Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Amen.
[00:00:06] Amen. Let's just pray for a moment, Father. God, we just pause and say thank you.
[00:00:11] What a great reminder of what we sung about this morning.
[00:00:15] God, you're the one who goes before.
[00:00:18] For hundreds of years, you've gone before the people of Israel.
[00:00:22] Maybe many in the land had become complacent and just said, this is just their lot in life, and they just lived in the Egyptian culture and gave little thought to who you are. But no doubt there were those who continued to hold on into hope and to pray, to cry out to Yahweh, the creator of all, to come and deliver them from what had become such an oppressive life, generation after generation. But, God, even now, as we sit here in 2026, God, we know that we can call out to you.
[00:01:01] You will respond and answer, maybe not always in the timing that Tim wants, but in the timing that you know is best. So, God, give us the patience to continue to trust in the waiting, continue to hold out hope that there's a God who will fight for us, who will go before us and prepare the way so that God, ultimately we can experience better life, a life that is rich and full and hope filled with purpose.
[00:01:35] And we thank youk for that and the faith that Jesus, you give us. And I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:44] Amen. God bless. Go ahead and have a seat. Thank you, Megan and the worship team.
[00:01:50] This morning, I want to share a little bit from God's word. Then we're going to take communion. We're going to have a song of worship. Then I'll wrap up with a short part of the message, and we'll close out with another song of worship. So a little different this morning, but as we begin, I was thinking about just the journey that the nation of Israel had been on for the number of years. And so I was thinking about.
[00:02:12] What's the longest line, Tim? What's the longest line you ever had to stand in? The longest line I ever had to wait in. And a couple things came to mind.
[00:02:24] I remember back in the 1970s, I think it was. I was just driving, and there was a gas shortage.
[00:02:31] Okay. And the lot. One of the longest lines I had to sit in in my car, which went around the block to the gas station because you can only get gas on certain days according to your license plate, is that, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, whatever. Anybody remember that? Just any of you old enough to. Okay, horrible.
[00:02:51] But I think the longest line I ever had to stand in was at Disneyland, waiting for a ride, right? And this is before the fast pass days.
[00:02:59] Right now with the fast pass, I think you have to stand in line longer if you don't have a fast pass.
[00:03:04] Right, because everybody else gets to go ahead of you. Anyways, I decided to Google. Hey, what's the world record for the longest amount of time that anybody had to stand in line?
[00:03:15] What do you think it was the longest line? What do you think?
[00:03:20] What, a concert? Yeah, what else?
[00:03:24] Yeah, what else?
[00:03:26] A video game maybe? Yeah, Not a bad guess. Video game.
[00:03:31] But the Guinness world record for the longest time spent standing in a line is over 35 hours.
[00:03:42] It was achieved by a group of people waiting in line for the new iPhone release in 2011.
[00:03:51] Crazy, huh? 35, 36 hours standing in line. That's like over a day to get an iPhone.
[00:04:00] I like my iPhone, but I'm not worth waiting 36 hours.
[00:04:04] But imagine, I can't imagine doing that for 36 hours. But imagine a nation, a people who went into the land of Egypt voluntarily.
[00:04:15] It was a good, great time because of the famine that was coming upon the land God provided for them.
[00:04:21] But over the years, the tens upon Hundreds of years, 400 plus years, it turned into a land Egypt did of oppression for the people of Israel. And they waited, no doubt, many calling out to God, God, can you deliver us? Can you break this yoke of bondage over us? 400 plus years they waited to be delivered and to find the restoration to be restored not only to the land, but I trust in a relationship with Yahweh that God always wanted with him waited 400 plus years. Today we are going to look at the fulfillment of those hundreds of years of waiting many times people praying as deliverance comes for Israel. We're going to read that passage, what we've been leading up to today.
[00:05:11] You know, it took incredible courage for Moses and Aaron to stand before Pharaoh that first time. God said, go and ask Pharaoh to let my people go.
[00:05:21] Tempt Pharaoh with letting them. Let them go for three days for a long weekend retreat so they can go into the wilderness and and worship me. But we know Pharaoh refused.
[00:05:31] But God was serious about delivering his people. And so God unleashed ten plagues upon the land of Egypt, Pharaoh and Egypt to bring Pharaoh to his knees. And I will suggest also to call Israel to renewed faith in their God.
[00:05:52] Last week, Pastor Diane walked us through nine of those plagues. I don't know how you do nine. I listened to the message last week. I don't know how you fit nine in.
[00:06:04] It felt like a track meet. Right?
[00:06:09] Today we're only going to tackle one, but I'm still going to take all 40 minutes.
[00:06:15] But here's what we reviewed last week. Those nine plagues. The plague of water turned to wine. There was a target was aimed at Hapi, the Egyptian God of the Nile. Then there was the plague of frogs. Heget, the frog headed goddess of fertility and water and renewal. Then it was the plague of gnats.
[00:06:36] Targeted Geb, the Egyptian God of the dust of the earth. Then insects targeting Capri, the fly headed God of creation.
[00:06:46] Number five was the death of the livestock.
[00:06:50] Hathor, the cow headed goddess of love and protection. Curious.
[00:06:55] For hundreds of years, Israel they had a culture, they had a faith in God. But living in a foreign land had no doubt began to influence them. Many to follow the ways of the culture.
[00:07:09] Sometimes it's hard to stand as a follower of Yahweh and to stand against the ways of culture, the influence of culture. Because we'll know as they do leave and they're in the wilderness and Moses has the moment we'll study it goes up to the mountain to speak with God and he doesn't come down for a while. And so what do the people do? They want Aaron to help them fashion a golden calf.
[00:07:34] Okay. The influence of the Egyptian religious culture.
[00:07:39] Maybe even after Hathor, the cow headed goddess.
[00:07:43] Then there was number six, boils and sores targeting Isis, the Egyptian goddess of medicine and peace. Then there was hail and fire.
[00:07:52] Nut was the Egyptian goddess of the sky.
[00:07:57] Number eight, the plague of locusts targeting Seth, the Egyptian God of storms and disorder.
[00:08:05] And lastly last week, the plague of darkness targeting the Egyptian God Ra, the God of the Son.
[00:08:14] And today we will look at the 10th plague that was aimed at Pharaoh himself.
[00:08:21] And we'll get to that in a moment. Let me pray for another moment. Father God, we say thank you as we look to your word.
[00:08:26] Would you cause us to be open, to hear and to respond to you, God, as you speak to us by your spirit? Let your word be more than just words on a page. A story told from ages ago. God. But may the truths, the words come alive, come off the page and shape our understanding of you, our understanding of ourselves, God, and even what living in relationship with you can look like. God, I pray that you continue to guide us through this service in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:08:58] So we'll pick up our study in Exodus 11 and we'll also look at chapter 12. So 11, 12, I mean Exodus 11. God reveals one more plague.
[00:09:09] It is number 10. It is the death of the firstborn sons. Exodus 11, verse one starts and says this. The Lord said to Moses, now God is speaking to Moses specifically, right here. He says to Moses, I will strike Pharaoh and the land of Egypt with one more blow.
[00:09:30] After that, Pharaoh will let you leave this country. In fact, he will be so eager to get rid of you that he will force you to leave.
[00:09:43] And when he does, I want you to tell all the Israelite men and women to ask their Egyptian neighbors for articles of silver and gold.
[00:09:55] At this point, Pharaoh had not yet fully become persuaded to let the Israelites go. But there was a growing awareness, certainly among the Egyptians and even within Pharaoh's household, that the Hebrew God.
[00:10:12] After nine plagues, the Hebrew God was greater than Pharaoh.
[00:10:18] The Hebrew God Yahweh was greater than any of the so called gods the Egyptians worshiped.
[00:10:26] And they became to appreciate the fact that in fact Moses and Aaron were in fact the servants of this Hebrew God. Verse 4 goes on to say, now Moses had announced to Pharaoh, in a moment, we're going to take a step back because I'm reading what is in chapter 11, but chapter 12 says, takes a step back and tells us about what happened before this day came. But it says here, Moses had announced to Pharaoh, this is what the Lord, at midnight tonight, I will pass through the heart of Egypt.
[00:11:03] All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, you who sits on the throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl, who grinds the flour.
[00:11:21] Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die. Many have wondered, what if Pharaoh? I think, Diane, you probably touched on this last week, didn't you?
[00:11:32] What if Pharaoh, after the first plague, after the second plague, what if he had relented and he had changed his mind and decided to let the Israelites go? He thought he was only going to let them go for a long weekend worship retreat and then come back.
[00:11:48] What if at any time he said, okay, you can go?
[00:11:51] Could he have spared Egypt and the land the heartache and the devastation that was reaped over the five to maybe 10 months that these nine plagues took?
[00:12:06] The answer is yes. Likely he could have.
[00:12:10] The problem is our human nature. Ever since the garden, we want to be in control. We want to be the center of our own world. We want to be our God.
[00:12:19] And our human nature sometimes won't let us give up or to surrender control until we are forced to.
[00:12:32] Or maybe we just die.
[00:12:35] This is where the heart of Pharaoh was at. The beauty is. And the beautiful thing about Faith in a growing relationship is we learn that we can and we do surrender our wills to God voluntarily because we realize God is good and he has our best interest in mind.
[00:12:57] It goes on to say that on that night, verse six, a loud wail will rise up throughout the land of Egypt.
[00:13:06] A wail like no one has ever heard before or ever will hear again.
[00:13:14] But among the Israelites, it will be so peaceful, not even a dog will bark.
[00:13:22] Can't stand a barking dog.
[00:13:25] Some of you have those dogs. You need to hush them.
[00:13:31] Maybe that's the advantage to a cat, right? I don't know.
[00:13:36] Then Moses says to Pharaoh, then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. What does that mean?
[00:13:51] That the Lord will make a distinction between the Egyptians and Israelites. So many in that day including Pharaoh himself would have said, hey, we have, as Egyptians, we have all these gods.
[00:14:03] The gods of Egypt in the Hebrews. Yeah, they have a God. They got one. They only have one. We have all these.
[00:14:10] What difference does it matter? Can't you just have whatever God you want and worship whatever thing you want to worship? That's a natural question, right? What's the difference?
[00:14:22] Well, there is a difference.
[00:14:24] And God is going to make that difference because God wants to end that discussion with once and for all.
[00:14:30] Yahweh would be so overwhelmingly displaying his power and his authority over Pharaoh and over all the gods that the Egyptians worshiped. He would display such power that there would be a clear distinction between Israel and Egypt.
[00:14:49] Egypt has all these gods that can really do nothing, which I've demonstrated nine times, and I'm about to demonstrate one more time that the God of the Hebrews, Yahweh, is greater than any God. And that is the distinction. Moses goes on to say in verse eight, all the officials, he's telling Pharaoh, all the officials of Egypt will run to me and fall to the ground before me. Please leave.
[00:15:17] They will beg, Hurry, take all your followers with you.
[00:15:23] And Moses says to Pharaoh, only then will I go.
[00:15:27] Then, with burning anger, Moses left Pharaoh. I don't know what anger Moses was necessarily burning over there. Maybe his heart was just twisted up because he was so frustrated that it didn't have to come to this.
[00:15:43] It didn't have to. We didn't have to go through the nine plagues. And what I just told you about the firstborn of even your son, Pharaoh, is going to die this night. It didn't have to go this way.
[00:15:55] But here we are.
[00:15:59] Now, that's what chapter 11 says, now there's a step back, let's go. Maybe weeks in, in advance of this conversation, before any of this happened, God gave some instructions for the people and that's where we'll go. In Exodus, chapter 12, the Passover and the preparation for it, verse 1 says this. While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron's Aaron, from now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. So see what's about to happen.
[00:16:37] What God is about to do in the course of history, particularly with the Israelites, is going to reset their calendar.
[00:16:44] Let this month be the mark that starts your calendar year because of what is so profoundly about to happen.
[00:16:52] He goes on to say, verse 3. Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, each family must choose a lamb, a young goat or a young goat for sacrifice.
[00:17:12] One animal for each household. If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. This is kind of when Potluck started right here.
[00:17:28] He said, divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. The animal you select, though, must be a one year old male, either sheep or goat with no defects.
[00:17:43] Verse 6 says, Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the 14th day of this month.
[00:17:54] Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat. At twilight they are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and the top of the door frames of their houses where they eat the animal. So here's what's supposed to happen. Each family member of each family has to go out in this month on the 10th day, and they must select a beautiful, unblemished sheep or goat from their flock. The best, not the one they can afford to spare.
[00:18:35] They need to choose the best of their flock and they are to take special care of it as a family would, even though it's only going to be for four days. They're to take special care of it like a family pet.
[00:18:48] Bring it into the house, love it, give it a pet name, whatever you want to do. But to care for special, care for it. Then he Sundays, on the 14th day, they are to sacrifice it.
[00:19:02] See, these requirements that God has given really have maybe a dual meaning.
[00:19:08] The first is that the sacrifice that is made, the lamb, should have some kind of a noticeable value and cost to the one offering it.
[00:19:20] It's the best of your flock.
[00:19:22] Maybe in that time that you took special care of it, you knew you were going to slaughter, but still you welcomed it as a pet into your home. It should cost you something financially, maybe even cost you something emotionally.
[00:19:36] The second thing is that the blood of the lamb, once it's slaughtered and you take that blood and you spread it over your door frame, that blood will serve as a sign, as a marker.
[00:19:50] Those who are obedient to those who are devoted to Yahweh goes on to give further instructions in Exodus chapter 12, verses 11 through 14. It's the Passover promise, the promise of God regarding this plague that's coming. He says this in verse 11.
