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Redeemer Bible Church

Unreserved Accountability to Christ. Undeserved Acceptance from Christ.

Christ Our Sanctified Son

Exodus 11:1-13:16

Introduction
In his wonderful book, The Gospel for Children, John Leuzarder provides an excellent
presentation of the good news of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ at a level that kids can
understand (as the title reveals). The book is part catechism, part gospel outline, complete
with memorable illustrations for each point. One of the earliest points that Leuzarder shares
is this simple truth: “We belong to God.”1

In Ezek 18:4 the Lord says, “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well
as the soul of the son is Mine.” And Deut 10:14 says, “Behold, to the LORD your God
belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.” We do belong to
God.

He owns us and has the right and power to do with his creatures as he pleases. In
fact, it is this truth that enables the Apostle Paul to silence all objectors to God’s acting in
accord with his good pleasure: “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The
thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does
not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for
honorable use and another for common use?” (Rom 9:20-21).

But it is not only that all humanity belongs to God, in redemption history it is also
that God has chosen for himself a particular people upon whom to set his love: the sons of
Israel. The sons of Israel belonged to the Lord in an unparalleled way. In fact, so close is
their relation to the Lord that refers to Israel in the book of Exodus as his firstborn son.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Exod 4:22: “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the
LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”’”

Israel is God’s firstborn son. Now this “birth,” so to speak, was not something
natural. It was based solely upon God’s sovereign choice. Later in the Pentateuch, the
Lord will remind the Israelites of this very thing:

The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were
more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but
because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers,

1
John B Leuzarder, The Gospel for Children (Amityville, NY: Calvary Press, 1996), 6.

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the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of
slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt (Deut 7:7-8).

And this sovereign choice of the progeny of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is something
with which the book of Exodus is clearly concerned. The book opens with an account of
those who “from the loins of Jacob” came to Egypt. And although there were only seventy
people upon their arrival, 1:7 says that “the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly,
and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.”
This reflects the language of the promise that the Lord made to Abram/Abraham in which
God swore to make the offspring of Abraham numerous like the sand of the seashore and
the stars in the sky.

In 2:24 the narrator tells us that the Lord has decided to act upon Israel’s groaning
because he “remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

In 3:16, the Lord tells Moses to tell the people that the one who appeared to him in
the burning bush was “the LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.” He is the God who is “indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you
in Egypt.” As you can see, this concern stems from the Lord’s relation to the sons of Israel
as the God who sovereignly chose to set his love upon them.

And in 6:2-8, this truth is reiterated and elaborated when the Lord again speaks to
Moses.

Note all the references to God’s promise to his adopted son: Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob along with God’s covenant with them are each mentioned twice in this piece of
narrative, reminding the reader of God’s faithfulness to his promise.

And, of course, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt is something that is no less a
part of God’s faithful promise to Abraham: “God said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that
your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved
and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve,
and afterward they will come out with many possessions’” (Gen 15:13-14).

And at the same time, we ought to point out that the status enjoyed by Israel was not
at all owing to their intrinsic worth or value or merit or beauty. Ezekiel 16 provides for us a
metaphor for God’s choice of Israel to a position of favor. Turn there with me.

We won’t take time to read the entire chapter, but let’s read the first 14 verses, just to
get a flavor of the nature of God’s choice of Israel.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Son of man, make known
to Jerusalem her abominations and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem,
"Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an
Amorite and your mother a Hittite. "As for your birth, on the day you were born
your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you
were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. "No eye looked with pity on

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you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were
thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.
"When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while
you were in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood,
'Live!' "I made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall
and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had
grown. Yet you were naked and bare. "Then I passed by you and saw you, and
behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered
your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that
you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD. "Then I bathed you with water, washed
off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. "I also clothed you with
embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you
with fine linen and covered you with silk. "I adorned you with ornaments, put
bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. "I also put a ring in your
nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. "Thus you were
adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered
cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and
advanced to royalty. "Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of
your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,"
declares the Lord GOD.

So you see, although the metaphor of firstborn son is not employed, the idea is the
same. God chose an undeserving people to be his bride, his child, his people. And as we
read earlier from Deuteronomy, he made this choice not because of anything in them, but in
order to magnify his mercy and majesty in exalting such a lowly people.

Now what you must understand, what you must remember is that what allows the
Lord to shed the light of his love on Israel, and for example, to bring his darkness against
the Egyptians in the book of Exodus is that he owns everyone. He has every right to do with
us what pleases him. You must not forget this truth because if you do, you will fail to see
what is truly wonderful about the passage that is before us for this morning’s meditation.

Commemorating Israel’s Deliverance

Over the past several weeks we have been studying Exod 11:1-13:16, which though
fairly lengthy really only records a single event, or better, a series of events in Israel’s
history. It records the tenth plague against Egypt, the plague of death against Egypt’s
firstborn and Israel’s hasty departure. In order to reacquaint ourselves with the events of the
narrative, let’s read 11:1, 4-8; 12:21-23, 28-41.

Now the LORD said to Moses, "One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh
and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will
surely drive you out from here completely…Moses said, "Thus says the LORD,
'About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne,
even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of
the cattle as well. 'Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such
as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. 'But against any of the
sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may
understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.' "All these

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your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me, saying, 'Go out,
you and all the people who follow you,' and after that I will go out." And he went
out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take
for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. "You
shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply
some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of
you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. "For the LORD will pass
through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the
two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to
come in to your houses to smite you.
Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded
Moses and Aaron, so they did. Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck
all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his
throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of
cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and
there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone
dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, get out from
among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as
you have said. "Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and
bless me also." The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in
haste, for they said, "We will all be dead." So the people took their dough before it
was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.
Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had
requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and
the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let
them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Now the sons of Israel
journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside
from children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and
herds, a very large number of livestock. They baked the dough which they had
brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become
leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they
prepared any provisions for themselves. Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in
Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty
years, to the very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

In light of these events Israel is perpetually to observe three rites of commemoration:

the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the consecration of the firstborn.

So far we have considered the Passover and the feast; this morning we will look at
the final rite: the ritual concerning Israel’s firstborn sons.

Look first with me at verses 1-2: Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
“Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of
Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.” To sanctify is to set apart as sacred, to
consecrate, to dedicate to God.2 And the reason Moses is to sanctify to the Lord every
firstborn is found in the last phrase of verse 2: it belongs to the Lord.

2
vd;Q'

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This idea is reiterated in verses 11-12. Let’s read them: Now when the LORD
brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and
gives it to you, you shall devote to the LORD the first offspring of every womb, and the
first offspring of every beast that you own; the males belong to the LORD.

Notice the close connection between the fulfillment of the patriarchal promise and
the sanctification of the firstborn. The male Israelites belong to the Lord because the Lord
adopted Israel as his son through the promise to Abram/Abraham. Notice, too, that the
reason for the devotion of the firstborn sons is the same as expressed at the end of verse 2:
they belong to the Lord.

Now beginning in verse 13, we read how the sanctification of the firstborn is to take
place. Read it with me: But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a
lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn of
man among your sons you shall redeem. We will get to what it means to redeem
something in a moment; for now you should know that the bottom line is that the firstborn
males are to be sacrificed to the Lord. And at the same time, this verse provides what we
might call exceptions to the sacrifice.

The first is an animal exception: every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem
with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Donkeys were not
acceptable firstborn sacrifices. In Leviticus and Numbers we learn that such animals were
considered unclean.3 This explains why the sacrifice of a donkey could be substituted by a
lamb; otherwise the animal would have to be put down—its neck would have to be broken.

The second exception is a human one: every firstborn of man among your sons you
shall redeem. Firstborn human males would not be offered up as human sacrifices to the
Lord. Later, Moses will instruct the people that their firstborn males will be redeemed by
the Levites. Numbers 3:12-13 says,

Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead
of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites
shall be Mine. For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from
man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the LORD.

This has led some scholars to suggest that the firstborn males prior to the institution
of the Levitical priesthood functioned as Israel’s priests. Though we cannot know for
certain, it is not an unattractive possibility. What we can know with much more certainty,
however, is that somehow the firstborn human males were not killed, instead they were
living sacrifices to the Lord by means of some substitute not recorded for us in this text.

3
See Lev 27:27; Num 18:15.

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So then, we can sum up the exceptions like this: humans and donkeys must be
redeemed. In the case of donkeys, their redemption is satisfied by the substitution of a
lamb. If anyone refuses to offer a lamb in place of his firstborn male donkey, his donkey is
to be killed. As far as human firstborn males are concerned, the precise satisfaction for the
human males is not given in the text; nevertheless, what is clear is that some substitute is to
be made.

So then, it seems as if the instructions here in verse 13 are not properly speaking
exceptions; for both the firstborn donkeys and firstborn humans are still sacrificed to the
Lord. It is just that they are sacrificed by means of redemption, by means of substitutes.

