Message 25
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:11-28, 43-51; 13:2-11; 1 Cor. 5:7-8
The redemption of Christ is mysterious, beyond our understanding. I believe that this is the reason the Passover in the Old Testament portrays all the elements, factors, and aspects of the redemption of Christ revealed in the New Testament. If we had the plain words of the New Testament without the picture in the Old Testament, it would be difficult for us to see all the details of the wonderful and mysterious redemption of Christ. How we thank the Lord for the portrait of redemption presented in the book of Exodus!
In the foregoing messages, we have covered a number of details regarding the Passover. We have seen that Christ is not only the Passover lamb, but also the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, and the house. The blood of the lamb was put on the lintel and the doorposts of the houses; and all the lamb, including the head, legs, and inwards, was eaten. As the children of Israel ate the lamb, it was necessary for them to have their loins girded, to have their feet shod, and to have a staff in their hands. Furthermore, they had to eat the lamb in haste. The lamb was not to be eaten either raw or boiled; it had to be roasted in fire. Moreover, hyssop, signifying faith, was used to put the blood of the Passover lamb on the lintel and on the doorposts. All these details had to be observed by the children of Israel as they were sharing in the Passover. In this message we shall go on to consider some further details concerning the way to apply the Passover lamb.
The Passover itself lasted just one day. It was held on the fourteenth day of the first month, the month Abib. Continuing from the feast of the Passover, there was another feast, the feast of unleavened bread, which lasted seven days. In the Bible seven days indicate a complete course of time, a whole period of time. Hence these seven days signify the course of our life on earth. In the eyes of God, the full course of our life is just seven days.
The feast of unleavened bread began and ended with days of feasting. Both on the first day and on the last day, no work was permitted. The children of Israel were only allowed to eat.
The details we shall cover in this message are especially crucial. What we have covered thus far is related to the feast of the Passover, which lasted for one day. But what we shall cover in this message is related to a feast that lasted for seven days, a period of time that signifies the course of human life.
Concerning the Passover, the emphasis in the Bible is mainly on the eating of the Passover, not on the keeping of the Passover. For example, Luke 22 speaks of the Lord eating the Passover with His disciples (vv. 11, 15). There, the Passover is a feast for us to eat. Exodus 12 speaks of eating the flesh, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. The significance of eating rests in the fact that we live by what we eat. In human life nothing is more important than eating.
The children of Israel were not to eat leavened bread for a period of seven days. Exodus 12:15 says, “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses.” According to 12:19, no leaven was to be found in the houses, and according to 13:7, no leaven was to be seen with the children of Israel. During the days of the feast of unleavened bread, the children of Israel were not to eat leavened bread, leaven was not to be found in their houses, and leavened bread was not to be seen with them.
Eating unleavened bread indicates that God’s people should not live in sin, that is, should not live a sinful life. In the Bible leaven signifies what is sinful, evil, corrupt, and unclean in the eyes of God. In 1 Corinthians 5:8 Paul speaks of the “leaven of malice and evil.”
The function of leaven is to make something easier to eat. Suppose bread is made without yeast or any other type of leaven. This kind of bread would be heavy and hard to chew. But if leaven is put into bread dough, the bread will be soft and easy to eat. The function of sin is similar to the function of yeast; it softens things that are hard and makes them easier for us to take in. The principle of leaven, therefore, is to add an element that causes something hard to become soft. For example, joking may be a kind of leaven that makes a difficult situation easier to take.
The children of Israel were to observe the feast of unleavened bread as a continuation of the feast of Passover (12:15-20; 13:6-7). Exodus 12:18 says, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.” We have pointed out that when the children of Israel ate the Passover lamb, they were also required to eat unleavened bread. We have seen that the feast of the Passover lasted one day, whereas the feast of unleavened bread continued for seven days. Therefore, the feast of unleavened bread was a continuation of the feast of Passover.
