Sun, May 21, 2023 – “The Blood Shall be a Sign” (Exodus 12:1-32)
Scott Wakefield
Part of Exodus: Freed to Worship and Serve—Jan 2023

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“Exodus: Freed to Worship and Serve”

Series Outline & Memory Verses

1. Prologue: Oppression in Egypt (Exodus 1:1-22)

2. Moses: An Unlikely Savior (Exodus 2:1-7:7)
Memory Verses (for sections 1 & 2): Exodus 6:7-8 – 7 “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”

3. The 12 Miracles of the Exodus (Exodus 7:8-15:21)
Memory Verse(s): Exodus 15:2-3 – 2 The LORD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.

4. The Journey to God (Exodus 15:22-19:25)

5. The Sinai Covenant (Exodus 20:1-24:11)

6. The Worship of God (Exodus 24:12-31:18)

7. Sin and Restoration (Exodus 32:1-40:38)


Follow Along with Today’s Sermon Manuscript (sort of, mostly, kind of)

  • Our preachers don’t always follow word for word, (especially Scott, Lead Pastor), but it will help you follow the train of thought and prepare for your study below.
  • Scott

Daily Bible Readings On Sun-Fri, the first passages listed (before the semicolon) are related to this sermon, while the second passages listed help you read through the whole book of Exodus each week. The Sat reading is for the next day’s sermon, to help you prepare.
Sermon Notes
“The Blood Shall be a Sign” (Exodus 12:1-32)
Series Theme – Exodus is part of the progressive unfolding of God’s promise to fight for the redemption of a people for His glory by freeing them to live out His intent for creation—to worship and serve Him as He deserves!
Memory Verse – Exodus 15:2-3 – 2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.

Exodus 12:1 – The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

12:2 – “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.

12:3-4 – 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.

12:5-6 – 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

12:7-8 – 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

12:9-10 – 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

12:11 – In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.

12:12-13 – 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

12:14 – “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

12:15-16 – 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.

12:17-18 – 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

12:19-20 – 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

12:21-22 – 21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

12:23-24 – 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike 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 enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.

12:25 – And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.

12:26-27 – 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

12:28-29 – 28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 29 At midnight the LORD struck down 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 the livestock.

12:30-32 – 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

Takeaway Thoughts(s)

1. The blood that saved at Passover is a sign that God’s holiness demands perfect obedience, sinners deserve His judgment, and sinners cannot make atonement.

Acts 17:24-26 – 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

James 4:12 – There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Matthew 10:28 – And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

2. The blood that saved at Passover is a sign that the fulfillment of God’s promise to fight for His people would require a Deliverer whose perfect life of obedience could be a perfect sacrifice of atonement.

Luke 9:30-31 – 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

3. The blood that saved at Passover is a sign that the ongoing celebration of the perfect sacrifice of our Deliverer is where we find salvation from sin and its power in our lives.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 –7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Matthew 26:17-19 – 17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

Takeaway Thoughts(s)
Where in your life are you needing to claim and celebrate Christ’s all-sufficient work that atones for your sin?
Inductive Bible Study Questions
To prepare for Life Group, Pillar breakout groups, or personal use, answer the following inductive study questions based on the sermon and a few other resources we suggest (See “Mostly Trusted & Free Resources” below.)

Inductive Bible study is about going from particulars to principles by prayerfully studying the details—both in the text and the larger Scriptural context of a passage—and allowing them to determine meaning and application.

Observe: What does the text say?

  1. Read the passage at least once, preferably multiple times.

  2. Answer the 4 Ws: Where? When? Who? What? (Ex: author, location, original audience, cultural setting, etc.)

  3. Are there any literary cues worthy of note? (Ex: key words/phrases, transition, repetition, parallel, comparison, contrast, etc.)

  • It’s helpful at this point to consult a few resources: Study Bible notes, commentaries, Bible dictionaries/encyclopedias, etc.


Interpret: What does the text mean?
  1. How does the wider context help inform our understanding of this passage?

  2. Are there any other passages that help provide a framework for understanding?

  3. What are the passage’s main points?

  4. What is the one main principle God intends to communicate to the original audience?


Apply: What is the text saying to us?
  1. What doctrinal or theological truths does this text teach or reinforce?

  2. What questions does it elicit for you?

  3. Which of FCC’s 7 Habits (or a spiritual habit/practice) does the principle in “Interpret” #4 highlight most?

  4. What is the most important application of this passage to… the original audience? Our world? Our church? Your relationships, family, marriage, parenting, etc.? Your plans, career, schooling, etc.?

  5. What is God trying to tell you?

  6. What is your Next Step of “everyday boring faithfulness”? Or, when it comes to the 7 Habits (or the aforementioned spiritual habit/practice), what do you need to stop doing, keep doing, start doing?

For Further Study: Some Mostly Trusted & Mostly Free Resources
  • ESV Study Bible – Our #1 recommendation. The English Standard Version, which we use for preaching, has *really good* Study Notes, maps, introductions, mini-systematic theology, etc. Available in hardcopy at cost in *The Hub* at every campus (or for Logos Bible Software below.) The ESV Bible text is free on our app under “Bible” or at ESV.org, where the Global Study Bible Notes are also free.
  • NETbible.org – Free Bible (various versions, incl ESV with lots of helpful textual notes and a few decent resources and commentaries.
  • IVP New Bible Commentary – Good basic one-volume commentary. Available in The Hub at any campus.
  • Logos Bible Software – Download 40+ free resources here to get started, incl 6 Bible versions, ESV Audio Bible, Faithlife Study Notes, Lexham Bible Dictionary, and Easton’s Bible Dictionary, as well as some classics like Charles Hodge’s *Systematic Theology*, JFB Commentary (Critical/Explanatory on Whole Bible), Matthew Henry Concise Commentary, Spurgeon’s *Morning and Evening* Devotions, Bunyan’s *Pilgrim’s Progress*, Augustine’s *Confessions*. ESV Bible and Study Notes available for purchase at logos.com, along with basically any other important biblical and theological resource you could possibly imagine. (Scott’s favorite resource. He says, “I’m in and out of Logos dozens of times a day.”)
  • *Systematic Theology* by Wayne Grudem – Good overall and highly readable introduction to Christian doctrine. Available at cost in *The Hub* and also for Logos Bible Software. This is what Scott and Mark Liebert often use as a guide on our biweekly *Brown Bags & Bibles* podcast.
  • Free Online Whole Bible Commentaries (By Dead People) – Albert Barnes, John Calvin (missing some books), Adam Clarke, Matthew Henry (Concise), Matthew Henry (Complete), Alexander MacLaren, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
  • Free Online Dictionaries/Encyclopedias – Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Holman Bible Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia