Exodus 12: The First Passover

One chapter. One night. One sign on a doorpost that changes everything. Exodus 12 brings us to the first Passover, where God tells His people to choose a spotless lamb, apply its blood, eat the meal in full, and stay ready to move. It’s intense, specific, and unforgettable because it’s the moment freedom finally breaks through after generations of slavery.\n\nWe walk through the meaning behind each instruction: why the lamb must be without defect, why the blood becomes a marker of belonging, why unleavened bread speaks to urgency, and why bitter herbs keep the memory of bondage honest. We also zoom out to the bigger Exodus storyline, where the plagues aren’t just disasters, they’re a direct showdown with the false gods of Egypt and with Pharaoh’s supposed power. Passover is the turning point where God proves He is greater, and He makes a way for His people to be covered.\n\nThen we connect the dots to Jesus. Passover isn’t only history; it’s a foreshadowing of the gospel, a preview of the Lamb of God and the promise that judgment can pass over a life marked by faith. If you’re walking through a hard season, this message lands close: sometimes all you can do is trust God through the night and believe morning is coming.\n\nSubscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find the podcast. What part of Passover feels most meaningful to you right now?

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Bible Rhythm\n

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Exodus chapter 12. And today's title is The First Passover. The First Passover. I want to tell you, this is one of those chapters that way back when we first began this journey together, this was one of those that I was so looking forward to because so much of what happens in this chapter comes up all throughout the rest of the Bible because it is a foreshadowing of eventually what will happen with Jesus. And I cannot wait to get into this. This is one of my favorites. So we're going to dive right in. So make sure you get your coffee, get your Bibles, get your notebooks, all that good stuff.

Like Share Subscribe And Join\n

SPEAKER_01 1:05

But also take just a moment, like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. We have an amazing group of people who are doing devotions every single day on God's Word so that we can engage with one another. I think one of the best ways we learn is when we ask questions to one another. We dive deeper. The more we dig, the more we find. And you can get all of that by going to the Biblebreakdown.com. Well,

Plagues As Judgment On False Gods\n

SPEAKER_01 1:35

if you've been with us over the past several days, we have been going through this idea of the book of Exodus, how God frees his people. And we've been watching how God is systematically destroying all of these gods in the polytheistic system that the Egyptians had. And so that was what he was doing. We've been talking about how that was the whole point of these plagues. God could have simply just come in, laid waste to everything, and then just let them walk right on out. But he was trying to show the Egyptians that God was overall. He's also showing the Israelites that I'm going to take care of you. I am greater than all these other gods. And so he takes out, you know, the uh Napi, Neket, Ahket, Heb, Chapari, Hathor, Emotep, Nut, or Nut, Osiris, Ra. And now he's got one more left, if you remember. And in that uh in that conversation that we had yesterday, really, Abraham wasn't wanting this. God wasn't wanting this. Abraham, Moses wasn't wanting this, God wasn't wanting this, but this is what it was going to take. Remember that of all the gods, Pharaoh was the greatest God. Osiris would also be close because he was supposedly over life and death, but there was nothing greater than Pharaoh. And so God is saying, I am greater even than Pharaoh. And so he said the death angel was going to come, and the death angel was going to kill all of the firstborn sons, starting with Pharaoh all the way down, except for the way out, the the safety, the covering that God was going to put on the nation of Israel. And what is amazing about this is this is a shadow of what Jesus is going to do for all of us. And it all began with Exodus 12.

