So we turn now in our Bibles to
Exodus chapter 11.
Up to this point, Moses' life seems to
be going from one bad experience to a
worse.
Sometimes we have that experience too.
It looks like, man, just everything we do
is wrong.
Nothing seems to be coming up right.
Moses has been before the Pharaoh.
He has made his demands.
The Pharaoh's heart has been hardened.
Egypt has been smitten by God with many
plagues.
And now the Pharaoh orders him out, orders
him never to see my face again.
The next time you see me, you're a
dead man.
And so Moses leaves and says, that's all
right with me if I never see your
face again.
And so in chapter 11, the Lord said
unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague
more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.
And afterwards he will let you go from
here.
When he shall let you go, he shall
surely thrust you out from here altogether.
In other words, he's not going to just
let you go.
He's going to kick you out of here.
After this final plague, God's going to smite
Egypt once more.
And when he smites Egypt this time, the
Pharaoh's not just going to let them go.
He's going to throw them out of the
land.
And so speak now in the ears of
the people and let every man borrow.
Now the word borrow here is an unfortunate
kind of a translation because it looks like
they sort of dishonestly ripped off the Egyptians.
In other words, go in and borrow all
of their silver plate and, you know, all
of their jewels and earrings and bracelets and
so forth.
And then when you leave tonight, rip them
off.
You take it with you and that Moses
is advocating actually this kind of a rip
off of the Egyptians, but not so.
The word would better be translated, let them
ask.
And at this point, let me tell you
something.
The Egyptians were glad to give them anything.
In a sense, this is back wages.
They have been serving the Egyptians as slaves
now for many years without pay.
And so this really is just sort of
a compensation to them for all of the
labor, the years of labor that they had
given to the Egyptians.
But it wasn't really just saying, oh, can
I borrow that beautiful necklace tonight?
And then not showing up, you know, but
taking off and running with it.
It was asking for the necklace.
I'd like to have that earring.
I'd like to have that bracelet.
I'd like to have that necklace.
And so let them ask the Egyptians, all
of them, their neighbors and every woman of
her neighbor for the jewels of silver and
the jewels of gold.
And the Lord gave the people favor in
the sight of the Egyptians.
Moreover, the man Moses was very great in
the land of Egypt and in the sight
of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of
the people.
At this point, they really had begun, that
is, the Egyptians had really begun to look
up to Moses.
They had been through enough.
The servants of Pharaoh were pleading with Pharaoh,
hey, let this guy go before we're all
dead.
We're going to be wiped out.
We're not going to have anything.
Let them go.
It was only the Pharaoh whose heart was
so hardened in resisting the letting of the
people go.
The people themselves were really at this point
glad to see them go.
Moses said, thus saith the Lord, about midnight
will I go out into the midst of
Egypt.
And so we talk about God passing through
Egypt and the firstborn being slain.
And Moses tells us here that it was
about midnight.
I suppose that is why midnight is sort
of looked upon as a scary hour.
And all of the firstborn in the land
of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sitteth upon the throne, even unto
the firstborn of the maidservants, that is behind
the mill, and all of the firstborn of
the beast.
In other words, the eradication of the firstborn
was to be complete from the least to
the greatest in the land and even to
include their own animals.
And there shall be a great cry throughout
all the land of Egypt, such as there
was none like it, nor shall it be
like it any more.
But against any of the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue against
the man or beast, that ye may know
how that the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel.
Now it is true that God always puts
a difference between those who are His people
and those who are not His people.
And God says, I want you to know
how that I put a difference between the
Egyptians and the Israelis.
God makes a definite distinction always concerning His
people.
And all these thy servants shall come down
unto me and bow down themselves unto me,
saying, Get thee out, and all the people
that follow thee, and after that I will
go out.
And he went out from Pharaoh in a
great anger.
So Moses was angry, the Pharaoh was angry,
Moses left the presence of the Pharaoh.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall
not hearken unto you, that my wonders may
be multiplied in the land of Egypt.
