May I please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
book of Exodus chapter 11 and we'll read verse 7. The book
of Exodus chapter 11 and reading verse 7. But against any of the
children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against
man or beast, that ye may know how the Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel. This was a most momentous time
in the history of Israel. It was to be a time of wonderful
deliverance. Israel had been in Egypt now
for some 400 or so years. And they'd gone down into Egypt
in accordance with God's words to Abraham many years before
that. And so the purposes and fulfillment
of God's promises were to be accomplished. And they'd been
there for, in Egypt, all those years. And things that got progressively
more difficult from them, from a beginning of ease and comfort
and pleasantness, to a time of great hardship and difficulty. But what we know is that the
Lord had not forgotten his people. The Lord had not forsaken his
people. The grand truth was that the
Lord's purpose was being fulfilled. And it had been planned way back
in eternity. It wasn't some chance occasion. It was ordered by Almighty God. And so we come to this occasion
when Moses had been the servant in God's hand with Aaron to bring
those plagues before Pharaoh, which should have induced him
to let the children of Israel go and to worship. But on each
occasion, we find his heart was hardened and he refused to let
Israel leave. And so we come down to this occasion. when the Lord was to bring about
the final plague upon the firstborn of the Egyptians in taking their
lives. It was indeed a very solemn occasion,
an occasion that they would not forget, an occasion so great
and so terrible that it would move Pharaoh to allow the Israelites
to depart. And so we come to this occasion. But in order for this to be fulfilled,
we see the Lord was to bring about the introduction of what
we refer to as the Passover. And we can see that all the plan
and all the previous plagues were leading up to this grand
and glorious institution. And it was not as though Israel
would be let go without the Lord graciously directing them to
the great blessing that was to be shown to them on this night,
this solemn night for the Egyptians and most blessed night for Israel. And so we see that the Lord graciously
came and brought about this institution of the Passover, something which
of course had never been carried out before. There had been sacrifices,
there had been the shedding of blood, but now in a more particular
This was to be demonstrated and therefore the Israelites were
instructed in what they should do. We read together in that
twelfth chapter of the form of the Passover and how it was to
occur. It was very precise and it was
very informative and Israel were directed to carry it out precisely
in the pattern that was set before them. And you see, if they had
not done so, then they would not have been delivered from
that curse of that last plague. But the Lord graciously gave
them this very good and very careful instruction. And so they were directed what
to do. take a lamb, a perfect lamb,
and to get it ready and not to slay it immediately. They were
to wait and on the 14th day we're told the same month the whole
assembly and the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. They were all to join together
on that occasion they were to take the lamb and they were to
slay it and when they'd slain it they
were to take the blood and take that blood and strike it on the
two side posts and the upper door posts of the houses wherein
they shall eat it and they shall eat the flesh in the night roast
with fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs shall they
eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden
at all with water, but roast with fire his head, with his
legs, and his pertinence thereof, and ye shall let nothing of it
remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until
the morning ye shall burn with fire. And ye shall eat it, your
loins girded, your shoes and your feet, your staff in your
hand and you shall eat it in haste it is the Lord's Passover
so that was a very clear direction wasn't it and it was a wonderful
figure that was set before the Israelites but sometimes perhaps
we may think well if we'd been there all those years ago if
we were an Israelite We were commanded to carry out this rite. What would we have thought about
it? How would we have considered
it? Likewise, how many Israelites
were able, by the grace of God, to observe what it set before
them? Nonetheless, perhaps, as the
years passed by, and of course this had to be carried out on
this annual occasion in the first month on the 14th day, not to
be passed over, not to be forgotten, but to be remembered year by
year. Perhaps more and more of the
Israelites as they pass through, recognize what this really signified. And of course, the truth was
that the set before the Israelites won great an important theme. And that important theme was
to be carried through into the New Testament when the Lord's
Supper was instituted. And what it really signified
was very simply this. There was only safety under the
blood. And in the Old Testament picture
here, We have safety under the blood of the Lamb. Of course,
in the New Testament, safety only is under the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lamb in this rite signified,
of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a picture for Israel to
ponder and consider. And it was important to realize
how this lamb was to be taken how this lamb was to be treated
it was to be roast in the fire and unleavened bread and with
bitter herbs they shall eat it we may perhaps think why should
it have been roast in the fire why could it not have been boiled
as It says, and not in that way, not Sodom at all with water,
but roast with fire. The picture for us is really
that the Lord Jesus Christ, he went through the fire, the fire
of the wrath of God on our behalf. That was why this lamb had to
be roast. And it was roast with bitter
herbs because it was a bitter occasion when the Saviour had
to endure the wrath of God. It wasn't a pleasing occasion,
it was a hard thing. And therefore we have this picture
of these bitter herbs to be used with this roast lamb and eaten
on that specific night after the blood had been taken and
put on the doorpost and the lintel so this was something specific
to Israel the Egyptians didn't know about it they didn't know
of course what it signified they didn't know what was going to
occur but Israel you see were blessed with this wonderful right
to carry it out And so there was the fulfillment of this.
