Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 6 Lesson 54
This week in Sunday school, we focus on the final plague God sent against Egypt and the special means of protection God provided for Israel. Why did God bother to warn Pharaoh of what was about to happen to the firstborn? Why did God command the Passover to be celebrated a certain way perpetually in Israel? And what is the connection between that ancient Passover deliverance and Jesus Christ? We’ll consider these questions and more.
Our text for this lesson is Exodus 11:1-12:36.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
all right well let’s get started good morning and welcome back to Sunday school we are in the book of Exodus right now and we’re continuing to see God’s purposes in history unfold and ultimately culminate in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the promised seed all the way declared back in Genesis now last week we saw God unleash nine mighty plagues on Egypt and this week we are looking at the final climactic plague this 10th plague that God sends against stubborn Pharaoh and his people Egypt this is an extremely important event it’s extremely important for us to understand because God is going to continue to make reference to it throughout the Scriptures indeed all the things that we’ve been seeing in Exodus they are always are there so many times referenced in the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament it’s a very important event in the history of the world so what happened in the 10th plague how did God instruct Israel to memorialize it and how does what happened then actually connect to Jesus Christ and realities in the New Testament that’s what we’re talking about today let’s pray and then we’ll learn more about it a gracious God we thank you for your word it is what gives us light it is the foundation for all truth I pray God should be able that you would enable me to explain it well accurately clearly and God that you would transform your people through it that is what your word is meant to do and so spirit I pray that you would do that even now in this hour in Jesus name Amen please take your Bibles and open to Exodus chapter 11 Exodus 11 is page 67 if you’re using the pew Bibles this is where we’re starting our study of the final plague and just to remind you of the context as we come into Exodus 11 Moses and Aaron have just been speaking with Pharaoh after the ninth plague remember the ninth plague that was the plague of dark miss this was a terrible plague and afterwards Pharaoh did offer to let the people go but only if they would leave their livestock behind but when Moses refuses says not a hoof shall be left behind Pharaoh gives a death threat to Moses he says don’t ever come back into my presence because when you do you will die but their conversation is not over chapter 11 begins with a little parenthetical information and then it resumes the conversation between Moses and Pharaoh so this is taking place on the tail end of the ninth plague so let’s look at Exodus 11 verses 1 to 10 here’s what it says now the Lord because it’s all caps that is Yahweh now you always said to Moses one more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt after that he will let you go from here when he lets you go he will surely drive you out from here completely speak now on hearing of the people that each man asked from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor four articles of silver and articles of gold Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians further boy and the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt both in the sight of Pharaohs Pharaoh servants and in the sight of the people Moses said thus says Yahweh about midnight I’m going out into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn who sits on the throne even to the firstborn of the slave girl who was behind the millstones all the firstborn in the cattle as well moreover there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again but against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark whether against man or beast that you may understand how Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel all these your servants will come down to me and bowed themselves before me saying go 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 he always said to Moses the Pharaoh will not listen to you so that my wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh yet Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land all right let’s start with as always using our Bible study method basic observations of this passage this is kind of preparatory for the tenth plague notice that God declares in verse 1 that this will be the last play after this God says he declares he foretells Pharaoh will not only let the people go but he will drive them out notice in verse 2 God calls on the people of Israel to ask the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold talk to your neighbors ask for their treasures that may sound like a very strange direction I mean could you imagine going up to your neighbors and asking them if they have any gold or silver jewelry that they would want to give you if you did this they would probably laugh at you or they would call the police but the Egyptians they’ve heard a slightly different situation they’ve been seeing God’s wondrous acts on behalf of Israel for many months and they’re just about to suffer the tenth plague from God verse 3 even says that God gave the people and Moses favored inside of the Egyptians so the response the issue will get when asking for the treasures of their Egyptian neighbors is going to be a little different notice in verse 4 we hear what the tenth plague is it is the death of all Egyptian firstborn children and cattle now remember the concept of the firstborn in ancient times it specifically has to do with male offspring and heirs you see the first one was not merely the first child to come out of the mother’s womb it was the oldest surviving male and the heir to the household so the firstborn was precious to the family it was valued it was a symbol of joy and strength but God says I’m