Fundamentals of Bible Prophecy

Brethren, this is the third sermon on the fundamentals of Bible prophecy. I've actually been here three weeks in a row. I'm sure you're really proud of me, right? I know this may be the first time that's happened in a long while, but this is the third installment in the fundamentals of Bible Prophecy series. We've seen that prophecy is simply God keeping His promises. God prophesying, making promises that only He has the ability to see the end from the beginning.

He can make His promises come true. He can make them come to pass. We saw many prophecies and promises that were made in the book of Genesis, and we've seen the fulfillment of a number of those prophecies. In the book of Genesis, we still have some prophecies yet to be fulfilled that were given in the book of Genesis.

It's important to realize that the book of beginnings does have quite a few prophecies in it. Today, we're going to complete the book of Genesis in regards to how it relates to prophecy. We'll also see that prophecy is a large part of the book of Exodus. Prophecy points to the need for the Passover, and that will be a major part of the focus today. Prophecy has shown us that there would certainly be a Messiah to come who would lay His life down for us, that it would need to be a fleshly human Messiah to be our Passover Lamb.

Now, remember we talked about the first important key regarding the understanding of Bible prophecy? It's from one of our booklets on how to understand the Bible and specifically how to understand prophecy. The first important key is to understand or recognize that almost all prophecy directly relates to the intervention in human affairs of one key player—of course, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, the anointed one. We also talked about how the one who became Christ was the one who was interacting and actually giving many of these prophecies. In fact, all of the prophecies that we've talked about already were actually given by the one who became Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the Father's messenger, and He was delivering the message and continues to deliver the message in one sense as our High Priest who's at the right hand of God the Father. So last time we discussed the dreams of the Chief Butler and the Chief Baker. That's where we ended up. They were in Pharaoh's service. They offended the Pharaoh, so he threw him in prison. And then God prophesied that one would be restored and the other would be executed.

So that was a dream that was actually a prophecy. And we noted that the Chief Butler was restored. The Chief Baker was executed just as God had prophesied. If you remember, Joseph asked them to remember him, especially the Butler, because the Baker really could not remember him well having been executed. But the Butler was supposed to remember him, and two years later, he's still in prison. But this time Pharaoh has some dreams. In Genesis 41, Pharaoh has some dreams of his own, but were they really dreams of his own? These were dreams that God was giving him, that God was initiating in his mind. Then it came to pass, verse 1 of chapter 41 of Genesis, then it came to pass at the end of two full years after this incident that we discussed about the Chief Baker and Butler, that Pharaoh had a dream and behold, he stood by the river.

So he's dreaming and out of this river comes these beautiful cows that are healthy. They're big, they're fat, just really, really healthy. And then right after that comes seven gaunt, skinny, emaciated looking cows. So as he's dreaming, the ugly ones, the emaciated, the skinny ones actually eat the big ones. Pretty striking dream. For one thing, cows don't normally eat each other. So that was a bit unusual, but having the gaunt ones eating the large ones, I'm sure was somewhat shocking to the Pharaoh. Well, he awoke after that, and then he had another dream. He slept and dreamed a second time, and there were seven heads of grain that came up out of one stalk.

They were plump, they were beautiful, they were good, they looked really healthy. And then seven thin heads came up as well. They sprang up after these first healthy heads, and the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump heads. Again, unusual. Pharaoh awoke, and of course realized it was a dream. Probably glad it was a dream, because it would be a pretty scary world with cows eating each other and things like this going on.

So he pulls in all of his magicians and people that work for him, his servants. He wants them to tell him, what's the meaning of this dream? But of course they're not capable of telling him, because they don't know. God's not in them, his spirit's not in them. God hasn't revealed to them the meaning of these dreams. So Pharaoh becomes quite angry, and at this time the butler remembers. Wait a minute, there was a Hebrew, a young Hebrew, who was able to interpret dreams.

So he told to Pharaoh about it and they pulled him out of prison, they cleaned him up, and he went before Pharaoh. And let's go to verse 25. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Okay, again, this is a prophecy. This is a promise of what God is going to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years as well.

The dreams are one, and the seven thin and ugly cows, which came up after them, are seven years, and the seven empty heads, blighted by the east wind, are seven years of famine. So this is a very important dream and prophecy that's going to happen. There will be seven years of plenty, and then there will be seven years of famine to follow those years of plenty.

This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. And of course, Joseph would always give God credit for being able to interpret these dreams.

He says, indeed, seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt. Verse 30, but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will deplete the land.

So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God. And that's another principle of prophecy as well. There's a certain duality in prophecy, and this is just one aspect of it, but there are plenty of other prophecies that have a former fulfillment and then a later fulfillment, and we'll talk more about that in this series as we go along.

Verse 33, Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Now I wonder if Joseph was hoping or wondering if it would be him. It doesn't say, but that was his advice. Find someone who's wise, set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land.

So obviously, Joseph has thought about this. God has given him wisdom and understanding in regard to this. So collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years, and let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. So this is a very practical thing.

This is something that God showed Joseph as a very practical matter. Bad times are coming. Yes, there'll be some good times first, but the bad times are coming, and you need to prepare for the bad times. Obviously, there's a lesson in that for all of us, because we also realize that in the future there will be some bad times coming. Right now, we have some pretty good times. Things are going pretty well overall for the United States anyway, for America.

We've been blessed in a number of different ways. There are many blessings that are still extant upon the earth today. Of course, there are many people that are starving. There are many people that are in poverty around the world, and even in the United States it certainly happens as well. But the point is that we who are blessed by God or called now, we need to be storing up in our hearts and minds the integrity, the perseverance, the patience, the character that we may need if we're alive when the lean years hit, when the difficult years hit.

If we're alive, then we're going to need to be prepared. So these are the dreams. He goes on in verse 35, let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, store them up for Pharaoh, and then that food shall be as a reserve for the land, for the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt.

So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all of his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God? Now I find that quite interesting that no doubt God revealed this to Pharaoh. God gave him a dream, a couple of dreams. God was actually revealing to Pharaoh that yes, this is indeed the man. He has my spirit. Choose him. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house. And of course, the Pharaoh was very pagan, wasn't he?

Extremely so. You know, he was not on board with God. He wasn't keeping the Sabbath. He wasn't doing a lot of things, bowing down to idols. He was an idolater. And yet God did work with him in certain ways. You shall be over my house and all my people shall be ruled according to your word.

Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took his signet ring off. He took it off his hand and he put it on Joseph's hand. What a gesture that was to take off his signet ring, give that to Joseph, and he clothed him in garments. And if you follow the life of Joseph, God was always with Joseph, wherever he went.

You know, Joseph is one of the best examples in the Bible of a God-fearing man, a man who followed God, who obeyed him, and was certainly blessed at every turn. You know, God was continuing to bless Joseph. Of course, he was thrown in prison, and he did spend some time in prison. So, you know, God didn't promise a rose garden.

There will be thorns along the way. But that doesn't mean God isn't with us, that God isn't there to look over us, to bless us, to protect us, to deliver us in various ways. So we do have to have that kind of relationship with God, such as Joseph, who had a relationship. He believed in God, he trusted in God, he had faith in God, and he, as a result, obeyed and followed God. He says he had the Spirit of God. You know, he had an excellent Spirit to guide and direct him. He says in verse 44, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

Truly, second in command. And Pharaoh called him some zapnath pena. I like Joseph better.

He also gave him a wife of the land. Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt, and Joseph was just 30 years old at the time. So God can work with young men, you men who are around 30, you should consider this. You know, what are you doing to serve God? How connected are you? How dedicated? How faithful are you? You know, you're not too young to make a huge impact in the work of God.

We just had a Deacons and Elders meeting before we met here, and I was telling everyone there that I really do appreciate those who have initiative, who plan ahead, who look at things, who make things happen. And I would encourage you to, you know, don't assume that things can't happen in the United Church of God. You know, if you have a good idea, bring it to me. If it makes sense, perhaps we can implement it. So I am encouraging those who want to be more involved to get more involved.

Take some initiative yourself and become more involved.

All right.

So again, this was a prophecy. Indeed, it happened. There were seven great years that came along.

