Everybody wants to board the freedom train, but first you gotta buy your ticket. Only members of the covenant will be redeemed. And only the redeemed of the Lord may enter here. Or, in this case, exit from here. If you want to live through the night and then escape to freedom with riches in hand, first you must be part of the covenant. Moses had learned the hard way about how serious God was about this matter of life-and-death covenants, so he was certainly clear in his communication as he set the standards for the Israelites.
8. CIRCUMCISED (B.C.)
The Lord repeated and clarified it multiple times: only those who are in the covenant are permitted to keep the feast. Any foreigner who wishes to keep the Passover to the LORD must have all of the males in his household circumcised, and they will be treated as if they were true Israelites. But no uncircumcised male is permitted to eat of it. Sure enough, just as happened with some of the plagues, only the Israelites were protected, passed over by the angel of death. So, I imagine, even if an Egyptian or other uncircumcised male were to believe God’s word and try to join an Israelite family in the meal, and hide under the protection of the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, it would be ineffectual, and the firstborn son—the one who was not circumcised—would die.
8. CIRCUMCISED (A.D.)
If the equivalent to the Passover meal and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the Lord’s Table, then you might say that those who “belong to Christ” have received the equivalence to circumcision. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:9) He wrote to the Corinthians, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” (1 Corinthians 11:28) And it seems that the significant, symbolic moment of becoming one who is in Christ is baptism, as Peter wrote, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” (1 Peter 3:21)
9. FIRSTBORN (B.C.)
A crucial new wrinkle is introduced after the Passover has taken place. Since the LORD had spared the lives of all of the firstborn males, they rightfully belong to Him. “You shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD's.” (Exodus 13:3) Every firstborn of a donkey is to be redeemed with a lamb. And in that passage, it doesn’t directly say how to redeem any other animal, or human sons, but it does say that they all must be redeemed. It was another sign of the covenant between God and man, that a human life was saved by the death of an innocent lamb.
9. FIRSTBORN (A.D.)
Jesus was, of course, that innocent Lamb, slain for every soul. It was His precious blood that was painted over our doorways and under which our lives are eternally spared. Therefore, we all die with Him, so that He might live in us. But our slave driver was far more cruel than human taskmasters; it was sin that bound us, and death that was its result. As Paul wrote, “For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:7)
10. PLUNDER (B.C.)
The whole evening would need to be carefully orchestrated, down to the smallest detail of entering a home of your slavedriver, which had just been devastated by loss, and asking them to give their most valuable goods. They were to slaughter the lamb at twilight, eat it in haste, ready for travel, stay inside all night until morning, and then “each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians." Exodus 3:22 During the night, in spite of, and perhaps BECAUSE of all the months and years of suffering leading up to that moment, “the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” (Exodus 12:36)
10. PLUNDER (A.D.)
It is no small matter, the battle against sin, against bondage to Satan and against death. And timing and boldness are just as required in the matter of spiritual warfare. Those who are in Christ are called to plunder the enemy. Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church. (Notice that the church is attacking the fortress of hell, not the other way around.) Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) He came to "proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” (Luke 4:18). And so followers of Christ are likewise called “more than conquerors through him who loved us.”.(Romans 8:37) Those who share in the first resurrection will overcome, and “over such the second death has no power.” (Revelation 20:6) “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).
YOUR ENCOUNTER
So it is for us; if I want to be free on earth and eternally blessed, then two deaths are necessary: the death of Jesus and the death of me. That is the ticket price for freedom. Reckoning myself dead to sin and alive to righteousness, being buried with Him in baptism, so as to be raised again to life, and dying daily for the sake of Christ.
Are you in the covenant? I urge you to be sure that you are before you move on another minute. It begins with recognizing that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, then confessing your sinfulness and changing your mind and your ways. Then you accept the Lord Jesus Christ to be the lord of your life, and you share with someone verbally that you are on His team now. Be immersed in water by someone you trust, and rise from the water as a new person, born again in Christ Jesus. Jesus could not have been clearer about the life-and-death seriousness of being a true covenant member:
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." Revelation 21:8
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Matthew 25:11-12
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Matthew 25:30
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:41
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:46
And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen." Matthew 22:12-14
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16
Now: Go plunder the enemy!