Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; He is the Lamb of God for our redemption and life supply. The type of the Passover in Exodus 12 is marvelous, and in our Christian life, we need to daily enjoy Christ as our real Passover. God ordained that His people would hold the feast of the Passover in a specific way, starting from how to select and get the lamb ready and ending with them being dressed and ready to go as they eat the lamb.
We have seen that the main point and emphasis of the Passover is not merely the blood that covers us and saves us from God’s judgement but eating the lamb for our life supply to fulfill God’s purpose. Eating the lamb in its entirety was for the people of Israel to be supplied with life to get out of Egypt, thus fulfilling God’s purpose.
Christ as the Lamb of God died for our redemption; He was “roasted” by the fire of God’s judgement on the cross for us to eat Him and enjoy Him day by day. As we eat Christ and take Him as our person, His thoughts become our thoughts, His inward feelings become ours, and His move and activities become ours.
The lamb was supposed to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; if we were to choose what to eat the roasted lamb with, we would choose something else, but God’s choice was unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Unleavened bread signifies the elimination of all sinful things, and the bitter herbs signify having a bitter taste regarding sinful and unholy things. When we eat Christ as the Lamb of God we have a sense of sin and we reject sin; inwardly we don’t feel happy but rather bitter whenever we sin or encounter sin.
The bones of the Passover lamb were not supposed to be broken: this clearly points to the Lord’s death on the cross, where none of His bones were broken. Hallelujah, Christ’s unbreakable and indestructible eternal life imparts His life into us, and nothing can break God’s life in us! Hallelujah!
As we eat the Lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, we are strengthened and energized to move out of Egypt and become God’s army – our loins are girded, our feet are shod, and we have the staff in our hand. Praise the Lord for Christ as our Passover, the One who not only died for our redemption but also became our life-supply for us to fulfill God’s purpose!
Eating the Lamb with Unleavened Bread and Bitter Herbs: Eliminating Sinful Things and Having a Bitter Taste regarding them
It is very interesting to see that God commanded His people to eat the roasted lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exo. 12:8). Leavened bread is nice, easy to chew and eat; unleavened bread is hard, not that tasty or appetizing. Bitter herbs are definitely not tasty – they are bitter.
God instructed His people to eat the roasted lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In our Christian experience eating unleavened bread means to eliminate all sinful things, and bitter herbs signify our regret and repentance for any sin as we experience a bitter taste regarding sinful things.
All those who believe into the Lord Jesus have received Christ as their life and enjoy eating Him; they repented and felt regret for their past life of sin, and they accepted the vicarious death of Christ, thus having access to God to enjoy Him.
Throughout our Christian life, as we eat Christ as the Lamb of God, we also enjoy Him as the unleavened bread – we want to live a life without sin, and whenever we make a mistake we repent and have a bitter feeling within. God’s life in us is sensitive to sin, mistakes, and wrongdoings, and many times as we enjoy Christ as the Lamb of God we repent and confess our sins.
If we are genuinely partaking of Christ and eating Him there should be a spontaneous issue: we live a sinless life one with Christ by eating the unleavened bread and we repent and are convicted regarding sin (bitter herbs).
Lord Jesus, keep us eating You as the passover: the roasted Lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. Dispense Your sinless life into us more. We give You more ground in our being to give us the bitter feeling regarding sin. Lord, we reject sin and repent of any sin, transgression, wrongdoing, and mistake. Thank You for being such a feast to us!
Not Breaking the Bones of the Lamb: Christ’s Unbreakable and Indestructible Life is Imparted into Us
The fact that none of the bones of the passover lamb was to be broken (Exo. 12:46) clearly points to how the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, had none of His bones broken when He was crucified for us (John 19:33, 36).
The Roman soldiers broke the bones of the other two crucified with the Lord (to help them die), but when they got to the Lord, they realized He died already and, as typified by the Passover lamb and prophesied in the Old Testament, none of the Lord’s bones was broken.
Christ’s unbroken bone signifies His unbreakable and indestructible eternal life; man could crucify and kill His human life, but His eternal life cannot be destroyed or broken. In Christ there’s something unbreakable and indestructible: His eternal life, which life is now being dispensed into us as we eat Him.
Praise the Lord, as we eat Christ, the Passover Lamb, we are infused with the unbreakable and indestructible eternal life of God, thus being energized and empowered to fulfill God’s purpose.
Lord, praise You for dispensing Your unbreakable and indestructible eternal life into us. Keep us eating You, the One whose bones were not broken, so that we may be energized and empowered within to live a life for the fulfillment of Your purpose!
Eating the Lamb with our Loins Girded, Sandals on Feet, Staff at Hand, and in Haste – Becoming God’s Army
In general when one eats, he sits down and enjoys the meal; in the case of eating the passover lamb, God commanded the children of Israel to eat the lamb with their loins girded, with sandals on their feet, with their staff in their hand, and in haste (Exo. 12:11).
This eating is quite particular: the people of Israel had to be ready to leave Egypt as they ate the passover lamb and were strengthened within. The passover is not for our enjoyment and satisfaction; it is Jehovah’s passover, and as we eat Christ we are being formed into an army for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
As we eat Christ as the Lamb we are energized to move out of the world as an army ready to fulfill God’s purpose.
Eating with our loins girded means that we are not loose but prepared as a soldier in the army, making ourselves ready to fight. Eating with shoes on our feet indicates that as we eat Christ we are ready for the journey of getting out of the world, ready to fight the battle for the Lord. Having the staff in our hand as we eat the passover lamb means that we are getting ready for a long journey where we fight the battle for God.
Our Christian journey is not of peace; there’s war involved, fighting with God’s enemy to claim the victory for the Lord. Hallelujah, we can apply the passover in such a way that we can become God’s army (Exo. 12:17, 41, 51; 13:18).
When we first believed into the Lord, we were happy and satisfied to receive Him, but at the same time we entered into a battle. Our whole Christian journey is a battle, and we partake of Christ as the Passover Lamb and are ready for the journey and formed into God’s army to fight for God’s kingdom!
Lord Jesus, we take You as the Passover Lamb and we eat You being girded and ready to be part of Your army and fight Your battle! Thank You for energizing us and empowering us as the Passover Lamb to get out of the world and be part of Your army to fight Your battle and fulfill Your purpose. Keep us all eating You as the full passover feast until You get Your people ready and prepared as Your army!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 24, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 5 / msg 5, The Passover.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Life is not created / As man’s body, soul, and spirit— / That’s man’s life that’s weak and temporal. / Life is uncreated. / It’s divine and it’s eternal. / And this is the life that’s indestructible. (Song on the Divine Life)
# Lord, may Thy blood now cleanse me, / Wash all my sins away, / That with Thy Holy Spirit / Thou may anoint, I pray. / My service, I confess, Lord, / Is failure-full and weak; / The filling of Thy Spirit / To live for Thee I seek. (Hymns #280)
# Lord, Thou art our true Passover, / God passed over us thru Thee; / By Thyself and Thy redemption / We with God have harmony. / Thou, the Lamb of God, redeemedst us / With Thyself and with Thy blood; / We apply Thy blood, our ransom, / Eating Thee, our real food. (Hymns #196)