Seven outstanding years of blessings, plenty of grain, but then seven very lean years, some very difficult years. God did exactly what He said He would do. Seven wonderful years of tremendous blessings, and then seven years of famine. Now, let's go to Genesis chapter 45.

And in the meantime, I'll just shorten this by saying that Israel and His other sons, they were also affected by this famine. This was a famine that went far and wide. It reached out a long ways. And so they were in jeopardy of starving.

So Israel sent His sons. He didn't send Benjamin the first time, but He sent His sons to go to Egypt and to buy grain in Egypt. And I don't have the time. I don't want to take the time right now, but hopefully you've read the story. It is a fascinating story because remember, these sons had sold Joseph into slavery. They had no idea where Joseph was. I mean, they didn't know if he was alive or dead. They knew they had sold him into the Midianites to them, but then he'd end up in prison. They didn't know any of that stuff. So they're coming to Egypt to buy grain, and they're dealing with their brother whom they no longer recognize. A lot of years have passed.

Joseph recognized them, but you know it's easier when there's 11 of them.

When there's just one, it's more difficult to figure that out. So Joseph knew what was happening here, and God was clearly in all of this. Let's notice Genesis 45. Then Joseph could not restrain himself. This was the second time that they came. They came back a second time with Benjamin this time. Joseph could no longer restrain himself before all those who stood by him. He cried out, Make everyone go out for me. He was talking to those Egyptians that were there.

Surrounding him, he says, Make everyone go out for me. So no one stood with him. While Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard it. It was loud. He was very emotional about this reunion with his brothers.

And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Does my father still live? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. They were quite fearful, I am sure.

Because they didn't know what this powerful man was about to do to them.

Joseph said to his brothers, Please come near to me. So they came near, and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. No, I have not forgotten. But now do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves. Because he had heard them talking previously, and he knew that there was at least some measure of repentance that the brothers had gone through because of selling their brother. They probably felt guilty for many years for having done so. So he was very, very gracious, though, wasn't he? I mean, he had a heart of gold. This man, Joseph, he was truly one led by the Spirit of God. Do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. No, God was in all of this, wasn't he?

I mean, God made it all work out for the best. Even being sold into slavery, even being put into prison, having contact with the chief butler, you know, having contact then with Pharaoh. Because of that, you can just see God's hand in everything that was taking place with Joseph. You know, Joseph proved his faithfulness in rejecting Potiphar's wife. You know, he showed that he truly was one who wanted to please and obey God. So God was working through him. And, you know, God wants to have this kind of relationship with each and every one of us. The same kind of relationship.

A close relationship. One that's real. I mean, this was a relationship that was very real to Joseph. You can imagine how much he prayed in prison, how much he asked God to deliver him. You know, there was a relationship there, a daily ongoing relationship, and God was working with him.

He says in verse 6, for these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting, a very grievous famine. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth. You see, God was going to keep his promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, or Israel.

So, we need to harken back to those promises that God made initially. In order to bless these people, God had to keep them alive. And this was one way he was going to do it, by preserving their lives through the famine. God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. And he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt. And come down to me, and do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and God was actually going to give him the best land in the land of Egypt.

Another blessing that would be given to the children of Israel.

So these were indeed prophecies. Genesis 46, verse 1, So Israel took his journey with all that he had.

They went back to get their father, and they're all coming back to Egypt now. So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and he came to Beersheba, and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Again, he worshipped God. He followed the example of his ancestors, of Abraham and of Isaac. He offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night. Again, these are prophecies that God is revealing to him in these visions. And said, Jacob, Jacob, and he said, Here I am. So he said, the God of your father, do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. Don't worry about going into Egypt. I'm going to make a great nation. I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again, and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes. Then Jacob arose from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones and their wives, and they went to Egypt.

The whole family went to Egypt. So God was in all of this. God was directing it.