[00:20:09] These are your instructions for eating this meal. See, those are the instructions for preparing for the sacrifice of the lamb and what to do with the lamb's blood.
[00:20:19] But these are your instructions for eating this meal.
[00:20:23] Be fully dressed.
[00:20:27] Not in your housecoat, not in your slippers.
[00:20:29] Be fully dressed, wearing your sandals and carrying your walking stick in your hand.
[00:20:37] Eat the meal with urgency.
[00:20:40] For this is the Lord's Passover.
[00:20:43] So here they are. They're to be fully dressed. They're to eat with all their clothes on, with their suitcase packed, their walking stick ready to go, walking stick in hand and eating. Eat in urgency.
[00:20:57] Why?
[00:20:58] Because they need to be ready to go at any moment.
[00:21:02] Because this message that God is giving Moses to share with the people is a message of hope and expectancy. Because what is about to happen, you need to be ready to go on a moment's notice. God is serious right now, and it's about to happen and we should be excited and ready to go.
[00:21:21] Verse 12 says, and on that night, the message to the people is, I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt.
[00:21:39] I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I will make a distinction between Israel and Egypt.
[00:21:50] For I am the Lord, I am Yahweh, I am the self existent one who has no equal.
[00:22:00] The same Yahweh is the one who prepared and selected Moses and then Aaron to come along as his aide to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.
[00:22:14] Verse 13 goes on in the instruction, but the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign marking the houses where you are staying.
[00:22:27] When I see the blood, I'm not going to look at the last name on the mailbox and determine whether you're Jewish or not.
[00:22:37] I am going to see the blood on the door frame.
[00:22:41] And when I see the blood, I will Pass over you.
[00:22:46] This plague of death will not touch you. When I strike the land of Egypt, think about the power of that are in the blood. The words that God is giving to the people and the power that will be in that blood, that it will serve as a sign for Israel to be spared from the judgment that is coming upon the land. And all who dwell in the land of Egypt, including Jew and Egyptian and any other foreigner.
[00:23:18] But God has given instructions to his people, trusting they will believe him, trust him and do what he says, so that they can be spared from the death angel.
[00:23:30] There's power in the blood, but they had to actually apply the blood to the doors, just as God said they should.
[00:23:42] For example, if an Israelite family didn't believe really that the blood was anything, that making a mess out of the door frame was going to do anything, if they didn't believe it, they could still go and sacrifice that lamb. They could still gather on that evening and have dinner and eat up the lamb.
[00:24:04] But they would still be visited by the angel of death.
[00:24:09] Not because they were Hebrew, but because they didn't apply the blood to the doorposts of their home.
[00:24:17] Likewise, for example, if an Egyptian, If Egyptian home did believe, had heard from the whispers of their neighbors, if they had heard that, if they would offer a proper Passover sacrifice, and if they, though being Egyptian, would still place the blood over their door frame, because they would believe that this God, this Yahweh that has been demonstrated over these last nine plagues, is greater than Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. If they believed that the blood would work and they did it, God would pass over that home too, and spare them.
[00:25:04] Friends, obedience to God and following God's word. And what God says we have to do matters. It makes it different.
[00:25:12] Simply having a mental and an intellectual assent to what God says isn't enough.
[00:25:22] Even if they said, okay, yeah, that blood thing's going to work great, they actually had to do it. They had to be obedient. They had to sacrifice that lamb. They had to place the blood over the door frame in order to have the power of the blood be applied to their home. Amen.
[00:25:42] Important verse 14 goes on. The instruction is, God says, what we're about to experience in this practice, this day, this day is a day to remember each year from generation to generation. You must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time. And the Hebrew people still practice Passover. That's what Passover is. And there's other instructions about what to eat and the bitter herbs and everything else. And there's also instruction, to be sure. Moms and dads, grandparents teach these things. Teach these principles of truth, of faith in Yahweh. Teach them to your families.
[00:26:23] We're not going to get into all that. But that's contained in here as well.
[00:26:28] Then we get to Exodus 12:21 says this, and they did as God commanded. Verse 21 says, Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together, and he said to them, this is what we're supposed to do next. On the 10th day, go pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families. And then on the 14th day, we will slaughter them.
[00:26:54] Slaughter this Passover animal.
[00:26:57] Then drain the blood into a basin, take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it in the blood and brush it.
[00:27:05] Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the door frames of your houses, and no one may go out through the door until morning.
[00:27:19] Now, how many of you have heard about the blood on the doorpost, right? Right? You heard about that, right?
[00:27:24] Anybody remember saying that you better stay in the house until morning? Anybody remember that?