The flesh of the Passover lamb signifies the sinless life of Christ. We received Christ not only in His death and resurrection, but also in His sinlessness, for His life is not only a crucified and resurrected life, but also a sinless life. Therefore, we must eat the flesh of the lamb and also the unleavened bread. This means that from the time we received Christ and were saved and had a new beginning in life, we began to live a life without leaven, a life without sin.
Exodus 13:7 says that no leaven was to be seen with the children of Israel. In our Christian life no leaven should be seen. It is impossible for us to have no leaven at all, but it is possible for the leaven not to be seen. Although it is not possible for us to be without sin, we must deal with any sin that is manifested, with any sin that is seen. This means that we are responsible to deal with the sin of which we are conscious. Whenever we discover something sinful in our lives, we must eliminate it. This, however, does not mean that we shall have no sin. There may be much sin in our lives or in our environment, but we may not be conscious of it. However, as soon as we become conscious of it, we must deal with it. We must forsake the sin of which we are conscious. We should not tolerate any manifestation of sin.
In 12:19 the children of Israel were given a strong word: “Whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.” To be cut off from the congregation of Israel was to be cut off from the fellowship of God’s chosen people. This serious word corresponds to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 5:13: “Remove the evil man from among yourselves.” To put away such a one is to cut him off from the fellowship of the church.
If we tolerate sin once it has been exposed, our fellowship will be cut off. This indicates that as Christians we should live a sinless life, not tolerating any sin that has been exposed. To deal with manifested sin is to observe the feast of unleavened bread.
Exodus 12:14 says, “This day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah throughout your generations: ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever” (Heb.). This verse indicates that the Passover was to be kept as a feast. The same was true regarding the feast of unleavened bread (12:17). A feast involves both eating and enjoyment. Whenever we eat without having enjoyment as the purpose of our eating, that eating is common. But when we eat for enjoyment, our eating becomes a feast. For example, we may daily eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner without any special enjoyment. But sometimes we come together to hold a feast. At such times, our eating is for the purpose of enjoyment. The eating of the Passover was called the feast of Passover because it was an eating for enjoyment.
When we were saved, we enjoyed the feast of Passover. But this feast should immediately be continued by the feast of unleavened bread. This indicates that a Christian’s enjoyment should not cease. However, in the experience of many Christians, the feast of Passover is not followed by the feast of unleavened bread. At the time of their conversion, they were joyful. But this enjoyment did not last, because they did not observe the feast of unleavened bread. This means that they did not deal with their sinful living. Rather, they allowed the leaven that was exposed to remain. They did not deal with sin that had been exposed. For this reason, many Christians do not observe the feast of unleavened bread.
After we receive the Lord and are saved, we should continue our enjoyment by dealing with sin. This should last not just for one day, but for seven days. This means that it should last throughout the course of our life. Our whole life after we are saved should be a feast of unleavened bread.
This was Paul’s concept in 1 Corinthians 5. In verse 7 Paul says, “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed.” Then in verse 8 he goes on to tell us to “keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and evil, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Day by day we need to keep the feast of unleavened bread. We should keep this feast throughout the course of our Christian life until we see the Lord.
As soon as we refuse to deal with any sin that has been exposed, we no longer keep the feast of unleavened bread. This means that we lose the enjoyment of this feast. Tolerating sin causes loss of enjoyment. On the contrary, the more we deal with sin that has been manifested or exposed, the more enjoyment we have. This is to keep the feast of unleavened bread.
I appreciate the way Paul allegorized the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. He says that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, that we should purge out the old leaven, and that we should keep the feast of unleavened bread. We keep this feast by dealing with sin and by living a sinless life. Whenever something sinful is exposed, we immediately deal with it. In this way no leaven shall be seen in our houses. Christ is the unleavened bread. The more we eat Him, the more we shall become unleavened. The only way to eliminate sin is to eat Christ’s crucified, resurrected, and sinless life.