And so there was then, through this, a wonderful deliverance. First of all, they were not amongst
those who lost their lives. And secondly, they were delivered
from that land of Egypt. Pharaoh let the people go. and in today in which we live
in our spiritual consideration of this it surely sets before
us in our natural life a time that we find ourselves in a spiritual
Egypt and that really means a time before the Holy Spirit comes
and reveals to us the preciousness and the essential blessing of
being found under the blood now on this occasion there was a
set time when the Lord would put a difference between the
Egyptians and Israel this was the day when that difference
would occur and in a spiritual sense There is still today days
when there is a difference put between the people of God and
those who are not the people of God. There is a difference
and the difference really comes when the Holy Spirit shows to
us that the only way there is of escape the wrath of Almighty God is
to know that you and I are under the blood, to know that the Lord
Jesus Christ, he has borne that wrath of God for us. It is a wonderful blessing when
the Holy Spirit turns an historical account into a time of spiritual
blessing. So we realise, true as it is,
that we're able to read this account, it has a deep significance
for the people of God because it does show us so clearly there
is this vital difference between those who are unsaved and those
who are saved. Those who are the children of
God and those who are not. Those who are delivered. And
those who are not, the Egyptians, were left in Egypt. There was
no deliverance for them. They were there. But for Israel,
there was deliverance. There was freedom from that time
of bondage. Many, many years, they'd been
there. Of course, with the Church of
God, we find ourselves in bondage, captivated by the devil bowed down tied down really by
the devil because of the sin which we were born with and there
we remain in that place of darkness that place of darkness brought
about by our sin And there's no deliverance from that. We
remain in that place until the Lord graciously brings a deliverance
with the Lord to these Israelites of old. He brought about a gracious
and a wonderful deliverance. It was the Lord's wonderful plan
to deliver the Israelites. Still today, it is the Lord's
wonderful plan deliver his church, his people, from this time of
bondage, this time of darkness, to bring us into the glorious
light of the everlasting gospel as and when the blessing of Jesus
Christ is revealed to our souls. It's when the glorious light
of the gospel shines It's when we see, perhaps through a glass
darkly, we don't see things perhaps initially as clearly as we would,
and perhaps we never see things totally clearly until we get
into glory. But nonetheless, to have the
evidence of the work of the Spirit shining into our hearts and giving
us to know the necessity of understanding what this Lamb of God meant and
what the spiritual Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, means.
And it's wonderful to ponder the time when the Lord Jesus
Christ was revealed as the Son of God. You know, He was 30 years
living in this world and people were ignorant that He was the
Son of God. There was that occasion, of course,
when he was found when he was 12 years old in the temple and
speaking to the elders in that place and describing the truth
of God. No doubt there was that understanding
with Mary who pondered the things in her heart. But nonetheless,
generally speaking, the Lord Jesus was not revealed. And it
wasn't really until that grand and glorious day when he came
to John the Baptist and was baptized by John the Baptist in Jordan.
And the Holy Spirit came and spoke, This is my beloved son,
in whom I am well pleased. The evidence that here was the
son of God to begin his great and glorious ministry upon the
earth. What a time that was. What a
blessing that was. What a revelation it was, because
John the Baptist was able to say, behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. Well, here in this Old Testament
time, they were to behold physically that Lamb which was taken, and
then as God gave them grace to understand and behold by faith
the true Lamb of God. and the wonderful shedding of
His blood and so we have on this occasion this great and wonderful
time of this deliverance set before us in the Word of God
and that which indeed put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel
and so in our lives today can we look back can we see a time
when there has been a difference a difference perhaps just like
this once I was blind no sight but now I see the Lord has come
and graciously opened our spiritual eyes it's not natural eyesight
it's spiritual eyesight what a wonderful blessing it is When
God comes and gives us that spiritual sight to understand, the Lord
has put a difference between us and the world. He's opened
our blind eyes. There we were in the world, ignorant
of the great truths of God. when that light shines and it
only shines by the power of the Spirit of God and it only reveals
to us then the glory of the plan of salvation. This was a wonderful
day in the history of the Israelites. My friends really it's a greater
glorious and wonderful day when the Holy Spirit reveals to us
the glorious work of salvation in the and through that which
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when he completed his work at
Calvary so many years ago and yet what a necessary and what
a powerful work it was because what he did he gave life to the
whole Church of God. Right down from Adam's day, there
was the very clear, finished work of the Saviour. Without
shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, there's no remission
of sin. Man, women, children are under
the curse, the curse of sin, unable to free ourselves you
see the Israelites were unable to free themselves they were
a vast company but they were in Egypt and they were kept in
Egypt by the Egyptians and they were unable to free themselves
until that wonderful time when indeed the avenged angel passed
over those dwellings where there was blood on the doorposts and
the lintels and the Israelites were then set free they went
out of Egypt they went out of Egypt with a high hand with everything
they possessed every favour they possessed and we're told not
a hoof was left behind God fulfilled His promise promise made so many
years ago and bless God today he still fulfills his promises
to his people to deliver them from the wrath to come deliver
them from that position of endless sorrow and curse and to be brought
into the glorious liberty of the wonderful powerful work of
the Saviour. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. That means freedom from the curse. That means our sins taken away,
our sins washed away. So we then come into that blessed
understanding of this separation, this difference which has occurred. A difference from that time when
we were ignorant of the things of God. And that means not ignorant,
of course, in a natural way. But it means ignorance of a spiritual
way. We may perhaps think we know
much about the Word of God. We may have a good knowledge
of the Word of God. We may know much about it from
Genesis to Revelation. but the important aspect is when
God comes and puts a difference and it's so clear this is God's
work we read in this case here that ye may know how the Lord
doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel so what
a mercy today if we look into our hearts and we see there's
been a difference There has been a change. Our eyes have been
blessedly opened to observe the wonderful plan of salvation and
therefore today we can rejoice in it. We can thank God for it. And you see there was a wonderful
evidence of this freedom. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast
and you remember the Israelites of course they came out at night
and perhaps you most of us know that of course dogs when they're
disturbed at night they first thing they do is to bark and
here there was the evidence of God's work they were to be silent
they would not bark and Israel went out without that fear of
perhaps being attacked because a dog barks because it wants
to maintain the the ownership perhaps of its master and therefore
it barks in defense but no there was no one that could stop Israel
being delivered and that's so in our spiritual life there's
no one that can raise anything against our deliverance. When the Lord's time comes, when
the Lord works, when the Lord delivers us, when he comes and
reveals to us the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, no one
can stop it. No one can speak against it. They may perhaps try to, but
They cannot overcome us because this is the blessed work of God. The Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel. And wonderful it is that God
puts a difference between us. Now, in this case of Israel,
what was to happen? The Lord was to bring this deliverance
They were to come out of Egypt and they were to begin their
spiritual journey to bring them at last to the land of Canaan. We might perhaps think, well,
it was going to be a wonderful time of freedom and a wonderful
time of ease and comfort, but of course it wasn't. It was very
different. And the truth was, of course,
the Israelites They still possessed their old sinful nature. They
didn't leave that behind in Egypt. They still contend with that
as they journeyed on for those many years, for over 40 years,
to bring them at last into the land of Canaan. But nonetheless,
the Lord graciously brought them safely home. to Canaan, the promised
land. It was what God had promised
to them. This was the beginning of their
freedom. But it wasn't the beginning of
their eternal freedom without sin. They still had a body of
sin and death. God's people still have a body
of sin and death right until we pass out of time into eternity. And so we can trace out the picture
that we have of Israel in this long journey. Of course, in this
journey, the Lord then brought more clearly into focus, really,
the wonder of the Passover, especially when they had the favour of the
tabernacle being described to them and eventually the tabernacle
of course being erected and being built in all its glory and all
its wonder and there in the middle of that tabernacle we see the
wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ over the mercy seat
and the relevance of that occasion On that day of atonement, when
the high priest went into the holy place and again, not without
blood. We see the picture of that bloodshed
and the importance of it right through the word of God, right
from Genesis, right through to Revelation and how good it is
to be able to trace it out. And so Israel, were to be blessed
with this and it wasn't long after they came out of Egypt
a year or so when Moses was blessed with going up Mount Sinai and
the Lord revealed to him how this was to be built, how it
was to be erected, how it was to be made and it was carried
out the Israelites carried it out and when it was complete
they brought all the items to Moses to check it over to make
sure it was done completely in accordance with that which the
Lord had revealed to Moses. And when Moses was satisfied,
then it was all erected. And when it was all erected,
we know that the Lord God came down in that cloud. What a time that was, a revelation
that he showed forth that he was satisfied with that which
had been built and to signify that that was the way of acceptance
in and through that veil into the holiest of all and there
not without the shedding of blood on that great and wonderful annual
occasion that day of atonement so we have these pictures in
the Old Testament to encourage us and to strengthen our faith
but let us not lose sight that all the Old Testament pictures
directed Israel of old to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we read these Old Testament
accounts, may they direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
may we be encouraged in our souls. And praise God for that which
is revealed to us So as we read these accounts, they're not just
an historical fact, which of course they are, but we see a
little of what the Word of God describes as the deep that couches
beneath. There is this picture, the natural
picture, but underneath there's this spiritual evidence of God's
gracious plan and God's gracious work for all his church, for
