Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleA Picture of Faith
Bible TextExodus 12:8
Date24-Jun-2018
Article Type Article
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Christ Our Passover (32 kbps)  /  [go to notes]
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A PICTURE OF FAITH

 

Exodus 12: 8: And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

 

We may have considered the application of the blood over the doorpost as a picture of faith.  But the blood was applied by the elder who was head of his house.  (Ex 12: 21-22)  Christ is the Elder who is Head of his house. (Heb 3: 5-6)  Through the Holy Spirit, Christ sprinkles the hearts of his people with his blood, making with us God’s everlasting covenant of grace.  Moses also pictured Christ performing this work when Moses sprinkled the children of Israel with the blood of a lamb, enjoining the first covenant of works to them. (Heb 9: 14, 18-23) But in this eighth verse, we have an instructive picture of faith in Christ and repentance from dead works.

 

     They shall eat the flesh in that night. In the same night the elder applied the blood to the doorpost of their house they ate the flesh of the paschal lamb. As soon as Christ applies his blood to our hearts, we are made willing to eat Christ’s body and drink his blood by believing on him. (Jn 6: 53-57)

 

     Roast with fire.  They did not make the lamb to be roasted with fire by eating it.  They ate the lamb that, in type, had already borne the fire for them.  Faith does not make Christ’s work to be effectual for me.  Rather, faith believes on Christ who has already borne the fire of God’s justice on my behalf, confessing, “I AM crucified with Christ” (Gal 2: 20), “our old man IS crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Rom 6: 5)

 

     And unleavened bread.  Leaven typifies sin. Christ made us righteous by his work for us on the cross—“Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity.”  Christ makes us holy by his work in us in regeneration—“And in whose spirit there is no guile.” (Ps 32: 2) Thereby, “Ye ARE unleavened.” Therefore, we keep the feast “not with the old leaven” adding our self-righteous works, “but with the unleavened bread of TRUTH” resting in Christ our Righteousness.  Neither with the leaven of MALICE and WICKEDNESS” adding our self-sanctifying works, “but with the unleavened bread of SINCERITY” worshipping with a holy heart by Christ our Sanctification. (1 Cor 5: 7-8) “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.” (Jn 4: 24)    

 

     And with bitter herbs they shall eat it.  Accompanying God-given faith in Christ is God-given repentance from our sin. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in BITTERNESS for him, as one that is in BITTERNESS for his firstborn.” (Zech 12: 10)