Walking Forward After Deliverance

(40) Ken Loucks - Walking Forward After Deliverance - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nrtCKBXXUo

Transcript:
(00:01) so did you know so think about this the feast of tabernacles is seven days long but is the last day of the feast of tabernacles a holy day no we have the eighth day which follows that's a holy day but this is a holy day so the first day of unleven bread and the last day of unleven bread are holy days you ever wonder why why is it a holy day like is it more than just God said so like that's good enough right i mean I'd be okay if it was just God said so but like maybe there's meaning here that he also wants us to learn from when we focus on this
(00:38) day and keep it as a holy day there are two events that happened to ancient Israel that happened on this day the last day of unleavened bread i'm going to walk through both of those and I want you to keep this idea of a bride being escorted uh taken care of prepared for a wedding and and look at when you when we look at these things kind of you can kind of see then the meticulousness of the bridegroom his efforts and what he's trying to do for the bride to make her ready to bring her first and foremost to the wedding to even get her to the
(01:19) wedding what is he willing to do and then look at that spiritually as a corollary for us brides in training brides in preparation for our future wedding with Jesus Christ that marriage of the lamb that we look forward to you'll see this I think illustrated as we walk through these two incidents that happened on the last day of unleavened bread so do you who here remembers the year that is Israel was led out of Egypt do you guys have that memorized come on i had to look it up are you kidding me 1486 all right there so you can write
(02:01) that down if you want to the year was 1486 best of our understanding i I'm not going to state that overly emphatically but we believe it was the year 1486 and so how did things go i'm going to start over here in Exodus 12 as we walk through this week that led to Israel leaving or fleeing escaping Egypt uh so I'm going to begin in Exodus 12 and in verse three and let's note some things so I'm going to what I would like for you to be able to do if if you're a notetaker is to is to map out what happened pretty much on a daily
(02:39) basis right up until the last day of unleven bread so you can kind of see what God was doing and we're going to look at these two events and we're going to look at the next one and we're going to walk through it so you'll be able to see these two things almost day for day what happened between these two events and and the the similarity between them i think it's helpful in framing our journey today to see what God did then so in verse three speak this is chapter 12 of Exodus verse uh yeah verse three speak to all
(03:12) the children of Israel saying on the 10th of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father a lamb for a household so why were why this scripture in if you're taking notes the tent of Abbe Nissan 10 okay this is the day they set the Passover lamb aside okay so we chronologically we're going to be moving forward then from the 10th this is just the day that they were going to be setting aside the Passover lamb but that gives us a date to work from now we'll go down to verse six
(03:51) so verse 6 and we'll read through see how far we're going to read through 11 so 6- 11 this is when the Passover is killed prepared and then ultimately eaten so verse 6 through 11 it says "Now you shall keep it," that's the lamb "til the 14th day of the same month." Now how is a day counted the evening and the morning okay so the evening comes first in so that's the 14th is going to come here it says so keep this on the 14th day of the same month then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at
(04:28) twilight we know what that means it means after sunset but before dark okay so it is the 14th because that's when the 14th begins all right so there's your second date the 14th of Nissan or AIB okay so that's verse six at twilight okay so now that's go right as we're coming in now to the 14th and they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it so obviously this is what's going to give them their escape from the death angel which will pass over the homes that have the blood
(05:04) on the doorposts and the lentil then they shall 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 entrails you shall let none of it remain until morning and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire and thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand so you shall eat it in haste it is the
(05:40) Lord's Passover so this is Passover night the 14th we kept Passover on the 14th this year which was Friday night all right now at midnight so if you're keeping track of the timing at midnight that night which is in the middle of the night of the 14th verses 29-31 29-31 and it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock so Pharaoh Soh Pharaoh rose in
(06:35) the night he all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in the in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead verse 31 then he that is Pharaoh 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.
