“Plague, Passover, and Plunder” (Exodus 11:1 - 12:42) | 3/26/23
Exodus 11:1 - 12:42 | 3/26/23 | Will DuVal
Every story has 3 basic parts: First, there’s the SETUP - the Prologue, Conflict and Rising Action, that collectively introduce and develop the story. Then there’s the CLIMAX that really defines the story. And lastly, there’s the Falling Action and Resolution, that conclude the story.
Well, you might say that this morning we get all THREE of them in Exodus chs11-12. Or at least we were SUPPOSED to, before I ran out of time to cover the “Resolution”, Israel’s PLUNDER of Egypt at the end of ch12; so we’re going to save that, point #4 in your bulletins, for next week. But the action has been rising for 10 chapters now, as Pharaoh enslaved God’s people - Israel - and has IGNORED God’s orders to “let my people go”. So ch11 opens with the threat of a FINAL, climactic plague that God sends in ch12. But just like ANY good story, this one’s got an unexpected PLOT TWIST, right at the climax as ch12 opens… before we get the “Resolution”, at the end of ch12, next week. “PLAGUE, PASSOVER, and PLUNDER” - Setup, Climax, Resolution. And along the way, we’re going to learn THREE MASSIVELY important gospel truths about GOD… and about OURSELVES - again; I WANTED to get to all 4, but we’ll BARELY have time for the first 3 as it is. So let’s go.
We pick up the story in ch11:
“The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” 3 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, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.
4 So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ 8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get 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. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
So that was the THREAT of the final plague, in ch11; now let’s skip ahead and read about the plague itself, in ch12, vv29-32:
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“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. 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!””
Gospel Truth #1: God SMITES those who RESIST Him. (11:1-10, 29-32)
That’s the overarching message of this plague, and all NINE plagues before it: that God is JUST, and as such, He promises to JUDGE all who OPPOSE Him.
Not just Pharaoh, remember, but Pharaoh’s false GODS as well. Here, it is the goddess ISIS, “protector of children”; she is totally powerless to save the Egyptian firstborn. There’s also an allusion in v7 to Anubis, the “god of the underworld”, usually depicted in canine form; Yahweh says “he won’t so much as BARK against MY people, Israel”; NO death for them.
Because as God had said in ch9: I’m sending the plagues “that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. ” (v14) You gods are impotent POSERS.
Moreover, He’s plaguing Egypt “to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (v16). And it must be starting to WORK, because we hear in v3 that Israel is gaining “favor in the sight of the Egyptians”, and that MOSES in particular “was very great… in their sight”. Now I don’t think it was “Fan Club” greatness and favor - like “Moses, can we have your autograph?!” so much as it was FEAR FACTOR “greatness” - like “Moses, please LEAVE!” After 9 plagues, we GET it - Pharaoh still might not yet, but WE do - You’re POWERFUL. Your GOD, Yahweh, is powerful.
But friends: we need to recognize: that’s not enough to SAVE you. The Egyptians who fear and respect Moses and even his God here in ch11 are the SAME Egyptians who will be STRUCK by them in ch12. Because it’s not enough to FEAR God; you have to FOLLOW Him. It’s not enough to respect God; you have to RESPOND to Him. But I get ahead of myself…
Why the death of their firstborn, specifically? Let me offer you 3 quick reasons:
First, this is God’s direct response to Pharaoh’s continued claims of divinity. After 9 plagues, Pharaoh STILL presumes to rule over life and death (see 10:28; Ryken, 315). So God is gonna PROVE who truly has the power of life and death. Moreover, as Philip Ryken explains (318): “The Egyptians believed that [Pharaoh’s son] was a successor to the gods. When his father died, he would become the son of Amon-Re… [So this was] the death of their next deity, the man who was expected to rule Egypt as god.” But Yahweh declares, “I will not yield my glory to another” (Isa 48:11b). He’s judging not just their CURRENT gods; but all FUTURE fake deities.
Second reason for this plague: God is JUST. Why does He kill Egypt’s firstborn sons? Remember what God called ISRAEL, back in ch4: “‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son” (v22). And yet, Pharaoh had persecuted, enslaved, KILLED Israel - God’s firstborn son - for centuries now! Drowned THEIR sons in the Nile, back in ch1. So God warned Pharaoh, ““Let my son go… If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’” That’s only FAIR; God is just. Just as Israel “CRIED” in their suffering back in ch2; now, in ch12, we hear “there was a great cry in Egypt”. Tit for tat. Justice.