And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders
before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened or made
stiff Pharaoh's heart so that he would not
let the children of Israel go out of
his land.
So chapter 11 is just sort of a
brief summary of what has happened up until
this point.
And now we are going to continue on
and carry on with the story, chapter 12.
The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall
be unto you the beginning of months.
It shall be the first month of the
year to you.
Now, in a few weeks, the Jews are
going to be celebrating New Year's, Rosh Hosannah.
How come they're celebrating New Year's now if
this month, April, was to be the first
month of the year?
Well, they have a religious calendar, and their
religious year begins in April.
And then they have just the regular year
by which they count years, and that comes
sometime here in the latter part of September,
as a general rule, the Jewish New Year.
And so they have sort of a secular
calendar and a religious calendar.
And the religious calendar, they do begin the
religious year in April, that is the first
of April, so that the month of October
in the religious calendar is the seventh month.
And because seven is such a symbolic number,
and such a significant number in symbolism, the
many feasts take place in the seventh month.
And especially the Feast of Sukkoth, or the
Feast of Tabernacles, which takes place here in
the tenth month, or seventh month of the
Jewish calendar, tenth month in our calendar.
So, we see that God is ordaining now
that this is to be the beginning of
months for you.
God is going to bring them into a
new relationship with Himself.
And they're going to start counting their life
from this point, this new relationship that God
is bringing them into.
And so I have sometimes people come up
who are 50 years old, and they say,
I'm celebrating my second birthday this week, you
know.
And they're talking about their new birth, their
new relationship with God.
This is the new beginning for them, beginning
in Christ, and their life seems to start
all over, it takes on a new beginning,
when you really come into this relationship with
the Lord.
And so, coming into this new relationship with
God, it's to be the beginning, start counting
from here.
Whatever happened in the past doesn't count anymore.
Paul talks about his past as refuse, all
of the glory and all of the accomplishments
that he had experienced in his ambitions and
in his life up to Christ.
He counted that but loss, he counted it
but refuse, that he might know Christ.
Life really begins with Jesus Christ.
It's the beginning of life, it's the beginning
of counting.
Anything else before Christ really doesn't count.
It's all wood, hay and stubble of no
count.
Life really begins when you begin your life
with Jesus Christ.
So, God is saying, hey, this is the
beginning, start counting from here, because you're going
to come into a new relationship with God.
Here's where things are going to start.
And so, speaking to the congregation of Israel,
saying, in the tenth day of this month,
they shall take to them every man a
lamb according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for a house.
And if the household is too little for
the lamb, let him take his neighbor that
is next to his house, and let them
take it according to the number of souls.
Every man according to his eating shall make
your count for the lamb.
And your lamb shall be without blemish, a
male of the first year.
You shall take it out from the sheep
or from the goats, and you shall keep
it up until the fourteenth day of the
same month.
And the whole assembly of the congregation shall
kill it in the evening.
And they shall take of the blood and
strike it upon the two side posts, and
upon the upper door post of the houses
wherein they shall eat it.
Notice, the blood was to be stricken on
the side post and on the upper door
post, not on the threshold.
Because the blood of this lamb is actually
symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ, which
is never to be trampled underfoot.
However, by some it is, who are going
to face the wrath of God, of how
much sore punishment we are told in Hebrews.
Suppose ye he to be thought worthy who
hath counted the blood of his covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath
trodden underfoot the Son of God.
So, the blood of Christ is never to
be trodden underfoot.
Thus, the blood was to be put upon
the side post and on the upper door
post of the house, but not on the
threshold.
And they shall eat the flesh in that
night, roasted with fire, and with unleavened bread,
and with bitter herbs shall they eat it.
Don't eat it raw, nor boiled with water,
but roast it with the fire, the head,
with the legs, and the pertinence thereof, and
ye shall let nothing of it remain until
morning, and that which remains of it until
the morning ye shall burn with fire.