(07:02) " So this is what happened between midnight and the morning hours okay now verses 35 and 36 we see that Israel after this so this is the day portion of the 14th 35 and 36 now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses and they 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 that they granted them what they requested thus they plundered the Egyptians in essence they got paid for all those years of
(07:43) slavery it's really what God here does for Israel is he pays them back because their slave labor enriched the Egyptians but not themselves so here God gives them their wages but he does this on the day portion of the 14th it's important for us to keep these things in context as we understand how the days of unleaven bread unfolded day by day okay so the first day of unleaven bread begins so this is I didn't probably give you this information but according to the calendar uh Nissan 10 if you want to make a note
(08:27) of this was on a Saturday so Nissan 10 would have been uh Friday night to Saturday night that the lambs are set aside which means Tuesday evening at sundown after sundown so that's we think of it as Tuesday right uh being Tuesday like not night versus day but the 14th the evening began what we would call Tuesday night and then it went into Wednesday okay so I want to keep this timing fresh for you so you can see how things were doing so the Passover lamb was killed what we would consider to be Tuesday after sundown but before dark
(09:04) and then Wednesday morning we would consider to be Wednesday morning then they plundered the Egyptians before they left okay so that's Wednesday morning now Wednesday night is the first day of unleavened bread this begins Nissan 15 that begins the next night so now we have the 14th Tuesday night through Wednesday twilight right and then at sundown it becomes the 15th does that make sense i hope I'm not confusing you that should make sense now this is not told in strict order by scripture drop down to verse 40 to see
(09:47) this verse 40 says "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 that very same day it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt 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 all the children of Israel throughout their generations okay so the first day of unleven bread the Israelites journey from Ram's east to Suck off so this is
(10:27) now Wednesday night possibly early Thursday morning which we would think of early Thursday morning as after midnight right but this is definitely after sundown on Wednesday this is the beginning of the 15th right so they had a what we call the night to be much observed this is the day that Israel left let's go back to verses 37 and 38 then the children of Israel verse 37 then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramssees to Suckoth about 600,000 men on foot besides children so rough math you know 600,000 if you multiply
(11:03) that times three per family or three per man that'd be a very low number because remember it said that the women of Israel were vigorous women so my guess is there were quite a bit more than that so multiplying even times four would be 2.4 million people so there this is quite a large but remember this too it isn't just Israelites right they weren't just Israelites that left others left with them okay uh where was I reading at here we're reading verses 37 and 38 did I read all of that 38 uh no 600,000 men on
(11:34) foot besides children verse 38 a mixed multitude went up with them also see I wasn't lying it's right there and flocks and herds a great deal of livestock now suck here means boos temporary dwelling places uh or an encampment we don't know exactly where this was but it's believed to be about a day's journey from Gan which is where they lived so that gives you a sense they traveled maybe a day's journey so when would they have arrived well this is Wednesday they left Wednesday night sometime during the night so that would
(12:10) have taken them some time a day a day's journeyish would have been 8 to 10 hours let's notice here now let's go back to ex let's go forward excuse me from to chapter 13 verse 17 israelites journey from sukoth to etham next and encamps through the sabbath so this is what's next okay so they traveled they rested they got up and they went again this is verse 17 of chapter 13 then it came to pass when Pharaoh had led the people had let the people go that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines
(12:51) although that was near for God said lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt probably reading more than verse 17 yeah we're going to read through verse 20 verse 19 says in but verse 18 so God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea and the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt and Moses took the bones of Joseph with him for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath that is uh Joseph had done this saying God will surely visit you
(13:27) and you shall carry up my bones from here with you and so they did verse 20 so they took their journey from Sakoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness now they rest for the Sabbath moses is then given instructions to give to Israel regarding their next travels so now we'll pick up the story in Exodus 14 this is Friday night and Saturday so Exodus now 14:es 1-4 now the Lord spoke to Moses saying "Speak to the children of Israel that they turn and camp be before Pi Hahyroth between Mdall and the sea opposite Baal
