The Passover as History

Well, good afternoon once again. Around 1443 BC, a major event occurred in ancient Egypt that changed world history forever. This was a time when the Hebrews, also known as the people of Israel, departed Egypt after generations of living in slavery and came into a land and an opportunity to be free. It was also at this time that God instituted the original Old Testament Passover. And as we prepare for the Passover this year and the spring holy days, I think it would be good for us, this Sabbath, to review the history and the theology surrounding the original biblical exodus in Passover. So that's what I would like to do this Sabbath, is look at the history and the theology, and then next Sabbath we will look at personalizing the Passover, what we can do to prepare for the Passover, and how we can do that kind of examination that Mr. Kozlowski mentioned in his sermonette. So today we're going to focus on the history and the theology surrounding the biblical exodus. You know, knowing the chronology of the various pharaohs is very difficult. What pharaoh was alive when Moses left Egypt? Which pharaoh was it? Well, that's something that has been debated for a very long time. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to put some meat on the bones today, and I'm going to take a conservative approach and mention some pharaohs that may well have been the very pharaohs involved in the story of the book of Exodus. And this is a very conservative approach, and the reason that I do this is that history shows that these pharaohs were very capable of being the ones that are mentioned in the book of Exodus. So again, knowing that the chronology of the various pharaohs is difficult, Moses may have been born during the reign of a pharaoh who is known as Tut Moses. Now, we may not fully appreciate it, but when you see a king like Tut Moses, that is an Egyptian name, and that is where the name Moses literally came from. The word Moses, or what we call the name Moses, is both a Hebrew name and an Egyptian name. The Hebrew name means drawing out, and the Egyptian name means son of the water.

Remember that the Nile was worshipped as a god, and because it was the life of the Nile that overflowed and allowed them to have abundant crops that helped the Egyptians to survive. So both names have very similar roots, and Moses would have been born around 1525 BC, but he wasn't like a lot of other children. He was saved by an Egyptian princess who actually paid Moses's mother to nurse him and care for him as a small child. As the son of a princess, Moses lived an unusual life. He would have had a life of privilege, because remember, he wasn't in line to be pharaoh, but if you were pharaoh's daughter, or pharaoh's son, or a member of the family of pharaoh, you had privileges that other people didn't get.

You received privilege, you received an excellent education, you lived in a life of comfort and luxury compared to the average Egyptian, and certainly more than the average Israelite who was looked upon, you know, as something that was only to be despised by the Egyptian people. Moses seemed to have had a natural compassion for his people, and there came a time in his life, as we know through the Scriptures, where he saw an abusive Egyptian taskmaster abusing one of his people, an Israelite. And it's interesting that he knew what he was doing was risky, because it says in Exodus chapter 2 and verse 12, that he looked all around before he killed the Egyptian. He thought that no one was seeing him, that no one was looking. He knew it was risky, and that probably was because this taskmaster was most likely a high official in Egypt. If Moses would have just killed a typical Egyptian person, no one would have cared. That would not have been considered important, but this taskmaster was most likely a high official. So Moses gets in trouble, and he has to leave Egypt, or else he will be killed. And the Pharaoh at that time, according to history, would have been a man named Thutmose III. And looking at history, Thutmose III had no particular affection towards the Hebrews. There are writings that exist that say that he despised any raised people who were not Egyptians. So history even tells us that Thutmose III was a man with a lot of prejudice and bigotries. He did not like anyone who wasn't Egyptian. History also tells us that he was a very ambitious and an energetic king. In 19 years, history records, he went on 17 military campaigns. So he loved to wage war. He was a very aggressive man. I realize this is not the Pharaoh who will be alive when Moses takes the people of Israel out of Egypt. That happens after 40 years of exile. But Moses is being expelled, and most likely it was Pharaoh Thutmose.

Again, he was involved in numerous building projects. He was very energetic.

He was a very aggressive Pharaoh. He left Egypt and went to the land of Midian, and he was in exile for that period of time. And that particular Pharaoh was replaced by his son. History records is a man named Amenhotep II. We'll be talking about him a little bit later. If you'll begin turning with me to Exodus chapter 5, we'll begin looking into the Scriptures and tying it together with history. Moses turns about 80 years old, and God sends him on a mission that Moses doesn't want to go on. And there's a lesson there for us, because the important thing is what God wants, not necessarily what we want. When God wants us to do something, when he wants to send you and I on a mission, what's really important is what God wants, not necessarily what we want. And, you know, there are times when we may feel like we can't do it, then we're asked to do something that is over our heads and we can't do it. But, brethren, we have to realize that with Christ in us, we are all capable of magnificent achievements. When God gives you his Holy Spirit, that same Spirit that at his command, fashioned in the world and the universe and every material thing that we see, that same power resides within us. And when God asks us to do something, along with his Holy Spirit, we can achieve literally anything. Brethren, Moses said he was not a great man. But, you know what?

