The Passover

  

Exodus 12:1-28

 

August 25, 2024

 

The Passover

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,  “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.  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.  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.  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,  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. 

This was a very important time in the congregation of Israel. Obedience would bring blessing and disobedience God’s Wrath.  Do we, as part of the body of Christ, His Church, seek obedience?  Do we believe that obedience brings blessing?  If so, what does disobedience bring?

“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.  They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.  Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.  And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.  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.  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.  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.

We have this insight from Hebrews 9:22, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”  Would God have your undivided attention if you were an Israelite?  As a follower of Christ, does He have your undivided attention?  What is your boundary? Is the Written Word of God? If not, you may be much like many children who are not given boundaries, and it is common knowledge that they live in confusion and frustration.  God has boundaries, such as loving the Lord your God with all your heart and mind.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  We are subject to all authority.  And many more, what happens when you live as if you are in Charge?

“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.  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.  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.   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.  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.  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.  You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

Did Jesus tell you and me to be on guard against the leaven of this world, against false teaching, and the love of money?  The yeast of the Pharisees was hypocrisy; he talks about that in Mark 8:15, “And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And in Matthew 16:6, and Luke 12:1, “In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”

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.  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.  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.  You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.  And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.  And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’  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.

Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Many of our law enforcement agencies use safe houses, but we know that sometimes bad things still happen to those in the safe house.  That was not true; the Israelites were under the full protection of God as long as they obeyed and stayed in the house while the death angel passed over.  It was the blood on the door; it is the blood that Jesus shed for you and me that gives us safe passage 

into our Father’s arms.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Final Plague Threatened

Exodus 11:1-10

 

August 24, 2024

 

A Final Plague Threatened

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.   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.”  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.

So, Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I w                                                                   ill go out in the midst of Egypt,  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.  There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.  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.’  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.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

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.

 

A final plague threatened, and after all the other plagues that Moses had told Pharaoh, God was going to do if he did not let the people of Israel leave.  One must wonder if Pharaoh cared about the people, not even his firstborn.  Scripture is quiet on if the word leaked out to the people of Egypt, but if it did, they as a whole are saying let the people go, we experience blood, frogs, gnats, flies, Livestock die, boils, hail, Locusts, darkness, and why should our firstborn of everything die.  Pharaoh was put there by God, and it is God who has hardened Pharaoh's heart.  It brings us back to this Scripture to what God spoke to the prophet Isaiah, found in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

Neither you nor I would have done it this way, and that is why you are not God. Moses and Aaron knew that God was in charge, and that is what God wants you and me to understand.  Your worst fear of how this Presidential election will turn out is VP Harris or President Trump leading our nation.  One back to some semblance of our Constitution, the other to Marxism.  And just like Pharaoh God will do His will, and it will have much to do with, this Scripture that many quote, 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

A nation that hopes hangs on the word “IF” God is not referring to non-believers in Jesus, but those who have entered into a personal relationship with Him.  It was true with the people of Israel then and now, and it is true with His Church, and we are not referring to those who go by the title Christian, but those who are His children by grace and faith in the finished work of the Cross.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

 

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

 Exodus 10:21-29

 

August 23, 2024

 

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So, Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.  They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.  Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.”  But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.  Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.”  But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.  Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.”  Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

 

When I was in my teens, our family went to Carlsbad Caverns. As we went farther into the cave, they stopped in a large room, turned off the lights, and sang Rock of Ages.  I could not see my hand in front of my face, nor anyone else in that large group of people.

 

Neither you nor I could navigate in such darkness, and yet God is still keeping Pharaoh's heart hardened, for a reason we will see on the final day of the plague.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

  

Exodus 10:1-20

 

August 22, 2024

 

The Eighth Plague: Locusts

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them,  and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

 

Have you shared this with your family, your wife, sons, and daughters?

 

So, Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.  For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, and they shall cover the face of the land so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

 

Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”  So, Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?”  Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”  But he said to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

 

Pharaoh is not stupid; he knows if they take everything, they have no reason to come back.

 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.”  So, Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.  Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.  Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.”  So, he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord.  And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

 

One must wonder what God wants, not only for His people to see, and the Egyptians, that He keeps hardening the heart of Pharaoh.  Yes, it is so they will acknowledge that He is God over all people and things, but there is more He wants them and you and me to fully understand.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice