The blood of the Passover lamb was to be put on the door, whereas the flesh of the lamb was to be eaten by the children of Israel (Exo. 12:8). The flesh of the lamb being eaten for their supply typifies that Christ enters into the believers to be their life supply. In John 6 the Lord said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man...you do not have life within yourselves....My flesh is true food” (vv. 53, 55). Flesh here signifies the life of Christ. The life of Christ is edible; it is our life supply. Therefore, we have the blood of Christ for redemption and the life of Christ for the life supply.
Exodus 12:8-9 goes on to show us the way to eat the flesh of the Passover lamb: it must be roasted with fire. Fire here signifies God’s holy wrath exercised in judgment. When Christ was on the cross for the believers’ redemption, the holy fire of God judged Him and consumed Him. Also, the lamb was not to be eaten raw. To eat the lamb raw is not to believe in Christ’s redemption but to merely regard Christ as a model or example of human living for one to imitate. Moreover, the lamb was not to be boiled with water. 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. Furthermore, the lamb was to be eaten with its head, legs, and inwards. The head signifies wisdom, the legs signify activity and move, and the inwards signify the various inward parts of Christ’s being. This indicates that we need to take Christ as a whole, in His entirety. Finally, nothing of the lamb was to be left until morning. This indicates that we are to receive Christ in a full way, not partially; we must not allow anything of Christ to be left over.
The children of Israel were to eat the flesh of the lamb with unleavened bread. This typifies that Christ is received by the believers as the life that delivers them from sin and purges away their sin. First Corinthians 5:8 says, “So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The feast here refers to the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the continuation of the Passover (Exo. 12:15-20). When we enjoy Christ as our Passover, we must purge away everything sinful, and we must continually enjoy Christ Himself as the life that delivers us from sin and purges away our sin so that we may be delivered from the bondage of the law of sin (Rom. 8:2).
The children of Israel were to eat the flesh of the lamb also with bitter herbs. This typifies that the sinless life of Christ gives the believers a bitter feeling toward sin. When we receive Christ as our supply, we receive a life that delivers us from sin and purges away our sin. This life, which is sensitive to sin, to any kind of wrongdoing, to anything of the self, gives us a bitter feeling toward sin and a repentance for sin.