Exodus 12:16 says, “And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.” This verse says that on the first and last days of the feast of unleavened bread no manner of work was to be done. This signifies that in the enjoyment of God’s salvation, there is no place for our work. We must learn to stop our doing. We must cease from every kind of work. Do not resolve to be a loving husband, a submissive wife, or a child who honors his parents. All this is human work. The only thing we are permitted to do is eat. This indicates that as we partake of God’s salvation, there is room only for enjoyment, not for working. Do not try to do anything — just eat and enjoy.
The situation of today’s Christianity is just the opposite. Instead of eating, there is working. Sermon upon sermon is given charging people to engage in certain kinds of work. This contradicts the principle of God’s salvation. God’s salvation does not allow us to do any work.
Due to our serpentine nature, immediately after we were saved or revived, we made up our mind to do certain things. Some resolved not to lose their temper; others decided to be humble. But the Lord makes no allowance for this kind of work. In God’s salvation we are only allowed to eat.
In contrast to the writings of the religions of man, the Bible charges God’s people concerning the first and last days of the feast to do nothing except eat. If the children of Israel worked on these days, they would have broken the principle of God’s salvation. Salvation is for our enjoyment; it does not require our work or our doing. Nevertheless, even many zealous Christians are cut off from spiritual fellowship simply because they are engaged in so much work. To add human labor to God’s salvation is to insult God and to cut ourselves off from fellowship.
We find it difficult to stop working and to keep eating. Instead of eating without working, our habit is to work without eating. Some may complain of too much spiritual eating. They may even say that they are bored with such eating. Talk like this circulated among us some time ago. This kind of word comes from the Devil, the enemy of God. As soon as a word is spoken against eating the Lord, it is followed by a suggestion that we work or engage in a certain activity. What a devilish contradiction of the principle of God’s salvation! I repeat, God’s salvation requires that we stop our working and do nothing except eat.
It is even possible for prayer to become a work that God forbids. Some of the saints may decide to spend more time in prayer. In such a case, their prayer may become a work that breaks the principle of God’s salvation. To one who resolves to pray in this way, I would say, “Do not allow prayer to become a work. Instead of praying in a natural way, you must eat the unleavened bread.”
When I was young, I engaged in much work for the Lord. I read books about how to be holy, how to pray, and how to overcome sin. These books encouraged me to work and to do certain things. Then one day I saw the light that God does not want us to work — He wants us to eat. If we would feast unto Him, we must stop our doing.
Suppose a brother invites you to his home for a feast. After you arrive, however, you spend a great deal of time working for him. You mow the lawn, trim the trees, and wash the windows. But all your work is offensive to this brother. What he desires is that you sit down at the table and feast with him. The more you feast, the happier he will be.
We all must learn to drop our natural doing. However, this is not easy for us to do. As we drop our doing, we need to maintain our eating. But if we do not eat, we should not stop working. Most Christians work without eating, but we must learn to eat without doing. Let us drop our doing, but continue with our eating.
Exodus 12:43 says, “This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof.” Verse 45 goes on to say, “A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof.” These verses indicate that strangers and hired servants were not permitted to eat the Passover. In the Old Testament strangers represent two categories of people: the unbelievers and the natural man. We may readily agree that the unbelievers are strangers, but we may not agree that our natural man is also a stranger who is not allowed to partake of the Passover. Actually, our natural man is no different from an unbeliever, for our natural life is always quick to go along with the way of an unbeliever. Hence, the natural man and the unbelievers are of the same family.
Notice that in Exodus 12 the natural man is the stranger linked to the hired servants. A hired servant is one who serves for wages, for compensation. The natural man always works for God in order to receive compensation. This is commonplace in today’s Christianity. For the most part, Christianity has become a religion in which strangers are hired to work for wages. Although a hired servant may receive wages, with him there is no grace, faith, or enjoyment. If we try to enjoy the Passover according to the principle of a hired servant, we shall find that we have no position to partake of the Passover.