And ye shall eat it with your clothes
on, fully dressed, your shoes on your feet,
your staff in your hand.
You'll eat it in haste.
It is the Lord's Passover.
Now, they were to really sort of stuff
themselves when they ate this lamb.
I mean, eat the whole thing.
Eat until you can't eat anymore.
It's going to be a while before you're
going to be eating meat again.
They're going to make their flight, and they're
going to need all of the reserve, and
strength, and energy that they can store up.
And so they're really to eat the whole
thing, as much as you possibly can.
If you can't eat it all, then burn
the rest with the fire.
Don't let anything remain.
And as they eat it, they are to
eat it prepared to go.
Now, as a general rule, their eating was
just sort of a lounging.
They didn't sit at the table like we
sit at the tables to eat.
But they would just sort of lie around
on pillows on the floor, very casual when
they ate.
So often, you know, you see the picture
of Jesus at the Last Supper and the
nice table and everything else.
No, they didn't eat like that.
They were lying around on the floor on
pillows and so forth, and it was an
extremely casual kind of eating habits that they
had.
And the food out there, and they would
just, you know, take the food and then
just sort of lie back and chew on
the bones and enjoy, you know.
And a good way to eat.
We've become so formalized that we don't really
know how that we are often times stiff
and formal when we eat rather than really
relaxed.
When you're relaxed like that, your food digests
so much better and it's just a better
way to go at it.
But customs are customs, and so I guess
we're going to have to be customized.
Now, the lamb that was to be chosen
had to be of the first year.
It had to be without blemish.
It had to be separated from the flock
for four days to make sure that it
was without blemish.
The lamb was to be slain on the
evening of the 14th day.
The blood applied to the doorpost.
This is going to be the Lord's Passover.
For the Lord said, I will pass through
the land of Egypt this night and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, both man and beast, and against all
of the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgment.
I am Jehovah.
Now, here God is declaring that the purpose
of these plagues has been that He might
execute against all of the gods of Egypt
His judgment.
They had worshipped the flies, they had worshipped
the frogs, they had worshipped the Nile River.
And God exercised His judgment against their gods.
And so He is magnifying Himself.
As the Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah?
I don't know Him.
He surely learned.
And the blood shall be to you for
a token upon the houses where you are.
And the Lord declared, When I see the
blood, I will pass over you.
So the blood was to be a protection.
It was to be a seal for that
house, a token by which when God sees
the blood there on the doorpost, He would
pass over that house and the firstborn would
not die.
However, in whatever house there was not the
blood there over the doorpost and on the
side post of the house, the firstborn in
that house would be slain.
The only protection and the only salvation was
through the blood.
No other hope, no other way, no other
salvation except through the blood applied by faith.
Because it had to be a step of
faith on the part of the people.
You can't really intellectualize on how blood on
a doorpost can keep your firstborn child alive.
It doesn't really make sense from an intellectual
standpoint.
And thus, it had to be a step
of faith on their part.
Moses said, This is what God says to
do.
And they had to obey the Word of
God by faith.
They weren't sure that it was going to
work.
They weren't even sure that the death would
be visited except that Moses said it would
upon the firstborn in the land.
And so there had to be that obedience
of faith, putting the blood on the doorpost.
But as Moses said, so it was.
And the only hope of salvation was through
the blood.
And so today, God has declared that the
only hope of life, the only hope of
salvation is through the blood of Jesus Christ.
There is no other way.
There is no other hope.
You say, Chuck, that's too narrow.
I cannot believe in a God that would
be so narrow.
That's too bad.
Jesus said, Straight is the gate, narrow is
the way that leads to eternal life, and
few there be that find it.
You say, but I can't understand it.
I didn't say I did.
I believe it.
I believe God's Word.
I accept God's Word is true.
I don't argue with God nor with the
Word of God, nor do I seek to
strive with God.
For who am I to contend with God?
Who am I to argue with God over
what's fair or what's right or what's wrong?
Am I saying that my standards of fairness
are above God's?
Am I saying that I know better than
God?
Dare I challenge God?
Paul said, Remember, you're just like a bit
of clay in the potter's hand.
And what right has the clay to say
to the potter, Hey, why are you making
me this kind of a picture?
I don't want to be that.
I wanted to have a different shape.
Hey, you are what you are.
And we have no right to challenge God
or the ways of God or why's of
God.
But if we have good sense, we'll just
submit to God.
Whether we understand it or not.
The obedience of faith is so important.
God has declared there is salvation in no
other.
When Peter was examined concerning the miracle done
to the lame man, and was standing before
the council.
Men and brethren, if I be examined this
day because of the good deed done unto
this infinite man, be it known unto you
that by the name of Jesus Christ does
this man stand here before you all.
He was the stone which was set of
not of you builders.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for
there is no other name given among men,
whereby we must be saved.
The Bible says, Woe unto him who strives
with his maker.
You know, there are some people who are
just foolish enough to fight with God.
To try to challenge God or to resist
God.
And one of the most ridiculous things you
can ever do is to fight with God.
How could you ever win?
Unfortunately, some people do.
Because you see, God is seeking to draw
you to life.
God is seeking to draw you to himself.
God is seeking to draw you into the
highest life.
Life on the spiritual plane.
And you're fighting God.
To fight God is really to fight your
own good.
To resist God is to resist the good
that God wants to do within your life.
Woe unto him who strives with his maker.
So, it is not mine to question or
challenge.
It's mine to simply trust and believe.
Because you can be sure that God will
do what he said he is going to
do.
If you follow his instructions, you'll be saved.
If you don't follow his instructions, you'll be
lost.
Now, the children of Israel could have argued
with Moses.
They could have challenged the thing that Moses
was telling them.
I don't see any sense in doing that.
And you really can't see any sense in
doing it except God said to do it.
And when God says to do something, whether
I understand it or not, the very wisest
thing for me is to go ahead and
do it.
Because I'll find out later on that what
God said was right.
If I have submitted to it, I'm in
good shape.
If I have resisted it and fought it,
then I'm in trouble.
So, Moses laid it out.
And God declared, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you.
God is saying that to us tonight as
far as death is concerned and life is
concerned.
When he sees the blood of Jesus Christ
applied to your heart, he passes over.
You've passed from death unto life.
He that liveth and believeth on me, Jesus
said, will never die.
You've passed from death unto life.
You say, Chuck, again, it doesn't stand to
reason.
Because out here in the cemetery, there are
so many graves.
If you look at the tombstones, you'll read,
Resting in Jesus, Trusting in the Lord.
And you read the statements of faith of
that individual.
They lived and believed in Jesus and are
now dead.
Paul said, Oh, no, they're not.
You're mistaken to think that they are.
They're only dead as far as our relating
to them is concerned.
But they're very much alive.
Alive in the presence of the Lord.
Paul said, I find myself with mixed emotions.
I have a desire to depart and to
be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, for your sakes, it's important that I
stick around a while longer.
He said, I knew a man in Christ
about 14 years ago or a little over
14 years ago.
And whether in the body or out of
the body, I really don't know.
But I know I was caught up to
the third heaven.
And there I heard things that it would
be a crime if I tried to describe
them in human language.
Because words haven't been made that can describe
the experiences that I had.
Now, whether in the body or out of
the body is in reality, whether dead or
alive, I really don't know.
Again, Paul writes to the Corinthians, we know
that when this earthly tent is dissolved, this
body that we then have a building of
God, not made with hands eternal in the
heavens.
So then we who are in this body
do often grown earnestly desiring to be freed
from the restrictions of this body.
From the limitations of this body, from the
pain and the suffering of this body.
Not that I would be an unembodied spirit,
but my desire is to be clothed upon
with the body which is from heaven.
For we know that as long as we're
at home in this body, we are absent
from the Lord.
But we would choose rather to be absent
from this body and to be present with
the Lord.
For those who live and believe in Jesus,
they do not die.