Reading Exodus 12 Passover Instructions\n

SPEAKER_01 3:29

So if you're ready, let's read God's word together. Exodus 12, verse 1 says this. From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. Announce to the whole community of Israel that the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. If a family is too small to eat the whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family, how much they can eat. The animal you select must be one year old male, either a sheep or a goat with no defects. Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lambs or young goat at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and on the top of the door frames of the houses where they ate, where they eat the animal. The same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal, including the head, legs, and internal organs, must be roasted over a fire. Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning. These are your instructions for eating this meal. Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord's Passover. And on that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and every firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord. But the blood on your dope doorpost will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Plus, that's why it's called Passover, is because when this plague, whatever it was, that was going through the death angel, was going through, when he would see the blood of the lamb, he would pass over that house. All right, let's keep going. The plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time. Seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, remove every trace of yeast from your homes. Anyone who eats the bread made with yeast during the seven days of the festival will be cut off from the community of Israel. On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh day, all the people must observe an official day for holy assembly. No work of any kind may be done on these days except in the preparation of food. Celebrate this festival of unleavened bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you. Celebrate this day from generation to generation. The bread you eat must be without yeast from evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty first day of that month. During those seven days there must be no trace of yeast in your homes. Anyone who eats anything made with yeast during that week will be cut off from the community of Israel. These regulations apply both to the foreigners living among you and to the native born Israelites. During those days you must not eat anything made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat only bread made without yeast. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, Go, pick out a lamb or a young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. Drain the blood into a basin, then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and the sides of the door frames of your houses, and no one may go out through that door until morning. For the Lord will pass through the land and strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top of the sides of the door frame, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit the death angel to enter your houses or strike you down. Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. Then your children will ask, What does this ceremony mean? And then you will reply, It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families. When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshipped. So the people of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded through Moses and Aaron. And that night, at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, and from the firstborn of the son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon, even the firstborn of their livestock was killed. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died. Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. Get out, he ordered, leave my people, take the rest of the Israelites with you. Go and worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds as you said, and be gone. But or go, but bless me as you leave. And all the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought we will all die. The Israelites took their bread, dough, and before the yeast was added, and they wrapped their kneading boards and their cloaks and carried them on their shoulders. And the people of Israel did as Moses instructed. They asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of gold and silver, and the Lord had caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth. And that night the people of Israel left Ramses and started for Succath, and there was about six hundred thousand men, plus all the women and children, and the rabble of non Israelites went with them, along with great flocks and herds of livestock. For bread they baked flat cakes of dough without yeast, and they had brought from Egypt, and they made without yeast be this was made without yeast because the people were driven out of Egypt in such a hurry that they had no time to prepare the bread or other food. The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. In fact, it was on the last day of the four hundred and thirtieth year that all the Lord's forces left the land, and on this night the Lord kept his promise to bring his people out of the land of Egypt, and so this night belongs to him, and it must be commemorated every year by all the Israelites, from generation to generation.

What Passover Means And Points To\n

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Wow, what an amazing moment. So what happened was is God visits Moses and He said, Moses, I'm gonna tell you to do this, and it's gonna be real specific. It's gonna be odd. I'm gonna ask you to do some stuff you're not gonna understand, but I need you to do it. I need you to do it exactly the way I say, and if you do it this way, judgment is coming to Egypt, but that judgment will not affect you if you do what I say. And there were things such as they had to get a lamb that was one year old. They could also get a goat, but mainly a lamb, one year old, no spot, no defect. They had to slaughter the lamb, take the blood, and put it over the doorpost. The doorpost, of course, is a symbol of entryway, the symbol of being allowed in, and put it over the doorpost is a symbol that this house is dedicated to the Lord. And then take the lamb and you cook it all and you eat it all, leave nothing until morning. You don't halfway do it, you don't, you know, 99% won't do. You got to cook it all or burn it up, but nothing remains. It must be completely taken in. And then while you are in a place of peace and celebration, but also a place of preparation, judgment is coming. And then also, he said, from here on, you have got to do this every single year. And you're gonna have children one day. They're gonna grow up and they're going to say, Father, mother, why do we have to eat these bitter herbs? Why do we have to do this? And you will tell them about this night. First of all, can you imagine the first time they did this? First of all, I in my mind I'm wondering, okay, they got a list going, okay, we got to make sure you eat these herbs. Uh, hey, hey, take the yeast out of that bread. Get rid of the yeast, all right? And then, okay, we got to cook the lamb. I like mine rare. I don't care what you like. We're cooking it all the way. And then we're gonna eat it. I'm not hungry anymore. I don't care. Eat it. Moses said. And then also it's the idea of they've seen God do all of these miracles up to this point. They know he's got the power. It's not, you know, I wonder if God will. It was, I wonder if he'll stop with what he's already done. Will the blood work? Will we be caught up in it as well? Because remember, some of the earlier uh plagues, they were just as susceptible as the rest of them. And so they waited. And you imagine, as they are eating, they're joyful, but they're also looking around. Everybody's still here. Hey Joe, you're the oldest, you know, oldest kid. You feeling all right? And got a fever, do you? You know, and then all of a sudden out of the distance they hear a cry, they hear a wail, and they realize the judgment did come,

