Law & Grace - 10 Strikes & you're out - Part II (Passover & Exodus)
Vern Peterman · Dec 5, 2010
Law & Grace, No. 03
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926221133128

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We'll be a month from today having these three electives, and so I just want to Put those out there for your consideration and ask you to sign up for one of those. Your signing up helps us in several respects. One is some of them have materials that need to be prepared. We also need to look at which room is going to accommodate the people, those sorts of things. So, your sign up, we have major Bible themes, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and what God is doing in the life of the believer.

That's the title instead of process verbs. Anyway, we invite you to select between those. Now, last week we introduced this account of how Moses, after 40 years of being an Egyptian prince and then 40 years of being a shepherd out in the desert east of Egypt, was suddenly confronted by the Lord in this burning bush. We had even for a moment here Tristan was our resident Moses.

We also introduced to you Jewish baseball. special rules here. This is out of the rule book of Jewish baseball from the big inning. And in Jewish baseball we noted that you shouldn't assume that the rules are all the same, that even though it would appear to be the same, there are in fact some differences, especially when you're playing against the Egyptians. And ten strikes and you're out is one of the rules.

And we'll see that in effect this morning. Another thing is, we're accustomed to the term, you know, a fly ball or flies. And we said, you know, when it comes to Jewish baseball, flies mean something completely different. Okay? It doesn't imply the same thing at all. We also said that in Jewish baseball, everyone looks to Moses for guidance on how to do things, even asking the question, what would Moses do? Right?

Last week we also made note of this, that Moses, when you kind of put him in the time frame of the historical timeline of some of the major biblical mileposts and characters, he stands roughly in the year 1500, and as a matter of fact the Exodus took place after that, but it gives you some time frame for the life of Moses here.

We also made note that Moses was brought in by the Lord to deliver the Israelites after they had spent 400 years making bricks. That's a lot of practice. 400 years making bricks for Pharaoh out of mud and straw. And that's even Pharaoh's stamp on that particular brick right there. And by the way, that's what they did with each one. Put Pharaoh's stamp on each brick. We told about how Moses had been drawn out of the water. and been preserved basically by the selection of Pharaoh's daughter.

We made note of the fact that Moses, after 40 years as an Egyptian prince, was caught murdering a fellow Egyptian in defense of the Hebrews and then was sent off into the wilderness where he was a shepherd for another 40 years. The quick outline was 40 years as an Egyptian prince, 40 years as a shepherd, and then 40 years leading the Israelites for 120 years. So as we come and revisit that point in time, one of the points that we made is as the burning bush was the Lord's instrument for addressing Moses, We saw in Exodus 3, verse 10, the Lord broke the news to Moses.

Moses, guess what? You're going to be my deliverer. And so Exodus 3, 10 says, therefore now, and I will send you to Pharaoh. So Moses is probably in shock at this point. So that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. So I guess 40 years of experience with sheep is good experience for working with the Israelites.

After the Lord revealed to Moses that he and his brother Aaron would appear before Pharaoh, the two of them would appear before their own people, the Hebrews, and tell them what was happening, and then also appear in Pharaoh's court. And we have here the picture of the instance where they first laid down the rod, which the Lord miraculously turned into a serpent. Now, that began the 10 plagues, which we have illustrated here. First, the plague of water turned to blood. Then the plague of frogs.

Now, I actually kind of like frogs, you know. One or two of them are fine. Hopping all over your house, hopping all over your bed, hopping all over your face when you're trying to sleep, that's a different matter. I can't say as I enjoy lice. Flies and then diseased cattle. The next one is boils. How many of you ever had a boil? Yeah, really awful. Not only painful and ugly, but they just seem to sap the strength out of you too. Really awful. hail, actually mixed with fire, and then a plague of locusts, and then finally darkness, and then the final one, death of the firstborn.

Now these plagues we mentioned last week were all specifically, and it was mentioned in Exodus 12.12 that Wayne read for us, specifically an affront against one or more of the Egyptian gods. So we had this outlined in each of the 10 plagues affronted, insulted, assaulted one or more of the Egyptian gods. Now the Egyptians had 700 of them, so there are plenty to insult and assault. So we laid that out. Now you have on page one a one-page table that looks like this.

And I'll want you to follow through with this because I don't expect you to read this off the screen. If you do, congratulations, but I'm not expecting that. What I would like you to take a look at is, first of all, if we have a dash in there, it's not because I forgot to do something. It's because Scripture doesn't address that particular item for that particular plague. So you'll see some of that being the case.