This leads us to the meaning of redemption. The term that is translated redeem
means to ransom.4 It means to offer a payment in return for something or someone’s release
from obligations. In fact, every time it is used it concerns being released from bondage,
from belonging to someone, or from dire guilt by presenting something in return, something
of counter value, a quid pro quo.5

In the case of the donkeys and the men, they are released from having to be
slaughtered by a substitute. So they are not exempted from God’s demand for all of Israel’s
firstborn males; instead, they are sacrificed by means of a substitute. Lambs replace
donkeys, and males are replaced by something else. But all firstborn are inevitably
dedicated to the Lord.

This practice, this rite, is meant to commemorate Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian
captivity. And it is to show that this people, Israel belongs to Yahweh like no other people
on the face of the earth. Notice verse 16: So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as
phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of
Egypt.

This metaphorical statement has given rise to the use of phylacteries, which are still
used by observant Jews today. Phylacteries are small leather boxes tied to the forehead and
left arm that contain strips of parchment with Exod 13:1-16, Deut 6:4-6; and Deut 11:13-21
written on them.6 The it is the crucial thing here. What is it that shall serve like (or as) a
sign on hand and forehead? It is consecration of the firstborn itself, not what the word of
God says about the ritual.

So what the writer is saying here is that this ritual will be such a part of what it
means to be God’s chosen people that it will be like having a sign between their eyes and on
their hands. It will be a mark, for all to see, of who they are. Or better, of whose they are.
Israel’s identity is a function of what their God had accomplished for them. They are never
to forget who they are as Yahweh’s people. And since this rite is something not to be kept

4
hd'P'
5
See Cornelis Houtman, Exodus (Kampen, Netherlands: Kok Publishing House, 1996), 2.216.
6
Peter Enns, The NIV Application Commentary: Exodus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 252, fn. 20.

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once a year, but with the birth of every firstborn male, it is clear that (as one commentator
has said) “all of life must bear the stamp of the benefits given in the exodus.”7

It was with a powerful hand that the Lord called his son out of Egypt, and this rite
has been given by God to celebrate that very fact. And yet, as you know, this is not
something that is unique to the consecration of the firstborn. It is something that is true of
the entire Exodus liturgy. Verse 9 strongly confirms this: And it shall serve as a sign to you
on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in
your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. These words
are nearly identical to verse 16 except that the it here is the it of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread.

The narrator expresses the same sentiment with respect to the Passover as well. You
will, of course, remember 12:42: It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having
brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the LORD, to be observed by
all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. In this verse, the it is the it of the
Passover ritual.

Commemorating the Death of Egypt’s Firstborn

So then, there must be more to the sanctification of the firstborn than simply a
commemoration of Israel’s departure from Egypt. There must be more to it because each of
the Exodus rites is meant to teach future generations of Israelites not only the general truth
of Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egyptian oppression, but also to teach them more
specific truths—truths about the nature and the circumstances of their departure. The
consecration of firstborn sons is no different.

Look with me at verses 14-15: And it shall be when your son asks you in time to
come, saying, “What is this?” then you shall say to him, “With a powerful hand the
LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. It came about, when
Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD killed every firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice
to the LORD the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons
I redeem.”

The key word is therefore in verse 15. Here is the reason for the consecration, the
sacrifice of the firstborn. The reason I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of
every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem is that the Lord killed every
firstborn in the land of Egypt. The sons of Israel sacrifice their firstborn because the Lord
slaughtered Egypt’s firstborn. In other words, I perform this rite to remember that the Lord
dealt out retribution to our oppressors.

I say retribution because of what the Lord says earlier in Exodus 4. Notice what he
says in 4:21-23.

7
Houtman, Exodus, 2.217, italics added.

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The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt see that you perform
before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his
heart so that he will not let the people go. "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says
the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn. "So I said to you, 'Let My son go that he
may serve Me'; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your
firstborn."'"

But more than what is recorded in these verses, the events of 1:15-22 show precisely
how the killing of Egypt’s firstborn represents retribution for atrocities committed against
God’s firstborn son, Israel.

Although the Hebrew midwives refused to be complicit with Pharaoh’s edict, the
edict itself manifest’s Egypt’s intense desire to destroy Israel’s firstborn. And the final policy
decision of this Pharaoh, expressed in verse 22, is what worked to seal Egypt’s fate. Read it
with me: “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ‘Every son who is born you are
to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.’”

