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Exodus 12 shows God’s command to the children of Israel concerning the way to eat the passover lamb. In this chapter we will consider the spiritual significance of this way.
God commanded the children of Israel not to eat the passover lamb raw or boiled with water. They could eat it only roasted with fire (vv. 8-9). These verses speak of three ways of eating the lamb—raw, boiled with water, and roasted with fire—but God allowed the children of Israel to eat the lamb only one way—roasted with fire. This way of eating is spiritually significant and has much to do with knowing the Lord and His salvation.
The first mention of fire in the Bible is in Genesis 3. Because man sinned and fell, God used a flame to guard the way to the tree of life (v. 24). Since that time, fire has prevented sinners from contacting the tree of life. The flame signifies God’s holy wrath in His judgment; thus, the Bible refers to sinners perishing and going into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15; 21:8). The suffering that sinners experience in Hades is the suffering of a burning fire. In Luke 16 the rich man was in torment in Hades because of the fire. He was extremely thirsty in the flame, and he said to Abraham, “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” (vv. 22-24).
The Lord Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). When He died a vicarious death for us on the cross, bearing up our sins in His body (1 Pet. 2:24), He was judged by God’s holy fire of wrath. Therefore, He said, “I thirst” (John 19:28). Psalm 22 also describes the Lord being judged by God on the cross: “My heart is like wax; / It is melted within me” (v. 14). God commanded the children of Israel to eat the passover lamb roasted with fire. This signifies Christ becoming food and redemption to His people. When we receive the Lord Jesus, we confess that He is our Substitute, that in His death He bore our sins, and that He is our sin offering (Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26). When the sin offering was offered on the altar, it had to be burned completely (Exo. 29:13-14; Lev. 4). Hence, eating the passover lamb roasted with fire signifies receiving the Lord Jesus as our Substitute and our Savior, as the One who bore our sins and was judged by God for us.
In Exodus 12:9 God commanded the children of Israel regarding their eating of the passover lamb, saying, “Do not eat any of it raw.” Eating the lamb raw indicates that the lamb did not pass through suffering. Some people regard Christ only as a model or example of human living for them to imitate. They try to imitate Christ’s living, but they do not believe in His redemption or accept His vicarious death on the cross. This is to eat the lamb raw.
Verse 9 also says, “Do not eat any of it...boiled at all with water.” The significance of being boiled with water differs from that of being roasted with fire. The lamb roasted with fire indicates that the Lord Jesus received God’s judgment on our behalf. However, the lamb being boiled with water signifies that the Lord Jesus would have merely suffered under man’s hand, neither dying on our behalf nor being judged by God. There is a group of people who regard Christ’s death on the cross as a death for martyrdom, not for redemption. They believe that the death of the Lord Jesus was a death in the cause of justice, and they aspire to follow Him because of His sacrificing spirit. They do not believe that Christ is their Redeemer, nor do they believe that Christ was judged before God by His consuming fire for their sins. They admit only that Christ is a martyr. This is to eat the lamb boiled with water.
God commanded the children of Israel to eat the passover lamb roasted with fire. This signifies that in order to receive Christ’s redemption, we have to confess that Christ died a vicarious death and was judged by God’s consuming fire on our behalf. As such a Lamb, Christ is God’s allotted portion to us for our redemption.