But THIRD, and MOST important of all, you say, “But did God have to kill their KIDS? It seems so HARSH”. But that’s exactly the point: God saves the most horrific, SEVEREST of the plagues for last, because it emphasizes just that: the severity of Pharaoh and Egypt’s SIN. God’s punishment really IS fair; so if we want to know just how serious our SIN is in God’s eyes, we need look no further than the 10th plague! Sin is REALLY serious; DEADLY serious.
And yet, at the same time we can’t miss God’s MERCY here. God is patient and long-suffering; this IS the TENTH plague, after all! I think that’s why Moses LEFT Pharaoh’s palace “in hot anger” in v8; because Moses knew how AVOIDABLE this whole thing was, if Pharaoh would just LISTEN, and REPENT, and OBEY God. Like God himself, Moses took no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desired that Pharaoh would TURN and BE SAVED; Moses is MAD that Pharaoh is gonna cost his nation THOUSANDS of lives, simply because of his stubborn, rebellious PRIDE.
That should be OUR reaction too, when our loved ones reject the Lord: it should UPSET us. Yes, SAD-ness; we should WEEP for those in our lives who are running AWAY from God, TOWARDS Hell, as fast as they can. But it should also make us MAD - their death, their ETERNAL death, is so PREVENTABLE. If they would just HUMBLE themselves, TURN from their sin, and trust in JESUS for salvation.
But unfortunately, so many unbelievers are just like Pharaoh, who in ch12, after this final, fearful plague, FINALLY lets Israel go, but what does he expect in return? V32: God’s BLESSING! “Bless me also”, he demands. And like Pharaoh, EVERY resistor, will one day, ultimately, bend the knee to King Jesus; that is the PROMISE of Philippians 2:10 - “every knee WILL bow, and every tongue WILL confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”. They might even expect God’s BLESSING for it - “Okay God: I FINALLY recognize your power and supremacy; I finally SURRENDER - you are God and I am not! Now BLESS me for it!” But as Pharaoh learned here, for so many, it will be TOO LATE. If you don’t bend the knee WILLINGLY, GLADLY - if God has to FORCE you to submit to His lordship - it will be too little, too late. No blessing. Only judgment.
So my first question for you this morning, with gospel truth #1 here, is simply but CRUCIALLY this: Have YOU surrendered YOUR life to JESUS? Or are you still pridefully RESISTING Him? Don’t wait until it’s too late; don’t wait another DAY! Repent, believe, and be SAVED this morning.
Gospel Truth #2: (Passover (Past):) God SAVES those who RELY ON Him. (12:1-13) He SMITES the Resistors, but SAVES the RELIERS.
We read, in ch12 now:
12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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 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 YHWH. 13 But 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.
Simply put, this is one of the most important passages in all of the OT. Not just because the HOLIDAY it birthed - Passover - was and still is the most important in all of Judaism. But moreover, because this is one of the clearest pictures in all the OT of the GOSPEL. Consider with me: HOW does God save His people here?
First of all, let’s recognize THAT He had to save them. I told you there was a plot twist right at the climax. For 9 plagues now, God has been judging Egypt but leaving Israel out of it; making a “distinction” for his people. But now right at the very WORST of it, God says, “Now here’s what YOU’VE got to do - ISRAEL - in order to be spared my judgment.” Why?
Because “ALL have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Israel deserved God’s judgment every bit as much as EGYPT did; they doubted God back in ch5 when Moses first came to rescue them, and they will rebel against God for many many chapters still to come. Israel is SINFUL. And the “WAGES” of sin - the rightful “payment” OWED us because of our sin - is DEATH (Rom 6:23).
See, the Bible tells us that God created us - He gave us LIFE - for HIS GLORY (Isa 43:7). God desires and deserves and DEMANDS that we live our lives in humble obedience and service to HIM; to surrender our whole heart, mind, soul and strength - our whole LIVES! - back to Him.
But we DON’T, do we? Even the most faithful among us hold back parts of ourselves FOR ourselves - “God, you can have my finances, but not my family. You can have my sloth, but not my sexual immorality. You can have my PAST, but not my future.” So we withhold parts of life from God. We tend to think of “sin” as just the “bad stuff we do”, but it’s actually far worse and more PERVASIVE than that; it is EVERYTHING short of whole-hearted devotion and surrender that we fail to offer God. That GAP - between what God DESERVES - DEMANDS! - and what we actually GIVE Him - THAT is “Sin”.