The first two plagues that are outlined there is water to blood and then a great huge amount of frogs. In these, Pharaoh was warned about what was the case. The next thing that's interesting is for both of those, the magicians were able to reproduce the plague or miracle, right? We are not told what's the people's response, but what we do find is that regarding the water turned to blood, Pharaoh didn't care. Apathetic. So what? The next one, the frogs, he called Moses to intercede and then changed his mind.

We're going to see an interesting pattern in that shortly. The next two, the lice and the flies, and some of your translations may have that as gnats. I think lice is probably the more likely understanding there. By the way, the Egyptians were dreadfully afraid of lice, which is one of the reasons many of them would shave their hair in order to avoid that problem. At that point, we notice a difference.

The magicians were not able to reproduce it. As a matter of fact, they may even have been thankfully unable to produce it. they were not able to do this as they did with the first two plagues. We don't notice any response from the people or from Pharaoh in that, but we notice a real significant difference in the fourth plague.

From that plague, God made a difference between Egypt and Israel and how the plague affected them. Pharaoh was warned by Moses and Aaron of the separation of Israel. These prior plagues, Israel was subjected to. From this point forward, Israel was not subjected to the same plagues that the Egyptians were.

But notice the pattern again. At that one, Pharaoh calls Moses to intercede and then changed his mind. Oh boy. It's the first time that a plague is said not to be in Goshen. Goshen was the land that they were in, which is consistent with Israel being separated from Egypt. This is what it says in Exodus 8, 20-23. You also have it on page 2 of your handout as a slide. Now the Lord said to Moses, rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh Pharaoh must have been a mourning person, I guess. Okay.

As he comes out of the water, and Satan says to the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you do not let my people go, and then verse 21 continues in the description of the fly, But verse 22, but on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people are living so that no swarms of the flies will be there in order that you may know that I the Lord am in the midst of the land. I will put a division between my people and your people. See that distinction here?

We'll make note of that here shortly. separate and set apart. God made Israel at this point to be set apart and separate physically in the land so that Israel did not share in the plagues on Egypt even though they were technically still in the land of Egypt. The land of Goshen which was on the east side of the Nile Delta where the Israelites were did not from this point on by any record we have share in the plagues. Here is that land of Goshen here that we find on the east side of the Nile Delta.

Now as a point of contrast and comparison, God made us who are in the church to be set apart and separate spiritually. See that? Spiritually. In the heavenlies. The Israelites separate in the land, us separate in heavenly, spiritually, so that we do not share the wrath of God upon the world. Our being set apart in Christ separates us from the sin nature, the New Testament says, the law, and the world. We are made separate from these three things by our being set apart and separate for us in the church. See the both point of comparison and contrast there.

Now he says, my people of the Israelites, in Exodus 8, 20-23 that we saw and you have on page 2 of your handout, God calls Israel my people twice. In Judges 20, verse 2, Israel is also called the people of God. What's interesting in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, Peter the apostle writes that we who are in the church are likewise called the people of God. There is something very interesting. Does that mean that Israel is the people of God and we are the people of God and we're now the same as Israel? Well, interesting point.

In Revelation 21.3 where it talks about, now this is projecting in time in the new heavens and new earth.

The saved of the Gentiles, Israel, and the church are called, plural in the original language, the peoples of God in Revelation 21.3. Multiple. That is, Gentiles are one people, Israel is another people, and the church is another people altogether. Three different peoples of God is the focus there in the new heavens and new earth as described in Revelation 21. Now, here's an interesting contrast.

Moses, as he spoke for God, said to Pharaoh regarding Israel, let my people go. But Christ, in fact being God himself, said to his apostles regarding the church, let my people know. It is our knowing It is our knowing and understanding and having faith in those things that we have revealed to us, that we know God intends to use in our lives. So it's let my people go for the Israelites, let my people know for us in the church.

Now, we have this warning of separation that we pointed out in the fourth plague. where Pharaoh was warned the Israelites in their land and among their people will be separate from Egypt and they will not suffer the plagues as Egypt does. And so you have from there either noted or because of that general separation assumed that Israel does not share in those plagues. There's something else to note here. Notice the pattern from the second plague on that Pharaoh, not every time, but again and again, calls Moses to intercede and then changes his mind. Oh! He changes his mind again and again and again.

Well, finally you have the last plague. the death of the firstborn. Pharaoh is indeed warned about this, and one of the points we made last week is that this last plague actually is an affront and an attack and an assault on all of the Egyptian gods, because the firstborn was the prized one in each family. The firstborn was the future of Egypt. This was the one who would have the inheritance not just of wealth but of power in the families and even in the whole land of Egypt with Pharaoh's son. It was an attack against all the gods. The people's response at that tenth plague was to give gifts to Israel, valuable gifts, gold and silver and precious things. Finally, Finally, Pharaoh calls Moses and says, get out. Go. But what we don't have noted here, he's going to change his mind. Right? He's going to change his mind. And we're going to see that partly today, but also in further detail next week.

No death among the Israelites and Goshen. Okay? No death. The Egyptians all lost the firstborn, the future of Egypt, the ones in whom all the Egyptians gloried, the Egyptian families up to the royal household. No deaths, however, among the Israelites there in Goshen.

What Wayne read for us in the first dozen or so verses of Exodus 12 actually continues on through that entire chapter to describe the Passover and how it's to be done. We see the first commands for Israel to establish the Passover and every year after that in which the Passover land was to be sacrificed by men. This was the institution of the Passover. It was a major spring celebration of the Jews and instituted right there under Moses. The Jews had seven of these celebrations instituted under Moses and then two more One was Purim under the book of Esther, and the other is Hanukkah between the Old and New Testaments.

The only place Hanukkah shows up in the entire Bible is John 10.23. But it's not called that. So here's Passover, one of the principal and major and obviously historically founded Jewish celebrations.

They were to eat it standing up. As a matter of fact, this initial Passover was unique in that they ate it standing up. They actually, as you see in this picture, were to carry their staff with them while they ate. And they were to eat it in haste. It's like, get ready. You don't have time to even sit down. You eat this. You eat it all. You eat it fast. And you eat it like you're getting ready to go. Because guess what? You are. Right? And so that's the way it was to be taken.

Passover, over time, developed some additional traditions. And the focus, of course, is on the lamb. They were to take the blood, which, interestingly enough, would mark the top and side points of a cross, and put that over the door of each household.

The Passover celebrations later on came to be more relaxed. You could actually sit down. You didn't hold a staff. The Last Supper was, in fact, a Passover. It was paced. They had particular things that they went through. And rather than doing everything in haste, there's actually something that they read through. I have here a Haggadah.

This is the words to the whole Passover celebration. This one was printed around the early World War II era, but it eventually came to have a particular and traditional content to it and was more prolonged with many added traditions, things that were done aside from what that chapter that Wayne introduced for us actually contained. Ultimately, what does the Passover point to?

The Passover with the Lamb and the sacrifice of the Lamb points to Christ. What's interesting is in the very first chapter of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist twice, verse 29, 36, both, says, Behold the Lamb of God. Interestingly, Only the Apostle John is the one who calls Christ the Lamb.

And this is the first place that he does so. In 1 Corinthians 5-7, that we studied some months ago here, we see that Christ is our Passover. So as the Jews celebrated a Passover in which they look back as a memorial in memory, right? We also have a looking back. But Christ is our Passover, the Lamb sacrificed for us once for all by God himself.

Christ will forever be called the Lamb. Very interesting, when we walk through heaven's gates, and I hope it's today, when we walk through heaven's gates, Christ will be called the Lamb. Even in the new heavens and new earth, when there is not a tear among us. Even in the new heavens and new earth, when there is no more mourning or sorrow or crying or pain. We will still acknowledge Christ as the Lamb.

The One who paid the sacrifice. God's Passover for us. on into eternity he will forever be the Lamb. The last two chapters of Revelation which describe the new heavens and new earth continue to call Christ the Lamb, the one sacrifice for us. We will somehow behold him and look at him and realize that he is the one who paid the price and that will mark his identity on into eternity future. In Exodus 12, we also see the exodus of Israel from the land and out from under the control of Egypt.

We see them after having this Passover in which they ate standing up with their staff in hand, ate hastily. We see them rushing out with everything that they have and are going to take away with them out from the land of Egypt. The Pharaoh has said, get out. I guess that's reason enough to do that, right? Get out.

So that physical exodus fulfilled in their condition, their being separate and set apart. See, they were already set apart, correct? They were already separate, right? Now, in their position, excuse me, in their condition, that is, in their actually living it out, they were to separate themselves. and to be physically separate and not just be separate in terms of their treatment, but separate physically, a different part of the geography. We see in the church that we have been separated and set apart in our spiritual position. Our calling to live by the very life of Christ fills in our daily condition what we already are in our eternal position.