going to strike down all Egyptian firstborn and he announces when this plague will come about midnight of course they didn’t have clocks or watches back then but sometime in the middle of the night God is going to act and notice in verse 4 God speaks about how or rather who specifically will accomplish this plague notice it says that Yahweh himself will go out of course he always been involved in all these plagues but there’s a special emphasis on his personal involvement in this last one and notice in verse 6 the effect of this math death mass death of firstborn what will it will be in Egypt God says a great cry he will cause a great cry to go up I says it’ll be like nothing before and nothing after and that’s an idiomatic expression Hebrew to talk about a special unique event not always literally true but saying this is a once in an age kind of event once in an age kind of tragedy that cry that comes out of Egypt is going to be extremely unique this is going to be an intense sorrow in Egypt but contrasting so much according to verse 7 with what is your will experience none of the Israelite firstborn will die and it says not even a dog will bark against Israel a dog will not bark to scare annoy or even awaken an issue like I don’t know if you live in an area where dogs bark a lot we have some dogs near us that every time a ambulance or a fire truck goes by they just all erupted and barking and howling but God says that’s not even going to happen for the people visual there won’t even be a dog barking against them even though for the Egyptians they will lose their firstborn now why this contrast God says specifically in our text in verse 7 Moses speaking to Pharaoh that you may understand how Yahweh makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel now don’t forget at the beginning of all this back in Chapter five Farah said that he did not know who Yahweh was and was not going to obey Him well Pharaoh has learned a whole lot about who Yahweh is now and is about to learn even more yahweh makes a distinction and verse eight moses foretells what the ultimate response of pharaoh via his servants will be pharaoh servants will come and bow themselves before moses and tell moses to leave the land with all of israel Noli notice that it’s only at this utterance that moses turns to leave and a text tells us he went out and hot anger it’s kind of an interesting detail after this latest prophecy and warning given by God to Pharaoh via Moses and Aaron notice again what God says to Moses afterwards in verse 9 he says Pharaoh will not listen to your warning it tells him why this is so I can multiply my my signs and wonders in Egypt and this is consistent according to verse 10 with what’s been happening the whole time we’ve seen this right God says you’re gonna keep coming to Pharaoh he’s not gonna listen to you but that’s so I can show forth my mighty power in Egypt God was hardening Pharaoh’s heart for God’s glory having made these basic observations from the plain details of the text let’s now turn to interpretation our second step I have a couple questions I think would be good for us to consider from the passage first leaving aside for the moment the God ordained outcome of this meeting of Moses and Pharaoh we should ask why does God send Moses to Pharaoh what’s the purpose what would you say yeah I’m not looking for a super deep answer here but that’s exactly it yeah to get the people out of Egypt confront Pharaoh say you need to let the people go and we could add maybe a little bit more we could say he’s rebuking Pharaoh for a sin you have been stubborn and prideful and evil in the way you’ve treated Israel and not letting them go it’s to warn Pharaoh what is to come so that he might see and repent you should change his mind change his behavior before God get on God’s side now and if Pharaoh doesn’t by Moses coming to Pharaoh it will cause Pharaoh to know when the judgment comes why it came this is because you did not listen to the voice of God via his prophet now with these purposes to bring Israel out of Egypt to confront Pharaoh and his sin to warn him at what’s to come is God being gracious to Pharaoh of course he is to declare the truth and to warn of judgment that is a gracious thing for God to do but God knows that Pharaoh will not listen in fact as we’ve seen God ultimately causes Pharaoh not to listen so we might also ask why bother sending Moses to Pharaoh I mean you already know he’s not gonna listen you’ve caused it what’s the point how do we answer this question yeah Roy okay ultimately this is gonna be about God displaying his glory even in this interaction between Moses and Pharaoh what why else yeah Steve I’m sorry go ahead all right so this is to show something to Pharaoh and I think you could even say this is to expose Pharaoh’s heart see what were you gonna say right right good I think you’re already moving in the direction that I ultimately wanted to take wanting it to take us meditate more on this connection between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility God is a God who uses and Moses is being used by gods as an important means here God is showing goodness to Pharaoh here this is a gracious thing for God to do he is exposing Pharaoh’s heart his evil stubborn heart and he is glorifying himself by announcing beforehand what will happen now I know we’ve been talking about this a lot but it’s just so much on display in this section of the scripture God’s sovereignty even in ordaining evil and the disobedient responses of people like Pharoah I want to emphasize again God is being good to Pharaoh by giving Pharaoh an opportunity to repent before devastating judgment comes if Pharaoh responds and he has the choice to respond here Pharaoh and his people will be spared they will be saved from judgment the fact that Pharaoh does not respond in light of the terrible judgments already suffered by Egypt and invited the clear display that God Yahweh is the true God and he has the power it shows Pharaoh to be foolish sinful stubborn proud and it shows that God’s judgment on Pharaoh is justified now someone might still say but how could Pharaoh have done any differently who can resist a sovereign God’s will if he ordained Pharaoh to resist if he hardened Pharaoh’s heart then God really caused Pharaoh to sin in other words it’s not Pharaoh’s fault and this is the same theoretical objection raised against God’s sovereignty in Romans nine why does God find fault for who can resist his will now Paul has a certain response there but I’m just gonna speak generally about how the Scriptures respond we cannot go this direction and say well not really Pharaohs fault it’s God’s fault Iowa doesn’t let us go in this direction it insists on the one hand that God is sovereign oh he’s sovereign over and he’s talking over our man’s evil but not responsible for it and on the other hand the Bible insists that people are only condemned because they freely choose rebellion against God it is an uncoerced choice it is freely chosen it is willful and to show you this from just up one verse of course we can go to many consider isaiah 53:6 isaiah 53:6 somewhat famous verse i’m just gonna be the first part of it it says all of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way now last last part is very informative to us we have all turned to our own ways each man to his own way no one forces him to do it he chooses it we choose it we do what we want to do now sometimes the circumstances are not exactly what we would choose but in those circumstances we do what we think is best what we want to do it is uncoerced that is why the bible condemns sinful choices and sinners you chose it you had a choice you had freedom and you chose sin now another objection might be well if God sovereignly hardens Pharaoh’s heart to disobey then when God gives an opportunity to Pharaoh to repent that opportunity is really empty that warning or that excitation is really meaningless God doesn’t want Pharaoh to repent and be saved he wants to display his wonders if God really did want Pharaoh to repent then he wouldn’t have hardened Pharaoh’s heart God doesn’t love Pharaoh and so this offer for Pharaoh to repent is not genuinely meant now some people actually do say this about God that God doesn’t want the non-elect to repent God doesn’t love the non-elect this is really a form of hyper-calvinism and it’s not biblical the Bible does not allow us to go in this direction either this may seem illogical to us to a certain extent but it’s not biblical because despite the fact that the Bible is clear God ordains sin and even the condemnation of sinners in his total sovereignty God nonetheless desires all men to be saved and even appeals for men to come to him consider what God says to wicked Israel in Ezekiel 33 11 is ukyo 33 11 God says via his prophet say to them as I live declares the Lord Yahweh I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live turn back turn back from your evil ways why then will you die o house of Israel and this this may seem a little shocking to you because you say wait a sec I thought God a sovereign he does whatever you once it’s not what psalm 115 3 says psalm 115 3 our God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases isn’t God pleased to ordain the destruction of the wicked well yes he is otherwise it wouldn’t happen then how can God say that he is not pleased in the destruction of the wicked in a sitio 3311 and the answer is because they’re both true you see God’s will or God’s desires they are truly single and United it’s not as if God is schizophrenic and he’s like do I want this or do I want that the guy’s not like that at all he’s totally United in his will but there is a multi-faceted appearance to it from from our perspective God is able to desire something which he ultimately does not fulfill because he has a greater desire which he has determined to fulfill it is good nevertheless that he has this desire and for a very clear example of this consider the cross considered the whole event Passion Week and the cross did God desire Pilate to condemn an innocent man well on the one hand no I mean that’s totally contrary to the Justice of God but on the other hand yes because it was going to bring about Redemption did God desire the Jews and the Romans to crucify his only Son well yes cuz it was gonna accomplish Redemption but no because he loves his son how could he desire that for his beloved only begotten son and did Jesus desire to endure the wrath of the father against sin on the cross well no and that’s why he says in the garden father if it’s possible take away this cup from me I don’t want to have any sort of breach or effect on our fellowship are loving fellowship he didn’t desire that and on the other hand he did because he went and did it he said not my will but yours be done father you’ve given these people to me I need to redeem them I want to do that for the joy set before him he endured the cross despising the shame says Hebrews so you see that it is possible indeed it is proven to the scriptures that God is able to desire something which he ultimately chooses for a greater purpose not to have fulfilled I mean we don’t even we could even just look at the world around us today consider how many people in the world today are not fulfilling God’s desires every time we sin every time someone rebelled against God that is leaving unfulfilled God’s desire for people to turn to him and obey Him yet God permits this God ordains this so that a greater desire of his may be fulfilled which is that his his sovereign will to glorify himself in both the salvation and in the condemnation of sinners will be accomplished he is the sovereign king who has everything under his control so bringing this back to Pharaoh does God want Pharaoh to repent does he want Pharaoh true to repent and let the people go when Moses is sent to Pharaoh well yes God does desire Pharaoh to repent this appeal is genuine from God via Moses and on the other hand in a sense no because God had ordained that Pharaoh would not turn and that this would justify God’s display of wondrous judgment on Egypt now if you’re feeling like whoa those kind of concepts they they seem difficult to hold in your mind at the same time well that’s true when you’re talking about God there’s always gonna be things like that God’s sovereignty man’s responsibility and freedom those things they have to be both present in your mind because they’re both biblically presented if you try and fully resolve how all they how they connect if you try and say oh it’s uncomfortable I need to make this smooth if you do that well then you’re probably going to deviate from what the scripture says there’s gonna be some tension and you have to be okay with that this is what the Bible tells us about the sovereignty of God and we see it again on display even here in Exodus 11 of course many other places and along with this this whole idea of God’s sovereignty man’s responsibility and explains one of the prominent details of our passage why was Moses angry what would you say if we were to say well Moses come on don’t you understand the sovereignty of God he’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart why are you getting upset I mean this is this is what you should expect well then we missed something very important here Moses recognizes the sovereignty of God but he also recognizes the irresponsibility of man he looks at Pharaoh what Pharaoh’s doing and even the threat that farrell utters against moses and he says that is evil that is ugly that is terrible before God and I hate it this is a righteous indignation from Moses toward Pharaoh yep he recognized what Pharaoh was doing was foolish and willful evil before God so God’s sovereignty does not absolve the responsibility of men for their evil and indeed it should call forth a certain emotional response from God’s true people and you know that’s true today too and not just when it comes to anger my brothers and sisters we should be stirred in our hearts when it comes to the when it comes to sin and when it comes to the state of sinners in our world as my theology teacher once said to us if we ever find ourselves coming to the place where we’re ok with people just sinning well we’re ok with the fact that you know God elects some to heaven and some to hell you know he’s ordained that some will be eternally destroyed and that’s ok if that if we’re just if we become apathetic in our hearts to the plight of sinners then there’s something wrong with us because that’s not the way that God is God is not dispassionate towards those who are rebellious on the one hand he is angry against sinners every day as the Psalms say and weird to have a certain righteous indignation and know the other hand he is compassionate and pleading just as we read from Ezekiel 33 God is not apathetic toward sinners and neither should we be even if we were to know who the non-elect are we shouldn’t be like I well forget them God doesn’t care no God does care and so should we consider Isaiah and Jeremiah these two great prophets of the scriptures they were ordained by God to speak his word to their people call the people to repent even though God said they’re not gonna listen to you they didn’t stop them from going in fact they were passionate and pleading with their brethren I mean Jeremiah he says if I don’t say anything it’s going to be like fire in my bones so if we find ourselves using God’s sovereignty as a way to just not care about others we’ve misunderstood we have a terrible error in our thinking I know our minions complain about those who hold to the sovereignty of God in salvation they say oh this is gonna kill your evangelistic impulse and it shouldn’t biblically but I fear that often it does because we say well you know if God really wanted to save them you would save them oh I don’t know if we need to care no we do if we have any sympathy for other people if we understand the heart of God if we know that yes God’s sovereign but man’s choices are responsible he shouldn’t be so foolish or rebellious against God if we’re not seeing that at the same time then we need to adjust our thinking we need to come to a more biblical understanding of the connection between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility now when we get to the end of chapter 11 and move into chapter 12 the text takes an interesting turn that’s where we’re going next because God is not only going to give a further he’s not only going to give further direction as to how Israel should prepare for the tenth plague but he’s also going to prescribe how that event will be celebrated from now on in Israel even today even in modern times look at Exodus 12 verses 1 to 28 X is 12 1 to 28 we’re going to look at this next section here let’s see God says now you always said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt this month shall be the beginning of months for you it is to be the first month of the year – you speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their father’s households a lamb for each household out the household is too small for a lamb then e’en his neighbor’s neighbor nearest to his house or to take one according to the number of persons in them according to what each man should eat you are to divide the lamb your lamb shall be an unblemished male the year old you may take it from the sheep or from the goats you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month then the whole Assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it add Twilight rova they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorpost and on the lentils of the houses in which they eat it they shall eat the flesh that same night roasted with fire and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water but rather roasted with fire both its head and its legs along with his entrails and you shall not leave any of it over until morning but whatever is left a bit until morning you shall burn with fire you should eat it in this manner with your loins girded your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand and you shall eat it in haste it is you always Passover for I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments I am Yahweh the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live 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 now this day will be a memorial to you and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance seven days you