(14:08) Zephon you shall camp before it by the sea for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel they are bewildered by the land the wilderness has closed them in then I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord and they did so okay so two things now are going to happen simultaneously okay something for Israel and something with Egypt all right so for me I did a I did a line down my page and I've got what happened in for Israel
(14:46) and what happened for or with Egypt all right for Israel this is back to chapter 13 21 and 22 this is the last two scriptures of chapter 13 verse 21 and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so as to go by day and night he did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people the distance from Etham to Pahyrath would have taken a few days which is why God went before them both day and night and why he made himself
(15:31) visible to them by the pillar of cloud and by the pillar of fire so to get to their destination in the time frame that's required they traveled both day and night the simultaneous event so this travel for them would have began on Sunday after sundown on after the sundown on the Sabbath obviously so on Sunday most likely Sunday morning okay so the corollary event that's happening in Egypt on Sunday this goes to uh we're over here in chapter 14:es 5-8 now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled and the heart of
(16:13) Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people and they said "Why have we done this that we have let Israel go from serving us?" So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him also he took 600 choice chariots and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with boldness sometime Tuesday so from Sunday through Tuesday so sometime Tuesday this is the 20th the
(16:53) Israelites arrive at Pahhyrath and set up camp by the Red Sea pharaoh's army overtakes Israel sometime that afternoon so this is happening on Tuesday so sometime on Tuesday the Israelites arrive sometime not long later in the afternoon the Egyptians arrive okay verse 9 of Exodus 14 so the Egyptians pursued them and the horses and chariots of Pharaoh his horsemen and his army and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahyroth before Baal Zephon where God had led them the pillar of cloud and fire then moves behind Israel to protect them from
(17:42) the Egyptians so it had been leading them showing them where to go all they had to do was follow the big column whether it was a cloud or whether it was fire just go that way and so they you know they didn't need to get maps out nobody had Google okay they were just follow the big you know the big column and you're going to get there just fine but notice that God then moves behind them to protect them we're here in Exodus still 14 and 20 and the angel of the Lord or excuse me the angel of God who went before the
(18:20) camp of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them so it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel thus it was a cloud of darkness to the one and it gave light by night to the other so that the one did not come near the other all that night so God sets himself up in defense of Israel all night long and of course to the Egyptians it was pitch black but not so for the Israelites so this leads us then of course to Tuesday night the 21st of Abib
(19:03) the last day of unleaven bread begins and it is on this day that God opens a path through the Red Sea dries up the ground so that the Israelites could walk across the seabed on the last day of unleavened bread verse 21 of chapter 14 then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea into dry land and the waters were divided so most of the night God is drying it up he's created the path he's drying the path you can imagine that's wet sand
(19:46) down there so he's going to dry all that up or wet ground and allow the children then to cross over so sometime during the early morning hours the Israelites begin crossing the Red Sea the pillar of cloud and fire follows them keeping them from being attacked by the pursuing Egyptian army during the morning watch that's between 3:00 a.
(20:10) m and 6:00 a.m so that gives us a time frame now the morning watch God troubles the Egyptian army and once the Israelites had completed the journey across the Red Sea he closes the waters upon the Egyptian armies utterly destroying them let's pick this up in verse 22 of chapter 14 so the children of Israel went into the midst of sea on dry ground and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left and the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea all Pharaoh's horses his chariots and his
(20:50) horsemen now it came to pass in the morning watch between 3:00 a.m and 6:00 a.m that the Lord looked down upon the army of e the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and he troubled the army of the Egyptians so they were in hot pursuit but look what God does to them he took off the wheels of the chariots like that'll be a tougher ride so they drove with them with difficult I'm just trying to picture that like the wheels are off and you're still whipping the horses like let's go boys turn around there no wheels anyway
(21:31) he took off the chariot wheels and they drove them with difficulty and the Egyptians said let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians then the Lord said to Moses "Stretch out your hand over the sea." Now all of the Israelites have made it they're safely across the other side so God tells Moses "Stretch out your hand over the sea that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians on their chariots and on their horsemen.
