November 2, 2025 - Establishment of the Passover Feast (Exodus 12:1-14)

Establishment of the Passover Feast (Exodus 12:1-14)

Rev. Myung-Sin Choi

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. 

Introduction

Due to your grace, I was able to come back from the Columbia mission trip well. They asked Elon Musk, who runs the Tesla company, how they interview people and they said that they interview people who they have a good feeling about. So always when they interview people, they always ask the same questions. The questions are, “What has been the most difficult problem that you have faced until now? And second question, how did you solve that problem? During that time, what decisions did you make during that important time as the third question. If you look at these questions, these are very important questions. The background of these questions show how you solve problems during difficult times. If you look at this with spiritual eyes, you need to ask yourself, how will you solve problems spiritually? With what kind of eyes and methods will you solve problems? These methods and ways will determine your future. We need to have a new start with spiritual eyes. Today’s sermon is very important. Let us receive a lot of grace today. 

1. The Start of the Passover

(1) "This month is to be for you the first month"

Verses 1-3 - The calendar that we are using now is the calendar that Egyptians used. The Egyptians calculated a year to be 365.2 days and it was an amazing discovery. The Egyptians discovered and calculated the total amount of days by the stars and sun. They realized by looking at the stars and sun, they were able to determine 365 days. 

Verse 2 - The Egyptian calendar was calculated by looking at the sun but the calendar that God determined was by the day that they performed the passover. 

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” - The word, “…Beginning” here was derived from Hebrew. This beginning was the time of creation. God was talking about the new beginning, the time of creation of the whole earth. The book of Genesis talks about the new beginning and creation. In other words, the start of living as people of God from living as slaves. The Exodus was the Passover which represented salvation. The event of the Exodus was talking about the new beginning and start for the Israelites. It was the start for a new life for them. This was very important. The day we were saved, it was a day where we were able to have a new start. How do we have this new start? 

Verse 3 - It said to take a lamb. The 10th plague was different from the previous plagues. Starting from the 3rd plague to the 8th plague, they all differentiated between Israelites and Egyptians. God protected the Israelites and the people in the land of Goshen. The 10th plague, it did not differentiate between the Israelites and Egyptians. God showed the way to be saved from the 10th plague to the Israelites. What was that way? It was whether they took the lamb or not. 

(2) New unity

Verses 4-5  - What was the most important thing for differentiation, God wanted an unblemished lamb. This was so important for God. What does unblemished lamb mean? 

1 Corinthians 5:7 “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” - That unblemished lamb represented Jesus Christ who was without sin. 

Verse 5 - When an animal became a year old, they were seen as fully grown and matured animals. When they would perform animal sacrifices, they would only offer animals who were 1 year old. Why was that? When Jesus Christ reached 30 years old, that was when He started His earthly ministry. Before Jesus Christ reached 30 years old, He didn’t do anything. 

Luke 3:23 “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli.” - When Jesus was baptized and started His Earthly ministry, He was 30 years old. If the family was too small, they would eat with their neighbors. For one lamb, 10 family members could feast on it. The body of the lamb represents Jesus Christ. Eating the lamb means that they were taking on the body of Jesus Christ. They wouldn’t eat the lamb by themselves but they would eat it together with their families. This was what God wanted. Through the lamb and passover, the families would become one and barriers breaking down. 

Matthew 26:26 “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ ” - When Jesus gave the people bread and wine saying that this was His body. Through the communion, Jesus was saying that they are becoming one body. When we do the communion, we share bread and wine which means that we are becoming one body with Jesus Christ. 

2. The Meaning of the Passover

(1) The preparation for the Passover

Verses 6-11 - On the 10th date, they would pick the lamb and on the 14th day, they would distinguish and find a lamb that was unblemished. They would keep checking to make sure there were no problems or issues with the lamb that they picked. This also means that God would give them time to meditate on His word. Before we receive God’s word, we need to have a time of meditation. Before the sun went down, God told them to eat. After the sun went down and night came, it was during that time they would perform the animal sacrifice. 