God has always done great things through very ordinary men and women. And I don't think that I'm great, and you may not believe that you're great, but I can tell you that God, through ordinary men and women, has oftentimes done very great things that benefit the world. And that's how he looks at us, and that's how he wants to work with us. About 1443, Moses returned to Egypt after 40 years in exile in Midian, and it must have seemed like another lifetime. Think about the first 40 years of his life. He lived in luxury, and he lived in a whole different culture. Egypt was cosmopolitan for their age and day. They were sophisticated, and that first half of his life he lived there. Then the second half of his life, he was a shepherd virtually in a desert land. Very few people to communicate with or talk with just kind of isolated, and all alone. And thinking back on Egypt, when God told him that he needed to go back to Egypt to perform a certain task, he must have wondered why God would want him to do that. And what he failed to realize oftentimes is what you and I fail to realize, and that is our entire life, his preparation for what God wants to do with us. The good things we do, the bad things we do, because we can learn from them, the mistakes we make, and the things that we do well, our entire lives can be used productively by God to prepare us for greater service in the kingdom of God. In his case, both positions that he had in life, one of prominence and the other one of humility as a shepherd, both of those experiences prepared him for the task that he was being given by God to serve. So whatever you have experienced in your life, even the terrible mistakes you may have made, if you took the time to learn something from those experiences that you can pass on as wisdom, as knowledge, to help someone else, then it was not in vain. Then God can use even our mistakes for good things to be produced through us to help others and encourage others. Now let's go, of course, to Exodus chapter 5 and verse 1. It says afterward, Moses went in and told Pharaoh, and leading up to this, of course, Moses was giving his brother Aaron to help him and sent to Pharaoh to tell Pharaoh to let his people go. Afterwards, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus says the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.

And you know, there's a spiritual parallel from that. There came a time in our lives when we were being called and converted where God basically said to Satan, who's the God of this world, you need to let this one go, because I'm calling him or her to a very special life. And I want that person, he or she, to celebrate and worship me in this land, this thing we called earth, this wilderness they live in, because there's strangers and pilgrims in this land. But I'm telling you, Satan, this person is special to me. Let them go, because they want to celebrate my feast days and holy days. They want to, even in this wilderness that they live in, live the right way of life. Verse 2, and Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? Pharaoh couldn't understand. Egypt had hundreds of gods. The last thing they need is yet another god to believe, and they already had plenty of their own. He was unfamiliar with this Yahweh, this God of Israel. I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go. So they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God lest he fall on us. That's you people, the Egyptians, and us the Israelites, with pestilence or with a sword. So here, see here that Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh to request freedom for the people. And again, this was most likely a Pharaoh known as Amenotep II, who had ruled about five years by this time.

Scholars date his accession to the throne about 1454. That's 1454 BC in what they call the high chronology. I'm not going to bore you with the difference between high chronology and low chronology. Some scholars do different things with volcanoes and their effect on earth and tree rings and radio card and 1480. So I'm not even going to go there. But I'm just going to tell you that those who date these things using high chronology say that Amenotep came to the throne about 1454 BC. History records him as arrogant, egotistical.

Moses warns him that if Israel isn't allowed to go into the desert to worship, catastrophic things are going to happen to us. And you know what? The earliest plagues, that's exactly what happened. Terrible things happened to us. They happened in Egypt and they happened in the land of Goshen. We'll see that in a minute. But with this encounter with Pharaoh, they discover what Pharaoh's cycle, his technique, is going to be. Pharaoh's going to be told, let my people go. Pharaoh's going to say, no, God is going to punish the nation. Pharaoh or the people will relent and he'll say, Moses, please, and I'm being on our behalf, please go to God, tell God to stop it. God will stop it. Well, then Pharaoh will change his mind.

Once again, Moses will go and say, let my people go. Pharaoh will say, no, and the cycle repeats over and over again for plague after plague after plague. And eventually, there are ten plagues. I'm just going to go through these very quickly so that we can all kind of see and understand the importance of the plagues. What the plagues were about were ridiculing and mocking the Egyptian gods. Every plague humiliated a popular Egyptian god among the Egyptian people.

Until it got to the tenth plague. Pharaoh himself thought he was a god. His family were gods. So even when you get to the tenth plague and the death of the firstborn, that was the ultimate mocking of a man who thought that he was a god and couldn't stop or prevent his own son from dying. If he were a god, why couldn't he stop his own firstborn from dying? The first plague was that the Nile was turned to blood. And that was mocking, humiliating, a god that was known as Hoppe. H-A-P-I. And Hoppe was the guardian of the rivers of the Nile. Well, obviously, he wasn't very much of a guardian because the Nile turned to blood. And all the prayers and incense that Hoppe could not correct the problem that the Nile River had. Next plague was frogs. Frogs everywhere. And the Egyptians even had a god that had the head of a frog. This god was het. He was the head of a frog, and his role was to provide the right balance of frogs throughout the season.