So the Lord, in a fitting display of his justice, took the lives of all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt. Therefore the Lord has established the consecration of the firstborn to
commemorate that the firstborn of Egypt was killed in retribution for Egypt’s genocidal
practices stretching back several generations. God’s firstborn son is not to be injured; he is
not to be harmed. “Don’t mess wit’ my kid,” says the Lord.

And yet, there is more to the consecration of the firstborn sons of Israel than a
celebration of God’s retribution. It is a celebration of God’s redemption as well.

Retribution and Redemption

Look back at 13:15 and notice with me something else future generations are to tell
their children. They are to say, Therefore, I sacrifice to the LORD the males, the first
offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem. So then, not only are
offspring sacrificed, but every firstborn human son is redeemed because God killed Egypt’s
firstborn. Put a bit differently, future generations are to say, “Because God killed Egypt’s
firstborn, I redeem mine.”

Now let me pause to ask you this: Does this make sense to you? Does the Lord’s
slaughter of the Egyptian firstborn sound like a reason for redeeming Israel’s firstborn? In
other words, we may ask what is the relationship between the slaughter of the Egyptian
firstborn and the sparing of Israel’s.

Part of the answer is found in the rule concerning donkeys in verse 13. Rather than
being sacrificed itself, a donkey is to be redeemed or replaced by the sacrifice of a lamb in
the same way that Israel was redeemed or replaced by the blood of the Passover lamb. I
say that the lamb replaced Israel because had it not been for the blood of the lamb, the
firstborn of Israel would have been destroyed right along with the Egyptians. The lambs
died in place of the Israelites.

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Now you may be thinking that this certainly gives justification for the Passover
ritual, but how does it relate to the consecration of the firstborn?

Well, there was another replacement that took place on the night of the Exodus. It
was not simply that lambs took the place of the Israelites; it was also that the Egyptians took
the place of the Israelites. Instead of Israel’s firstborn dying, only Egypt’s did. Thus Israel
as God’s son was redeemed (delivered from Egypt) by the death of Egypt’s firstborn sons.
So then the reason why future generations of Israelites redeem their firstborn is to remember
that Egypt’s firstborn were killed instead of them.

But at the end of the day, what all of this ultimately shows is that the firstborn of every
womb belongs to Yahweh. And since it belongs to him he can do with it whatever he
pleases. If firstborn sons die, they die according to his good pleasure—not arbitrary
pleasure, but holy, righteous, just and good pleasure. If they die, they die according to the
will of God. And they die according to the will of God because they belong to him.

And in the same way that Egypt’s firstborn die according to his will, Israel’s firstborn
live according to his will as well. In the case of his special firstborn son, Israel, they live
because the Lord provides a replacement for their firstborn—a lamb and the Egyptians. The
sons of Israel live because according to his sovereign mercy and grace, he allows for their
redemption. So then, the firstborn of every womb belongs to God, but in the case of Israel
his firstborn, he will not claim this rite fully; instead, he allows for a substitute.

So then, here is why it makes sense to say that because God killed Egypt’s firstborn, I
redeem mine. The redemption of my firstborn reminds me that what happened to Egypt
could just as easily have happened to me! This is why I began this morning by saying that
unless you understand that God has absolute authority over our lives you would fail to
appreciate the weight of this text. Future generations of Israelites say, “God had every right
to take all our lives that night, but he did not. He did not.”

And why? Was it because his firstborn son was faithful to the Lord? Was it because
his firstborn son was beautiful or powerful or numerous or intelligent or otherwise special?
Not at all. The Israelites say, “The reason he spared us the grief of the death of our firstborn
sons was to magnify the greatness of his merciful choice. He spared us because we are his
firstborn by his sovereign decree. We deserved death that night. But the Lord makes a
distinction between Egypt and Israel according to his good pleasure.”

Deliverance Only through Death

So I redeem my firstborn to commemorate God’s special love for me, to
commemorate that were it not for him, I would have suffered the same fate as my
oppressors. Their deaths meant our lives. So at an even deeper theological level, I
sacrifice/redeem my firstborn to show that my liberated life is costly. The redemption of the
firstborn son can only come through death.

Perhaps the second most striking example of this in the Old Testament is found in
Gen 22:1-14.

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Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to
him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take now your son, your only
son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a
burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." So Abraham rose
early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with
him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went
to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes
and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with
the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to
you." Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and
he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am,
my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the
burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt
offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together. Then they came to the
place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged
the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of
the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said,
"Here I am." He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing
to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me." Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold,
behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took
the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham
called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In
the mount of the LORD it will be provided."