Trusting The Blood Through Dark Nights\n

SPEAKER_01 13:22

but it passed over them. And it's amazing to realize that in this life, we have all earned judgment. We have all sinned. And the Bible says that the wages, the cost of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. That if we will apply the blood to our lives and ask Jesus to wash away our sins, then death will pass by us and we get to experience life. But when we receive Christ, it is to take all of him into us. We don't take in just half. We don't say, God, I'll just let you have my sin, but you can't have my dreams. No, we give him everything and we take all of him in. There's so much symbology that is there. And Moses was right, or God was right telling Moses that eventually when the new of freedom started to wear off and they're going, okay, we're free now. Why why exactly are we doing this again? What's what's going on? That even to this day, that when they celebrate the Passover, there is a time when the youngest children are allowed to ask questions. Father, why do we do the bitter herbs? Why do we do this? And then they will explain. And the reason why they do the bitter herbs is to remind them of the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt. Why, why do we eat the lamb? Because it was the lamb that saved us. Little do they know that the Lamb of God, just a few thousand years later, would be eating the same Passover supper the night that he was going to be betrayed. And can you imagine as they're going through the system of the different rituals that they would do that night? And maybe they were maybe I don't know if they had children in the the last supper, but you know, a lot of times they would even to the point of bring in a child because it would say, When your children ask, they would bring in. So I can't help but wonder if maybe they brought in a young child and the young child asked Jesus who would have been in charge of the supper. Jesus, why do we eat bitter herbs? Because of sin? Because of slavery to sin and brokenness. Jesus, why do we eat the lamb? And you wonder if his smile got a little bit bigger in that moment. And I wonder if that's you know, one of the moments he called on later when he said, You know what? That's a good question. Hand me that bread. I'm gonna break it. I'm gonna pray over it. And he looks at his disciples and he says, Take this and eat it. Because that's a really good question. This is a representation of my body that is broken for you. I I don't know exactly how that went, but I can't help but wonder. And it all started with this right here. And then you know what else I love too? I love that it said that in this process and in this moment that God even gave Israel favor, you know, from the Egyptians, where they were like, Hey, can you you mind if we uh can I have that bag? Can I have that, um, can I have that backpack? Hey, can can you can you help me get packed? Oh yes, absolutely, whatever you want. Can you just get out of here? And it's just amazing how God can turn the darkest night into the brightest morning all because of the blood. And I think maybe that would be a great moment for us just to reflect on today, and that is this when the sun went down, they didn't know. They were trusting that the blood of the lamb was gonna help them make it through the night. And when the sun came up, they tasted freedom for the very first time. Can I tell you? I don't know what darkness you're going through right now. I don't know what nighttime you're going through right now. Maybe you are leaning into a storm. There's one thing I know for certain. I know that everybody that's watching or listening to this is either coming out of a storm, you're in the middle of a storm, or you're getting ready to head into one. Well, Pastor, I wish to be positive. Okay, I am positive that everybody who is part of this is coming out of one, they're in one, or they're getting ready to go into a storm. Maybe you are veering into a storm and a dark night right now, and you feel like all you've got to hold on to is the blood of Jesus. The Lord said he would be with me. The Lord said that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't have to fear any evil because you're with me. God, I'm trusting that, I'm hoping that. Can I tell you? That's all you need. Just like the Israelites found out, all they quote, all they had was the blood of the Lamb on their doorpost. They get up the next morning, find out that's all they need. I promise you that if you'll hold on to Jesus when the night is over, you're gonna find out He was all you needed. Let's pray together right now.

Prayer And Closing Promise Of Freedom\n

SPEAKER_01 17:42

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that you are so good. You are all we need. Lord, there are moments when bad things come to our door. Sometimes when bad things come right to the very point, but Lord, your blood is always with us. Your blood saves us. And that Lord, no matter what happens in this life, our eternity is sealed because of you. I thank you for being that spotless lamb. And we take all of you into us, and we say, Jesus, wash away our sins. We give you all of them. We also give you our dreams, we give you our hopes, we give you everything. There's no better place to be than right in the center of the hands of our Savior. We celebrate you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, God's Word says in Exodus 6, verse 6, I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from slavery. I'm so thankful that we serve a God of freedom. I'll see you tomorrow for Exodus chapter 13.