Because there were times when the insects became so bad that you wanted to have a lot of frogs. And they would pray for frogs. The frogs would eat the insects. There were other times when they didn't want many frogs. And they would always go to this god and ask for this god's intervention. Well, when there was frogs stew everywhere. Can you imagine walking around dust? All over the place.

Where there were frog guts everywhere. All the prayers and incense to this god did not stop the plague of the frogs. Then there was the third plague. There was swarms of lights and gnats. There were two gods that were humiliated here. One was Geb, who was the earth god of the dust. And then there was Kepir, who was a scarab beetle god. And you may have seen, if you've seen pictures of ancient Egyptian monuments or whatever, you'll see oftentimes this scarab beetle.

And this god was supposed to control the insect world so it would not get out of control and destroy the Egyptian frogs. But all the prayers and the insects to this scarab beetle god did not work. And the swarms of the lights and gnats were everywhere. And you know what? These first three plagues, Israelites, the Israelites and Gosheks, suffered just as much as the Egyptians.

They experienced every one of the problems that the Egyptians did. Let's now go to Exodus chapter 8 and verse 20. And see where God is now for the remaining plagues, the fourth through the tenth, that God is going to set apart the land of Goshen. He's going to make a difference between his people and the Egyptians and the way that they suffer.

Exodus chapter 8 and verse 20. And the Lord said to Moses, rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water, then say to him, thus says the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses.

The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand. And in that day, this is something that I will set apart the land of Goshen in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between my people and your people. Tomorrow, this sign shall be.

And the fact that they experienced these first three plagues can teach us a few lessons from this experience. You know, we're not immune to the effects of this age. When a recession hits, many of our beloved brethren lose their jobs. When the economy starts going down the last time I paid for gasoline, it was just as high for me as the guy standing at the pump next to me. There wasn't a voice that came out of heaven and said, this is my son, 20% off. It doesn't work that way. When the economy suffer, when things start going wrong in society, the people that God has called and that he loves oftentimes experience the same physical shortages, the same difficulties as everyone else.

When tragedies happen in the world, they may also happen to us. But we need to understand that when it is time, when it's God's will, he can and will protect us from the terrible events that are yet to come in the future. Just like he set apart the land of Goshen, a time will come in the future when, according to his will, he will set apart his people.

And he will make a difference between the people of the world and those whom he has called so that his children will not suffer the terror and the tragic deaths and the things that are going to occur to so many people in this world. He can protect us and build a hedge about his people during times of national or international crisis. It's of course for us to ask God. We have to do our part and ask God for his divine protection and then we just have to have, of course, the faith that God will certainly do it, just like he did in the remainder of these plagues.

And let me go through them quickly. The fourth plague was flies. Flies everywhere.

If you just had one pesky fly in your lifetime, we all have, I see a lot of smiles. I want you to imagine 10,000 pesky flies all landing on your lips, going up your nose, landing in your hair, just everywhere. And there was a God for that. There was an Egyptian God. It was Yudecip. Yudecip was the God who was in the form of a fly. And again, his role was to make sure that the fly population didn't get out of control in Egypt. But all their prayers to this God and burning all the incense did not stop the fact that there were flies everywhere.

The fifth plague was a disease on the cattle. And, of course, the Egyptians had gods for that. For a bull, they had a God called Apis, A-P-I-S, and then there was a female version, Hathor, was the cow god. But as much as they prayed to the bull god and the cow goddess, the disease on the cattle didn't go away. Then the sixth plague was boils and sores all over the bodies. And there were gods Sekhmet, who was the goddess of healing. Her counterpart was Serapis, who was the god of healing. And then they prayed to another god, the god of medicine, Imhotep. But as much as they prayed, the big incense, those sores and those boils didn't go away. Not until God decided it was time to go away. The seventh was a hail on their crops and on their cattle. Seth was a god who was the protector of crops. Didn't do a good job when they saw all their crops beaten down on the ground and smattered the reams by hail. All the incense and prayer of Seseph didn't do any good. There was another god known as Nut, appropriately named on my land. Nut was the sky goddess.