(22:03) " And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and when the uh morning appeared the sea returned to its full depth while the Egyptians were fleeing into it so the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea then the waters returned and covered the chariots the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them not so much as one of them remained so we note that the feast of unleven bread lasted seven days from the 15th of Nissan through the 21st of Nissan and on the 21st of Nissan the seventh day of
(22:43) unleven bread God delivered Israel through the Red Sea our special music today the hymns that we sang earlier today all picturing this event in history this moment when God delivered Israel keep in mind that had not Israel walked forward their story ends right there it's an important lesson for us to think about that God can deliver but we still have to walk through now over here in verse 17 let's go back to Exodus 12:1 17 to just note the timing of the days of unleven bread 12:1 17 and 18 it says in verse 17 "So you shall
(23:34) observe the feast of unleven bread for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance." One of the reasons why we keep the night to be much observed even today is because it celebrates the freedom we celebrated as a freedom spiritually for us having done the Passover previously yet it was a very real day of freedom for Israel as they left this very day in verse 18 in the first month on the 14th day of the
(24:05) month at evening you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening i just wanted to keep you here for this to see that this is the origination of the days of unleavened bread yes we can go to Leviticus 23 and see where God had codified it as a part of the contract with Israel and yet here we see the foundations of it being laid previously the historical account that we walked through showed that Israel was delivered from the armies of Egypt on the 21st of Nissan the last day of unleavened
(24:38) bread now next exactly 40 years later what year would that have been see 1486 plus 40 is No because we count backwards when we're in the Old Testament backwards so we got to It's 1446 somebody out there's going "Oh that's right i knew that." Probably you right like yeah it's like look I had to do it too it's so easy for us when we think of time in our generation to count forward but no you got to count backwards all right so it's 1446 1440 took place in No it's 1446 what are you it's my own notes like 86 minus 40
(25:17) how hard is that sorry that's my bad all right joshua chapter 4 i think Mr gothals used that phrase earlier today that's my bad we didn't plan that all right joshua we're gonna go over now to Joshua because Joshua's job is to take the children of Israel you remember that they sent some spies into the promised land and uh 10 of those spies came back and told a bad story about how they would not be able to overcome the people of the land and uh so God gave them 40 years for the 40 days the spies were gone to wander in the wilderness so it's
(25:57) after that those 40 years that God then brings them to the promised land and we're going to be starting here in Joshua chapter 4 to notice it's kind of interesting to notice this but uh let's go to verse 19 of chapter 4 joshua chapter 4 that's where I'm at here now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho okay so here we again have our 10th the day that the original Israelites were required to set aside the Passover lamb this is the same day 40 years later the
(26:44) 10th so we have we have a context for our timing as we evaluate this now we cannot fail to notice the miracle performed again by God in stopping the Jordan River which in the spring of the year overflows its banks and would be impossible for the Israelites to cross on foot joshua chapter 3 and 4 so let's go Joshua 3:es 3 and 4 that was confusing joshua 3 let's go back up a chapter here to Joshua 3 and read verses 3 and 4 and they commanded the people saying "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests the
(27:33) Levites bearing it then you shall set out from your place and go after it yet there shall be a space between you and it about 2,000 cubits by measure." That's that's a pretty big distance so a cubit is about 18 in so you know roughly that's going to be 3600 i don't know bad math here 36 less than that right say 3,000 mtersish no it's 2,000 * 18 that's 36 plus yeah anyway it's a long ways we don't have to walk it off or anything to figure it out but it is a long ways all right so they have to be quite a ways
(28:09) upstream all right uh verse four did I read verse four yet there shall be a space between you and it about 2,000 cubits by measure do not come near it that you may know the way by which you must go for you have not passed this way before now drop down to verse 14 and we'll read through 17 so we're still in chapter 3 of Joshua 14-1 17 so it was when the people set out from the camp to cross over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan and the feet
(28:45) of the priests who bore the ark dipped into the edge of the water for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam the city that is beside Zeratan so the waters that went down into the sea of the uh Arabah that is the salt sea failed and were cut off and the people crossed over opposite Jericho so we have a very similar miracle don't we it's not the parting of the Red Sea it's the stopping of the
(29:24) Jordan River and yet the people walked across then without having to wade through water it's a obvious correlary to what happened a repeat of what happened being delivered and a form of baptism which we'll come back to later well let's consider this the crossing of the Red Sea when Israel did that was a form of baptism it's called that by Paul we'll read that later but in like manner this is the children of those and remember these children hadn't even been circumcised yet and so God is going to reestablish his relationship with the children first
(30:09) beginning here with baptism a kind of baptism crossing the Jordan except not through the water itself so now all the male children that were born during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness were not circumcised so God remedies this this is going to be on Wednesday Nissan 11th so Joshua chapter 5 Joshua chapter 5 we're going to read verses 2-5 joshua 5:2 says "At that time the Lord said to Joshua make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.
