Exo 12:1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exo 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Their months was changed. The first month was considered to be about what is the middle of our month of March.

Exo 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house:
Exo 12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

God was making provision perhaps for the small family or the poor ones. Here was a supreme test of faith. They had to go into the house and place the blood of the lamb upon the doorposts to escape the coming judgment of God signifying the lamb of God that was to come to be a sacrifice for sins in which we can escape the judgment of God. .

Exo 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

As Jesus was the spotless male sacrifice without sin, the lamb had to be spotless.

Exo 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Jesus died in the evening at the same time the Passover lamb was to be killed.

So much in the Old Testament was a type of that which was to come. The law could not save anyone from sin but only showed everyone that they had sinned against God and it brought us to the realization that we all need a savior, both Jew and Gentile. We all have sinned and we all need someone to save us from sin. A way had to be made in which something would enter into our souls and make a change so that we would not longer desire to sin. This is what Jesus did when He died for our sins and arose from the dead so that we have the hope of being raised. He was raised for our justification. When He left to return to the Father, He send the Holy Spirit to abide with those that believe in what Jesus did for them and who believe to the point of turning away from sin and turning to the true and living God. We have to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died for our sins before we receive salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Exo 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Exo 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.

There was no time to add leaven and make the bread to rise. They had to eat in haste not looking back. Leaven represents evil and they were to eat it unleavened. Their lives were to change. They were no longer to be full of the leaven of false doctrine of the Egyptians but the doctrine of God. They were getting ready to receive the law which would become a schoolmaster to bring them to Jesus Christ.

Things would not be easy. Eating bitter herbs was a type of what it would be to serve God and not trust in the things of this life only. It is similar to  taking up the cross (reproach for living for Christ) and following Him. Along with the righteousness, peace, love and joy will come trials, persecutions and troubles for the gospel's sake. He that endures to the end shall be saved.

Only the faithful are saved.
As only the faithful was able to enter the promised land of Canaan. Only those that stay the course will be saved. If we start out following God and turn back into a life of sin with no repentance from that backslidden condition, we cannot expect to be saved no matter what anyone preaches otherwise.

Exo 12:9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Exo 12:10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

They were not to break it in pieces. Signifying that not one of Christ's bones were broken at the crucifixion fulfilling the prophecies in the book of Psalm. The thieves that were crucified with Jesus had their legs broken to haste their death before but Jesus was already dead.  .

Exo 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover.
Exo 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite 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.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Just as the blood of that lamb kept them safe from death, the blood of Jesus keeps us safe from the latter day judgment and wrath of God. We must remember this always. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

Exo 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
Exo 12:15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

Leaven represents evil, compromise and mixing of doctrine. Most bad doctrine is not all false but a mixture of good and bad so that it is easier to deceive the hearer. They were to have no leaven and be pure as a remembrance of this day when they had to eat in haste and had no time to add leaven and wait for bread to rise.

Mat 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Mat 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Exo 12:16 And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.

God cares for our eternal souls. I believe He made the Sabbath day as a day to be refreshed in the Lord. We need to sit aside a time to worship and refresh our souls. It doesn't have to be on a certain day now because now we have Jesus who is our rest or Sabbath but we still need that time apart to refresh our souls. We are privileged now to be able to worship any day of the week and not just on a Sabbath Day.
When once they were limited to one certain day or the special feast day to remember the Lord, through the salvation of Jesus Christ and the receiving  of the Holy Spirit we now can worship God in spirit and in truth any day, time, week, month or year. Everyday is the Sabbath to me.

God is showing them though how much they need Him. If He had not commanded a season of rest and worship, slaves, servants, and the poor could never have a day of rest to seek the Lord. The Sabbath day of rest was made for man out of the compassion and heart of God. We don't get along so well without Him. I don't know how unbelievers can stand getting up in the morning or lying down at night.

Exo 12:17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.
Exo 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Exo 12:19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

Actually this is where we get our tradition of spring cleaning. The Jewish people gave us this tradition.

Exo 12:20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Exo 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.
Exo 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

Any who abided in unbelief might be tempted to go out but those with faith stayed inside. It was similar to being saved by faith. This faith produced good works for if they had not have put blood on the door and followed the Lord's commandments they would not have been saved.

Faith is not a weak passive, belief in the existence of Jesus Christ. Faith is active belief in Jesus. To believe is to believe His words and keep them.

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Exo 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
Exo 12:24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
Exo 12:25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
Exo 12:26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
Exo 12:27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshiped.

Special days and feasts served to be a teaching tool for the children that did not live through these times.

At the season of Christmas and Easter, we have gotten away from using it as a teaching tool.

The reason I mention these things is because we have to face this truth. Cults and those that deny the deity of Jesus Christ use the subject of Christmas and Easter to lure away our people after their false teachings. They are right about Christmas. They are right about Easter but they are wrong about the deity of Jesus Christ. They have a mixture of truth and error. They have just enough truth to cause us to think they have the whole truth but they do not.

Easter is not always celebrated on the correct day for the Jewish Passover is always different than our date of Easter. Sometimes it is a month apart. However, no matter which day we remember the resurrection, Easter bunnies, rabbits and such junk have nothing to do with Jesus.
In fact Easter is a name for a pagan holiday celebrated at this time of year.

Christmas is even worse. We do not know the date of the birth of Jesus. Most traditions of Christmas are pagan. I don't think people are evil if they celebrate it though but there is very little real remembrance of Christ on Christmas. It wouldn't be so bad if we could forget the traditions and use it as a tool to teach children about the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh to live among us, to teach us the gospel and to die for our sins. The trees, the decorations are beautiful but they have nothing to do with Jesus in reality. Many celebrated this festival with trees, gold and silver years before Jesus was born. Jeremiah 10 is a reference for this.

Christians continually hold onto their traditions and do not face the pagan roots but ignore it. The cults do not ignore it and when people do their own research made easy by the Internet, they find out the truth and then they think the true Christian church is not teaching them the truth and they are vulnerable to the cults. We need to get out the junk and teach truth only so that no one can find error within our teachings. It takes courage to face the truth and get rid of traditions that are in error but it should be done. Never though by force and intimidation but in gentleness, example and truth.  If we don't face the truth, the cults and atheists will but only enough to deceive them and bring them into a lie that will destroy their souls. 

Exo 12:28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
Exo 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Exo 12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

We must never take the commandments of the Lord lightly.

Exo 12:31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.
Exo 12:32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
Exo 12:33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.
Exo 12:34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
Exo 12:35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
Exo 12:36 And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

All those back wages for the service as slaves were paid back in full.

Exo 12:37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
Exo 12:38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
Exo 12:39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Exo 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
Exo 12:41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:42 It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

What a day. It finally came to pass as the Lord said to Abraham.

Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

God did not forget His promise to Abraham.

Another promise God made to Abraham was, "I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you."

He also will keep that promise.
We must be very careful to remember those words in the days ahead. We are to be very careful as a nation how we deal with Israel. God does not forget and will not forget His promise to Abraham. He will judge those that come against Israel.

Those that truly and I emphasis truly, believe in Jesus Christ as their savior do not replace Israel as a nation. We become part of the adoption of Israel by our faith but we never replace them as God's chosen people. By faith we are added to them but we do not replace them. Israel has rejected Jesus and those that reject Jesus are lost and without eternal salvation but as a nation they will receive Jesus in the latter days. They will be grafted back into their own vine. They have to be saved by receiving Jesus just as Gentiles have to be saved by believing in Jesus. There is no other way of salvation. There is no such thing as a dual covenant. There was only one way to be saved on that day in history called the Passover and there is only one way to be saved today and that is Yeshua, Jesus who is the Christ, Messiah, savior of the world.

Exo 12:43 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
Exo 12:44 But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.

Faith in Christ is the same as circumcision. When Jesus made that supreme sacrifice on the cross, faith in Him is the same as keeping the law of Moses and being circumcised. He replaced the Old covenant with a new covenant that granted eternal life and changed the inner man from a lost sinner to a person filled with the Holy Spirit. The power of God can make one who hates his enemies into one that loves his enemies. There is no other power in heaven and earth that can change the soul into one that is worthy of everlasting life. When that blood is applied all is made clean. Without the blood we remain in our sins.

Exo 12:45 A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof.
Exo 12:46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
Exo 12:47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
Exo 12:48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
Exo 12:49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Exo 12:50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
Exo 12:51 And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

Egypt represents the world and bondage to sin. Coming out of Egypt represents being made free from sin. A foreigner or stranger represents one who abides in unbelief and does not believe in the truth of God.  To be able to eat the Passover, they had to agree to believe in the God of Israel.  Circumcision was a sign of this faith.  To undergo that process would show them that they truly believed.  Now we are saved by faith in what Jesus did instead of what we do.  When we turn from sin and turn to Jesus it is the same as what they did by circumcision.  Our hearts is circumcised when we place our faith in Jesus. 

Jesus is called the lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world.

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Just as the shedding of blood of the Passover lamb saved the children of Israel from death, so does the blood of the Passover lamb of God, Jesus Christ saves our souls from sin and gives us eternal salvation forever. We will be raised from the dead to die no more just as Jesus was.

Exodus 13