They move out of the old tent that
is worn out into a beautiful new house.
A building of God not made with hands
eternal in the heavens.
I'm so anxious to see my new model.
One that's designed probably for my personality.
One that will be fully capable of expressing
me completely and fully as I really am.
It's going to be so interesting to find
out all of the capacities of that new
body that God has built for me.
That new model directly from God.
He who lives and believes in Jesus Christ
never dies.
You do move.
Thank God we move.
I'd hate to stick around in this old
body much longer.
I hate the deterioration.
I hate the catabolic forces.
I hate the diminishing returns.
I look forward to being with the Lord.
Being in that new form, that new body.
The body that pleases God.
Paul tells us that when you plant a
seed into the ground, the seed doesn't come
forth into new life until it first of
all dies.
And then the body that comes out of
the ground isn't the body that you planted.
Now a lot of people that want to
be related to this old body.
They want it to be somehow related to
their new body.
It is in a sense just like a
dead bulb is related to the new plant.
Or a dead seed is related to the
new plant.
There is a relationship, sure.
A gladiola bulb remains a gladiola when it's
a flower.
But there's a vast difference between the bulb
and the flower.
And there will be a vast difference between
this old ugly bulb and the blossom flower
in the kingdom of God.
So don't go looking for a bald head
when you get up there to find me.
And somebody has to use glasses to read.
You'll never recognize me.
A building of God not made with hands.
The body that comes out is not the
body that you planted.
All you planted was a bare grain.
And God gives it a body that pleases
Him.
So is the resurrection from the dead.
We are planted in corruption.
We are raised in incorruption.
We are planted in weakness.
We are raised in power.
We are planted in dishonor.
We are raised in glory.
We are planted as a natural body.
We are raised as a spiritual body.
God said, when I see the blood, I
will pass over you.
That is the death that has been sentenced
upon man.
He's going to pass over me.
I'll not die.
But I will be changed in a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, into the
glorious likeness of Jesus Christ, whom having not
seen, yet I love.
And even though I don't see Him yet,
yet in my heart I rejoice with a
joy unspeakable and full of glory, because even
though I am now a son of God,
I don't know for sure yet what I'm
going to be.
All of the full capacities and everything else.
But I know that when He appears, I'm
going to be like Him.
For I'm going to see Him as He
is.
Conformed into His image.
Oh, how glorious is the hope of every
child of God who by faith follows the
command of God and who has received the
sacrifice of God, God's Lamb, Jesus Christ, and
have received the covering of Jesus Christ and
His sins have been washed by the blood
of Jesus Christ.
And so, in Exodus, we have God laying
out the Passover Lamb, which is a type
of the Lamb of God for Jesus.
It was the night in which He had
the Passover Supper with His disciples that He
took the Passover elements and said, Hey, this
is Me.
This is Me.
Don't you understand?
It's Me.
I'm the Passover Lamb.
This cup is a new covenant.
It's in My blood.
No longer the Lamb in Egypt and the
blood of the Lamb in Egypt.
No longer does this feast carry you clear
back to Egypt.
This feast now carries you back to the
cross of Jesus Christ.
And as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you show the Lord's
death.
Not the death of the Lamb in Egypt,
but the death of the Lamb of God.
You do show the Lord's death until He
comes.
So, the feast was inaugurated, but it was
inaugurated to remind, yes, but also to look
forward to the fulfillment of what that Lamb
in Egypt typified.
The Lamb of God slain for our sins.
And this day shall be unto you for
a memorial, and ye shall keep it a
feast to the Lord throughout your generations, and
you shall keep it a feast by the
ordinance forever.
Seven days you are to eat the unleavened
bread.
Even the first day you'll put away leaven
out of your houses.
Now what is leaven?
It's yeast.
And what is yeast?
Decomposition.
The breaking down of substance.
And thus, leaven has become throughout the Scripture
a type of sin.
Because of its decomposition, its breaking down, its
effect of just permeating the whole by a
process of deterioration or breaking down.
