In 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 in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth 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 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.
As fundamental Christians, we believe that on the cross Christ suffered for us under God’s judgment. He was burned and “roasted” by the holy fire of God’s wrath. As our Redeemer, He was judged for us. This is to take Christ roasted with fire. This is the proper way ordained by God. A second way, advocated by modernists, is to take Christ “raw.” This is to take Christ as an example and to imitate the way He behaved. The third way is to take Christ “boiled.” This is to regard Christ’s death on the cross as persecution and martyrdom, not as death for our redemption. How do you take Christ-roasted, raw, or boiled? If you believe that Christ died on the cross as a martyr because of man’s persecution, then you eat the Passover lamb by boiling it in water. However, if you believe that He died as our Redeemer, being roasted by the holy fire of God, then you eat Him as the Passover lamb roasted in fire.
The children of Israel were to eat the lamb with its head, legs, and inwards (12:9, Heb.). The head signifies wisdom, the legs signify activity and move, and the inwards signify the various inward parts of Christ’s being. To eat the Passover lamb with the head, legs, and inwards is to take Christ as a whole, in His entirety. As we eat Him, we take His wisdom, activities, move, and inward parts.
According to 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 hitter 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.
We should not take the lamb without the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. Whenever you receive Christ as your supply, you receive a life without sin, without leaven, that gives you a bitter feeling when you sin, that repents when you make a mistake. This life is sensitive to sin, to any kind of wrongdoing, to anything of the self. To keep yourself unleavened, you have to repent.
Exodus 12:10 says, “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.” Nothing of the Passover lamb was to be left until morning. This indicates that we are to receive Christ in a full way, not partially. Do not allow anything of Christ to be left over. Rather, take Him in full.
Exodus 12:46 says that the children of Israel were not to break any of the bones of the Passover lamb. When Christ was crucified as our Passover lamb, His legs were not broken (John 19:33, 36). The fact that Christ’s legs were not broken signifies that in Christ, the Passover lamb, there is something unbreakable and indestructible. This unbreakable and indestructible element is His eternal life. The Roman soldiers and Jewish people could come together to put Christ on the cross, but they could not break His eternal life.
We can prove from the Scriptures that the bone signifies life. According to Genesis 2:21, the Lord took a bone, a rib, out of Adam and built it into a woman. The woman, Eve, was produced from a bone taken out of Adam. Hence, a bone signifies life that imparts life. The bone taken out of Adam imparted Adam’s life into Eve. In the same principle, Christ’s unbroken bone signifies His unbreakable and indestructible eternal life that imparts His life into us. In Christ as our Passover lamb there is such an unbreakable and indestructible life that can impart life into us.
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