Exodus 12:42

It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord,....

Note, The great things God does for his people are not to be a nine days' wonder, as we say, but the remembrance of them is to be perpetuated throughout all ages, especially the work of our redemption by Christ.

OF course you will understand that our text relates to the Passover. This is its first meaning. The Israelites were enjoined never to forget that they were once slaves in Egypt and that God, with a strong hand, brought them forth. To help their memories an ordinance was instituted which was to be celebrated every year by every person in the nation. The young children were to be taught the meaning of that ordinance so that never in time should it be forgotten that God passed over His own people when He smote His enemies in the land of Egypt. To this day the Israelites continue to hold this epoch in their national history among their most cherished traditions—and although the rites with which they observe the Passover are so distorted that we might well say they cannot sing the Lord's song in a strange land—yet the Passover is still Israel's celebration. And so long as there exists a Jew, there will not lack a man to tell how his fathers came out of Egypt in that night which is to be much observed. But, dear Friends, the Passover was a type of our Lord's passion. He is the Lamb of God's Passover. It is by His blood that we are preserved. It is by virtue of His Sacrifice that God passes over us who, through faith, have received the sprinkling of that blood. Never let us forget that night which is to be much remembered—that night when the Lord was taken from prison and from judgment—when there was none to declare His generation. Let us not forget that night when, for the transgression of His people, He was smitten. It was a dark night when He arose from the table where He had supped for the last time with His disciples, and went to Gethsemane, there to begin to suffer and in the very beginning to be sorrowful, even unto death.

OF course you will understand that our text relates to the Passover. This is its first meaning. The Israelites were enjoined never to forget that they were once slaves in Egypt and that God, with a strong hand, brought them forth. To help their memories an ordinance was instituted which was to be celebrated every year by every person in the nation. The young children were to be taught the meaning of that ordinance so that never in time should it be forgotten that God passed over His own people when He smote His enemies in the land of Egypt.

A night to be much observed - A night to be held in everlasting remembrance, because of the peculiar display of the power and goodness of God, the observance of which annually was to be considered a religious precept while the Jewish nation should continue.