shall eat unleavened bread but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day that person shall be cut off from Israel on the first day you shall have a holy assembly and another holy assembly on the seventh day no work at all shall be done on them except what must be eaten by every person that alone may be prepared by you shall also observe the feast of unleavened bread for on this very day I brought your host out of the land of Egypt therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month at evening you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses for whoever eats what is leavened that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel whether he’s an alien or native of the land you shall not eat anything leavened and all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slay the Passover lamb she’ll take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts and none of you shall go outside of the door of his house until morning for yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the to door post the our way will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you and you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children children forever when you enter the land which Yahweh will give you as you as promised you shall observe this right and when your children say to you what does this rite mean to you you shall say it is a Passover sacrifice to Yahweh who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians but spared our homes and the people bowed low and worshipped and the sons of Israel went and did so just as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron so they did here we have a longer set of verses but let’s observe a number of details notice that in verses 1 to 20 God gives Israel directions as to how they shall celebrate a certain memorial feast but what’s interesting is that the directions for celebrating this memorial are given before the event that it’s celebrating actually happens this event and this memorial will become known as the Passover there’s the different stipulations for this feast first those that are ongoing it is to take place at a certain time each year the first month of the Jewish calendar which would correspond to are roughly to March April for us and it will be from the 14th of the month to the 21st of the month the Passover Feast followed by a seven-day feast of unleavened bread and during this feast the people are taking a unblemished male a year old from the sheep or the goats a lamb and they are to kill it at Twilight or evening on the fourteenth day now evening it can be interpreted in number of different ways that word for Twilight are evening towards the Sun going down by Josephus’s time actually Passover lambs were being killed at about 3 p.m. but it would be before the Sun had set as the Sun was going down now this slayed the slain lamb is to be roasted and eaten along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs not to leave any of the lamb over until morning you were to burn any excess and you for the Passover any unleavened bread feast you were to remove all leaven from your house in fact if you don’t remove it and you eat something unleavened the text says twice you will be cut off now some people understand that to me and banished from Israel but when you compare to other passages no that means death it to be put to death verse 15 and verse 19 give a very serious warning about even on eating leavened bread during this feast and also verse 16 says no works to be done on particular days except for food preparation now these are ongoing stipulations for the Passover celebration but there are some special ones given for this first Passover and verse 7 it says that people are to dip hyssop in the Lamb’s blood and spread it on the lintel and doorpost of the houses so the lintel would be the the top part of the doorway and the would be the side parts so the entrance into the house there to put blood on the three sides of it there also to eat in haste according to verse 11 they need to be ready to go at a moment’s notice have your shoes on your clothes tucked in for travel and your walking stick ready and verse 22 says no one is to go outside until morning now while these special directions and why not go outside because of what Moses says next because of the judgment being executed by the one passing through and who is passing through to execute judgment notice verse 13 at verse 23 say it’s Yahweh himself Yahweh himself is coming to destroy he will smite the Egyptian firstborn but when he notices the blood on the Israelite houses Yahweh will not smite the families of those houses now this is the first time notice this is the first time that ischial needs to do something needs to have some kind of special covering in order not to be judged along with Egypt God didn’t require this for the other plagues but he’s requiring it now and notice how long God wants the Passover memorial to last verse 24 says this is for your for you and your children forever there should be perpetual ordinance and in verse 26 would get some clarification as to why they are to celebrate the Passover a certain way why those details and namely it is to facilitate the explanation to future generations of what God accomplished that first Passover in Egypt when God spared the Israelite firstborn now to all these directions notice Israel’s response verses 27 to 28 they bow low and worship exactly as God commands with these observations let’s turn to interpretation again why does God give the directions for celebrating the Passover Memorial before the events of Passover actually takes place why would God do that absolutely this is again to emphasize God’s sovereignty he’s saying this events got about to take place and you’re gonna remember in this way that shows that he’s totally in control and it’s all I can happen according to his will and by the way this is not the only time that we see someone inaugurate a memorial celebration before the event being celebrated actually happens there’s a certain other time this happens in the New Testament we’ll come back to that a little bit later another question why is it