Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"Now the Lord had said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold." (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.) So Moses said, "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. The Lord had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt." Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord -a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat—that is all you may do. "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread." Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. "Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' " Then the people bowed down and worshiped. The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead." Exodus 11:1-10, 12:1-30
It didn’t have to be this way. It never had to come down to this.
A simple act of true repentance matched with a spirit of humility, obedience and reverence toward God would have prevented the senseless loss. All Pharoah had to do was let the people of Israel go. Simple as that. He still had a great nation without the people of Israel. All that would have been lacking is the slave labor he enjoyed by keeping them captive. But Pharoah was stubborn and refused to give into God, despite the great power God displayed and the pain it brought to his people…the devastation it brought to his nation. He would not let Israel go and now God was to have the last word on the matter. He was about to inflict the kind of wrath that would cause even the most obstinate person to their knees.
For after the darkness and Pharoah’s refusal to comply yet again, God told Moses that "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely." This last plague involved killing every first born child in Egypt. God had refrained from any widespread death as a result of any of the previous plagues but this would be different. It was time to end this Israeli captivity once and for all.
So God sent Moses to give instruction to Pharoah one last time, even though Moses promised he would never step into Pharoah’s presence again. Moses was there on the Lord’s business, not his own. Moses told Pharoah "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." Then Moses departed "hot with anger" because he knew Pharoah was not going to give in and would allow his own people…his own child…to die.
But God didn’t just give Pharoah direction. He sent Moses to also instruct the Israeli people.
Up to now, the Israelis had been protected from the plagues God had waged against Egypt without needing to do anything. This final plague would be different and there were requirements the people had to meet in order to be saved from the same death that would come upon Egypt. So God instructed Moses and Aaron in what was to come and what the Israelites needed to do saying, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." Indeed, a disaster of monumental proportions was about to strike Egypt and Israel would be spared…if they did something that Pharoah refused to do…obey God.
We read where Moses left his encounter with God and "summoned all the elders of Israel", giving them the following instructions:
"Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down."
Upon receiving the message, "the (Israelite) people bowed down and worshiped" and then "did just what the Lord commanded…" And they were rewarded. For "at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead." Tragedy had struck and it could have been avoided. If only Pharoah had exhibited the kind of obedience displayed by the people of Israel…a people who were "passed over" because of the blood of the sacrificed lamb which was painted around their doorways to cover them from harm.
Well, here we are in 2008 and we face a damaging, life threatening plague as well. It’s called sin. Everyone is afflicted by it but not everyone is destroyed by it. This is because there are those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ…the same Jesus whose birth we celebrated just over a week ago. This Jesus would allow Himself to be crucified on the cross, bearing the weight of our sins so that we might find salvation and avoid being destroyed. For Jesus was truly the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). He was God’s sin sacrifice for us…His blood became our covering and protection just as the slain lamb’s blood was for Israel as the firstborn were killed by the destroyer. And whoever believes and trusts in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. (John 3:16)
Question: Do you know Jesus? If you know Him, do you trust and believe in Him? Do you believe that He died for you on the cross…a love offering from our Father…His Father? Do you see the connection between Passover and Jesus? Do you understand the power of the blood that cleanses us and washes away our sins?
Friends, we would be doomed if it weren’t for Jesus. We would live this life without hope for anything after death. But praise God that He loved us so much that He gave us an opportunity for our own resurrection through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the Good News…the Gospel…that sets us free to live and learn and love…to go forth and help others come to know their personal Savior Jesus who commanded us to go forth and teach others to obey what He commanded so that they too might have the hope that we in Christ already have discovered. Thanks be to God for His mercy and grace…shown to Israel at the Passover…and still shown to us today through Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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