An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Exodus 12:21-32 for Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, with the title: “Delivered From Egypt.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: I would plan to start the lesson with a story/reference to blood. For example, one of my very first memories was a 4 or 5-year-old, and I had a little choo-choo-train that I used to scoot down the sidewalk on. But one day the “cow catcher” on the front of my little train hit a storm drain lid and flipped me up in the air, and I landed on the ground, and blood was gushing out of my forehead. They took me to the ER and sewed my head up (I can still remember the white sheet over my head!). But a few days later, I remember walking down the sidewalk and seeing several drops of my blood which had stained the concrete sidewalk; I remember I just stood there looking at it. Something about seeing my blood was just so sobering. You can share my story if you’d like, or you, or another class member may have one of your own to share.

But I would point out that blood is a sobering thing. We talk of the blood of martyrs; of the blood of those who have died to preserve our freedoms. And blood is a vital element in our salvation. In Leviticus 17:11 God tells Israel: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.” And of course I John 1:7 tells us “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 

In our lesson for today from Exodus 12, God introduces His people to this idea of blood bringing deliverance — which foreshadows our ultimate salvation through the blood of Jesus.

CONTEXT

This is our 3rd lesson from the Book of Exodus:

— In our first lesson from Chapters 2 & 3, we saw how God took notice of the people of Israel in their bondage in Egypt; how He really cares about His people in our distress.

— Then last week in Chapters 5 & 6, we saw how Moses & Aaron were faithful to share with Pharaoh just the message God gave him, no additions/subtractions/changes. But despite their faithfulness to share, Pharaoh rejected the message — as many people do today as well.

Following Pharaoh’s rejection of the message, God brought pressure on him in the form of 10 plagues, with which He struck Egypt. The plagues were increasingly strong in their severity, and they culminated with the final, very severe 10th plague, which is the basis of our focus passage for today from Exodus 12.

OUTLINE:

I. The Command (:21-22)

II. The Salvation (:23-27)

III. The Obedience (:28)

IV. The Outcome (:29-32)

TEXT:

I. The Command: (:21-22)

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.”

This command comes just before the last plague, in which God will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt. So Moses calls all the “elders” or leaders of Israel, and he tells them to take a lamb for each family, kill it, and take some hyssop to put some of the blood of the lamb on the lintel and the two doorposts of their houses.

So let’s make sure we get the picture here:

— What is “hyssop”? Hyssop is a garden herb, kind of like lavender (though they are not related). You might use a picture like this to show your class: 

OR even better: if you actually HAVE a hyssop plant — or even anything similar to it — you might bring a bunch of it and show how they might use it.

The people were take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood of the lamb they’d killed, and put the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts of their house. “Lintel” is not a word many of us use every day, but it is basically the top beam of your front door. The doorposts are the two beams on the side. So the Israelites were to dab the blood on the lintel, and the two side beams, something like this: 

Of course we know today that there is a lot of symbolism here:

— the blood of the lamb, of course ultimately pictures the blood of Jesus which was shed to pray for our salvation. 

Hebrews 10:4 says: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

The blood of the Passover Lamb, as well as the blood of the bull of the Day of Atonement, and the blood of all of the Old Testament sacrifices, prefigures the Ultimate, once-and-for-all sacrifice of the blood of Jesus, which DOES wash away our sins. That same Hebrews 10 that  teaches us that the blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sins, goes on to say repeatedly that the ONE offering that Jesus made, deals with sin once for all:

— :10 “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL.”

— :12 “but He, having offered ONE sacrifice for sins FOR ALL TIME, sat down at the right hand of God.”

— :14 “For by ONE offering, He has perfected FOR ALL TIME those who are being sanctified.”

I plan to post those verses in our class, with those words “ONCE/FOR ALL” in caps/bold/highlighted in some way, and then make the point that the blood of the lamb of the Passover Sacrifice, as important as it was then for their well-being, points to an even greater sacrifice, the sacrifice of the Son of God Himself, Jesus, on the cross, and the eternal salvation He bought us ONCE FOR ALL there!  

(And you may or may not want to mention this; I’ll leave it to you: but some believe that the posting of the blood on the doorposts actually leaves the mark of a cross: when the blood drips down from the lintel, and the swath is made from side to side — the motion would be very similar to the making of a cross. So some see not only the blood itself, but also in the location and motions involved in the blood on the Passover door, a foreshadowing of Christ on the cross. You can share that/or not, as you are led.)

But the indisputable point is: God commanded them to “apply the blood” of the lamb, which is definitely a picture of the forthcoming salvation from the Ultimate Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. As I Peter 1:18-19 says “”You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, (:19) but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Jesus is our Ultimate Passover Lamb.

Now, as I said earlier, we know NOW that there is a lot of symbolism here. In Moses’ day, they did NOT know that! 

So you might ask your group:

??? Do you think it would have been hard to do this? How do you think you might have responded to this command from God to paint the doorposts and lintel???