So the Bible often talks about sin as a “DEBT” that we “OWE” God - that “gap” - the life we held back for ourselves. So now the question is: How does our “debt” get PAID?
God’s answer: SACRIFICE. The life of ANOTHER in our place. That’s the LAMB. More specifically, that’s the BLOOD of the lamb. Blood is the currency of life. In Leviticus 17:11, God says “the life of [an animal] is in the blood”. So we flip to the NT, and Hebrews 9:22 says, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” God is JUST; it’s life for life - you owe God LIFE, and you will PAY that debt, one way or the other; either with your OWN life - YOU will die - or with a SACRIFICE - another’s death in your place.
I like how Tim Chester puts it (87): “The Israelites deserve the judgment of death just as much as the Egyptians. If this was simply a story of political liberation, then Israel would be the innocent victims… But the truth is that they were sinners deserving of death… [They] needed a substitute to die in their place… In every home throughout Egypt and Goshen, the death count is the same. The following morning there is a corpse. The only question is: is it a lamb or is it a child?”
And friends, we need to see: God has ALWAYS required a lamb, because we have NEVER managed to offer God the fullness of life he is owed. All the way back in the Garden, when Adam and Eve sinned, God had told them: “On the day you sin, you will surely DIE” (2:17); the wages of sin is DEATH. But in His MERCY, what did God do instead? He “covered” them in animal hides - life for life - the very first sacrifices, substitutionary deaths in their place.
NOW, in Exodus 12, it’s one life per FAMILY; “a lamb for a household”.
By the time they receive the LAW, in Leviticus ch16, it will be one lamb for the entire nation of ISRAEL (vv15-16).
But don’t you see how ALL of this is pointing us ahead?! To God’s FINAL sacrifice, the One of whom John the Baptist announced: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29)
The One Isaiah had prophesied, centuries earlier; that he would be “pierced for our transgressions… crushed for our iniquities… the Lord [will] lay on him the iniquity of us all… like a lamb led to the slaughter… he opened not his mouth… yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
Intercession: God is holy; we are sinful. “Never the twain shall meet”. UNLESS there’s a BRIDGE. A way to pay our “life debt”, and reconcile us to a holy God. Friends: Jesus’ CROSS was that BRIDGE! On the cross, Jesus traded HIS righteousness for OUR UN-righteousness. “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin [Jesus was PERFECT - “a lamb without blemish”], so that in him WE might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21).
1 Corinthians 5:7 calls Jesus “our Passover Lamb”.
Don’t you see how ALL of these details God gives Moses in Exodus 12 - 1,500 years before Jesus was even born - all point us ahead to HIM?
*God reorients their entire CALENDAR around this sacrifice in v2, because it’s that important; “This month shall be for you the beginning of months.” How about the beginning of YEARS? What YEAR is it? 2023… 2 thousand, 23 years since WHAT? JESUS! Our Passover Lamb.
*It had to be “without blemish”, v5; 1 Peter 1 declares that we have been “RANSOMED… with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (vv18-19). 1 Pet 2:22 “He committed no sin.”
*They were to CHOOSE it on the “tenth day of the month”, v3, but “keep it until the fourteenth day”, to slaughter it; why? Because this sacrifice had to be PERSONAL. Ryken explains (332): “Once chosen, [the lamb] was kept in the house for four days, during which time the family fed it, cared for it, played with it. In that short time, they would have identified with the lamb, so that it almost became part of the family.”
*Notice the language of v6: “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs” - this will become one of the most repeated ways that the OT refers to God’s people, as a UNIFIED people. But this is the very FIRST time the phrase is ever used. Because Passover is the most UNIFYING event in Israel’s history, marking them as God’s people. Likewise, today, Jesus’ CROSS is what unifies US, marks US, as God’s new covenant people. We Christians center - as a “whole assembly”, a “congregation” - around the CROSS.
*v8: the lamb had to be ROASTED; Jesus endured the “fire” of God’s wrath for us.
*v9: it had to be WHOLE, not BROKEN; “Not one of [Jesus’] bones [was] broken” (Jn 19:36)
*v10: it had to be eaten in FULL: “you shall let none of it remain until the morning”. Just as God demands ALL of US - total surrender - He ALSO demands that we TAKE all of JESUS - we don’t get to pick and choose the parts of Jesus that we like; “I like the ‘Do unto others’ part, but I don’t know about the ‘Go sell all your possessions’ part… I like the ‘Son of Man came… to give his life as a ransom’ part, but I’m not so CRAZY about the ‘Now take up YOUR cross’ part”. We take ALL of Jesus, or we get NONE of him.
