Remember, Remember

Thank you to the Youth Choir. Beautiful song, beautiful message. Very much appreciated.

Brother in the world around us is full of memorials.

What do I mean by that? I mean full of them. Full of memorials. What I mean by that is the specific times on our calendar in which we remember something which took place long ago. And then, annually, we commemorate that thing in a way of trying to remember what it was that took place, and to hopefully remember the lessons that we learned from that event. One such memorial, which is way bigger in Canada than it is here, is Remembrance Day. Many of you are probably familiar with Remembrance Day. On November 11th, it honors those armed service members that died during World War I. And one of the very specific ways that Remembrance Day is commemorated is through the wearing of a red poppy. Red poppy. They commemorate that with that red poppy because that red poppy is a juxtaposition between the beauty of the poppies that lined the battlefields that these men were fighting and dying on, and the absolute atrocities and nightmare of war conditions.

And so, this same day is celebrated as Veterans Day here in the United States, honoring all who have ever served, and other parts of the world call it Armistice Day. But it's a memorial. It's a remembrance. Here in the United States, we commemorate Memorial Day. We have Memorial Day at the end of May. It honors the men and the women who sacrificed their lives in service of the United States and the numerous wars that we have fought. On January 27th, annually, the world pauses to remember the events of the Holocaust as part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day. Some of you might be familiar with Guy Fawkes. It commemorates the failed gunpowder plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes and a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the British Parliament unsuccessfully. But Guy Fawkes Day is November 5th. April 26th commemorates the Chernobyl disaster. Remember the Chernobyl disaster. June 30th, fun fact, International Asteroid Day. I don't know if you knew that or not, but it is! It's International Asteroid Day, and the reason they chose June 30th is because on June 30th, 1908, the Tunguska event happened in Siberia. Massive asteroid impacted into Russia. Even today. Even today, April 6th, has a day of remembrance attached to it. It's New Beer's Eve. I'm sorry, it is. It is the day. It's very tongue-in-cheek. I don't know that it's really commemorated anywhere, but certain places probably. But it was the last day, April 6th, right before Prohibition was repealed on April 7th, 1933. And so they call it New Beer's Eve. But for us today, for us today, there is even another more and important critical memorial and remembrance that is attached to April 6th. April 6th is the Sabbath of the Lord. It's the Sabbath of the Lord. The Sabbath is a memorial. The Sabbath is a remembrance. Let's go to Exodus 20 real quick. As we kind of build this concept of a memorial, we build this concept of a remembrance as we go in the direction that we're going to head today. Exodus 20. And we'll see the codification, so to speak, or the giving that God provided Moses of the commandments. Exodus 20. And we'll go ahead and we'll kind of skim through Exodus 20 beginning in verse 1. Exodus 20 and verse 1. We'll see just generally the 10 commandments as they were received by Moses. And we see the first and the second and the third commandments outlined. But what God instructed in chapter 4, chapter 4, I'm sorry, verse 4, or first four, the fourth commandment in verse 8, it says, Remember, it says, Remember the Sabbath day. It says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It says, Six days you shall work and or shall labor and do all of your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God in it. You shall do no work nor your nor you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, oddly specific, nor your stranger who is within your gates. The Hebrew word that's used here for Remember is zakar. It's zakar. And it translates in a lot of different ways in Scripture. It translates out to to be to name, to mention, to remember, to make known, to profess, or to praise. And as we consider this concept of zakar with, you know, the Sabbath itself, what God is inspiring Moses to record is that the Sabbath is intended to be a day that we mention, that we talk about, that it's a day that we make known, that we profess, that we remember, that we keep holy. On it, God states that we are to do no work.

That includes homework for school. It includes work that we might do as a part of our employment.

It includes passion projects and hobbies. Things that bring us a certain degree of pleasure. It includes sports, games, other things of our own pleasure. Not only are we not to do our own work, but it says we can't voice that on our kids or our servants either. We can't decide that we're going to keep the Sabbath, but they're not going to. We're going to voice it on them and make them work in our place. Our children aren't to work. Our servants aren't to work. Our cattle aren't to work. The foreigner that resides in our gates, we're not to put them to work either, even though they might not keep the Sabbath in that sense. So there are principles in that as well.