(It wouldn’t “make sense” for sure; how could putting that blood on the doorposts save your family? BUT after seeing the first 9 plagues, maybe they just decided, “We’d better do it whether we understand it all or not!”

And of course, it can be that way with our salvation today as well. Maybe we don’t understand everything about it; maybe we don’t see how the blood of Jesus, that was shed 2000 years ago, can save us today. But like Israel, we’d best take it by faith, and do it! And we’ll see in a few moments how important that obedience is!)

II. The Salvation (:23-27)

23 “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24 And you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this rite. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped.”

So what would happen when Israel did, by faith, what God commanded them to do? Verse 23 says “the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.” The death angel would “pass over” their house, and their first-born, and they would be spared.

“Pass over” is Hebrew word “pasach,” (pronounced “paw-SACK”) means to “skip, pass over, spare.” And of course it is the basis of the name of the “Passover,” which was the religious ceremony that God commanded to come out of this event.

But this idea of “passing over, skipping over, sparing” is right at the heart of the Passover. The first-born children of the Hebrews were “passed over” if they obeyed God and put the blood on their doorposts. 

And again, the Passover symbolizes an even greater truth: that as Christians, the judgment that is due to us from God for our sins is “passed over” as well!  We have all sinned; we all deserve to be punished for our sins. But instead God “skips, passes over, spares” us, because of the blood of Jesus on our hearts. 

An illustration you might use in this lesson regarding the payment of blood comes from the life of President Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, some advisors were discussing with the President whether he should pardon various men. Congressman Kellogg brought to Lincoln the case of a young man who “before the war served six months in the Regular Army, deserted, came home, told his father nothing about it, sobered up and settled down. Later the boy volunteered at the beginning of the war, helped raise a regiment, was elected one of its officers, and in a charge across a bridge during one battle saw his colonel at his side killed and took wounds himself. Then an old-timer of the Regular Army recognized him, and let him know he would be exposed as a deserter. He managed to get furloughed home, told his father he would ‘die first’ rather than be arrested as a deserter. 

Lincoln wasn’t interested (in the story) until the charge across the bridge. ‘Do you say the young man was wounded?’ 

‘Yes, badly.’ 

‘Then,’ musingly, ‘then he has shed his blood for his country.’ And with a brightening, ‘Kellogg, isn’t there something in scripture about the “shedding of blood” being the “remission of sins”? 

‘Guess you’re about right there.’ 

‘It is a good point, and there is no going behind it.’ 

The President took a pen, wrote a pardon without condition or reservation.” (Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and the War Years, p. 588)

The charge of desertion was a grave one, but that young man’s transgression was “passed over” because he had paid the price of blood.

We need to understand that it is especially so with our salvation. The only way we can be forgiven and have our sins passed over, is by blood. As Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.” 

But our own blood is not adequate to purchase the forgiveness of our sins. 

We need to emphasize that it is ONLY THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS that this “passing over” of our sins can happen. We can’t pay for in our own blood, like that soldier did; and God cannot just “skip over” our sins and let them go — which is what a lot of people think He will do, by the way! They think in the end God will just say, “Oh never mind, I’ll just skip over your sin and let you in.” People need to realize: that CANNOT happen! 

In Exodus 34:6-7, where God reveals His innate nature to Moses, He specifically says that although He is “compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,” that He “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.” God says He cannot just “skip over our sins.” He is a holy and righteous Judge, and He cannot, He will not, just skip over sin. 

The ONLY way He can do pass over our sin is through the blood of Jesus. That’s why when Jesus sweat drops of blood at the Garden of Gethsemane, and asked if there were any other way, that this cup might pass from Him. But despite His heart-rending pleading, God sent Jesus to the cross, for the very reason that there WAS NO OTHER WAY. That’s why Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am THE way, THE truth, THE life,” and no one comes to the Father except through Him. 

The only way our sins can be forgiven is through the blood of the Ultimate Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, being applied to our hearts. Make sure your class members realize that:

— for themselves personally

— make sure they realize that is the only hope for their friends and loved ones

— and that they realize it’s the motivation our mission work. We don’t do missions for fun, or for international tourism! We do it because Jesus is the only way to the glory of the Father. That’s why we pray/go/give like we do to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering as Southern Baptists. Because the only way the sins of anyone in the world be “passed over” is by the blood of Jesus.

In :25-27 God commanded that when they came into the Promised Land, they were to continue to observe the Passover, and tell their children what it meant. The Passover became the great Jewish religious celebration, still observed in Jewish homes to this day.

But we as Christians have a ceremony that celebrates our greater understanding of salvation through the blood of Jesus: and that is the Lord’s Supper. Each time we share in it, we remember the body and blood, not just of a lamb, but of “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

Notice too the response of the people at the end of :27: “And the people bowed low and worshiped.” They were so humbled that God had heard them, and so grateful for the salvation He was giving them, that their response to this salvation was to worship Him.

That should be OUR response too: when we truly understand all that God has done for us in Jesus, it should cause us too, to “bow low and worship”!