(30:55) " So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the four skins that always makes me pause if you have a hill big enough to be called that there's a lot and this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them all the people who came out of Egypt who were males all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come up out of Egypt for all the people who came out had uh had been circumcised but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came up out of uh Egypt had not
(31:38) been circumcised so that's going to take a couple days to recover from nobody's going on a big hike carrying a lot of weights on that day i can promise you i'm not going to tell you just stop Ken stop that just breaks right there all right okay so before entering the promised land God restored the people to a proper covenant relationship through circumcision of obviously in like manner God wants us to be circumcised but not in the flesh but of course in the heart because he wants us to enter into again an eternal covenant with him in a
(32:24) spiritual promised land the kingdom of God let's read that briefly here romans chapter 2 romans chapter 2:es 28 and 29 for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not from men but from God okay now let's notice the timing you know our calendar this year mirrors the timing of this account in Joshua exactly they are directly matches for one another and I want you to see that
(33:22) and it's important for you to understand that because of Pentecost's count this year all right so the beginning of Passover is Nissan the 14th we've established that that happened on Friday evening this year okay joshua chapter 5 let's go back joshua chapter 5 in verse 10 it says "Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.
(34:06) " So now we have the Passover date is established now this is a critical piece of information for us when does the 15th begin when did it begin for us this year saturday night right so the 14th then is Friday evening through Saturday evening the 15th is from Saturday evening through Sunday evening correct so that's exactly how ours fell this year now the question is how do we count Pentecost do you remember if you go back and you look at the instructions for Pentecost it says to count from the tomorrow after the
(34:55) Sabbath during well it doesn't say during the days of unleven bread but we know that's exactly what it's talking about so we're looking for historically we're looking biblically here for the Sabbath that lands during the days of unleavened bread and then the Sunday that follows that so that would be the day of the wave sheath offering it is the morning of the 15th in this year's case however some would say "Wait a second doesn't the Sunday have to fall within or does the Sabbath have to fall within?" And so we look to this very example for the
(35:31) answer to that question because this is the Sunday that falls within but the Saturday does not the Saturday what is the day portion of the 14th and so it's Saturday night becomes the 15th so that Saturday is not within the days of unleven bread the days of unleven bread begin Saturday night for us same this year as for them so what happened on Sunday because if this Sunday is the day in which they did the wave sheath then game over on doing the math okay verses 11 and 12 of Joshua 5 verse 11 and they ate of the produce
(36:15) of the land on the day after the Passover unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day this is before the end of the days of unleven bread and since we know that it must be on a Sunday that is not in dispute the question is which Sunday does this happen this Sunday follows the Sabbath and the Sabbath didn't fall within the days of unleven bread so you might be saying well what does this mean aren't they just eating old grain well let's read it again and they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover unleavened
(36:53) bread and parched grain what is parched grain if you're thinking that I'm an expert on parched grain think again i had to look it up it means roasted or toasted grain and that's what you do with grain which is still yet green on the vine essentially i don't know what the term is but when the buds are still basically barely ripe you would want to roast them to eat them that's what parched grain is so it says they ate of the fruit of the land remember you cannot eat of the fruit of the land in which you enter until the
(37:29) wave sheath is offered if that doesn't happen until the following Sunday then they've broken the law and yet here they they are in God's favor doing it correctly having parched grain from the land they are in which they can only do if the wave sheath has happened that morning this is why the United Church of God counts from this Sunday that would be last Sunday by the way not tomorrow last Sunday would be the day by which we begin the count and if you look at your calendar the first Sabbath in or the first Sunday in June