In other words, the entire household is to cease from work. We see that here. We see it in various places throughout Scripture. The question is why. Why? Verse 11, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore it says the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

So we stop our work to memorialize or to remember the Sabbath, to commemorate, to recall, to bring to mind, to make known, to mention all those things as a car entails the work that our great God did during creation. He blessed it. He hallowed it. And so it is a weekly time period for us to memorialize, to go back and remember, to come before Him in that remembrance. Now Leviticus 23, we're not going to turn there, Leviticus 23 lists and records a series of annual Sabbaths that God instructed us to remember each year. And He instructed us to recall and to ultimately memorialize each year as well. So we're not going to turn there. We go through that section of Scripture pretty frequently. Instead, what we're going to do is go to Exodus 12 and take a look at the first couple of those that are listed. Exodus 12, if you would turn over there with me, what we're going to explore today and dig into today is the beginning part of this Holy Day calendar that God provides us. Beginning with the early spring Holy Days, concluding later in the fall, we see this particular calendar and each of the days that are mentioned throughout Leviticus 23 and ultimately enumerated throughout other passages in Scripture, each of these days commemorates and reminds us of very specific aspects of God's plan. And in that sense, each one is a memorial. Each one is a remembrance in that sense. Exodus 12, what we see is that it describes the instructions of the Passover. Exodus 12, beginning in verse 1. Exodus 12 and verse 1 says, Now the Lord 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. Since that time, this month has become known as a bib. It's the month of a bib and it's also known as the month of the son. Okay, so we have our nice in whichever way you want to pronounce it. This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Verse 3, speak to all the congregation of Israel saying, On the tenth of the 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 persons according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. Verse 5, Your lamb shall be without blemish. It should be unspotted. It should be without blemish. A male of the first year you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Verse 6 says, 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 so we see these instructions provided. Israel was to take an unblemished lamb from the flock for their household on the tenth of the month. They were to keep that lamb with them until the fourteenth of the month at twilight when the whole assembly of Israel would kill their lambs. Now we recognize you go back through and look at the timing and the instructions of God. This took place during a period of time between sundown and when darkness fully set on the beginning of the fourteenth of Abib. Verse 6 again says, 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 why is it that we had to wait until... or why is it the beginning of the fourteenth of Abib and not the end? Because if it's at the end of the fourteenth of Abib, then all of the rest of this is taking place on the fifteenth because sundown will have already taken place. It doesn't work. It doesn't work in accordance with God's instructions. So what we end up seeing here is as it goes on, verse 7, there were some things they needed to do with this lamb that they had just killed.

It says, They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts. Boy, plosives. My apologies. On the two doorposts.

Posts. Thank you, sound crew. They're just looking at me like, well stop saying the letter P.

It's pretty easy. On the door hosts. It just doesn't sound quite the same. Put it on the two...

Sorry. And on the lintel 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. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. Verse 10, you shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning, ultimately it says you shall burn it with fire. And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hands, so you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. Verse 13, now the blood shall be assigned for you on 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. Verse 14, 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 a never-lasting ordinance. So they were to put the blood of this lamb on the doorposts and on their lentils, so that God would pass over their homes when he struck the land of Egypt with this final plague of the death of the firstborn. What makes Exodus 12 sometimes a little bit challenging is the back and forth that takes place in these instructions. We can quickly go from talking about the Passover to now suddenly talking about the days of Unleavened Bread with little to no transition, and then whip right back to talking about the Passover again.

It happens very frequently in this section. In fact, the next section we'll look at jumps over to those instructions on the days of Unleavened Bread. But when you take a look at what it is that God is referring to, and when you take a look at how he is referring to those things and the instructions he's providing Israel, it becomes clear as to what God is saying. Let's jump forward really quickly to Exodus 12, verse 22. Keep your bookmark here, keep a finger here if it ends up turning pages. But Exodus 12 and verse 22, what we see is a set of instructions that Moses provides the elders of Israel. And this is important because this establishes timing. This establishes timing.

It says, you shall take... so this is the instruction he's giving them with regards to what they are to do with the blood of this lamb that they killed at twilight on the 14th.

It says, you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.

He notices next instruction, none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

So on the night after, like the night after in the sense of the evening hours after that twilight was or the the lamb was killed at twilight, as it became dark, these were the instructions that were provided to the Israelites. They were to remain in their homes until morning while God did what God was going to do in Egypt. In other words, what we see is an instruction to the Israelites that on the Passover they were to stay in place. I know you say the word shelter in place and it brings up all kinds of, you know, horrible connotations of the last, you know, three or four years, but they were to remain in place. God did not instruct Israel to leave Egypt that night. They were to remain in their homes until morning. Okay, this helps establish timing. They were to remain in their homes until morning. At midnight that night the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. He passed over the homes that had the blood on their doors as they remained inside, protected by the blood of the Lamb. This day, God said, was a memorial. It was to be a memorial. It was to be a feast throughout their generations. So when we make a quick abrupt shift here in verse 15 over to instructions on the days of Unleavened Bread, you'll see that we're talking now about a day that is not this Passover day that's being discussed. And again, in Jewish culture and Jewish history these two days became very much interchangeable. The, you know, Feast of Passover were referenced the whole entire thing. You know, the days of Unleavened Bread referenced the Passover. There was a lot of this kind of combination of things in that sense. But what you'll see is that the focus of this day and the subsequent days that are connected to it reference coming out of Egypt. The reference coming out of Egypt. Verse 15, seven days, Exodus 12, verse 15, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. So seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats 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. On the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them but that which everyone must eat and that only may be prepared by you. So, verse 17, you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for on this same day I will have brought your armies, your ordered ranks, so to speak, as that word is translated, out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. For on this same day, on this first day of unleavened bread, he would begin that process to bring them out of Egypt. Verse 18, it continues, in the first month, on the 14th day of the month, at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at 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. In verse 18, the word evening is the Hebrew word baarev. It's essentially what translates to what we would understand today as sundown.

It's essentially the demarcation line of a Hebrew day. Sun goes down, new day begins. Interestingly enough, because of that demarcation line, the old day ends at sundown as well. It was a demarcation line on both ends of that day. Because remember, the Hebrews at that time reckoned the day night to morning. It was night to morning at that time frame. It's the same word that's used to signify the beginning of the Sabbath. Contextually, again, given in this passage and what it's discussing, we understand this to mean the sundown that begins the fifteenth of a bib, that begins the first day of unleavened bread. Again, the way the Hebrew day is reckoned, sundown occurs at the start of the day and at the end of the day. It demarcates both of those things. The day is sundown to sundown. We even use that today. We use that terminology today when we think about how we are able to do some things or not. I can only work until sundown. That's the demarcation line for the end of the day before the Sabbath begins, or why I can't work until after sundown. That demarcation is on the front and the back of those days, sundown to sundown. Passover, we see here in Exodus 12, is kept beginning at twilight, which means after sundown and before darkness fell on the 14th of a bib. That's the front side of the 14th of a bib in a concept known as Be'achar Be'in, which means between the settings. Sun going down, sky becoming fully dark. There's a time in between of those two things, which is what that's referring to as twilight. On that night, God told the Israelites to remain in their homes while He poured out that 10th plague upon Egypt. As we mentioned earlier, if that took place at twilight on the back end, that's on the 15th. That's not on the 14th. The timing does not work. There's often confusion over these things. There's often issues that come about as a result of these things. What we see instead is the first day of Unleavened Bread begins at sundown, Ba'arev, on what ends the 14th and begins the 15th. It was on that night that God told Israel to depart Egypt. That is a time that we refer to today as the night to be much remembered or the night to be observed. Exodus 12 bounces back and forth just a little bit here in context. Talks about Passover. Exodus 12, 1 to 14 shifts into days of Unleavened Bread from 15 to 20 and then shifts back into instructions relating to the Passover in 21 to 30.

Let's take a look at Exodus 13 real quick for some additional info. Exodus 13, and we're going to go ahead and begin in verse 3 because what we're going to see here is that there were actually two memorials that God desired his people to keep at this time. There were two memorials, two separate but related events that God was doing in Israel. Exodus 13, and we'll pick it up in verse 3, says Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place, no leavened bread should be eaten. On this day you are going out in the month of Bib, and it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. On leavened bread shall be eaten seven days, no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all of your quarters.