significant that Israel needs protection even blood covering to be spared from this plague because let’s understand it’s not as if the destroyer God or his agents are incompetent or prone to unrestrained blood lust God is himself passing through to lead this operation he’s the one destroying so he’s not going to be he’s not going to have error here so why did the Israelites need to be protected from God’s coming judgment what would you say are the Israelites also worthy of judgement they are they alright they haven’t done what Egypt’s done but there are sinful people too and this is going to become really clear once Israel leaves Egypt and God’s gonna say a lot about their need for covering when they get to Mount Sinai but already we’re seeing that here he says look I’m gonna show you you need covering in order for you to be spared I think that’s what God’s emphasizing here they need blood cover by an unblemished lamb another question that comes up from this text is why is God so serious about this leaven thing being cut off from the people of Israel I think we all immediately want to say that the reason that God is serious is because leaven represents sin it represents uncleanness impurity so when God is stressing to the people that they need to get rid of leaven from their houses that he’s saying that they need to be holy they need to live in a holy way before God to treat the Passover in a holy way now it’s true the New Testament does sometimes use leaven as a metaphor as a picture of sinful living or false teaching however the New Testament does use leaven positively in one instance to describe the spread of the kingdom of God not always negative and even in the Old Testament this is kind of strange to realize the Old Testament never links leaven itself with sin it’s not like God refers to leaven as being a metaphor for sin in the Old Testament never happens now it’s true God does when he talks about the grain offering and this is something we’ll talk about a little bit later the different offerings that God ordains for Israel when he says when the people are gonna offer a grain offering he says you cannot offer anything with leaven in it over at honey ur and other things but surprisingly there is an ordained sacrifice by God that does call for leaven in Leviticus seven thirteen God says if you want to offer a certain kind of thank offering need to offer it with leavened bread I was kind of taken aback when I saw that you tip but it shows us that God doesn’t have anything against leaven or even leavened bread in particular I don’t think we should see it as a symbol of sin always so why is God so serious about leaven here I think the context gives us the answer what Israel is experiencing in the Passover is going to require and this first Passover is going to require that they eat unleavened bread and God says I want you to remember that experience I want it to be so fresh in your mind that you don’t even have any leaven in your house I want to make sure that you’re eating unleavened bread when we go forward in the Passover because what I’m accomplishing is so great it deserves to be seriously remembered and respected by you when the people of Israel revere the Passover Feast they will be reminded of their need to meditate on and revere in a sense that original Passover deliverance which should lead them to also revere and be reminded of the God who accomplished that deliverance this is about properly remembering via memorial what God has done and again aren’t there parallels to a similar celebration in the New Testament that it is to be celebrated in a particular way now there is more I actually want to say when it comes to how the Passover connects to the New Testament we’re gonna hold off on that in just a moment because I want to finish the section that we’re looking at today look at X’s 12 verses 29 to 36 let’s see the tenth plague actually Unleashed verse 29 it says now it came about at midnight that you always struck 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 first point of cattle Pharaoh rose the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt where there was no home where there was not someone dead and he called from Moses and Aaron at night and said rise up get out from among my people both you and the sons of Israel and go worship Yahweh as you have said take both your flocks and your herds as you have said and go and bless me also the Egyptians urged the people to send them out of the land in haste for they said we will all be dead so the people took their dough before it was leavened with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing and Yahweh had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have the request thus they plundered the Egyptians I will just say a few quick observations about this section midnight comes and what happens verse 29 Yahweh struck all the first point in the land of Egypt from the greatest family Pharaoh to the least family man and beast all the first point of Egypt are killed remember we’re not just talking about children here many firstborn boys they grew up to be husbands and fathers so assuredly the male population of Egypt is devastated a good portion of it is just cut down and again how appropriate based on what Egypt tried to do to Israel and to their American male offspring but notice the great cry in verse 30 not a single home in Egypt is spared from some kind of terrible death could you imagine being the Israelites hearing this great cry the shrieks of anguish the wailing of bottomless grief this was the terribleness of the judgment brought by God for Egypt’s in verse 31 the alleged God the God King Pharaoh he admits defeat before the true God King Yahweh he tells Moses and Aaron get your people get your animals and go there’s a little phrase though at the end of verse 32 he says and bless me also is that not an admission of powerlessness writer of Hebrews tells us the New Testament the lesser surely asks for a blessing from the greater that’s what Pharoah is doing here and verse 33 we see clearly the origin of the unleavened bread of the Passover Feast the Egyptians are urging Israel to leave as quickly as