Nut didn't do a very good job. He must have been a nutcase because hail came out of the sky and fell on all the crops and beat the cattle. The eighth plague was locust. Locust came out of everywhere. If you thought flies were fun, wait until you have millions of locusts everywhere. And, of course, Seth was the protector of crops. I believe I mentioned Seth a minute ago regarding the hail. And then Issus was the goddess of life. But Issus wasn't doing a very good job since crops were totally being destroyed. The last two plagues were the most severe. They went after the two most respected and mightiest gods in Egyptian society. The ninth plague was darkness. And the mightiest of the gods in the sky by the Egyptians was considered Ra, the sun god. A lot of the pharaohs have the name Ra associated with the sun god. He was the mightiest of the gods. There was also another god, Atom, who was the god of the setting sun. But darkness fell upon Egypt. It said it was so dark you couldn't see your hands. That's how dark it was. All the flares and incense the Ra didn't bring the light back until God said it was time to bring the light back. And then, of course, the tenth plague, which we'll look at in more detail, was the death of the first form.

And this was ridiculing Osiris, who was the giver of life, and Pharaoh himself, whom the Egyptian people believed was a living god. Was God in the flesh. So those were a synopsis of the ten plagues and the gods that were being challenged. As we prepare to read about the final plague, I want you to think about how the Israelites had an important part to play, and that all ties in with faith. We're going to see that in order for them to be spared, so that their firstborn would not die, they had to kill a lamb, they had to place its blood on the door post, on the lentils, on the on the sides of the doors, and that was something they had to do. That was their part, and they were responsible to do it. All the faith in the world wouldn't help a family to be protected from the death angel if they did not take blood, and did not put that blood on the lentil and on the door post, as they were instructed. The point that I'm trying to get across here is the very definition of faith must always include us doing something. It includes action. It includes doing our parts, and letting God do the rest. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 23. Save your spot and exit us, though. We'll be going back there in a few minutes. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 23.

This is known as the faith chapter, and as we prepare to look in close detail with this final blade, I thought this would be helpful for us to understand, to give it context. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 23.

I'm going to be reading from a version called the New Century version of the Bible.

Follow me with whatever translation you have. Here's what it says. It was by faith that Moses' parents hit him for three months after he was born. They saw that Moses was a beautiful baby, and they were not afraid to obey the king's order. Now let me stop right there. Did they have faith?

Absolutely! But they demonstrated their faith by hiding the baby for three months. You see, that's doing something. That's an action, hiding the baby for three months. Did they have faith?

Absolutely they had faith, but they disobeyed the king's order. You see, that's doing something.

That's doing their part, and then believing that God will do the rest. Verse 24.

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of the king of Egypt's daughter. He chose to suffer with God's people instead of enjoying sin for a short time. He thought it was better to suffer for the Christ than to have all the treasures of Egypt because he was looking for God's reward. Did he have faith? Well, of course he had faith. We're told here he had faith, but how did he demonstrate that faith? Well, it says that he refused something. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to suffer. You see, that's doing something.

That shows that that faith is alive and active and living. He was looking for God's reward. Verse 27.

It was by faith that Moses left Egypt and was not afraid of the king's anger. Moses continued strong as if he could see the God that no one can see. It was by faith that Moses prepared to pass over and spread the blood on the doors so that the one who brings death would not kill the first-born sons of Israel. And it was by faith that the people crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land. But when the Egyptians tried it, they were drowned. So the point that I want to bring out here and focus on as we look at the events of the 10th plague in the Exodus is saying that we have faith is a good thing, brethren, but showing that we have faith by the things we actually do is far better.

Because it shows that faith in us is alive and active. It's doing something. It's going beyond us believing it's doing what we can do. Let's now go back to Exodus, Exodus chapter 11 and verse 1, and begin to look at in more detail the preparation here for this final plague that would result in the Exodus and, of course, the Passover that made it happen. Exodus chapter 11 and verse 1. It says, Then the Lord said to Moses, I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.

Speak now in the hearing of the people and let every man ask his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor articles of silver and articles of gold and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people. So this is the first indication by faith.

It hasn't happened yet that they will leave Egypt very quickly, but they have to do something. They have to go to their neighbors. Now, this takes a little bit of oldness. They have to go to their neighbors and say, excuse me, would you just hand over all of your precious metals? I'd appreciate that. Thank you so much. So, you see, their faith wasn't just believing in something. Their faith was doing something. But to help this, I want you to notice something that we oftentimes forget in verse 3. God gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Do you know that before we go to a job interview, before we go do something difficult, that we should and can ask for God's favor in the eyes of that person? Are you interviewing for a job before you go into that interview? Ask God to have that person favor you, to give you favor. I'd like to tell you a story about this hall that we're meeting in. I went to all kinds of rental properties. Many realtors, as soon as I said I had a church, it was the phone, the other end of the phone was like, click. I went to one of the largest realtors in this area who will remain nameless. Had all kinds of places to rent throughout Brunswick and Strongsville and Berea. They're perhaps the largest realtor that represents so many people if you want to lease off a space. And first my daughter called and nothing happened. And I thought, well maybe it's because she's a female. There are a lot of males shown as pigs in the world. So maybe because she's a female, he didn't take her seriously. So I called him. I said, hi, I'm Greg Thomas, and I'm representing the United Church of God. I'm the late pastor, which I was at the time, and we're looking for all the space. We need about 2000. I gave him all the permits. Oh, that's great! I'll give you a call back. I'm still waiting. That was like two and a half months ago. Many individuals, as soon as they found out you're a church, they're afraid of what the other neighbors within the facility will feel about having a church in their office space. Well, the evening before I came to see this, I asked God, because now I've seen a lot of properties, and I asked God to give us favor. And I knew something was up when I came flying through that front door, and the owner of the property, the husband and wife, came up immediately. As soon as I walked through the door, put out their hands and introduced themselves to me.