What day did Israel leave Egypt? They left Egypt on the first day of unleavened bread. They began that process of leaving Egypt on the first day of unleavened bread after sundown on the fifteenth. Verse 8, Moses continues, it says, you shall tell your son in that day, saying, this is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.

It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year. So we see the Passover is a memorial. The first day of unleavened bread is intended to be a memorial, and the night to be much remembered, the night to be much observed, is just the initial evening portion of that first day of unleavened bread. Both of these days are intended to be commemorated. Both of these days are intended to be remembered. The title of the sermon today is Remember, Remember. Some of you might recognize that as the little poem that comes with the gunpowder plot, but Remember, Remember. And the time that we have remaining, I want to examine the evening in which Israel departed Egypt. I want to take a look at that because there is a promise that we see in that of deliverance to God's people, not just then, but even now today. So go ahead and leave a bookmark here in Exodus 12, and for now, please turn with me to Numbers 33. Ironic that Carl and I were both in Numbers today. I feel like we don't really often go to Numbers, but Numbers 33, I guess this time of year, maybe a little more frequently. Numbers 33. And in this section of Numbers, what we see is a review of the journey of Israel out of Egypt. So we see a review that's ultimately provided here by Moses. He goes through and provides additional details as to where they went, when they went there, when they stopped, how they stopped, all the different things. And it helps us to establish timing. It helps us to ultimately establish the overall location of their journey. So we are going to be in Numbers 33, and we're going to pick it up in Verse 3. Numbers 33 and Verse 3. It says, they departed from Ramesses, where they ended up gathering on the day after the Passover, after they were told ultimately the morning hours, I should say, on the 14th, when they were told to gather together in those locations before they left. Verse 33 or Verse 3. They departed from Ramesses in the first month, on the 15th day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all of the Egyptians. For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them. Also on their gods, the Lord had executed judgment. According to Scripture, what we see is that Israel departed Ramesses on the next calendar day after the Passover, the 15th of Abib, and the passage in Deuteronomy 16 and Verse 1, which we'll reference, Deuteronomy 16 and Verse 1 states that Israel left Egypt by night.

That they left Egypt by night. There was a lot that had to take place as the daytime hours of the 14th of Abib progressed. They came out of their homes after being instructed to remain in them overnight to Egypt in morning. People woke up and their firstborn were dead. Unexpectedly in the night, there was not a home in Egypt that was not touched by this in some way.

And so they come out in the morning to a nation in morning. As that time frame progresses, they gathered their belongings. They gathered and assembled themselves.

Spoiled the Egyptians. They had favor in the Egyptians' eyes. They asked for things, and the Egyptians very happily handed them over. Anything you want, just get out of here! Anything you want, just get lost! Please, go! Just get this stuff and go!

And as the sun set, after the sun set, the 15th of Abib, according to Deuteronomy 16, they departed Egypt by night on the 15th of Abib. Turn back over to Exodus 12, verse 40.

Exodus 12 and verse 40. This is where we talk about and where the night to be much remembered comes into play and where I want to try to focus the remainder of our time today as we build the background that leads us to this point. Exodus 12 and verse 40.

Exodus 12 and verse 40 read as follows. This is again down at the tail end of Exodus 12. It says, Now the sojourn of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end of the 430 years on that very same day. It came to pass on that very same day that all the armies of the Lord, all the ranked, you know, organized ranks of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

What day did they go out from Egypt? They left on the 15th at night. 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, which is not the best translation. It's a night of vigil, is what it actually states in the Hebrew, a night of vigil, you know, a night to be vigilant and watch for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. God desired that they remember that night. God desired that they remember that night. He wanted them to remember what it was that God had done for them in their deliverance. He wanted them to remember those things. But brethren, in some ways, it was a lot more than that. In some ways, it was a lot more than that. It was to be a night of vigil, a solemn observance of God's involvement and God's providence in their lives. And that went back way before Egypt. That went way before Egypt. Verse 41 actually hints at the connection. It says, at the end of 430 years, on that very same day, you might see some translations say, on that self same day, it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. Which begs the question, the very same day is what? On the very same day is what? Let's go to Genesis 15.

