The purpose of the exodus of God’s people from the world is to be sanctified to the Lord. Sanctification is based on redemption. The Lord required only the firstborn (vv. 2, 12-13) to be sanctified because they were the redeemed ones (Exo. 12:12-13). According to the divine requirement, all who are redeemed must also be sanctified. Redemption is for the security of God’s people; sanctification is for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. See Rom. 6:19, 22 and note Rom. 6:19^2b.

See note Exo. 12:33^1a.

Meaning sprouting, budding and denoting a new beginning of life. This is required for God’s people to be sanctified to Him for His satisfaction. In this new beginning there must be no leaven (vv. 6-7 see note Exo. 12:15^2a).

Those who are sanctified by taking Christ as their Substitute (v. 2), who have a new beginning of life (v. 4), and who eliminate all exposed sin (vv. 6-7) will have a daily living that is worthy of being a memorial, an eternal remembrance.

Or, teaching.

In order to be saved from God’s judgment, the firstborn of both man and beast had to be redeemed by the passover lamb (Exo. 12:12-13). Here, in order to be sanctified to God, the firstborn of both a donkey and a man had to be redeemed with a lamb. This is because both a donkey and a man are unclean in the eyes of God and cannot be offered to God for His satisfaction (Lev. 11:1-8; 12:1-8). Hence, both a donkey and a man had to be redeemed again in sanctification. This shows that our natural life must be replaced by Christ. For both our salvation and our sanctification, we need Christ to be our Substitute (1 Pet. 3:18a; Gal. 2:20).

God’s people had God’s command concerning the exodus from Egypt (Exo. 12:21-27), but they needed the Lord’s leading as well as His command. The Lord’s leading is conditional. According to this chapter, in order to have God’s leading, God’s people need to be sanctified (v. 2), to have a new beginning of a sinless life (vv. 4-7), and to be in resurrection (v. 19).

Because of the possibility of war with the Philistines, God did not lead the children of Israel in a straight way to the good land (v. 17). Instead, He turned them around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea, leading them seemingly to a dead end (Exo. 14:2-3). This tempted Pharaoh to pursue them and produced an ideal environment for God to baptize His people and bury Pharaoh and his army (Exo. 4).

A bone signifies an unbreakable life, a life in resurrection (Gen. 2:21 and note Gen. 2:21²; John 19:33, 36). Thus, the bringing of Joseph’s bones out of Egypt into the good land signifies resurrection and indicates that those who share in the kingdom of God will no longer be in the natural life, signified by flesh and blood, but in the resurrection life, signified by Joseph’s bones (1 Cor. 15:50). In the eyes of God all the children of Israel had been dead and buried in Egypt (see note Gen. 1:6^1a). The exodus from Egypt, therefore, was actually a resurrection. The exodus from the world, the genuine sanctification to the Lord (v. 2), and a new beginning of a sinless life (vv. 4-7) can be accomplished only by the resurrection life.

In typology the cloud signifies the Spirit (1 Cor. 10:1-2 and note 1 Cor. 10:1^4b and note 1 Cor. 10:2³), and the fire, for enlightening, signifies the Word of God (Psa. 119:105). Hence, the instant, living leading from God comes through either the Spirit or the Word. The two pillars symbolize God Himself, for He is both the Spirit and the Word (John 4:24; 1:1). Furthermore, the Word is also the Spirit (John 6:63; Eph. 6:17). Thus, God, the Word, and the Spirit are one to lead and guide us continually, whether by day or by night. In the Christian life there is no difference between day and night, for the light from the pillar of fire causes the night to become day.