But the two most important connections we need to see here are v7 and v13. Notice the “double pointing” of the lamb’s blood in v13: “The blood shall be a sign for you… And when I see the blood, then I will pass over”. So the blood is a sign for US, and it’s ALSO a sign for GOD. Skip Heitzig explains: “When we look up to the cross, we see that payment has been made for our sin; what theologians call “expiation”. When GOD looks down at the cross, he sees that punishment has been meted out for sin; what we call “propitiation” (“Getting Passed Over”, Mar 2019).
The cross is God’s proof that JESUS PAID IT ALL! Our life debt: paid in FULL. Jesus said, “It is FINISHED!” When Satan tempts us to despair and tells us of the guilt within, where do we look? “UPWARD I look, and see HIM there, who made an END to all my sin”; the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! And when God looks DOWN, and sees the precious blood of his Son, He says, “It is enough.” (Ryken, 333) Paid in FULL (Rom 5:9; Eph 1:7; Heb 13:12; 1 Jn 1:7).
But NONE of that will make ANY difference for YOU, personally, if you don’t APPLY His blood. That’s v7: you “shall take some of the blood and put it on [your] doorposts”. The greatest gift in the world does you no good if you leave it unwrapped. The most precious BLOOD, does you, personally, NO GOOD, if you leave it UNAPPLIED. You must paint it over the doorpost of your heart. Ryken notes (333-4): “God calls everyone to trust in the blood… That’s what the Israelites did… Putting blood on the doorpost was an act of faith… they had to believe God’s word and do what Moses said… God provided the lamb - that’s grace - but the Israelites had to TRUST in the lamb, which is where faith comes in... Thus they were saved by grace through faith.”
Friends: God has provided the Lamb for you - his once and for all time sacrifice to deal conclusively, FOREVER, with your sin; have you TRUSTED in him… RELIED on JESUS for your salvation, this morning?
Lastly, Gospel Truth #3: Passover (Perpetual): God SANCTIFIES those who REMEMBER Him. (12:14-28)
We read, in v14 now:
“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. 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. 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. 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.” [Remember: no bold or all caps in ancient Hebrew; to emphasize a point they REPEATED it.]
v21 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. 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. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 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.
28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”
SO much there, but the overarching, big picture point is simply this: that God SANCTIFIES those who REMEMBER Him. (12:14-28)
Notice all the “remembrance” language here: it’s a “memorial day”, so “KEEP” it, “observe” it, remind your CHILDREN about it, for ALL generations. Why all the emphasis on REMEMBRANCE? Because God knows how FORGETFUL we are! We all suffer from gospel amnesia, don’t we? I heard a pastor once - appropriately, I can’t remember who now - but he described it this way; he said: “All our sin BEFORE salvation basically boils down to REBELLION. We reject God as our Father, reject Christ as our Lord. But all our sin SINCE salvation basically boils down to FORGETFULNESS. We FORGET that God is our loving, trustworthy Father; FORGET that Christ is our Lord and Savior.” We forget that IN Christ, we now have a fundamentally new IDENTITY, as God’s beloved, adopted children. We’re so prone to fall back into living like SLAVES, when God has made us SONS, and daughters. So God reminds us again and again and AGAIN here in ch12… and again and again all throughout his WORD - this is one of the most repeated commands throughout the entire BIBLE: “Thou shalt REMEMBER”! (see esp Dt 5:15; 6:1-15; 11:18-21; Ps 34:11; 78:1-7; Ps 105-106; 145:4)
And our remembrance is the KEY to our SANCTIFICATION. Sometimes we Christians think of the gospel - “Christ’s death and resurrection to pay for and overcome the power of sin and death” - we think of that as “Christianity 101”. That’s what SAVES us, but then we figure we can move on to OTHER, more “advanced” stuff; Christianity 201, 301… but friends, we NEVER “graduate” from the gospel. It is the prerequisite, the doctoral dissertation, and the ENTIRE curriculum in between; the gospel is EVERYTHING for us! And the same gospel that SAVES us is the gospel that also now SANCTIFIES us.