Genesis 15. Prior to Genesis 15, what we see is God come to Abraham. We see him tell him to leave his country, tell him to leave his family, leave everything behind, and essentially go to the place where God instructed him to go. We see Abraham obey. I've often wondered what that would look like today, like if I just showed up and said, listen, Shannon, look, God told me we've got to move. We're going to move over here. Give me that. Huh? Did he? Really? I would hope she'd go, okay, cool. It makes you wonder what that would look like a little bit today. As you think about how Abraham, or Abram at this time, came to his wife and had that conversation, to be on a fly on the wall would have been an interesting thing to examine how he prepped her for that. Listen, I have this thing. It's going to sound crazy, okay? But hear me out. So what we see is he does absolutely follow God. He does obey God. He faithfully follows him. He leaves his family, leaves his country. God blesses him exceedingly. As God and Abraham's relationship develop, God continued to bless Abraham throughout that development. And what we see in Genesis 15 is God ratifies, so to speak, the promises into a covenant that he makes with Abraham, formalizes them in some way. Genesis 15 in verse 1. If you want to take a look here, Genesis 15 in verse 1, it says, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. And by the way, after which things? After what's in verse 14 when Melchizedek arrives with bread and wine to Abraham. It says 15, verse 1, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. So he says, I don't even have an heir. It's my servant. It's going to inherit it all. Eliezer's going to end up, you know, getting all of it. Well, what God says...

Sorry. Verse 3. Then Abram said, Look, you've given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside, and he said, Look now toward heaven. Count the stars if you're able to number them.

And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. So it's nighttime. They step out to look at the stars. It's evening. He says, So shall your descendants be. Count them. Your descendants will be as great as the stars in the sky. You'll have this many descendants. One, two, three, four, five, six, so many. And one of the things I think that's really incredible about Abraham is the faith that he places in God's promises. He sees this promise, and Abraham believed that God would provide him an heir. They weren't certain exactly at that time what that would look like specifically, but he promises that Abram's descendants would be greater in number, or at least measurably in number as the stars. So we have a nighttime situation. Verse 7. Then he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to inherit it.

And he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it? And so God tells Abraham, or Abram at the time, he said to him, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. What we see is Abraham obeys. He brought all these things to God, and he cut them in two down the middle, placing each piece opposite the other. He says he did not cut the birds in two. They were too small. You know, and that was a part of the regulations with regards to this. In verse 11, and when the vultures came down on the carcass, Abram drove them away. Vultures are diurnal. They do their activity during the day. They're not nocturnal. So this is morning hours. This is daylight time when this is taking place. So we've had an evening of conversation with God. We now have a daytime in which Abraham is preparing the sacrifices. He's doing all the...or I should say offerings. These aren't technically a sacrifice in the way they were presented, but he's putting these things forth, and he's getting this all set up. According to Keel and Delich, which is a decidedly Jewish commentary, this particular practice at this point in time was very common in Near Eastern covenantal practices.

What would happen is they would separate these pieces. They would provide a walkway or a pathway down the middle of these separated animals. They'd cut them in half. One half of the cow goes here. One half of the cow goes here. You walk between it to symbolize your acceptance of the covenant.

As part of this cultural aspect of this covenantal agreement, both parties would walk between these pieces to signify that they agree. It also signified that breaking that covenant meant death.

Essentially, what that meant was that these two individuals would be unified by blood in a permanent covenant in this way. Verse 12, now when the sun was going down...so here's Sun down, here's Barev...

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram. It says, In behold, horror, great darkness fell upon him. Then he said to Abram, Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.

And also the nation whom they serve I will judge. Afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried at a good age. So God says, Abram, it's not going to happen to you. It's going to happen to your descendants. It's not going to happen to you. But in the fourth generation, they shall return here for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. So God says, they'll return to this place that I've promised you. Once the iniquity of the Amorites is taken care of, they'll return here at that point in time or in that fourth generation. We see that God provides Abraham in a vision what would ultimately transpire to his descendants. God declares in so many things the end from the beginning. We see God do that frequently. And in this case, he let Abram know that for a 400-year period, his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs and that they would serve them during that time. So that his descendants potentially includes Isaac in the time that Isaac spent in Egypt. It potentially includes Jacob and his sons, the descendants that would ultimately follow. And I'll just let you know right now, scholars argue about this number like you would not believe the 400 years. They argue when it started, how it started, whether it was this, whether it was that. I'm not here to prove any of that today. We take the Bible for what it says.