possible so the people they only have time to get leaven or to cause their dough to rise they got to just take on leavened bread that’s why it becomes part of the memorial and then notice verses 35 and 36 Israel did as Moses commanded as God commanded through Moses they asked their neighbors for their treasures and because God had granted Israel’s favor it got what they requested said yeah you know you do you mind if I take this this old this gold jewelry or do you mind if I have this beautiful dress it’s just like just take it take it please and go and verse 36 says thus is your plunder the Egyptians and this isn’t this exactly what God had foretold back to Abraham to Moses even to Pharaoh he said this is what I’m gonna do and he brought it to pass so now looking at this passage in and all of the Passover account that we’ve just covered today consider a few more questions of interpretation first what is the point what is the point of this Passover account or even of all the plagues of Egypt what is God saying was he not communicating to us who he is he was showing Pharaoh he was showing Egypt you showing Israel and he’s showing us who is God he is the I am the self-existent one he is infinite in power in holiness and sovereignty and look at it on display totally in control able to execute just mighty and terrible judgments on those who oppressed his people and to affect Anna mighty and marvelous deliverance for his people God is he’s showing that to us in this account we also see here the origin of the Passover Feast that is being explained this is all meant to cause us as it was meant to cause Israel to have a holy fear of God a reverence for God but also to draw near to him as the one who is the only Savior he delivers his people now as we’ve been reading through the passages and as I’ve already alluded a little bit there’s some important connections there are some important connections between what we’re reading here and the New Testament how does the Passover connect to the New Testament yes Dee that’s right that’s right and oh well it’s a couple of different ways but the main point that Jesus is our unblemished Passover lamb there’s a direct connection between the Passover and she’s just Christ he liked the original Passover lamb propitiated provided covering and atonement for his people before God to protect them from his wrath John 1:29 John the Baptist says that Jesus behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and people say oh is that a sin offering is that the Lamb of atonement or is that the Passover lamb well what’s all of them Jesus corresponds to all of them in a greater way our first Peter 1:18 and 19 first Peter 1:18 19 Peter writes speaking of believers knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ he is our lamb even our Passover lamb and notice in the New Testament Jesus uses the occasion of the Passover to inaugurate a new memorial he actually discontinued celebration the Old Testament Passover and he says you were to celebrate something else instead at one place we see this Luke 22 Luke 22 verses 19 to 20 that final Passover meal with his disciples Jesus said this is my body which is given given for you do this in remembrance of me non remembrance of the Passover but your remembrance of me and in the same way he took the cup after they’d eaten saying the cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood this is because Jesus is our Passover lamb he is a greater Passover and he was slain at the time that the Passover lambs are being sacrificed now there were two times that people were celebrating Passover in Jesus’s day this is why Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples and then the next day there are still some Jews who haven’t celebrated the past and we see this in John by the way John 1828 when the Sanhedrin the Pharisees and Sadducees lead Jesus to Pilate it says it was early and they themselves did not enter the praetorium so that they would not be defiled but might eat the Passover so even after Jesus had eaten the Passover the next day there were some Jews who had not eaten the Passover and when would those Jews be killing slaying the Passover lamp for their Passover Feast well around 3 o’clock and that’s exactly at the same time that Jesus would have given up his spirit on the cross he was sacrificed at the same time the Passover lambs were because he is our Passover in there and then that text that Steve already noted there’s a consequence of this if Jesus is our Passover lamb the 1st Corinthians 5 6 to 8 says that we ought to celebrate the feast so to speak by having an unleavened life this is what Paul says there and remember the context of 1st Corinthians 5 there was a man with gross it was participating in gross immorality that the church had not confronted not dealt with and he explains it in terms of 11 he says in verse 6 your boasting is not good do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump just as you are in fact unleavened four Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old leaven nor the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth now to all of this you may be a little bit surprised because I’m very cautious in our class when it comes to identifying types in the Old Testament I know that’s often abused and when I say a type I refer to something that for shadows or corresponds to Christ or some other New Testament reality but I can’t safely say that the Passover in the Passover lamb it does serve as the type it just correspond to Jesus he is a greater Passover now I do want to be careful about that I do not say that there is extra or hidden meaning in what Moses writes in exodus 11 and 12 because you wouldn’t be able to get that meaning from the the context that violates a basic principle of hermeneutics which is the principle of single meaning a text can only mean one thing and that meaning is determined by the context there’s no extra hidden meaning also do not say that the Passover is a predictive type of Christ because prediction means that you would have to be able to tell what that prediction was from the context and you can’t there’s there’s no predictive meaning