Crystallization Study of Exodus 5.6

The flesh of the passover lamb signifies the sinless life of Christ. We received Christ not only in His death and resurrection, but also in His sinlessness, for His life is not only a crucified and resurrected life, but also a sinless life. Therefore, we must eat the flesh of the lamb and also the unleavened bread. This means that from the time we received Christ and were saved and had a new beginning in life, we began to live a life without leaven, a life without sin.

Exodus 13:7 says that no leaven was to be seen with the children of Israel. In our Christian life no leaven should be seen. It is impossible for us to have no leaven at all, but it is possible for the leaven not to be seen. Although it is not possible for us to be without sin, we must deal with any sin that is manifested, with any sin that is seen. This means that we are responsible to deal with the sin of which we are conscious. Whenever we discover something sinful in our lives, we must eliminate it. This, however, does not mean that we shall have no sin. There may be much sin in our lives or in our environment, but we may not be conscious of it. However, as soon as we become conscious of it, we must deal with it. We must forsake the sin of which we are conscious. We should not tolerate any manifestation of sin.

Crystallization Study of Exodus 5.5

A bunch of hyssop was used to put the blood of the lamb on the lintel and the doorposts. First Kings 4:33 says that, in his wisdom, Solomon “discoursed about trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that shoots forth out of the wall.” Hyssop was among the smallest of the plants. According to the revelation in the New Testament, the thing that is the smallest in quantity is our faith (Matt. 17:20). Hence, hyssop signifies aith....God requires that we have just a little faith. Even if our faith is very small, we still can apply the Passover lamb. If a sinner prays, “Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for me,” he will be saved. Even such a small amount of faith will save him. Actually, one can be saved just by saying, “Lord, thank You.” This is faith that is like hyssop that springs out of the wall. It is by such little faith that the blood of Christ is applied.

The children of Israel were required to stay in the house whose door had been touched with the blood; they were not to go out of it until the morning (12:22). To understand the significance of this we need to see that the basic concept in the Bible with respect to redemption is identification or union. Without identification there can be no substitution, which is necessary for redemption. On the cross Christ died as our substitute. However, His being our substitute requires us to be identified with Him.

Our entrance into Christ is through the door to which the blood has been applied. When we use hyssop to put the blood on the door, we are able to enter into Christ. After getting into Christ, we need to remain in Him....We should simply maintain our identification with Christ, with a constant realization that we are nothing and that He is everything. We need to see that we are in Him and that He is in us. As long as we abide in Him, He will abide in us. As the Lord Himself said in John 15:4, “Abide in Me and I in you.”

Crystallization Study of Exodus 5.4

According to Exodus 12:8, the children of Israel were to eat the flesh of the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. To eat with unleavened bread means to eliminate all sinful things. When we enjoy Christ as our Passover, we must purge away everything sinful. At the same time, we need to eat bitter herbs. This means that we need to regret and repent, to experience a bitter taste regarding sinful things. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, many of us received Him as our life supply and also gave up everything sinful. At the same time, we experienced regret and repentance. This indicates that we ate Christ with bitter herbs.

Exodus 12:11 says, “And this is how you shall eat it: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is Jehovah’s passover.” As the children of Israel were eating the passover lamb, they were like an army. Exodus 12:51 says that the Lord brought the children of Israel “out of the land of Egypt by their armies.” Not many Christians today realize that they should be an army. On the contrary, the prevailing concept seems to be that anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus should be placed in a palanquin and carried away to heaven. However, according to the picture in the book of Exodus, the redeemed ones applied the Passover in such a way that they could become God’s army.

Nor shall you break any of its bones

Exo. 12:46 ...You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break any of its bones.

Crystallization Study of Exodus 5.3

In Exodus 12:8 the children of Israel were given the proper way to eat the flesh of the passover lamb: roasted with fire. Fire here signifies God’s holy wrath exercised in judgment. When Christ was on the cross, the holy fire of God judged Him and consumed Him. Psalm 22:14 and 15 say, “My heart is like wax; / It is melted within me. / My strength is dried up like a shard, / And my tongue is stuck to my jaws.” Then He cried, “I thirst” (John 19:28), because He was being burned by the holy fire of God’s judgment.