[00:27:29] This is an important principle, right?
[00:27:32] You had to stay there behind the door.
[00:27:37] Because I suggest that if they were trusting truly in the blood of the Lamb to shield them from the judgment, then they had to remain behind the blood.
[00:27:50] They may have run out of toilet paper, but you cannot run down to 711 to get any.
[00:27:56] You had to stay behind the blood.
[00:27:59] As I was thinking about it, I wanted to look up some different things because some things were just flashing through my mind. And I have it upon Romans, chapter 6, verse 1 says this.
[00:28:10] Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace because of the blood of Jesus?
[00:28:20] Of course not. The verse says verse two. Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
[00:28:29] If Christ has died for me and I have hidden my life behind the cross and his shed blood, then how can I continue to walk away from that and go live like it doesn't matter?
[00:28:45] How can I continue to sin again and again and again without any concern over it? No, if I'm forgiven and shielded from the eternal consequence of my own sin that I deserve, then with the help of the Holy Spirit, I will remain behind the blood of Jesus as I live my life every day as best I can to honor him and to honor his sacrifice. And I would invite all of us to continue to join him there. Verse 23 goes on to say this.
[00:29:25] For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians.
[00:29:29] But when he sees the blood on the top and the sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home.
[00:29:35] He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and. And strike you down.
[00:29:40] Verse 28. So the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded through Moses and Aaron. And that night, on the 14th day, at midnight, they had eaten sacrifice, eaten the meal. They had their. Their travel clothes on. They were ready to go. They were packed and ready to go. At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sat on the throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed.
[00:30:16] Verse 30. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt.
[00:30:28] There was not a single house where someone had not been died.
[00:30:34] Brutal, right?
[00:30:36] Sad.
[00:30:37] Didn't have to happen.
[00:30:40] That kind of tragedy does not have to come upon any human being.
[00:30:45] If we would all just come to recognize that God loves us and he provided a way for us to be delivered as he did here for the Israelites. And I've often wondered about the parallels, the similarities, the context that is shared between the death of this firstborn and the first Passover and the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, for all people to bring salvation and deliverance to us all. And so I'm going to share a few of those as we partake in communion. And I'm going to invite you, as I share those, to come forward, take a juice cup and a bread and return to your seat. And we'll take it all together. So I'm going to invite you now to come right now and get your communion. Return to your seat. As I share three parallels between this first Passover and what Jesus did for us. I think one of the first goals is the goal of freedom.
[00:31:42] You see, a male lamb without blemish had to be chosen for the sacrifice for each family.
[00:31:49] See, this lamb for the Israelites would open the way to freedom for the Jews after hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt.
[00:31:59] In the same way, Jesus, in his sacrifice as the lamb of God, opens the way for us to be set free from the bondage in our own lives.
[00:32:09] The goal of freedom is God's goal for us.
[00:32:12] Secondly, there is a necessity for blood, blood to be shared, blood to be applied for our security. The Israelites had to sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. As a sign to God that they believed so that the death angel would pass over. And whoever stayed behind the blood until they were delivered was safe from God's judgment.
[00:32:37] The same is true with Jesus. Whoever trusts in the shed blood of Jesus and hides himself in Christ will be kept safe from the coming judgment of sin because they are forgiven because of Jesus.
[00:32:53] And the third parallel is a personal one.
[00:33:00] A personal choice has to be made. Every household. Then each family had to have their own lamb.
[00:33:07] And every person in each household had to decide to remain behind the blood on the doorposts.
[00:33:15] Likewise for us.
[00:33:18] Each person must open their heart to what Jesus has done for him or her and personally trust him as their Savior and Lord.
[00:33:31] Luke 22:19 says, Jesus took bread and he gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it into pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, this is my body.
[00:33:42] I'm the Lamb of God, which is given for you. Let's go ahead and take the bread.
[00:33:51] Then verse 20 says, after supper he took another cup of wine and said, this is the cup in the new covenant between God and his people. In agreement, confirmed with his blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you to spread over the doorposts of our hearts in faith. Let's take of the juice, My friends.
[00:34:22] Deliverance. Freedom requires shed blood. It did for the Israelites. It does for us. Even now, through Jesus and the decision for them. They had to believe God and apply the blood. They had to remain behind the blood. It's the same for you and I. We have to believe in what Jesus sacrificed his life for and trust our lives, if I dare say, hide our lives behind his death and resurrection and his shed blood.
[00:34:50] Now that we've taken communion, I'd like us to just have a song.
[00:34:55] So if you would go ahead and stand. We're going to sing a song to celebrate this and I'll come back and I'll wrap up about their exodus from Egypt.