Now, at this point, I haven't said anything about a church. All they know is I'm coming here to look at potential space police. And I talked to the realtor, and he was favorable towards me. And he went and talked to them. And I'll never forget when I spoke to the person who owns this building again, who happens to run the offices in the front of the building, she said, I have no problem with a church being in this building. Now, God gave us favor. That's an example of the power of prayer. So many knows from so many places trying to rent facilities because we were a church. And God can intervene when it's time, and he can move people's hearts and minds to look favorably upon us. And we certainly need to pray for that. That's very important, brethren. So here they were told to go to their neighbor and ask them for the silver and their articles of silver and articles of gold. And I want you to again remember that God intervened so that the Egyptians would be kind and would be willing to give up their precious medals to the Israelites who asked. That is a miracle.

If you don't think it's a miracle, I want you tomorrow to walk up to a perfect stranger and say, excuse me, would you hand me over your ring and your watch? I'd certainly appreciate it. It would mean a lot to me. And see what kind of positive, enthusiastic response you get out of making that request. You see this again was God's divine intervention and why was this important?

Because these items later would be used to make valuable utensils and ornaments in the Holy Tabernacle. When they were in the desert and it came time to create all of these ornaments and items for the Tabernacle, where do you think the silver and gold came from? The Israelites had it because they had plundered the Egyptians. Let's go to verse 4. Then Moses said, Thus says the Lord about midnights, I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, and the firstborn a Pharaoh who sifts on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. So it's like if you're a mammal and you're a firstborn, you're in serious trouble here, even if you're a cow or any type of an animal. Verse 6, Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall it be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue against a man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, Get out! And all the people who follow you, after that I will go out.

Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. But the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not heed you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. So Moses and Aaron did all of these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of the land. A couple of things here, brother. First of all, God made a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And today, God still makes a difference between his children, whom he is called and given his Holy Spirit to. He makes a difference between those whom he has called and converted, in contrast to those who are blinded or those who openly resist God. We have a special favor because of the calling that God has given us. Moses was angry because of this simple fact. He struggled with how one egotistical and very stupid man would cause great pain and terror for tens of thousands of families in Egypt. I mean, this was down to the 10th plague. Pharaoh, how many times do you need to get whacked to understand that this God means business?

The first plague, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, he didn't get the point.

This is the big time. The firstborn of everyone's child, the firstborn of every animal, will die.

And Moses was furious that this egotistical, stubborn man would allow all of this carnage and death rather than allowing Israel to go free. And that's why Moses was angry. Let's now go to chapter 12, verse 1.

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be your beginning of months, which shall be the first month of the year to you.

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, on the tenth day 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, because Jesus Christ was without sin. Of course, we know this Passover lamb represents the role of Jesus Christ, a male of the first year on the young side.

You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

You shall keep it into the fourteen today of the same month, and 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-door post and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it.

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, that's the flesh of the lamb, roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it.

So, let's examine this a little more closely. First of all, God is changing the way Israel celebrated a new year.

It would now be in the springtime, a month called Abib in Egypt.

In the culture they were coming out of, the new year began either in June or July. It began at the rising of the appearance of the star Sirius.

And because their calendar didn't have 360 days, that constantly was shifting from year to year.

But God said, no, the beginning of the year isn't summertime.

And why wasn't summertime for the Egyptians? Because this was the time when the Nile would flood.

And that was for them the beginning of a new season when the Nile was flooded.

Because that's when it brought all that silt out and covered the ground and they could plant their crops and they could continue to thrive and survive from the crops that came from the flooding of the Nile.

But God says here, on this new month that he called Abib, the tenth day, the head of the house would choose an unblemished lamb to be kept until the evening of the 14th day. The lamb symbolized, of course, Jesus Christ. And then after sunset, twilight means after sunset that before it gets dark, that period of time in the evening, the lamb was to be killed and its blood was shed on the doorpost and the lentil of each home.