(38:07) which is the first is the seventh week that is the seventh count the seventh weeks count right so I just wanted you to understand where do we get that it's from right here the evidence couldn't be more clear this is why we do it this way so it settles the argument about whether or not the Sabbath must be within and reserves it to the Sunday must be within and that's why we do what we do okay i hope that's clear there there's a lot more we can go into that that's probably a whole sermon to really lay that out
(38:36) but suffice it to say that I've made the basic argument for you and that you can you can make a note of that all right uh so now Sunday through Friday so this is the first day here's another way that we know so we know they're eating grain of the new of the land can't do that unless the wave she's been done so we know that this is the day of the count of Pentecost they ate of that grain and it is the first Sunday because they're going to march for the next 6 days so notice Joshua chapter 6 Sunday through Friday that is Nissan 15 through
(39:08) the 20th joshua chapter 6 the first three verses so verse one now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel none went out and none came in and the Lord said to Joshua "See I have given Jericho into your hand its king and the mighty men of valor you shall march around the city all you men of war you shall go all around the city once this you shall do six days.
(39:44) " Okay so Israel marches around for the next six uh days they march all around all you men of war so it's not everybody it's the men of war imagine trying to pick pack up the whole family kids and all and we're going to trapes around Jericho the whole kitten kaboodleoodle first of all is that really intimidating there you are in Jericho and you see the families the kids but you see the men of war marching around your city and they do that every single day a complete lap around your city that would probably get a bit nervy to see all right so now on Sat So now Saturday uh
(40:23) evening obviously begins the 21st same no uh Friday evening begins the 21st so now on Saturday let's read this here verse four we're still in chapter 6 so read let's read verse four and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark but the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times that's today right now on the Sabbath the men of war are marching seven times around Jericho and you might say "Well isn't that breaking the Sabbath?" And I would say "The Lord of the Sabbath told them
(40:57) to do it you best do it." Pretty much ends that if God says do it you do it and so they marched around on the Sabbath seven times around the city and the priests shall blow the trumpets okay now I want you to read let's drop down here to verse 10 it takes me a bit to find it because this particular Bible has it's the New King James in narrative and so all the scriptures are they're all in paragraphs so you have to find your scripture in the paragraphs so if you see me searching it's I'm trying to find a tiny number within the paragraphs all right
(41:39) which one am I looking at verse 10 now Joshua had commanded the people saying "You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you shout." Then you shall shout so we see here another miracle come on it was men it was well all of them were supposed to the women and children too that's the miracle i know i'm getting myself in so much trouble right now i just stopped digging the joke was really funny in my head all right so what happens next
(42:21) everybody's quiet as the men encircled Jericho the women and children were also silent so everybody's quiet now verse 15 and 16 but it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner that means the men only on that day only they marched around the city seven times and the seventh time it happened when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people "Shout for the Lord has given you the city." Now down to verse
(42:59) 20 so the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat then the people went up into the city every man straight before him now this it would seem funny if it was all men and women and children altogether but this is the men of war that now encircled the city having marched around it seven times and then at the sound of the shout the walls completely fall down flat and all the
(43:26) men of war as one move into the city the women and children are not raiding the city okay so that was verse 20 did I finish reading verse 20 let me look here real quick then the people went up into the city every man straight before him and they took the city that was today this Sabbath the last day of unleaven bread in 1446 BC another miracle on the last day of unleven bread performed by God well that was then this is now two amazing miracles were performed on the last day of unleven bread first was the miracle of the parting of the
(44:10) Red Sea and obviously second the miracle of the walls of Jericho falling flat in both cases Israel was up against an impossible situation in the first Israel was trapped in a valley with impassible mountains to their south and west the Red Sea on their east and the formidable army of the Egyptians to the north of them in the second case Israel had to destroy Jericho before they could proceed into the promised land jericho's walls were considered impenetrable let me read to you here from biblearchchaeology.org