Now we're going to be looking ahead, as soon happens, at where Moses is the Lord's instrument for parting the sea in front of him. And of course, this generates all sorts of interesting thoughts, like this one, Moses' first and last day as a lifeguard, right? Or this one, Moses, cut it out and take your bath, right? or perhaps this one, when Moses goes fishing with a friend, right? And so we'll be taking a look at those. But one of the interesting things that Paul also notes, in addition to Christ being our Passover, is this next thing in 1 Corinthians 10. He says that the people of Israel were all baptized into Moses under the cloud and through the sea.

Why? It was a physical presence that had them identified with Moses. Very, very interesting. We understand here at Holly Hills that we have been identified with Christ, made to be in Christ by God's doing, baptized into Christ. But very interesting, they were baptized into Moses. We are baptized into Christ by faith.

They were baptized by their physical presence with Him. they were identified with Moses. That baptism would ultimately, in a matter of days, place them all under the principle of law. You see that? Having been identified with Moses within a matter of days, they would all be identified with Moses under that principle of law.

In both Romans 6.23 And Galatians 3.27, we see that we in the church are all baptized into Christ Jesus, not by the physical presence, but by a spiritual presence, different from the baptism with Moses. But that baptism places us all under the principle of grace. You see that? Here, as Moses had the Israelites baptized into Moses as they were identified with him by their physical presence through the water and under the cloud we in the church are baptized into him not by physical presence but by spiritual presence you see you and I when Christ was on the cross you and I were there not physically but we were there spiritually and God did it When Christ was buried in the tomb, you were there spiritually and God did it.

When Christ was resurrected, you were there too. There was a mass exodus out of that too. You were there. When he was ascended and seated in the heavenlies, you were there. There was a spiritual presence. God did it. Every believer here this morning shares in that history. It was all done and continues to be done under the principle of grace.

Now you have a chart that's on page three of your handout that takes up the whole page. And what I'd like us to take a look at is the parallels, and I think they are fascinating, the parallels between the timing and the sequence of events of the Exodus up to the giving of the law and the timing and sequence of events of Christ in his first coming up to the giving of the Spirit. So I'd like to focus on, let's look at the left half of that initially here. So look at this.

The introduction of the law to Israel by Moses starts with the Passover lamb is chosen. That's what Wayne read for us in Exodus 12, 2 through 5. The next verses talk about the Passover Feast. That's the very first Passover. There was four days between the choosing of the lamb and the Passover Feast. There was four days between the Passover Feast and the crossing of the Red Sea.

You see that? Exodus 15, 13 through 16 says that the Lord redeems his own. It was true of Israel. The Lord redeemed Israel through those things. And, based on Paul's insight from 1 Corinthians, it was the beginning of Israel's baptism into Moses. See that? Now, that's the introduction of the law. Look at right underneath that, Jesus rides into Jerusalem and comes to the temple.

The choosing of the Passover lamb. And where were the Passover lambs sacrificed? in New Testament times in the temple. Four days later is the first Lord's table on the last time that the Lord would celebrate Passover with his disciples. It is, by the way, on the exact same day of the month as the Passover feast. Four days after that was the resurrection of Christ, corresponding to this same event of the Jews going through the sea.

The Lord redeems his own, Ephesians 1.14. And this was the beginning of the church's baptism into Christ.

What's amazing as we look at this is the parallels between those first events, second event there, first Passover, first Lord's Table, and passing from death to life. Now, we've got one more that's on your handout, and it's 50 days from the first Passover to the giving of the law. It is also 50 days from the first Lord's Table to the giving of the Spirit. Amazing parallels between these two. The Lord followed a similar calendar between the introduction of the law and the introduction of grace. A similar timetable. Amazing how he did that.

Next Sunday we'll take a closer look at the Israelites crossing of the sea. And we'll see how the Israelites go flying through the sea and just driving right quite like that. Here, more like that. There we go. And so we'll take a look at that next week. And we'll see how the Lord led them through a pillar of cloud by day. And we'll see how the Lord also led them at night by the pillar of fire.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this, we see it is amazing what comparison and what contrast. Things are so similarly and yet so radically different. We thank you for what you have revealed, what happened to the Israelites and how they were introduced to the law. And how we are introduced to grace. Thank you for these gracious revelations because you love us and care for us. And you want us to understand. And as you said, essentially, you want us to let our people know. Thank you for that knowledge and understanding that brings us to relationship and fellowship with you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.