It will drop down to Genesis 48. We come to where Jacob is near death. He's older now. He spent, I think, 17 years that he lived in Egypt with his children there, and now he's older, and he's about to die. In verse 48, verse 13, And Joseph took them both. That's Ephraim and Manasseh. Joseph had two sons while he was there in Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh. And so Joseph brought them from beside his knees. In verse 12, he bowed down with his face to the earth, and Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and meant Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. Then Israel stressed out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's hand, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's hand, guiding his hands knowingly for Manasseh was the firstborn. So he crossed his hands because, again, God had revealed to him the blessing that he wanted to give Ephraim and Manasseh. And he blessed Joseph, and he said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel, the messenger who has redeemed me from all evil, blessed the lads, let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. So they took these promises seriously that they were given, that is, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and these blessings were being passed along.

Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's hand to Manasseh's hand, or to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. So the firstborn would get the greater blessing. That's the way it's initially, or that's the way it's supposed to happen normally, but God doesn't always do things by the book.

You know, God can do what he chooses to do according to his will.

So Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great. He shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. Now, there's no way that Jacob could know that on his own. There's no way. He was not superhuman. He was a human being. The only way he could know it is because God revealed it to him. God was continually working with them to show them his will and his ways. Verse 20, So he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel will bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And thus he said, Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and he will bring you back to the land of your fathers. This is again a prophecy. God is going to be with you in Egypt, but he's going to bring you back to the Promised Land. He's going to bring you back to the land of Canaan. Moreover, I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. So, you know, again, it's fascinating to see how God is working with the children of Israel, where he's revealing these prophecies, making these promises to them, and making them come to pass.

In chapter 49, it's full of prophecies that God revealed to Jacob regarding his sons. I'm not going to take the time to read through all of chapter 49 here, but Jacob called his sons together and he says, notice what he says, "...so that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days." Okay, so this is a prophecy far distant to come into the future. And it goes through blessings upon the various sons of Jacob.

And in history, you can see, to some degree anyway, and people have done more scholarly work than I have in this regard, but they found out various clues as to who these people are talking, who we're talking about here. That's why, again, I would encourage you to read the United States and Britain in prophecy. Read that booklet.

If you go down to verse 10, notice it says here, "...the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people." Him is capitalized as talking about the Messiah, the Christ. "...the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes." And Christ was descended from the tribe of Judah, the Lion of Judah.

And again, there's a scepter that shall not depart from Judah. There would always be kings and rulers that would come from this son, from this son Judah.

"...and to him shall be the obedience of the people." Again, referring back to the Messiah, binding his donkey to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine.

He washed his garments and wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. So again, these are prophecies referring to the Messiah.

His eyes are darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

He goes on pronouncing blessings upon Zebulon, upon Issachar, upon Dan, upon Gad, upon Anaphthalai.

Verse 22, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. Again, these are prophecies. He says, "...his branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, hated him, but his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, by the God of your Father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, with blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb, the blessings of your Father have exalted the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, they shall be on the head of Joseph." Joseph would have a huge impact in the world. So you've got to look through history looking for countries that would fulfill these prophecies. Who are they?

Who are these countries? Because these boys would become scattered, wouldn't they? The lost ten tribes of Israel. They would become lost. They would be scattered. They would migrate throughout different lands, different nations. They were to have a huge impact upon the earth throughout history. Verse 27, Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning, he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is what their Father spoke to them. And he blessed them. He blessed each one according to his own blessing. Each one of the boys was to have a special blessing, his own blessing. After this, Jacob died. It talks about his burial, that they took him back and buried him in the same cave in Canaan, that they had buried others in the family.

So these are all fascinating prophecies that God revealed to Jacob regarding his sons, things that would happen, things that we could see in the last days. It says these were prophecies that were that would be fulfilled in the last days, that you could look at these prophecies, and with some help from God, you could determine the different nations, the different lands.

In Genesis chapter 50, let's look at verse 18. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face. This was after they went back and buried Jacob. Now the brothers are concerned that dad is dead, maybe now Joseph will turn on us. Maybe Joseph will have us killed for what we did to him. And so, getting back to verse 18, then his brothers also went and fell down before Joseph's face. And they said, Behold, we are your servants. Remember the prophecy that I read earlier, that the boys were going to bow down? There were dreams that Joseph had. Remember there was the shock, not the shock, it's not the right word, the sheaves. And then the 11 sheaves bowed down before Joseph's sheave. And then the sun and the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down. Well, this is a fulfillment. They were bowing down before Joseph. Jacob had come and basically bowed down and was kept alive by his son Joseph, who was second in command in Egypt. So these are prophecies that have been fulfilled in the Bible. And God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

You know, God doesn't change. God's character is the same. God cannot lie. He keeps his promises. Joseph said to them in verse 19, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? He understood that he wasn't God. It wasn't his place to turn against his sons. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

It wasn't him to be vengeful. Plus, he loved his brothers. Joseph had love for his brothers.