He said that for 400 years, Abraham's descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs. Verse 17, it came to pass when the sun was down. So it's dark. Now it's night again at this point. So we're on the following night from when Abram and God had their conversation initially. During the day, there has been some work to put these things together. Covenant preparation, running off the vultures. As the sun goes down, Abram sleeps. God ultimately now, after the sun is down, what we see is that there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, to your descendants, I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, the Kenazites, the Cabbaniites, the Hittites, Perazites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gergesites, and the Jebusites. What's interesting about this is we only see God pass through those pieces as a smoking oven and a burning torch, signifying His agreement to the covenant. Notably, Abram did not because he was asleep. At least we don't see him do this in here. This covenant with God was not made between equals. Abram was not an equal to God.

God absolutely was the greater in these two, and this covenant was ultimately unconditioned.

That the behavior of Abram's seed would not affect the overall fulfillment of that promise that God made. After that period of time was complete, they would return to that land just as God had promised. Abraham and God continued together. Abram proved his faithfulness. God made additional promises, swearing by himself that these promises would take place. Abraham would not just be a great nation, he would be a multitude of nations. He would receive an inheritance of land perpetually. Through Abraham's seed, the whole world would be blessed.

These promises that were provided to Abraham were all components of these promises that God provided as time went on, and Abraham and God's relationship deepened. The scriptural record seems to imply that it was on this very same day after sundown, 430 years later, when God fulfilled the promise that he made to Abraham on that night through the departure of Israel from Egypt on the first day of Unleavened Bread. On the night which was to become a solemn observance for the children of Israel throughout all of their generations. So this night, the night to be much remembered, the night to be much observed, it doesn't just commemorate the departure of Israel from Egypt. In some ways, it's commemorative of the beginning of the Israel of God. It's commemorative of the beginning of the additional promises that God provided to Abraham as God worked with him and his descendants down through time. And of which, their deliverance from Egypt absolutely was part. Absolutely was part.

Now, it's a night that we've come to know in the modern era of the church, as the night to be much observed or the night to be much remembered. It's a night of vigil, as Scripture describes. It's a night of watching, a night of keeping, a night of guarding, is what that word means. It's a remembrance. It's a time for us to stop and think about what it is that this night means, what it means in this day. And as is our tradition, and that has been our tradition for a number of years, we gather together in people's homes or sometimes in smaller congregations, they gather together, all together in a potluck in some place, on the waning hours of the 14th and into sundown in the evening hours of the 15th. Depending on your, you know, some people wait and eat after sundown, some people start as long as part of the meal is part of sundown, there's a couple of different ways that people do it. There isn't necessarily a right or a wrong. It's just ensuring that this meal is a portion of this meal, at least, is on the 15th, and we are keeping track of what it is that God has done for us and what He is doing for us. During this time, we share meal, we share conversation, we reflect, we commemorate on what it is that God has done for His people, we remember the physical deliverance of Israel from Egypt and their exodus from the land, and so we, you know, we keep guard on this, we watch over it, we keep it, we remember it, so to speak, so that it's not forgotten. So let us not forget. One of the reasons I opted to speak on this this year is that in recent years, I honestly, I don't think I've ever given a sermon specifically on the night to be much remembered, because, to be honest, most of you have been keeping it for 50-plus years, and so, you know, it's something where you've done this for so long that you've got it figured out in that sense. But we have a lot of teens. We saw earlier that, you know, as the totality of us that would die in the wilderness, there's a whole lot of teens that would still make it, so that's good.

As we have younger people, as we have newer members, it's important that we take the time to stop and consider why we do what we do, why it is that we do these things, why is it that we get all dressed up and we go to somebody's house for dinner on this night, and it's fancier than normal, and it's, you know, different the way that we set it. Why do we do that?