Verse 7 - The Passover had such important meaning. The first Passover, God commanded the Israelites to spread the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. After that, God never commanded them to spread blood on a doorpost. As we know blood represents life. Any Israelite who would put blood on the door post, they were confessing that they are giving their life to God. They were confessing to God that their life within that house that placed blood on their door, they were giving their life to God. God wanted an animal sacrifice to be cooked fully. As we know when Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, He sacrificed His entire body for us. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He wanted His people to remember His suffering on the cross. 

Verses 9-10 - Jesus Christ who died for us, He gave His entire life for us. He staked His entire life for us. In order to save us, He died for us and didn’t just die, but He made sure to sacrifice His entire body and life for us. The fact that we are saved, this meant that Jesus Christ sacrificed His entire body for us to be saved. Through the event of the Exodus, God was showing that salvation was urgent and so important.  

Verse 11 - Passover in English means that it will pass over. This means that judgment will pass over. God’s judgment passing over you means that death will pass over you. This shows the entire sacrifice of Jesus Christ which allowed us to be saved and to live. This Passover granted us life and salvation. This is the mystery of how we can survive death and life. This was an eternal mystery. With this covenant, let us be victorious.

(2) Events that will take place on Passover

Verses 12-14 - This is important. God said that He will pass over and kill all of the firstborns in Egypt. God, Himself, will do this. God is the one who is in control over life and death. God said that He will also judge all of the gods of Egypt. As we know there were many gods in Egypt. God will judge all of them. This means that God will judge over darkness and firstborns. Darkness that tormented the Israelites, God said that He will judge them. God said that He will judge the firstborns which means the people of Egypt who worshiped idols and darkness. 

Verse 13 - During the passover, the angel of death will cross over on doors that have the blood of the lamb. The angel of death will pass over the doors that have blood on them and know that someone already died in that house. What does that mean? This represented that Jesus Christ died for that house. The angel of death will pass over homes that have the blood of the young lamb. Because of the blood of the young lamb, we will live and have gained life. 

Verse 14 - The day of the passover was so important that He wanted to create a memorial. 

Mark 14:24 “And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.’ ” - The Exodus was showing the blood of the young lamb. Those who blood on the door post, they all lived. What was Jesus Christ saying? Jesus was passing bread and wine and said that this was His flesh and blood. Those who ate that, they would live. Back in the day, it was the blood of the doorpost. Now, it was the bread and wine which represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Because of that, they will live. This is the communion. This showed how we will live. Even in the Old Testament, this was how they lived. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are able to live. 

3. The First Life Camp

(1) With the God-given promise

John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” - When we hold onto the blood of the covenant, then everything is finished. Everything will end. No matter what difficulty or crisis, with the blood of Jesus Christ, it will all be over. If that is so, we must hold onto our mission. 

(2) With the God-give mission

Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” - When we hold onto God’s covenant and the blood of Jesus Christ, then the power of the heavenly throne will come to us. We can stand as witnesses of the power of the heavenly throne. I believe that we are already in that seat. 

(3) To urgently start what God has given

Ephesians 1:13 “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” - We already have the gospel of salvation and the word of truth. The most important thing is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must make a resolution to do world evangelism and the way to do that is through the power of the Holy Spirit. May you be victorious. 

Conclusion

John 20:22 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ ” - This was what the resurrected Jesus Christ said. Always be filled with the Holy Spirit and enjoy the Holy Spirit. When we hold onto the covenant of 24 hours, then we can have enjoyment for 24 hours and be filled with the Holy Spirit for 24 hours. Then, the work of 25 hours will come upon us. After Jesus Christ resurrected, the first thing that He said was for us to receive the Holy Spirit. We must pray without resting and ceasing. We must always pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit to come upon us. May you receive answers in the name of Jesus Christ.