He truly sets a wonderful example that we should follow toward our families, toward our brothers, our sisters, our parents. We should have the same kind of love that Joseph had for his family, even after they had done him so wrong, so wrongly. So do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it. See, he was able to see the big picture. That's another thing about Joseph. He was a visionary. He could see the big picture. He could understand what God was doing in the big picture. God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. Therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. So, Joseph, again, a wonderful example for all of us.

All right, now we go into the book of Exodus. We've covered the book of Genesis, in a sense, a backbone of prophecy. It has the opening prophecies that God has put into play and into effect. But we see that nothing changes in the book of Exodus.

God is continuing to prophesy, to keep his promises, to fulfill things that he has said, and to make more promises. In Exodus 2, verse 23, and we're skipping over the birth of Moses.

We're skipping over quite a bit here that was happening, but God said a nation would come from Israel in Egypt, and God was blessing them. They were multiplying. In fact, they were multiplying so quickly that Pharaoh started killing them, killing the babies, or trying to anyway. The midwives were not cooperating. But no doubt, Pharaoh was successful in some instances. So, this was happening. They were becoming afraid of the Israelites who lived in Egypt among them. It gives Moses birth in chapter 2, in verse 23.

Now, it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. It talks about how the Pharaoh, who knew Joseph, had died, and then other Pharaohs who knew Joseph. For a while, they knew him. But then arose another Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph, who didn't appreciate the history, didn't appreciate the fact that he was instrumental in saving the whole land of Egypt. Essentially, the land was given to Pharaoh because of Joseph's work and in serving him. So, in verse 23, Now it happened in the process of time the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage. Skipped over where they started making them produce bricks without the straw. They had to go gather the straw. Yes, they were in hard bondage. Pharaoh had become a cruel taskmaster. So, they were groaning because of the bondage. They cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. Certainly, God had not forgotten his children. He had not forgotten his promises. He had not forgotten what he said he would do. He had not forgotten his promises.

So, God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Again, he never forgot it. It's just a way of putting it. He remembered it. He was going to start acting upon it. God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

God was going to begin working more actively again with a servant of God.

So, in chapter 3, Moses was tending the flock. It talks about the burning bush that God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The angel of the eternal, the messenger of the eternal, is talking about the Logos, the Word, the spokesman who is going to be talking to Moses and interacting with him. Verse 7, and the eternal said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. Remember, Moses had fled after having killed an Egyptian. He fled. God is now beginning to show himself to Moses. I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows, so I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a land, to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and so forth. These are prophecies that were given in the book of Genesis. They're being repeated here. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them.

Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh. So he selected Moses. Moses isn't super happy about the idea of going back to Egypt, going back to Pharaoh, going back to Pharaoh's court.

He's not real confident of his abilities as a speaker, and he has this dialogue with God.

But notice verse 13, then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name?

What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am has sent me to you. Now, I gave a sermon not too long ago, and also Fred Whitlark talked about the seven I AM statements in the New Testament.

But in my sermon, I talked about how this I AM was certainly the one who became the Messiah, the one who became Christ, who is revealing himself to Moses here.

I AM has sent me to you.

So, of course, the eternal, the I AM, it's a name that can be used for both the Father and the Son.

Clearly, and it was the Father who sent the Messiah, or sent the Word, the Logos, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to reveal the Father's will to them, to work with them.