III. The Obedience (:28)

28 “Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”

In God’s plan, it was absolutely vital that the people of Israel DO what He commanded them to do, in order to save themselves and their children. We need to see just how important obedience was here:

— What if they KNEW what God said, but didn’t do it? Would they be saved?

— What if they could QUOTE what God said, word for word, but they just didn’t do it?

— What if they INTENDED to do what God commanded, but just didn’t get around to it?

— What if all their FRIENDS and family members did, but THEY just didn’t do it themselves? 

Would any of these things have saved them? Of course, the answer is NO. Only those who heard what He commanded, and DID it, would be saved. Obedience was absolutely required.

And of course this applies specifically to how we respond to the Gospel today too: it is absolutely imperative that we obey the Gospel, which commands us to repent of our sins, and put our faith in Jesus as our Lord & Savior. 

— II Thessalonians 1:8 talks about how Jesus, when He returns, will be “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

— I Peter 4:17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

So we must “obey the gospel” today too. As we saw in the Book of Acts, obeying the gospel means repentance and faith (Acts 20:21): repenting of our sins, and putting our faith in Jesus as our Lord & Savior. Just like Israel’s obedience in Egypt was vital for their salvation, if we do not obey the gospel today, we will not be saved:

— it’s not enough to just hear it

— it’s not enough to just know it

— it’s not enough to just memorize it

— it’s not enough to just intend to do it

— it’s not enough to hang around other people who have done it

We must ourselves personally obey the gospel, and repent of our individual sins, and put our own faith in Jesus as our own personal Lord & Savior. The doorpost of our own hearts must be covered in the Blood of the Lamb in order for us to be saved!

Obedience in this is absolutely vital. This is one of the great lessons of the Passover. 

+x Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and [o]acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not [r]act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

In Jesus’ parable here, what was the difference between the wise man and the foolish man?

The answer is that one heard these words of Jesus and ACTED on them (literally “DID” them). And the other heard the words of Jesus, but did NOT ACT on them — literally, were not “DOING” them. BOTH of these men HEARD Jesus’ words; but only the one who DID them, stood.

James 1:22 says “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” James says if you think you’re right with God because you just hear God’s word, you’re “deluding yourself.” You must DO His word to be blessed. 

We see all through scripture that DOING the word; OBEYING what God said, is absolutely vital. 

An illustration of the importance of obedience can be found in the letters of John Newton, the former slave ship captain who was saved, and wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.” After his salvation Newton ministered to a lot of people through letter-writing. One lady, Mrs. Wilberforce, wrote asking Newton how you could tell if someone was truly saved or not. He wrote:

“The best mark to judge by, and which He has given us for that purpose, is to inquire if His word and will have a prevailing, governing influence upon our lives and temper. If we love him, we do endeavour to keep his commandments; and it will hold the other way; if we have a desire to please him, we undoubtedly love him. Obedience is the best test …” (John Newton, to Mrs. Wilberforce, Letters of John Newton, Josiah Bull, ed., p. 75)

It’s hard to put it any better than that: “Obedience is the best test.” (I plan to post that quote for my class Sunday morning, and discuss it: 

??? What do you think about that quote; do you think it’s true, and why??? 

But it’s not only true for Newton’s England; it’s not only true for Israel in Egypt; it’s true for us today too. Obedience is the best test. Obedience is absolutely vital in the Christian life. 

So in applying this:

1) Encourage your members that it is of utmost importance that they not only “know” what the gospel says, but that they have “obeyed” it; “DONE” it: that they have personally repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus as their Lord & Savior.

2) And if they have obeyed the Gospel for salvation, ask them:

“Is there any other area in your life, in which you KNOW something God has said, but you are not DOING it?” If so, you need to ask God to help you start doing it today. It’s not enough to just “know;” as we see here in Exodus 12, obedience is vital. 

IV. The Outcome (:29-32)

29 Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. 30 And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

So what happened?

— at midnight the Lord struck all the firstborn in Egypt: people, cattle, everything. 

— and so Pharaoh had finally had enough. He was beaten. In :31 he told Moses & Aaron to get up and go and worship God, as He had commanded them. 

— and interestingly, he added: “and bless me also.” In other words, “put in a good word for me too” as people have told me before; you may have had similar experiences.

God demonstrated His power to Pharaoh. As we saw in an earlier lesson, Pharaoh initially responded to Moses & Aaron by saying, “Who is YHWH; I do not know YHWH.” He didn’t know this God; why should he do what He said? But in the end, he DID see what God could do — and he paid a hefty price to learn this lesson. Egypt was in shambles after all the plagues, and they had all lost their first-born. 

But Israel, on the other hand, was “passed over” by the death angel. They were spared that judgment of God IF they put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. And of course we have talked about how symbolic this is: that we today will have OUR judgment “passed over” — IF we have applied the blood of Jesus to our hearts by faith. “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (I John 5:7)  Many of us can praise God for that — but let’s also make sure that we share that message with others who need to obey it as well.

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