all his people. The Lord doth put a difference
between the Egyptians and Israel. There is no doubt about it. This was then the beginning of
Israel's natural journey. May we look back and find in
our lives the beginning of our spiritual journey. The Lord came
and showed us our condition. You know, the Israelites When
they were in Egypt, what did they do? Did they just sit down? Did they just accept the position? No. They cried unto God. They cried unto God that He would
come and deliver them. And so it is in our spiritual
life. As we perhaps are found in captivity,
that Satan seems to have us and control us, What do we do? Do we just accept it? No, let
us be found frying under God. And you know, therefore God in
His time, in His set time, in the time determined, He came
and delivered Israel. And as you think of the work
involved, the planning work, it's worth just thinking that,
of course, You go right back, don't you? Right back through
the history of the Word of God and trace out how the Lord dealt
with His people, brought them from one place to another. And
every time, every direction, every leading was bringing them
a time nearer to when they would go down into Egypt and a time
nearer when they would be delivered and a time nearer when the glory
of the Passover would be displayed to them. Yes, it was all in God's
wonderful plan. Nothing occurred by chance. Everything was ordained by God. Even those times before they
went down into Egypt when Jacob couldn't understand what was
happening. Joseph was not, Simeon was not,
All these things were against me? Well, they weren't. They
were all working together for good. It was all part of God's
wonderful and glorious plan. When Jacob would be brought down
in Egypt and all his family, that which had been prophesied
years before, at the beginning of this stay in Egypt, and then
brought to this time of great needs to cry out to God for deliverance. See, when things go very smoothly,
when everything's calm, there's not much prayer. There's not
much need for prayer, we might say. The Lord doesn't leave his
people in the calm sea. The Lord brings the storms. He
brings the wind. He brings those situations which
call for Prayer. The call for deliverance. And then, in the Lord's way,
in the Lord's appointed time, deliverance comes. It was, of
course, a long time, wasn't it, in Israel's life? A long time. And, of course,
as the day approached for deliverance, it got harder and harder. Yes, our labour was increased. The opposition was increased. No doubt their prayers increased,
increased with vehemency and fervency. The Lord would hear,
the Lord would answer. And of course, the set time came
for deliverance. And that time comes and the devil
cannot stop it. He may have hindered it, but
he can't stop it. And so here, on this occasion
the Lord wonderfully came and the Lord put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel and in Israel were instructed to
take the land, to take the blood, to put it on the doorpost of
Lentil they were to eat the land you may say well what does that
mean? well really it means this The Church of God are to feed
on Christ's finished work. And that's why the Saviour so
wonderfully says in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John,
Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man,
there's no life in you. And that, of course, is in a
spiritual way, not a physical way. But here Israel were to
eat the Lamb of God, they were to feed upon this land and so
today you and I are to feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ feed upon
His great work which He's accomplished in order to save in order to
redeem our souls and this is the difference you see the world
does not feed upon Christ there's no attraction in Christ there's
nothing suitable for them but the Church of God Christ is so
suitable. Oh, Christ is so attractive.
Christ is so glorious. And there is our only hope. Now,
Israel had to be obedient. Had to be obedient in carrying
out this which Aaron told Moses told them to do. If they failed,
then they would not be delivered. And so may we today heed the
great and glorious words of the gospel, which really can be summarised
in those words in Isaiah. Look unto me, nowhere else. Look unto me. Be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. And so this morning, are we amongst
those who have obeyed the glorious word of God and looked to the
Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, for our freedom from sin, from
our deliverance from the curse, and to truly rejoice in what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done in shedding his most precious
blood in order to redeem our souls. And so, as we ponder these
accounts this morning, let us realise the relevance of them,
the importance of them, the glory of them, the beauty of them,
and how they do and how they should and how they may direct
us, in our hearts, to see the suffering Saviour, and see deliverance
there as you and I may be found under the blood of the Saviour
what a mercy then if the Holy Spirit comes and applies His
Word to our souls so that we are no longer in that state of
spiritual darkness but the glorious light of the Gospel has shone
and it shined nowhere else other than in the face of Jesus Christ. So we can truly praise and bless
God for His wonderful plan of salvation to rebellious man,
His wonderful plan of salvation to rebellious sinners as we are,
to know the Lord has not left us to ourselves, He didn't leave
Israel. He came to them. He delivered
them. He brought them out. He commenced
that great and glorious journey for them, which ended up at last
with Canaan. May we therefore be able to trace
in our lives the wonderful beginning of this journey, which will bring
us at last safe to heaven, there to be eternally with Christ,
which is indeed far better. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast,
that he may know how the Lord, you see, there is a knowing. It's not something which is unknown. The Church of God do know. My
friends, when you and I, each one of us know this great and
glorious deliverance, you may know and the Lord doth put a
difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Amen.