So, I'm going to skip over a lot of this. I'm assuming that you remember much of this, and we don't have to cover all of it, but God begins to work miraculously with Moses, and miraculous signs are brought before Pharaoh. Moses did go to Egypt. There was a huge difference between Pharaoh's magicians and what God was doing with Moses and with Aaron. Aaron became his spokesman. There is a type there that Moses is the type of the Father. Aaron would be a type of the spokesman, the Logos, the Son. So, these are interesting, very interesting events that are taking place going before Pharaoh. It goes through the first encounter with Pharaoh in chapter 5. But let's go to chapter 6. Let's go to chapter 6, verse 1.

Then the Eternal said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land, talking, of course, about the children of Israel. And God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Eternal. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name Eternal or Tetragrammaton, the YHWH, or YHVH, I was not known to them. It's basically the Eternal, the self-existent one. That's why we often refer to L-O-R-D in capital letters as the Eternal, because that's what it means.

Verse 4, I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.

God does not forget. God cannot lie. He will always follow through. Therefore, say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Eternal, your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. God was going to show himself to Pharaoh. He was going to show himself to the Egyptians. He was going to show himself to the children of Israel. He was going to show his power and his might. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and Jacob. And I will give it to you as a heritage. And why? Because I am the Eternal. I am the one who keeps his promises. I'm the one who has the power to follow through and to do exactly what I say. So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel, but they did not heed Moses because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. And the Eternal spoke to Moses saying, go in, tell Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to let the children of Israel go out of this land. And so the process is started. Let my people go. Now this is a cry. Every Passover, I think of this. Let my people go. This is what the Passover is all about. God is our Father.

He does love us, and He does deliver us. No matter, you know, Satan is the one behind Pharaoh.

Satan is the God of this world. Satan has been trying to destroy God's plan for many, many years, but he's failing, and it's very clear that he will fail. So again, God is going to allow the children of Israel to come out of bondage, come out of slavery, and to become a model nation. That was the plan. They were to be the model nation. I will be your God, and you will be my people.

You will represent me upon the earth. When people see you, they will see a great God who's behind you if you will keep my commandments, if you will keep my covenant. And we'll see that as we go along, that these promises were conditional to a degree. Some of them were conditional. It would depend on Israel's response. It would depend on what the children of Israel would do.

Okay, so Aaron becomes Moses' spokesman. It mentions in chapter 6 the miraculous rod that butted. Aaron had that rod and would miraculously use that to show that God was behind Moses and Aaron. And then the plagues began. Now these are all prophecies. Every one of these plagues is a prophecy. Every one is a promise. God said what was going to happen before He made it happen.

He told them ahead of time. He would warn Pharaoh what was going to happen. And yet, Pharaoh hardened his heart. He would not let the children of Israel go. So plague after plague, after plague, after plague begins to be poured out upon the land of Egypt.

The first plague, chapter 7, is water becoming blood. And you'll see there are a lot of parallels between the prophecies in the book of Revelation and the plagues that will come upon the earth in the last days. There are quite a few parallels between things that are going to happen, or that did happen in Egypt. Some of them we'll see repeated again before Christ returns.

So the first plague, water becomes blood, goes through that story. The second plague, the millions of frogs. When I was a kid, I remember one year, just one year, in all the years that we lived there, 18 years, there was one year where it seemed that God had sent a plague of frogs. There were thousands and thousands and thousands of frogs in this little creek near my house. And it reminded me of this plague. And these were just little baby frogs. But I have a feeling these were a lot of big frogs. I can only imagine how much noise the frogs were making in the land of Egypt. Because we had four or five big bullfrogs that would go around our farm pond.

And every night we could just hear them just going back and forth, taking turns, just, ho, ho, ho. And if you can imagine, millions and millions of that noise going throughout the land, it would drive you nuts. I would think it would be a lot. And there are different sounds that frogs make. There are some, you know, the tree frogs, they make a different sound. The bullfrogs make a different sound. I'm guessing they were all kinds of frogs. And they were all making different sounds.

And the people were just about driven crazy by these frogs. Not to mention that they were in the kitchens, they were in the pots, you know, they were everywhere under the feet, probably hanging on ledges above them as they had walked by. Lots of frogs! It was a huge plague.

Then the third plague, lice. How'd you like to have lice? I've never had lice. I've seen people with lice. My kids got lice one time that I remember. I only remember at one time. That was enough.