And it becomes a very fit picture of
sin.
Any sin tolerated or allowed has a way
of just expanding until it takes over and
controls your life.
But it brings into your life that element
of decomposition, the breaking down, filling the whole
life.
And so, leaven was to be excluded.
They were to eat the unleavened bread.
Memorial.
Seven days you'll eat unleavened bread.
And the first day you'll put away leaven
out of your houses.
Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
And thus, the bread of the Passover, the
middle wafer was representing Jesus Christ.
In the Passover meal, they have three wafers
of unleavened bread in this little napkin thing.
And they take the middle wafer and they
break it.
And then they hide it.
And the children have to go and find
it.
Now, why they do this, they really don't
know.
But Jesus said, I am the bread of
life.
He said, this bread is my body broken
for you.
They break it.
And even as He was in the grave
for three days, they hide it.
And then they discover it.
And there's great rejoicing when it's discovered.
A big celebration.
They found the broken bread.
It was brought out.
What a day it's going to be when
Israel discovers the bread of life, Jesus Christ.
For if the cutting off of Israel brought
salvation to the Gentiles, what will it be
when they are restored?
But the kingdom, the kingdom age, the entering
into the kingdom age.
And so, they're being cut off, brought salvation
to Gentiles, but God is going to restore
them again.
And when He does, it's going to be
life for the world, the kingdom age being
brought in.
So, the inauguration of this Passover feast.
The Lord said in verse 16, And in
the first day there shall be a holy
convocation, and in the seventh day there shall
be a holy convocation to you.
No manner of work shall be done in
them except that which every man must eat.
That only may be done of you.
And you shall observe the feast of unleavened
bread, for in this selfsame day I have
brought your armies out of the land of
Egypt.
Therefore, shall you observe this day in your
generations by an ordinance forever.
And in the first month, on the fourteenth
day of the month in the evening, you
will eat the unleavened bread until the twenty
-first day of the month at evening.
Seven days there will be no leaven found
in your houses for whosoever eats that which
is leavened, even that soul shall be cut
off from the congregation of Israel, whether he
be a stranger or born in the land.
Ye shall eat nothing leavened in all your
houses, shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Then Moses called for all the elders of
Israel and said unto them, Draw out and
take you a lamb according to your families
and kill the Passover.
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop,
a little scrub bush, and dip it in
the blood that is in the basin and
strike the lintel and the two side posts
with the blood that is in the basin
and none of you shall go out of
the door of his house until morning.
Now as long as you were in the
house where the blood was applied, you were
safe.
If you went out of the house, then
you were no longer safe.
The only place of safety is in Jesus
Christ.
He said, Abide in me and let my
words abide in you.
And if any man abide not in me,
he is cut off.
And like a branch withers and dies and
men gather them and throw them into the
fire.
Abide in me.
And he emphasizes the importance of abiding in
him.
I really am not concerned about the past
experiences that you may have had in Jesus
Christ.
I am concerned with your present relationship.
For any past experience that you may have
had with God, no matter how dynamic, has
no value unless it is translated into your
present experience.
Abide in me.
So let them stay in the 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 side posts, the
Lord will pass over the door and will
not allow the destroyer.
So with the Lord there was to pass
with Him this destroyer.
He is called by many the Death Angel.
The Scripture just calls Him the destroyer.
He will not allow the destroyer to come
in unto your houses to smite you.
Now it is interesting to me that Satan
is called the destroyer in the book of
Revelation.
I do believe that Satan is bent upon
destroying people.
I do believe that God does put limitations
on what Satan can do.
I believe that Satan operates only within certain
boundaries that have been prescribed for him by
God.
We often make a mistake of thinking of
Satan as the opposite of God.
He is not at all an opposite of
God.
In no way is he an opposite of
God.
Satan would more apt to be an opposite
of Michael or Gabriel, angels of God, but
is not an opposite of God.
He opposes God, but is not the opposite
of God because his power is so limited.