In Exodus 12:9 the children of Israel were charged not to eat of the lamb raw. Today those who do not believe in Christ’s redemption attempt to eat Him “raw.” This means that they regard Christ as a model or example of human living for them to imitate. In effect, to do this is to eat the Passover lamb raw.

Furthermore, the children of Israel were not to eat the lamb boiled with water (12:9). To eat of Christ as if He were “boiled with water” is to regard His death on the cross not as death for redemption but as martyrdom. Many today do not believe that Christ died as the Redeemer. According to their concept, He was persecuted by man and died as a martyr, having sacrificed Himself for His teachings. To apply Christ’s death in this way is to eat the lamb boiled with water. To be boiled in water is to undergo suffering but not the suffering of holy fire. Rather, this suffering is simply the suffering of persecution.

The children of Israel were to eat the lamb with its head, legs, and inward parts (12:9). The head signifies wisdom, the legs signify activity and move, and the inward parts signify the various inward parts of Christ’s being. To eat the Passover lamb with the head, legs, and inward parts is to take Christ as a whole, in His entirety. As we eat Him, we take His wisdom, activities, move, and inward parts. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 257-259)

Crystallization Study of Exodus 5.2

The passover is a type of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul says that “Our Passover, Christ, also has

been sacrificed.”...Christ is not only the Passover lamb but also every aspect of the passover. The lamb,

the bread, and the bitter herbs are all related to Christ. In principle, therefore, Christ is not only the lamb of the Passover, but the very Passover itself.

According to Exodus 12, God passed over the children of Israel because the blood of the Passover lamb had been sprinkled on the lintel and the doorposts of their houses. The children of Israel had been commanded to eat the flesh of the lamb in their houses. This indicates that the house was to be their covering under which and in which they could eat the flesh of the passover lamb. The house that covered them was to have blood sprinkled on the lintel and the doorposts. When God saw the blood, He passed over the children of Israel. Hence, this passing over was due to the sprinkled blood.

Just as the passover lamb was examined for four days (12:3, 6), so Christ was examined for the same period of time. After He was arrested, the Lord was subject to six examinations, three at the hands of the priests who examined Him according to the law of God, and three under the Roman rulers, who tested Him according to Roman law. Eventually, Pilate had to declare that he could not find fault in Him. In fact, Pilate declared three times that he found no fault whatever in Him (John 18:38; 19:4, 6). Christ as the Passover lamb was faultless, without blemish.

Crystallization Study of Exodus 5.1

The record of the passover given in Exodus is very detailed....The reason for all the detail is that God wants us to know the redemption of Christ in such a thorough way that we could never forget it. Twice the word memorial is used (12:14; 13:9). This indicates that it is God’s intention that we neither neglect the redemption of Christ nor forget it. Rather, we are to remember Christ’s redemption, not in a general way but in a specific and detailed way. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 261)

Exodus 12:2 speaks of the month of the Passover: “This month will be the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first of the months of the year to you.” This verse indicates that the Passover was held during the first month of the sacred year. Originally, this month was the seventh month of the civil year. According to Genesis 8:4, Noah’s ark landed on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month. Many Bible teachers believe that this seventh month was the first month of Exodus 12. The Passover was on the fourteenth day of this month. This means it was held three days before the day that marked the landing of the ark on the mountains of Ararat. This landing of the ark was a type of the resurrection of Christ. Christ was killed on the fourteenth day, and He was resurrected on the seventeenth day.

According to Exodus 12:3, in the tenth day of the month the children of Israel were to take “each man...a lamb according to his fathers’ house,” and prepare it for a period of four days. Then on the fourteenth day of the month, the actual date of the Passover, the lamb was killed (v. 6). The Lord Jesus was killed on the same day of the month (Luke 22:7-8, 14-15; John 18:28). (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 250-251)