That’s the significance and symbolism of the “Unleavened Bread” here. Technically Passover and the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” were distinct holidays in the OT, but since one flows right into the other, they’re often spoken of interchangeably, synonymously. Just like our salvation ought to flow right into our sanctification. And throughout the Bible, “leaven” is frequently used as a symbol for SIN: in Lev chs2 (11) and 23 (17); Matt 16 (6-12); Mk 8 (15); Gal 5 (1-9); Lk 12 (1)... leaven stands as a PICTURE of SIN. It is invisible, but it corrupts. And it spreads. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8: “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? [See, they couldn’t just go to the store and buy YEAST packets back then, so to make bread, they would take some of the OLD dough and add it as “starter dough” for a NEW loaf; but that frequently bred bacteria and germs; so the picture of the “UN-leavened bread” here is a call to regularly PURGE, CLEANSE, PURIFY themselves; Paul continues:] 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.”
God is saying, “I want to make a “clean sweep” of your sin! No leaven left ANYWHERE in the house. I want to give you a FRESH START!” (hence, the new calendar: Day 1 of a new year!) “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17).
REMEMBER: God doesn’t just want to get his people out of EGYPT; He wants to get EGYPT out of HIS PEOPLE!
And He wants to DO it as SOON as possible! That’s another reason for the “unleavened” bread - “You don’t have TIME to wait for the yeast to rise; we gotta GO!”. God commands them: “you shall eat it in haste”; tighten your belts, lace up your track sandals - we’re GOING! 400 years has been long enough to wait! 1 Peter 4 says, “whoever has [died to sin] has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the [body] no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry” (vv1-3).
Contrast that with Pharaoh’s earlier refrain of “TOMORROW”. “Moses: pray for me “Tomorrow”; maybe tomorrow I’ll turn from my sin, maybe tomorrow I’ll believe what God says, and submit to Him.” God says, “No - TODAY is the day of salvation!” Israel: you’re not waiting a day longer; let’s get OUTTA here!
And despite all their past sins… and all their future sins yet to come, THIS time, when it really mattered MOST, Israel listened and obeyed: vv27 and 28: “ the people bowed their heads and worshiped… and they went and did [all that]... the Lord had commanded”.
Friends, do you know: you have sinned PLENTY in the past, and you have YET to sin PLENTY in the future. But when it matters most - when it comes to PASSOVER - when it comes to applying the blood of the LAMB to the doorpost of your heart: you must do ALL that God has commanded you. “And this is his commandment,” 1 John 3:23 tells us: “that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ”. Have you trusted in JESUS, your Passover Lamb?
For all who have, notice: God gives us THREE foods here to help us REMEMBER Him. “Bitter herbs” as a reminder of the bitterness of our life BEFORE Christ, a life of SLAVERY; the lamb as a reminder of cost of our new life, our FREEDOM; and finally, the unleavened bread, as a reminder of our call to now LIVE in LIGHT of that freedom, in light of our new identities in Christ. This is how every Christian ought to tell our testimony, by the way; life has THREE parts, doesn’t it: our bitter life BEFORE Christ (“BC”), the new life we found IN Christ, and now, SINCE salvation, the increasingly sanctified, freed from the POWER of sin life that we enjoy WITH Christ.
But instead of an annual feast of herbs, lamb and bread, WE now remember it all weekly at the LORD’S SUPPER: the body and blood of the perfect Lamb of God, who hung in our place. And WHY do we eat and drink? Jesus said: “Do this in”... WHAT? REMEMBRANCE of me.
And that’s a good segue way to the communion meal, that we’ll partake of together in just a moment. But only those of us who are COVERED by the blood of the Lamb.
There are really only TWO categories of people in this world, and Jesus intended for His Supper - the Lord’s Supper - to be the dividing line BETWEEN the two.
It’s not “good” people and “bad” people - ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; we’re ALL just as deserving of God’s judgment, and just as UN-deserving, therefore, of this meal.
It’s not “churched” people and “unchurched” people - the apostle Paul had to confront some of the folks who had crept into the church in Corinth and had NO BUSINESS eating the Lord’s Supper - he said they were “eat[ing] and drink[ing] judgment” on themselves. He said, “Actually, it’s not even the LORD’S supper that you’re EATING” (1 Cor 11:20, 29); you may eat the same cracker and juice as the rest of us, but if you don’t belong to the LORD, then it’s not the LORD’S supper that you’re EATING. Let me REMIND you, brothers and sisters: this meal is NOT for your unsaved children, not YET anyway. They may be “churched”, but that’s not the line.
No, friends, the only two categories of people in the world are those who have been COVERED by the BLOOD of the LAMB, and those who HAVEN’T.
So I ask you again this morning: which are YOU? I PLEAD with you once again: confess your sins, and receive God’s promise, from 1 John 1, that: “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins”; how? “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”