His authority is so limited.
He only works within the limits that God
describes and defines for him.
And I believe that if it weren't for
God's protecting hand, Satan would have already wiped
all of us out.
He is bent on our destruction.
I believe that God restrains him.
Now the destroyer passing through the land, God
allowed him to smite the firstborn.
Where the blood was upon the house, God
passed over that house and did not allow
the destroyer to enter in to destroy.
And ye shall observe this thing for an
ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
It shall come to pass when you come
to the land which the Lord will give
to you according as He has promised that
ye shall keep this service or this celebration,
this feast, this festival.
And it shall come to pass when your
children shall say unto you, what do you
mean by this service?
That ye shall say, it is a sacrifice
of the Lord's Passover who passed over the
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt
when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our
houses and the people bowed their heads and
worshipped.
And the children of Israel went away and
did as Moses had commanded, Moses and Aaron,
so they did.
So the purpose of the feast was a
memorial, a reminder of what God had done,
but also it was to create a question
in the mind of the children.
God is always creating questions in the minds
of children.
You ever notice how many questions they ask?
The purpose of God creating questions in the
minds of children is that they might learn.
God deliberately creates questions in their mind to
give you an opportunity to teach them the
things of God.
To make them conscious and aware of God
and the presence of God.
Where did trees come from?
Why are roses red?
How can a fly fly?
How big is God?
The questions that God creates in the mind
of the child that give you the opportunity
of unfolding to that mind the understanding of
the infinite God to bring that child into
a knowledge and a loving relationship with Him.
God is always creating questions deliberately setting things
out to create questions in the mind of
the child to give you the opportunity to
teach.
And so when your children shall say what
is the meaning of this service?
Then you have the opportunity of sharing with
them what God has done.
The power of God that was demonstrated.
And it came to pass that at midnight
the Lord smoked all of the firstborn of
the land of Egypt.
From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on
his throne to the firstborn of the captive
that was in the dungeon to the firstborn
of the cattle.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night he
and all of his servants and all the
Egyptians.
And there was a great cry in Egypt
where there was not a house where there
was not one dead.
And he called for Moses and Aaron by
night and said, rise up.
Get out of here from the people.
Both you and the children of Israel, go.
Serve the Lord as you have said and
take your flocks and your herds as you
have said.
Be gone.
Now, you remember earlier he had offered compromises.
Go, but leave your children here.
Go, but leave your flocks here.
Go, but go in the land.
Worship God in the land.
And now he's just not offering, get out
of here.
Get into the wilderness.
Take your flocks.
Take your children.
Just go.
And then he says, pray for me.
Interesting, no matter how pagan a person is,
they surely appreciate prayer when they're in trouble.
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people
that they might send them out of the
land in haste, for they said, we'll all
be dead.
And the people took their dough before it
was leavened.
Their kneading troughs being bound up and their
clothes on their shoulders.
And the children of Israel did according to
the word of Moses.
And they asked of the Egyptians instead of
borrowed, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and
raiment.
And the Lord gave the people favor in
the sight of the Egyptians so that they
gave rather than lent unto them such things
as they required.
And they spoiled the Egyptians.
And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramesses
to Sukkot.
And there were about 600,000 on foot
that were men beside children.
Now, if 600,000 that were men used
in a generic sense, it would mean that
there were 600,000 adults.
And then besides children, which would give you
a possible 1,500,000 people making the
exodus at this point.
If it was 600,000 men, plus then
their 600,000 wives plus their children, you
have over 2,000,000 that are making
then the exodus.
There's no way for us to know for
sure the full number because we don't know
if the men just is a term that
is referred to the adults about 21 years
old or refers to men as such.
And then beside children, why doesn't it say
beside women and children?
So, that's something for you to not get
worried about.
It's a big group.
Either way you look at it.
And there went a mixed multitude with them
and their flocks and their herds and very
much cattle.
Now this mixed multitude it seems are always
hanging on with the people of God but
a mixed multitude are always a weakening element
among the people of God.