Those who work as hired servants have the attitude that they labor and God pays them their wages. But in Romans Paul indicates that we are not to work for our salvation. Romans 4:4 and 5 say, “Now to the one who works, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. But to the one who works not, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” Speaking of the selection of grace, Paul declares in Romans 11:6, “But if by grace, it is no longer out of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
In the words of Galatians 4:7, we who believe in Christ are no longer servants; we are sons. Children simply enjoy the family life. They do not labor as hired servants in order to share in this enjoyment. Our enjoyment of God’s salvation is according to the principle of free grace, not according to the principle of a hired servant who works for recompense. As far as salvation is concerned, our labor means nothing. God allows us to enjoy the Passover not as wages, but only as a free gift of grace.
It is clear that the natural man cannot enjoy Christ as the Passover. If a person is still in the natural man, he has not come to the month Abib, which means sprouting or budding. This means that he has not experienced a new beginning in Christ. With such a one there is no sprouting of the divine life through regeneration. To have a new beginning is to no longer be a stranger, to no longer be a natural man. On the contrary, it is to be regenerated and to become a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
Do not partake of the Passover as a natural man or as a hired servant, and do not have the attitude that you work for God and that He pays you. We do not receive God’s salvation because of our labor. If we remain in the natural man or regard ourselves as hired servants who work for recompense, we have no right to partake of the Passover.
Although strangers and hired servants could not partake of the Passover, the purchased and circumcised servants were qualified to eat of it (12:44, 48). To be purchased is to be redeemed. We are not hired servants, but we have been purchased by the Lord to be His slaves. We were lost, but the Lord paid the price to buy us back. This means that we have been redeemed, purchased, bought back. Thus, we are no longer strangers — we are redeemed ones. We are no longer the natural man — we are purchased ones.
Christ’s redemption does not include the natural life. Rather His redemption deals with the natural man by putting him on the cross. Christ redeems only those who have been dealt with by His cross. Such a dealing is signified by circumcision.
Do you regard yourself as a hired one or as a purchased one? Few like to think of themselves as those who have been purchased. A purchased one is actually a slave. This is the reason that in ourselves we all prefer to be hired ones. If we are hired by a certain person to work for him, we are willing to work as long as we are happy with our employer. But if we are not happy, we can resign and work for someone else. But a purchased one, a slave, has no right to resign.
Once again we see that the way of the natural man contradicts God’s principle. In God’s redemption we are not hired ones; we are purchased ones. Anyone who thinks of himself as a hired one has no share in God’s redemption. If we want to enjoy God’s redemption, we must take our standing as those who have been purchased by Him.
It is easy to say in a doctrinal way that we are purchased ones. But in our actual daily practice we may live as if we were hired ones. The apostle Paul knew that he was a slave of Christ Jesus (Rom. 1:1). He did not regard himself as one who had been hired to work for the Lord. In contrast to many pastors or ministers, Paul knew he had no right to resign from serving the Lord.
To be a hired one is, spiritually speaking, to work in our natural life for the purpose of receiving recompense. But according to the spiritual principle, to be a purchased one is to serve the Lord in redemption. A purchased one is a person who has been lost, who has been bought back, and who has been dealt with by the cross. This is the kind of person who has been redeemed by God. Such a one is qualified to partake of the Passover.
Exodus 12:44 says, “But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then he shall eat thereof.” Verse 48 also speaks of circumcision: “And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof” (Heb.). All the redeemed ones must be circumcised. Spiritually speaking, to be circumcised is to have the natural life dealt with by the cross. Apart from circumcision, there is no redemption. For this reason, the redeemed ones are related to circumcision. Those who have been redeemed have been dealt with by the cross. In Paul’s words, they are the true circumcision (Phil. 3:3). The strangers are the hired ones, whereas the purchased ones are the circumcised ones. Those who are circumcised do not exercise the natural life to work for God. God does not want us to work for Him; He wants us to be circumcised. The work according to our natural life can only produce Ishmael. Our strength to produce Ishmael must be cut off through circumcision.
If we would receive God’s salvation in a proper way, we need to be purchased and circumcised. At the time of conversion, a sinner should repent, confess, and believe in the Lord Jesus. Simultaneously, he should begin to hate his natural life and to realize that this life needs to be buried. This is the reason that as soon as someone believes in the Lord Jesus, he should be baptized. To be baptized is to realize that the natural life is good for nothing except burial. When a new believer has this realization, he is conscious of the fact that he has been purchased and circumcised. However, many of today’s Christians have received God’s salvation blindly, not realizing that they need to be purchased and circumcised.