But I've seen other kids that have had lice, and you know, it's just not a good thing. If there were billions of lice throughout the whole land and everyone had lice, not a good feeling.

So that was the third plague, the lice. The fourth plague was flies. Lots and lots of flies. Lots and lots of flies. Again, lots of flies. The fifth plague was the livestock were becoming diseased. Now it was really starting to hit home because this was the livelihood of many people.

The livestock of Egypt began to die. Egypt was the most wealthy land on the earth at the time.

Now the livestock is becoming diseased. And then the sixth plague boils. Boils on the people.

It says it will become like fine dust in all the land of Egypt, and it will cause boils that break out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt. I'm in chapter 9, verse 9. And that's exactly what happened. The boils were on the magicians, they were on the Egyptians, but the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not heed them, just as the eternal had spoken to Moses. He told them that the Pharaoh wouldn't do it. He prophesied that the Pharaoh isn't going to let you go easy. All of these things would have to take place.

Notice in verse 13 of chapter 9, the seventh plague. Then the eternal said to Moses, Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may serve me. For at this time I will send all my plagues to your very heart and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. Now, if I had stressed out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth. But indeed, for this purpose, I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth. And yet you exalt yourself against my people, and that you will not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause a very heavy hail to rain down. This again is a prophecy, it's a promise of what's going to happen next. Such has not been in Egypt since its founding until now. Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, and so forth. For the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field, and is not brought home, and they shall die. And he who feared the word of the Lord, the eternal among the servants of Pharaoh, made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses. So there were some Egyptians that were beginning to realize that God was going to do what he said he was going to do. But not all of them. Some of them were more proud, more resistant, more rebellious than others. But some of them actually saved their livestock because they listened to Moses.

He who did not regard the word of the eternal leftist servants and his livestock in the field. And of course, God pours these giant hail stones out. It says in verse 24, It is so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt.

All that was in the field, both man and beast, and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

Again, there are prophecies of things that will happen in the future before Christ returns.

All green grass will be burnt up.

It could be referring to certain areas, maybe, that just the green grass in some areas would be burnt up. But there are some fascinating prophecies that talk about the destruction that God is going to pour out again upon the earth. Now, I certainly believe that these are true and faithful words here in the Bible. That these things did happen.

This would be the greatest conspiracy ever if someone could actually pull this off the Bible. This would be the most giant conspiracy of all. That this thing is fabricated?

That's what some people would have you believe. That these are all lies.

You can't believe anything that's written in here.

It would be the most gigantic conspiracy theory ever. It is the most gigantic conspiracy theory ever. That these people conspired and wrote up these stories. None of this really happened.

None of it happened. Daniel in the lion's den, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, none of it happened.

Jonah, none of it happened. But when you look at the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, I think we'll see this in this series on prophecy. Not that I'm going to go through every single one. I know you're beginning to wonder. Is this like 45 installments of Will He Ever Finish?

I know. It's a little scary because I really don't know where I'm going either. I'm asking God to direct me in this series of sermons on prophecy.

But we're talking about God's Word. To me, it's interesting and fascinating. I'm really enjoying the study that I'm putting into this and looking at these different prophecies. I'm assuming that I'm not going to cover every single prophecy in the Bible, which I pretty much have so far. I've pretty much covered every prophecy because I want you to see how many prophecies there are.

I'm sure we're not going to get into every single prophecy in great detail.

Isaiah was looking at that the other day, and there's a lot of prophecies in there in Ezekiel. And I don't understand them all either. So I can only do so much. But you probably ought to pray about this series that God will guide me to give something that's worthwhile, that's beneficial, that He wants you guys all to hear, and me as well.

All right, so we've got all these plagues. God's involved in all of them. We've got locusts in number eight, darkness number nine. Then we come to the last plague, the death of the first born.

It came to pass just like God said it would. You know, you would have thought by then Pharaoh would not want to take any chances with his first born son. But he was arrogant enough, and God did harden his heart. And, you know, who knows exactly what that means? I don't know if we know exactly what that means. His heart was certainly hardened. God had some hand in all of that.

God had mercy on Pharaoh. Most likely, right? Pharaoh wasn't converted.

Pharaoh will have his opportunity in the future. Well, it brings us to chapter 12. This is the Passover chapter. I did want to go through some of this because the Passover is coming quickly.

And this is actually fitting in very nicely because the plagues...

That's something we should think about as we enter the Passover season, that God really did deliver his people, and he'll do whatever it takes to deliver his people.

You can count on him. He'll do whatever it takes. And he's going to deliver his people.

In the future, there will be plagues again that will be poured out.

God will spare some of his chosen ones. There will be a place of safety where some will be hidden from all of the tumultuous times that are coming. I sincerely believe that. God is going to protect some. Some will be martyred. It will have a lot to do with whether or not they're prepared spiritually for what's going to happen in the future.

Again, the key player in all of this in prophecy is the Messiah.

Okay, now this is all about the Messiah, isn't it? He is our Passover Lamb. He had to come a first time to die for us. That's God's plan. He had to come the first time. Remember Genesis 3.15?

We read that. That's the first prophecy in the Bible. Satan got to Adam and Eve.

Satan wanted to destroy mankind. He wanted to destroy humanity. God wasn't going to allow that to happen. God was going to send a Messiah. Genesis 3.15 talks about how Satan was going to bruise the seed's heel. We talked about how that was talking about the seed was speaking of the Messiah of Jesus Christ who had come. Satan would bruise his heel by having him crucified.

No doubt, Satan thought he had a great victory in all of that. I don't think he doesn't get it. He doesn't comprehend what's happening here. I don't know how much he comprehends, how much he doesn't comprehend, but he certainly deceived himself. He's deceived himself. He is the great deceiver. He's also deceived himself. So the Messiah would have his heel bruised by being crucified, by becoming that Passover sacrifice, becoming that Passover lamb that would die for us. And, of course, Satan's head is ultimately going to be bruised. It's going to be destroyed.

That's a death blow when you get hit to the head. The heel doesn't typically kill anyone, but the head will. Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years to begin with, and then for eternity cast into outer darkness. So chapter 12, we see the Passover instituted. So let's go through some of this. And as we think about it, and we'll wrap this up pretty quickly. In fact, we probably should wrap it up now, but we'll just talk a few more minutes.

So the Eternal spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

He says, Speak to the congregation of Israel. On the tenth of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, shall be a male of the first year, and you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.

Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintels of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. And it goes on giving more instructions in regard to the Passover. Verse 12, For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute the judgments. And there are parallels between the plagues that fell upon Egypt and the various gods of the Egyptians as well.

I will pass through the land on that night. I will strike all the firstborn of the land of Egypt. This is the tenth plague. Has it yet taken place? But it was prophesied. Pharaoh was warned.

And the children of Israel were told that they were to take the blood of that lamb that was to be sacrificed, put it on their lintels and upon their doorposts, and God would pass over those houses that had the blood of the lamb upon them. So it's so rich in meaning this Passover season.

So very rich because without the sacrifice of the Messiah, without Jesus Christ's sacrifice, without Him being a lamb without blemish, without spot, without wrinkle, He was perfect. And we'll go into some scriptures. Next time we'll go into some scriptures that talk about the Messiah.

So actually this leads right in to the next sermon. We'll continue the series on prophecy, but it's going to be prophecies of the Messiah and how it relates to the Passover.

So again, I hope you find these sermons interesting. If not, pray about it. Ask God to give you a little more interest in His Word. So again, the first important key is to understand that all prophecy, in a sense, points to the Messiah, the anointed one. That's no slight on the Father. It's the Father's plan. I mean, the Father is who we pray to daily. We should all have a relationship with God the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. So one of the major purposes of prophecy, though, is to reveal the mission of the Messiah. And we'll talk about that in sermons to come. Christ said that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me. All these things must be fulfilled. So the Bible is full of prophecies in regard to the Messiah. So we'll go through some of those next time. Again, Christ came the first time to live a perfect life and to be the perfect sacrifice to die for each and every one of us so that our sins could be forgiven. Again, He's coming the second time to continue the plan of God, coming the second time to establish His Kingdom first upon the earth, and then the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven. And we know part of that story.

And all of this will be covered to some degree in this series on Bible prophecy.