Keep in mind that Abraham here receives a genuine command from the Lord.
Abraham fully expected to sacrifice Isaac on that altar. Hebrews 11:17-19 says,

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had
received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it
was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” He considered that God is
able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a
type.”

Here we see the theological axiom most vividly illustrated: it is only by death that a
firstborn can be redeemed. If Isaac will not die, then something or someone else will.

In the Exodus, God delivers his firstborn son from certain death. Though he
certainly could have accomplished this by picking them up and moving them into the
Promised Land, in his infinite wisdom he continued to manifest a pattern for Israel to
commemorate in perpetuity. This, then, is what the sons of Israel would tell future
generations about the Exodus: God graciously delivers his firstborn by means of the death of a
replacement.

The Christ of the Ceremony

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But the ultimate reason why God established this redemptive pattern is so that the
true firstborn son would be preeminently foreshadowed in these historical events. The
firstborn belongs to him and is spared so that from generation to generation Israel would be
ready for the coming of Jesus Christ.

Now then, what do we see? Looking back on the events of the Exodus, especially
the plague of death, we see Israelites replaced by lambs and we see Israelites replaced by
Egyptians. Israelites were spared because God provided replacements: “Jehovah Jireh.”

As you are no doubt aware, Christ himself is the consecrated firstborn son of his
Father. It is no accident that Jesus is called Mary’s firstborn son in Luke 2:7. And it is no
accident that at Christ’s baptism “a voice came out of the heavens: ‘You are My beloved
Son, in You I am well-pleased’” (Mark 1:11).

But in Jesus Christ, the firstborn of God there is a crucial twist: in the OT it is the
firstborn who is redeemed by a substitute. Now, at the fullness of the times, the true and
ultimate firstborn has become the substitute to redeem others.

Of course, it is easy to see how Jesus is foreshadowed in the lamb of the Passover.
He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He is the lamb who went to the slaughter without uttering a word.
He is the lamb who died for his people that our lives would not be required of us from the
Lord.

But how is it that Jesus is foreshadowed in the death of the Egyptians? Let me offer
an explanation through Paul. Paul tells the Corinthians, “He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor
5:21). Christ became sin for us. This does not mean that Christ sinned, but simply that
Christ took upon himself all our sins. By imputation the Father treated Christ as if he were
a sinner. More than that, on the cross Jesus was treated as if he were guilty of all the sins of
everyone who would believe in him.

Using the language of the tenth plague we can say that the Lord looked on Christ as
if he were the firstborn of Egypt in order that we might become the firstborn of Israel. He
became the firstborn of Egypt for us, that we might become the firstborn of Israel in him.
What an awesome truth? Are you impressed by it?

If you aren’t, then I think I know the reason why. Because I was wondering myself
why I wasn’t that impressed with Christ’s becoming sin for us.

Being Impressed with Christ

I am embarrassed to say that I do not appreciate the once-for-all substitutionary
death of the beloved firstborn as I should. And the reason for this is that I am failing to
remember that I belong to God. As a sinner, the Lord has the right and authority to require
our lives at any moment. He has the right to take us out and judge us. And apart from his

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sovereign mercy and grace, apart from his provision of a replacement, apart from Christ
becoming Egypt for us, we would be justly condemned to hell.

The reason you may not be appreciating Christ’s substitutionary death this morning
is because you have forgotten that it would have been right for God to take your life and
send you to hell immediately upon your conception. What we have forgotten is that our
salvation is by grace alone. We have forgotten that we enter this world not with rights, but
with debts—debts to our fellow man and most significantly, debts to God. We owe him our
lives. We owe him ourselves. And the only way to satisfy the debt of our sin is by dying
and experiencing his never ending fury in the misery of hell.

But God spared us what was required of us. Instead, he required it of his son. He
made Christ Egypt for us that we might become Israel in him. This is what God did:
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He
made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having
canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us;
and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col 2:13-14).

Our debt has been nailed to the cross. So then, we have not been exempted from the
law of the firstborn; instead, Christ became the firstborn of Egypt for us, in order that we
might become the firstborn of God in him. Amen.

Redeemer Bible Church

16205 Highway 7
Minnetonka, MN 55345
Office: 952.935.2425
Fax: 952.938.8299
info@redeemerbiblechurch.com
www.redeemerbiblechurch.com

Exod 11:1-13:16: Christ Our Sanctified Son © 2004 by R W Glenn