In our keeping of the night to be much observed or the night to be much remembered, we commemorate the faithfulness that God showed in the fulfillment of His promises, the miracle that He wrought at that time in the departure and the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and ultimately we honor and we praise Him for His part in our lives.

Because these events, sometimes when you look at it, so many thousands of years ago happened to a group of people that feel so far away, feel so far away sometimes, and it can result in a little bit of a certain disconnect in our own minds as we consider where we fit into all of this. Spiritually, though, in our lives, as we consider the spiritual parallels, these events have taken place and are taking place in this incredible miracle that God has provided us of conversion, this incredible opportunity that He's given us.

Let's go over to the book of 1 Corinthians. The book of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 5, what we see the Apostle Paul do in the midst of a just scathing rebuke is he brings in these concepts of the Passover season. He brings in the idea of the Passover, the days of Unleavened Bread. I would say it's highly likely, if not virtually guaranteed, that this letter was written around that time period. It would have been meet in due season, so to speak, as he was sending these things out and for the brethren receiving that letter.

But, you know, as Paul often does, what we see Paul do is he connects Old Testament principles with New Covenant concepts. He's really good at bridging that gap, so to speak, between the Old Testament and the New Covenant. And so this concept of what should these newly converted Gentile believers...what should they be doing and why? Because it's connecting back to this thing back here. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7...we'll actually pick it up in 6. Sorry, person who's putting that on the screen. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6 says, "...your glorying is not good." Says, "...your glorying is not good.

Do you not know that a little leavened leavens the whole lump?" We'll talk more about that during the days of Unleavened Bread. I'm not trying to steal the thunder of the guys who are going to be speaking today, but there are some of these things we do want to address. "...Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened.

For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened of sincerity and truth." And the word bread again is in italics. It's not in the original translation, but the unleavened of sincerity and truth. So Paul very specifically identifies Jesus Christ as our Passover. Very specifically, that he was the anti-type of the Passover lamb. And that's not a negative thing.

There's type and anti-type. He was the fulfillment of the type of the Passover lamb in that sense, as we looked at it in Exodus 12. It's Christ's blood which is upon us, just as that blood was upon the doorposts. That word, doorposts. It enabled us to be passed over from the death penalty that ultimately accompanies sin. I think the guys are back.

They're just going, that or I'm leaning in. Maybe that's what I'm doing. Sorry. Just as God ultimately took the lives of the firstborn of Egypt, He took the death of His own firstborn to enable the people of God to be delivered from sin and from death.

It is ultimately His blood, Jesus Christ's blood, and the mercy of God that even enables us to be able to leave the bondage of sin and anti-type of Egypt. Egypt is a type of sin. These days of Unleavened Bread picture putting the sin out of our lives. These upcoming days picture putting the sin out from our lives. It's a lifelong process. It's a lifelong process and it is only one that is made possible through the symbolism and ultimately through Christ's sacrifice and God's mercy.

So in that sense, the night to be much observed, the night to be much remembered, you should have great meaning to us as Christians today as well because it bridges these two events. It bridges these two events. Jesus Christ died for us. We recognize that. That's the Passover. Jesus Christ died for us. We recognize ultimately that He willingly gave His life so that you and I could live.

And it was that sacrifice that enabled us to even leave Egypt. Whatever that Egypt might be in your life or might be in mine, the sin that we find ourselves fighting with, the sin that we struggle against, that through His death we have life and we can be redeemed. Brethren, that's worth observing.

That's worth commemorating. That's worth remembering.

The night to be much observed is a night of vigil. We mark the time in which Israel left Egypt, and it was intended to be a memorial throughout Israel's generations commemorating their deliverance. It is something that is impossible without the events of Passover the previous evening. It's impossible without those events taking place. But it's critical for us to understand they are not the same thing. They are not the same thing. Passover is on the 14th of Abib.

The night to be much remembered on the first day of Unleavened Bread is on the 15th of Abib.

This year for us, sundown on April 22nd. On this evening we will gather together with brethren. We will share a meal. We will enjoy good conversation. And we will praise God for the redemption of His people, their deliverance, from the penalty of sin through repentance, and ultimately the yielding of our will to His. I hope that you all have a very meaningful night to much observed.