All these details related to the Passover show the proper and adequate way to apply the Passover. If these details were not necessary, the Bible would not include them. Although these details are also in the New Testament, it is rather difficult for us to find them. However, they are vividly portrayed in the picture of the Passover in the book of Exodus. Thank the Lord that we are the purchased and circumcised ones and that we eat the Passover according to God’s principles.
Exodus 12:51 concludes, “And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Jehovah did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies” (Heb.). This verse indicates that God’s complete redemption produces an army. After applying the Passover according to all the principles given by God, we need to continue our enjoyment of the Passover by making an exodus from Egypt to become God’s army to fight for His interests on earth. We need to continue our enjoyment of salvation by getting out of the world and becoming part of the army of the Lord. This is the meaning of the term exodus. What a complete picture of God’s salvation is given in the book of Exodus! When we apply Christ as our Passover today, we need all the principles given in the account of the Passover in Exodus.
Exodus 12:12 says, “I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.” Some may wonder why God killed only the firstborn. When I was young, I was troubled by this. I wondered if it meant that the firstborn were evil and that the others were good. At the time, I was not familiar with spiritual principles. Later I learned that the firstborn includes everyone in Adam. Adam, the first man, was actually the firstborn (1 Cor. 15:45a). Since Adam was the first man, the firstborn includes all those in Adam. The second born, on the contrary, are all those who are in Christ, for Christ is the second man (1 Cor. 15:47b). In a very real sense, we who believe in Christ are the second born ones. Nevertheless, within us we still have the element of the firstborn. Although we are under the blood of Christ, the blood does not redeem anything of the firstborn. For this reason we must condemn everything within us that is related to the firstborn, that is, to Adam. This means that, once again, we must condemn the natural life.
The terms firstborn and stranger actually describe the same thing. They are synonymous terms that describe the old man and the natural life. We may say that the old man is the firstborn and that our natural man with the natural life is the stranger. But these two are actually one. When we apply Christ as the Passover, we must condemn both the old man and the natural man. We must reject both the firstborn and the stranger. In God’s Passover feast, there is no place for the old man or the natural life.
We need to take this not in a mere doctrinal way, but in the way of practice and experience. If we apply this in an experiential and practical way, we shall realize that we still have a certain amount of the old man and the natural life within us. This keeps us from applying the Passover in a complete and adequate way. We still hold on to the old man and the natural life. This means that the firstborn and the stranger are still within us. Therefore, we cannot apply the Passover in a full way, because God does not allow the old man or the natural life to participate in His Passover. This is the principle with respect to God’s judgment of all the firstborn.
In 12:12 the Lord also said, “And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.” This word is very significant. Without this part of 12:12, we would not realize that on the night of the Passover, Satan and all the demons were also judged. The firstborn were the constituents of Egypt, whereas the gods were components of the kingdom of Satan. During the Passover, both were judged.
It is possible to make a list of items that are excluded from participation in the Passover. There could be no leaven, no work, no strangers, no hired servants, no firstborn, and no Egyptian gods. This means that there is to be no place for sin, human doing, the natural life, the old man, the world, or Satan. These items are not only portrayed in the picture of the Passover in Exodus, but they also are clearly revealed in the New Testament. When we keep the Passover according to the detailed principles ordained by God, then we apply the Passover in a proper way. Praise the Lord for this full picture of the Passover, God’s complete redemption!
In addition to this list of negative things, we can make a list of positive things that are included in the Passover: the lamb, the house, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the hyssop, the girdle, the shoes, and the staff. All these are components of the Passover. The issue of these positive things is God’s army. We who enjoy Christ as the Passover eventually become an army fighting for the kingdom of God on earth. As we have pointed out, the Passover ultimately produces an army to fight for God’s interests.