in the Passover you can’t look at the pastor and be like oh yeah one day there’s gonna be a messiah and he’s gonna serve as a Passover lamb you won’t get that from exodus 11 and 12 so the way I would describe it is that there is as we see the New Testament there is extra significance to the Old Testament meaning doesn’t change but now there’s a new significance because we see a greater Passover the Passover of God sparing the Israelites born it is a shadow of a greater substance a greater Passover in which all of those who have faith in Christ participate in a sense Yahweh was hovering outside the houses of our hearts he had his sharp sword poised ready to strike us down for our sin our stubbornness our rebellion against him but then the angel of Yahweh who became a man the god man Jesus Christ he took his blood and spread it on the doorposts of the house of our hearts and God says to himself you must pass over this one for I have paid his sins and I have clothed him in my perfect righteousness that is a greater Passover and it was accomplished by the death of Christ suffering the wrath of God on the cross Jesus spares us from the wrath to come and not only that he makes us in a sense firstborns he makes us heirs with him of the kingdom to come so we may dwell with our great God forever Israel dwelt with God but it not in the way that we’re gonna do out with God now brethren this is a wonderful reality but it is just as Paul says it should lead us to a certain kind of life it should lead us to live in an unleavened way now I told you leaven is not sinful in itself but it’s being used as a metaphor by Paul and first Corinthians 5 to describe the new kind of lifeguard to live not just personally but corporately if ma’am the context first printings v was sin in the church it says why are you letting this on or why are you letting this leaven into the church you need to deal with it you need to be an unleavened Church that’s true for our church – and of course that’s true for us personally we are not to allow leaven so to speak to continue in our lives we are to celebrate in an ongoing way the feast of unleavened bread because our Passover lamb has sacrificed and that means living a holy life a life devoted to the Lord loving him and declaring him so you can see we’re already getting into application now so let me list a few applications for you formally I’ve got three here help you to think about how to apply the text we’ve been looking at today and what we’ve been talking about today first wrestled to have a biblical view of God’s sovereignty and and responsibility there’s so many different kinds of errors that can occur when we don’t understand these things as they are presented in the Bible or when we try to fit together in a smooth way what the Bible declares you can’t do that you have to accept what the scriptures say don’t go off on one side of the other don’t start relying on man’s free will and say alright I need to do whatever I can you but it means compromising the Gospel message or compromising biblical priorities to get people saved but don’t go on the other side and use God’s sovereignty as an excuse for sinfulness for apathy we need a biblical view of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility number two make sure you are covered by the greater Passover only Jesus can save you from the wrath to God a wrath become the path of God it’s not Jesus plus works it’s not Jesus plus prayer it’s just Jesus whom you become connected by faith so in light of this lesson you need to ask do I really know him do I really follow him is his blood covering the doorposts of my heart and connected with that number three live in an unleavened way both personally and corporately when you hear Paul’s analogy in 1st Corinthians 5 those who have Christ as the Passover lamb need to live as celebrating the feast with him but do you or do we allow leaven into our lives allow sin unrepentant sin in our lives or even into our church without dealing with it remember it Israelites who carelessly left leaven and their houses during the feast they were in danger of being cut off because if they ate something with leavening it God says you would be cut off from the people God wanted them to be serious about how they celebrated the feast and is it not true for us as well of course we will not lose our salvation but God says I want you to treat your salvation inheritance seriously it is a joyful reality but be sober about it as Paul says in Ephesians 4 you’re to walk worthy of the great salvation inheritance at university we are to do that as a body as a church so where has leaven come in where do we need to clean out that leaven in our lives personally and in our lives as a church what practical steps do you need to take to deal with that left and you say I don’t know well then get some help ask your elders ask Pastor you can even email me ask another mature brother or sister at the church we’re meant to help one another in this area as well now we’re out of time for today if you have questions or comments about what you’ve heard about the passage about the things I’ve spoken about please email me next week we see Israel actually leave Egypt the exodus occurs but God’s not done with Pharaoh God will move a Pharaoh’s heart one more time to harden it in such a way that God will accomplish one more mighty deliverance and it will involve a body of water I look forward to talking about that with you next time let’s pray our God thank you for being our Passover for being the one who justifies you are the judge you’re also the justifier of the ungodly because of Jesus sacrifice or do you made us righteous not because of anything in ourselves even now God we are not righteous the way that we ought to be but positionally we are because of Christ you look on us and you see the righteousness of Christ so that we are acceptable to you now we’re gonna dwell with you thank you thank you for saving us from your own rap because you’re a holy and righteous God we deserved it but you gave us Christ instead thank you for passing over us thank you for the blood of Christ in Jesus name Amen everyone off the game next week