(44:47) the mound or tail of Jericho was surrounded by a great earthn rampart or embankment with a stone retaining wall at its base the the retaining wall was some 12 to 15 ft high and approximately 6 feet thick on top of that was a mud brick wall also 6 ft thick and about 20 to 26 feet high this is huge and the crest of the embankment was a similar mud brick whose uh wall whose base was roughly 46 feet above the ground level outside the retaining wall this is what loomed high above the Israelites as they marched around the city each day for 7 days
(45:32) humanly speaking this is again from biblearchchaeology.org humanly speaking it was impossible for the Israelites to penetrate the impregnable bastion of Jericho and just I guess for uh if for those who get a little bit like I do who are like how long did it take to walk around Jericho took about an hour so that's the rough estimate about an hour so seven hours would have been the marching seven times on the Sabbath day anyway just want you to have that so what's our lesson from these ancient events well in Paul's first letter to the
(46:12) church at Corinth he explains the direct connection between the New Testament church and ancient Israel so turning over here now to 1 Corinthians chapter [Music] 10 1 Corinthians chap 10:es 1-4 verse one moreover brethren I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers ers were under the cloud and passed through the sea all were baptized into Moses and in the cloud and in the sea all ate the same spiritual food all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that accompanied them that is the way that word should be
(47:10) translated not followed we think of the word followed as behind not leading that is not what the word means it means to accompany to go along with and that is exactly what Christ in the form of the uh pillar of cloud and fire did he accompanied them at the beginning he led them by that during the delivery of from Egypt the armies of Egypt he obviously went be behind them to protect them so I wanted to be clear about what that means for they all drank of that spiritual rock that accompanied them and that rock
(47:48) was Christ like who was the God that was with them for those who would question that it was Christ as the word now Paul makes it clear here that there is a direct correlation between what happened to ancient Israel and what happens with our calling just as ancient Israel was wedded to God so too are we wedded to Christ as his spiritual bride the New Testament church this is what God is preparing us for the marriage of the lamb that is what is yet before us they were delivered but didn't enter into until they walked
(48:36) forward god had to get them through the impenetrable obstacle in the case of the Red Sea unless he performs a miracle and parts that sea there's no hope for them he parts the sea but unless they walk forward there's no relationship they walk forward he brings them 40 years later to the same point the children of these who rejected the promised land for fear so he brings their children to the exact same place and does the exact same thing where he delivers them across the Jordan River by stopping the waters and a form
(49:13) of baptism happens for the new generation they're circumcised and they therefore go and they march as God had instructed them to during the days of unleven bread and on that last day in both cases a miracle a miracle of deliverance god called Israel out of Egypt as his betrothed wife to be his intent was to take her to a special place and conduct the wedding ceremony and then take his new bride to her new home in the land of Canaan which he had promised to do that's what the promised land was to be a wedding gift for his
(49:54) wife she refused it god performed a great miracle on the last day of unleven bread of course by parting the Red Sea drying the seabed escorting Israel through the path he had created placing himself between her and the Egyptian army that was pursuing her which wanted to take her back into captivity so we notice what our what their husband to be was doing for them the whole time in protecting watching over and delivering them this is the God that we worship this is the God we're in a relationship with this is the God that
(50:31) has us entering into the marriage supper with his son the God who wants his son to be equally yolked with his bride it's the same story told physically with ancient Israel told spiritually through us the story is the same at exactly the same time 40 years later God took the new generation of Israelites and walked them through the same process he stopped the Jordan River upstream and dried the ground to allow the Israelites to cross over a repeat of the baptism is of Israel through the Red Sea he then circumcised those that had