This mixed multitude later on got them into
trouble.
In numbers we read where the mixed multitude
began to lust after the things of Egypt.
Began to complain unto Moses.
A mixed multitude is always an unhealthy thing
within the body.
But it is always there.
Whenever God is doing a marvelous work and
gathering His people together and there comes a
real excitement over the things of God, a
genuine revival of the Spirit, there are always
just a certain number who just come along
for the ride.
Who have not made a true commitment of
their own lives.
They are part of a mixed multitude.
They're not really totally God's people.
They're mixed.
They find an excitement.
They find it's fun to be around.
They find it's an interesting thing.
But there is not a true heart commitment
unto God.
The mixed multitude always a danger.
And they baked the unleavened cakes of the
dough which they brought forth out of Egypt
for it was not leavened because they were
thrust out of the land.
Nor could they wait and neither had they
prepared for themselves any vituals.
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel
who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years.
God had prophesied this to Abraham back in
Genesis that they would be in the land
for 400 years.
It came to pass at the end of
the 430 years even the selfsame day it
came to pass that all the hosts of
the Lord went out from the land of
Egypt.
Now that's interesting to me that God says
that it happened on the very same day.
In other words, it was 430 years to
a day.
I emphasize that because of the Thursday night
study this week when we find God talking
about another period of 483 years when God
says 483 years He wants to be exact
and He comes exactly to the day.
And so it was exactly to the day
430 years.
From the time that Jacob went down exactly
to the day 430 years they came out
right to the day.
And as I say, I emphasize that and
you'll find out why on Thursday night.
It is a night to be much observed
unto the Lord for bringing them out from
the land of Egypt.
It is the night of the Lord to
be observed of all of the children of
Israel in their generations or throughout their generations.
And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron
this is the ordinance of the Passover there
shall no stranger eat thereof but every man's
servant.
Now no stranger is to eat of the
Passover.
You remember Paul warned against unbelievers partaking of
communion.
For he that eateth unworthily eateth and drinketh
damnation to his own body.
And he warns about the unbelievers partaking of
communion.
It's not for strangers.
The communion service is not for the public
the general public.
It's for the body of Christ.
It's for the family of God.
That's why we have communion on Thursday nights
rather than Sunday mornings.
Sunday morning we have more of a mixed
multitude.
Thursday nights more of the family.
And that's why we have the communion on
the Thursday evening service because it's more of
a family service not so much of the
mixed multitude.
Because a stranger wasn't to eat.
In the Jews' celebration of their Passover a
stranger wasn't to eat of it.
In fact, he goes on to say that
every man's servant that is bought for money
when you have circumcised him, then he can
eat.
But a foreigner and a hired servant shall
not eat.
In one house it shall be eaten.
Thou shalt not carry forth of the flesh
abroad out of the house.
Neither shall you break a bone of it.
They weren't to break the bones of the
lamb.
For Jesus, of course, was to be the
sacrificial lamb.
And that is why they didn't break His
legs as they did the other prisoners to
hasten His death.
Because as a sacrificial lamb, not a bone
of Him could be broken.
And all the congregation of Israel shall keep
it.
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee
and will keep the Passover to the Lord,
let all his males be circumcised and then
let him come near and keep it.
And he shall be as one that is
born in the land for no uncircumcised person
shall eat thereof.
Now, if a person wanted to proselytize into
the Jewish faith, there were three things that
were necessary.
Number one, baptism.
Number two, circumcision.
And number three, the partaking of Passover.
And until you had gone through these three
things, you were not really considered a Jew.
But if you wanted to proselytize into their
faith and into their nation, these are the
things that were required.
So here we find two of the three
spoken of in this particular Scripture.
One law shall be to him that is
homeborn and unto the stranger that sojourns among
you.
Thus did all the children of Israel as
the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they
did.
And it came to pass the same day
that the Lord did bring the children of
Israel out of the land of Egypt by
their armies.