The original Passover was a family festival.

It wasn't until the tabernacle was erected that it became more of a national celebration in which everyone brought their lamb to be slaughtered by the priest. At this time, it was a family festival. And if your family was too small, if there were only two or three of you, then you were to get a nearby family and celebrate the Passover together as a group.

We know, of course, that the lamb's blood represented the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the salvation for all of us who were in his house. Think about it. This was a family affair, and the blood was shed so that the people in that house would be saved that night.

The lamb of God shed his blood so that those in the household of faith can be spared, can be forgiven of their sins, and can go to freedom, go to a whole new world of opportunity in their lives because of what Jesus Christ did for us.

Let's now go to verse 9, chapter 12 and verse 9.

We know, of course, that the unleavened bread represents the righteousness of Christ, and it's his righteousness that makes our salvation possible.

Chapter 12, verse 9.

Do not eat it raw, this is speaking of the Passover, lamb, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.

This was a sacrifice, picturing Jesus Christ, and to be acceptable to God, it needed to be a total sacrifice, roasted over a fire. Now, why roasted?

Because roasting ensured that it would remain whole, and that its bones would not be broken.

Have you ever put something in a crock pot and cooked it for hours and hours, like maybe a small chicken or whatever, and what happens? It falls apart. You grab one of the little legs, come on, right? That's why it wasn't to be boiled. It was roasted because Jesus Christ was one whole, complete sacrifice, not pieces and parts, one whole complete sacrifice, and that's what the roasting represented, and of course, to fulfill prophecy, the bones were not to be broken.

Verse 11, and you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, with sandals on your feet, with a staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover. I will pass through the land of Egypt in that night, and I will strike the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. God says, I'm going to put all the gods to shame, not just those that I've already ridiculed. I'm putting the hundreds of gods that Egypt has to shame by bringing out this small, insignificant group of people, humiliating the most powerful nation on earth, and bringing these people out to freedom.

At that time, like in ours, most meals were eaten in a relaxed environment, and everyone labored as they slowly ate their meals. That's what we do today. But this Passover was different.

Anciently, the death angel would strike Egypt that night after midnight, and Israel was told to stay in their homes until morning. But the next day, things would get very hectic. The next morning, Pharaoh would summon Moses and Aaron, and he would tell Israel, get out. Because he's going to say to Israel, I have two commands for you. Get out and stay out. And the next day would be very hectic.

They would be rushing to leave Egypt in a rush, with no time to cook meals, not even time to stop at their neighbors, and ask for articles of silver and gold. That's why they did it ahead of time.

Now, is there an analogy for us that this Passover was a time when they were told to be rushing, to have a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, eat it in haste, like you're going to do something quickly? Let's go to 2 Timothy, chapter 2. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 22.

The story here is that when it's time to leave sin, or a problem, when you recognize it, then it's time to go, go quickly. Don't compromise with your sin. Don't compromise with your problem.

Don't go into an intensive Bible study for 35 years about your problem. Leave it now.

Leave it quickly. Timothy, Paul wrote to Timothy here in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 22.

Plea also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the name of the Lord out of your heart. He says, Plea these things. Plea sin. Don't linger. Don't sit around. Don't talk about it. Don't study it until the cows come home. When you notice something about yourself that you need to change, do it now. I can't tell you throughout how many, the 40 years that I've been in the church, how many people almost came into the church but then hesitated, were visited by a minister and said, Yeah, I'll be there. I'm going to come next Sabbath and had read booklets and seen broadcasts and all those things, and they just couldn't make that. Finally was something that held them back, and they never came. And when God opens our minds to His truth, to His way of life, to experience something new and wonderful and beautiful, and He says, It's time to get out of the world. We need to go quickly. We need to rush towards God's way of life.

And the same after we're converted, we need to flee from the problems that we have and that we struggle with, continuing in verse 23, but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And the servant of the Lord was not quarrel, but be gentle to all able to teach patient and humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth. Verse 26, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Pharaoh wanted to keep Israel in slavery. He was told so many times, Let my people go.

He didn't want to let them go. He was representative of Satan. Satan doesn't want to let us go.

Has anyone here since the day that you were converted have just an easy life?

Satan said, All right, I give up. That's it. Goodbye. Have a nice day. Have a good life.

Now, we've all been through trials. We've all been through afflictions. We've all been stressed.

We've all gone through emotional difficulties and physical difficulties in our lives. Satan never wants to let us go. But we have to pull hard and we have to flee and we have to do everything we can to escape the snare of the devil having been taken captive by him to do his will.

We no longer want to be slaves to Satan. Just like the Israelites no longer wanted to be slaves to Pharaoh. When we recognize that we have a need to leave a particular sin, which is our own Egypt, let's do it quickly and with determination. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, we're wise if we heed to the guidance of God's Holy Spirit and we start making changes in our lives. We don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit, which was the whole context of Ken Martin's sermon that we had here last Sabbath about grieving the Holy Spirit. Let's now go to Exodus chapter 12 and verse 13. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 13. It says, Now the blood shall be assigned for you in the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat on leavened bread, and on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats on leavened bread, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation or a holy gathering or a convention, and on the seventh day there will be a holy gathering or a convention for you. No matter of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you. Verse 17. So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on that same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. And God's people still do the day.

Now we keep the new covenant Passover, and we keep the new covenant holy days, including the spring holy days, and I will talk about that more next Sabbath. But indeed, we respect and we love and we observe God's holy days because we know they reveal God's plan. It says that He would pass over them. Now those who had blood on their homes were passed over. You know what the word Passover means? Well, it comes from a Hebrew word, paksek, meaning literally to hop or to skip over something.

And God said, when you do what I ask you to do, the death angel will hop, skip over your house, and will go on to someone else's house. And if they don't have blood in their doorposts, then the firstborn in that home will die. And as I said, we in the New Testament Church of God observe the Passover in the days of unleavened bread, not only because God commands them, but because of their rich spiritual meaning. And again, we'll discuss that more next week. Let's now go to verse 18 in Exodus 12. It says, in the first month, on the 14th day of the month of Emon, you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month of evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. The unleavened bread that we eat during the spring holy days is reflective of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He was the perfect Lamb of God, sacrificed in our stead. And where we fall short, what we lack, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, makes up for it, because He dwells in us. And it is for that reason that we continue to have a loving relationship with our Father. Verse 21, then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said, to then pick up and take a lamb for yourselves according to your family and kill the Passover lamb. Well, this part's a little different than we read earlier. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil on the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.

And none of you shall go out until morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when He sees the blood on the lentil in the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door, and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. Now stop right there for a minute.

What is hyssop? Well, hyssop is a common plant that was available at that time. It grew about a foot and a half high. It had spear-shaped leaves that had the smell of aroma, and they were literally to use it like a paintbrush. But the reason they would use it is it had no cleansing properties. It was used as a cleaner. It was used medicinally. People would eat it to help cure diseases when they needed their bodies cleansed of disease. And the reason God said to use hyssop is it demonstrates the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

So, combined, you had the hyssop, which was a cleanser, tied in with that lamb's blood, which was put at the lintel in the doorpost, which altogether represented the fact that the blood of the Lamb of God cleanses us from our sins. And that's a very important analogy. Let's go to 1st John chapter 1 and verse 5. 1st John chapter 1 and verse 5, and read about this.

John wrote, this is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Again, that's a direct analogy of that hyssop plant, that cleansing, medicinal plant, being dipped in that lamb's blood and put on the house lintel in the doorpost to spare them, to protect them from the death angel. 1st Aide, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And that unleavened bread that we will eat, that we will be eating for seven days, represents to us Jesus Christ, the righteousness in us. And that's why we eat it. And that's why we consume the righteousness of Jesus Christ, physically representing what hopefully we are doing every day as we usher our prayers to the heavens, as we study the Word of God, as we do things that literally digest God's way of life, and to every part of our being, and to every part of our body. Now, brethren, if you will go with me to Exodus chapter 12, and we'll put it up in verse coming up. Exodus chapter 12 and verse 29. It says, in a king to pass at midnight, the Lord of stroke called the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn, Pharaoh, who sat in the throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt.

You can imagine tens of thousands of firstborns dying in that nation. For there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, rise, go out from among my people both you and the children of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said.

Also take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone. And bless me, oh by the way, bless me also, says. Just a little side note while you're at it before you walk out the door, bless me. And the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said we will all be dead if this continues. These kind of plagues to continue, the entire nation will be destroyed. So Pharaoh sent messengers to Moses and Aaron while it was still dark. Obviously they weren't firstborns. And they told him that Pharaoh wants you to go, and they want you to leave tomorrow. So the morning after the Passover, the Israelites gathered their belongings and they rushed out of Egypt, verse 34, so the people took their dough before it was leaven and their kneading bolts found up in their clothes on their shoulders.

Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians, articles of silver, articles of gold and clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians and the children of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Sukhov, about 600,000 men on foot, besides children that could be up to two and a half, three million people total, if you include all the women and children. Verse 38, a mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds and a great deal of livestock, and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years, and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years on the very same day that came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. You know, when we were first called brethren, we were given something very precious by God. We immediately weren't given silver and gold and clothing, but when we were converted, we received the riches of God's grace, the greatest gift that anyone could receive, and that is the gift of eternal life.

That's the gift that we received immediately. And prophecy tells us that when Jesus Christ returns, that the resurrected saints will inherit all things, and that will be all the gold and all the silver, and everything that this world clings to now so tightly as their own will be given to the resurrected saints of Jesus Christ, who of course, as servant leaders, will give it all back to rebuild the world.

You know, our intention isn't to hoard things. Our intention is to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to give back all the wealth of the world to rebuild the world so that all people can know and understand and love God's way of life. Now let's go to verse 42. It says, it is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for the children of Israel throughout their generations.

And the New Century Version says, that night of the Lord kept watch to bring them out of Egypt. And so, on this same night, the Israelites are to keep watch to honor the Lord from now on. And this is referring to the night after Israel was literally departing from Egypt.

We know it as the night to be much observed. And it's also the evening of the first day of Lot and Lev and Brett. And we will gather together that night to remember that freedom was achieved by Israel when they left Egypt.

They were no longer physical slaves. And in a similar way, that night, hopefully, we will ponder the fact, because we were called and given the Holy Spirit of God, that we are no longer slaves to sin, and no longer slaves, bondservants to the God in this world, who is Satan the devil. Well, brethren, secular history tells us that Ahmotev II, as I mentioned before, was the possible pharaoh of the Exodus, that he was a proud and arrogant king.

And he tried to resist the will of God. And, of course, God is omnipotent, and it's not a healthy thing to resist the will of God. Pharaoh brought great suffering upon himself and his nation by his stubbornness.

And, you know, we can do that to ourselves. If we're stubborn, if we're not yielding to the will of God, we can bring great suffering on ourselves and on our families. So there's a lesson to be learned by the example of Pharaoh. Moses took no joy in Egypt's suffering. We too often bring great suffering on ourselves when we either resist God's will, or we neglect heeding a warning that God is sending to us through his Holy Spirit.

And sometimes it's that small, still voice in us that says, you should feel good about what you're doing.

You should feel good about what you're thinking. You should feel good about what you just said.

Sometimes that's God's Spirit giving us a warning that something is not right. We need to yield to the will of God. Well, you know, secular history reports, of course, that Amenhotep died.

And who became the next Pharaoh according to history after Amenhotep died? It wasn't his firstborn. According to secular history, his firstborn disappears from history. No one knows what happened to him. But another son became the Pharaoh after Amenhotep II. He was Thutmose IV.

And he had a unique way to explain it. And this monument stands before the Sphinx to this very day. And here's how he said it happened. He said, I shouldn't have become Pharaoh because I wasn't the firstborn. But one day I was out hunting, and the Sphinx was covered with sand. And the God said to me that if you remove all this sand from me and restore me to my full glory, I will make you the Pharaoh of Egypt. And sure enough he did. He said, and that's how I became the Pharaoh of Egypt.

That's what secular history records. So it wasn't the firstborn of Amenhotep who became the next Pharaoh of Egypt. And history clearly records that fact.

In closing, I would like you to think about something from an American perspective that I believe ties in very closely with the Passover. And you'll see why in a minute.

Slavery is a grave and horrendous sin. Whether we enslave other human beings or Satan enslaves us and makes us his slaves, it is a grave and horrendous sin. To gain wealth and power in the backs of other human beings, to do that reaps a terrible price. When our nation was found that the issue of slavery was pushed aside by our founding fathers, and it had to be resolved in a very bloody way by another generation. The penalty this nation paid for enslaving other people was enormous. We're beginning this, they say, celebration. It's actually the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. And Americans committed a terrible sin by the sin of slavery.

I'd like you to think of some statistics here as we ponder in the Passover.

As a result of the Civil War, 620,000 soldiers died in that war. More Americans than any other war that we've ever fought in. I wonder how many of those 620,000 young men were firstborns.

In the South, one out of four, one out of four white southern soldiers died as the result of the Civil War. I wonder how many of those young men were firstborns. The war ended when General Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. You know what began that night? After they signed the documents, it was the eve of the Passover in 1865. You see, unknowingly, Lee and Grant were beginning the healing process for a nation that had just shed much blood because of the sin of slavery. It's a reoccurring theme that's happened throughout history.

Slavery is a terrible sin. And we should always feel great joy knowing that because of what Jesus Christ did for us, we no longer are slaves to sin, that we no longer are enslaved by the Prince, of the power of the air, and the God of this world. What great joy that should give us. That alone should encourage us and motivate us to be the people and to have all the enthusiasm and deal that God wants us to have about his way of life. So, as we prepare for the Passover this year, let's remember the history and the symbolism of the original Passover that we discussed that occurred in 1443 BC. And next Sabbath, we will discuss together how we as individuals, each and every one of us alone, can get the most fulfillment from this year's Passover. Have a happy Sabbath!