wanted people to understand His plan for salvation and the meaning of the death of His Son.
Isaiah 53:10 reads: “Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering [the guilt offering was a lamb], he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.” The animal sacrifices pictured in dramatic ceremonies what the prophets described in powerful word pictures.
The words and e ceremonies together give a clear picture of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. Seven hundred years after the prophesy that Isaiah wrote, John the Baptist saw Jesus walking toward Him one morning and said, “Look, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). God the Son, one of the Trinity, co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit from all eternity, came to live with and die for us. He was born miraculously to a virgin. He became a man without ceasing to be God. He lived a sinless life. And when He died on the cross, it was as a sacrifice for our sins.
All of this is what Peter is talking about when he says: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
What Can We Learn About Our Redemption from the Passover Story?
We are an imperfect people who have been redeemed by a perfect sacrifice. Exodus 12: 5: “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” This perfection had to be proven. Verse 6 says that the sacrificial animal had to be watched for four days. There couldn't be any defects in it.
There was a dramatic moment in the life of Jesus (John 8) when He turned to His enemies and said, “Which of you can point out a single sin in My life?” They couldn't do it, because He lived a life that was sinless. That's why 1 Peter 1:19 says we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
We are a people who have acknowledged our need of grace. Exodus 12: 7 reads: “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.” There had to be an intentional decision to believe in God’s promise and accept the requirement of redemption by applying the blood to the doorpost. We do not receive redemption because of good works that we do or because we are religious. But there is a condition that we have to meet. We very definitely and intentionally need to come to Christ with that repentance and faith that receives Him personally as Lord and Savior.
When God’s judgment fell on the Egyptians that night, that little gathering of believers inside each house marked by blood knew that they were not safe from judgment because they were better than the Egyptians. They were not. The only thing that protected them from the judgment of God was the blood of that sacrifice. That's humbling, and it's powerful.
When you take the Lord's Supper, do you recognize that the same thing is true for you? We take the bread and break it into pieces because if you faced the judgment of God you would be broken into pieces. The only thing that keeps you from being broken under the judgment of God is the fact that another was broken for you. One day the judgment of God is going to fall on this world just as the ten plagues fell on Egypt.In that day real people, who are no worse than you, will be broken and will suffer God's judgment. The only thing that delivers you from that destiny is Christ's sacrifice applied to your life through faith. It's God's grace. Think about that and treasure it.
In the sacrifice that redeems us, we have been given, grace that feeds us. “That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire--head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it” (Exodus 12:8-10). The sacrifice became more than a sacrifice. It became a supper that strengthened and satisfied.
Do you ever feel weak physically, then sit down and eat something nourishing and feel strength flow back into you? You are ready to go on. The same thing can happen spiritually. You can feel weak and run down, then stop and think about the sacrifice of Christ. You think about the love of God for you, so great that He would sacrifice His Son for your redemption. You think about the love of Christ, so great that that He would give Himself to be the Lamb of God for your redemption. You think of the assurance that gives you--of God's presence, of His forgiveness, of eternity with Christ in heaven. And if you think about these things and what they mean for you, and you think about them believing, you draw strength and nourishment from these truths.
When Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” He was saying, “You have to feed your soul through faith in My love for you.” What do you run on? What do you feed on in life? In both the Passover and the Lord's Supper, the symbolism is that the same sacrifice that saves you is the meal that feeds you. Is that how you live your life of faith in Christ.?
A lot of people who profess faith in the sacrifice of Christ live trying to feed their souls, or at least their hearts and minds, on other things. They've developed a taste for possessions, popularity, some temporary passion, or exciting person. Human beings have a persistent tendency to keep trying to satisfy the hungers of the heart with quick fixes or foolish recipes of our own making. We're very creative with that. But we will never find the nourishment our souls need until we find that nourishment in our relationship with God through Christ.
Remember that the sacrifice by which we are redeemed is also to be the means by which we are nourished.
We have been given a sacrifice that binds us together as the people of God. “If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat” (Exodus 12:4).
There were two purposes for this. One purpose was that while there was to be plenty of lamb for everyone who wanted it, none of it was to be wasted, treated as common, or thrown away. But, second, eating the lamb wasn't just an individual thing. It brought people together around the sacrifice and the supper.
The reason they were to roast and serve the lamb whole, as it says in verses 8-10, was so that they would see that all were sharing in the one sacrifice. The pots in which they could have boiled a lamb in those days were so small they would have had to chop up the animal to get it into the pot with the water. God told them to roast it whole and serve it whole. The one shared sacrifice in each home was a symbol of God- ordained community. God wants us to see ourselves as part of a community of believers, bound together by the grace we need and the grace we share in the one sacrifice of Christ.
We have been given a sacrifice that redeems us and sustains us in order to prepare us for a new life as God's people. “This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover” (verse 11). Cloak tucked into your belt, sandals on your feet, staff in hand, eat it in haste” What's all that mean? It means be ready to step out on a new journey. You are not redeemed and refreshed in order to can rest but so that you can move at God's command, in response to His guidance.
In verse 8 they are told to eat the lamb with unleavened bread. In the Bible, yeast was a symbol of sin and impurity. So God was saying, “Get rid of the impurities, the past, start fresh.” Eating in haste was to be a symbol of their willingness to make a quick and complete break with their past and begin a whole new life as God's people.
First Corinthians 5:7 applies the directive to us. It says, “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Get rid of the old yeast! Get rid of the impurities, the old habits, the things that hold you back spiritually and live up to your new identity in Christ. Be who you really are in God's eyes by His grace.
God gave us first the Passover meal and then, in this present age, the Lord's Supper both as symbolic reminders of the realities of our redemption. He did this to give us, as His people, a life-shaping sense of identity in a redeemed relationship with Him. Remember the reality of your redemption and live as part of God's redeemed community.