(51:11) been born in the wilderness but which had not been circumcised which restored their covenantal relationship in essence reaffirming the marriage vows so once again God proved to Israel and the nations around the world that would see or hear that he was the protector and provider of Israel on the first day of unleavened bread God had his bride walk once around Jericho then she did that for six days during the days of unleven bread and on the last day of unleavened bread God had her march without saying a word seven
(51:51) times around Jericho and then after the sounding of the trumpets she shouted as commanded and then this next miracle the walls of Jericho fall down flat and just as God had promised he delivered Jericho into the hands of the Israelites and with that miracle he fulfilled his promise to deliver Israel into the promised land we are a part of what we call spiritual Israel today we've been called out of this world and its sinful ways and these days of unleven bread have been picturing us coming out of this world coming out of
(52:29) the ways of the world putting sin out of our lives beginning a process accepting deliverance and a new master a loving tender caring master not the slave master that we were under before sin we have to go through the baptismal process to receive the help that we need now to overcome the sin which so easily besets us before we can enter that spiritual promised land called the kingdom of God God has to perform a miracle in us by delivering us once and for all from sin which he did when he called and converted us when we repented and then we were
(53:13) baptized we had our sins washed away and we repeated that process at Passover that acceptance of that relationship by taking those symbols the message of the last day of unleven bread is that we can trust God to do what he says he will do he promised to deliver he delivered this is our God we can believe him because twice on this last day of unleven bread God did what he said he would do he delivered and if he's delivered Israel twice then he is going to complete the work which he began in our lives to deliver us to
(53:55) that spiritual promised land called the kingdom of God i'll just remind you here Joshua 3:10 joshua says "By this you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites." God with will without fail do what he says we can lean on that hang our hat on that believe that that's just a way of saying that God's going to keep his word he is not going to fail to do what he promised to do but just like ancient Israel we're going to have many trials ahead of us as
(54:36) Paul made clear in the book of Acts acts chapter 14 verse 22 acts 14 22 just one scripture here where it says strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God there is a Jericho yet in front of us we don't know what it looks like or what shape it will take but it's a trial it's a difficulty before us on our journey to the promised land the kingdom it's walls we can't overcome it's a problem we can't fix without
(55:20) God's help it's something that ultimately we have to realize that unless God delivers us we're not going to be delivered but God says on this last day of unleven bread I will deliver you i'm going to part the Red Sea i'm going to tear down the walls of Jericho for you i'm going to defeat your enemies for you that's the message this theme of a bride being prepared and taken care of by her husband her bride to be or her bridegroom the groom to be her husband to be is a thread that's in it it's you can't miss it it's impossible to miss
(56:04) this thread and to see this correlation the message of this day this last day of unleven bread is one of trust and faith in God's promises because as he performed miracles for Israelites he will also do the same for us and we can trust him he's going to complete the work that he began in our lives here's the takeaway for us as we leave these days of unleven bread god has called us to walk forward he parted the Red Sea but unless Israel walked forward that would have been the end for them they had to choose that
(56:45) walk god knocked the walls of Jericho down but unless they went up and took the city God's work is fruitless they had to walk forward this is what we're called to do as we leave the days of unleaven bread to keep in our minds that we're called to walk forward we put everything behind us and we walk forward all the sins are behind us we need to let them go and walk forward and as we walk forward they're going to be areas that we're going to realize that are insurmountable unless we have God's help god wants that he needs to deliver us and we need
(57:27) to know that it's him that has delivered us so he's called us to a life of transformation and that's not easy it's a journey israel's journey into the promised land didn't end when they conquered Jericho they had to walk forward into the land just as we must walk forward too let God overcome the obstacles we keep walking forward and as we walk towards Pentecost which is the next step in God's plan I want to review some areas where we must transform what this walk looks like practically how do you know you're transforming i want to look at I'll
(58:13) probably look at three different things next week I'm going to look at forgiveness