The Exodus, God by power bringing
out from the bondage of Egypt, the children of Israel through
Moses. That's what we're gonna look at. And if you look at verse
29 of Exodus chapter 12, the first thing that happened right
before the children of Israel were brought out is God executed
his justice his justice against the sins of the Egyptians, the
sins of Pharaoh in bringing forth his threat to kill the firstborn
of Egypt. And it says in verse 29, it came
to pass that at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat
on his throne and to the firstborn of the captive that was in the
dungeon and all the firstborn of the cattle And Pharaoh rose
up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in
Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead."
What a display of justice. This was not God throwing a temper
tantrum. This was not God out of control.
This was God doing what he does. injustice against the sins of
those to whom he imputes iniquity. And that's what happened. And
notice that it didn't matter who you were or what economic
or race or whatever you were. This came to all without exception,
from Pharaoh, the highest, the most powerful man in Egypt, all
the way down to one who was in prison, all the way down to even
the cattle. He says, there was not a house
where there was not one dead. And what does that tell us? It
tells us that, look, you're stationed in life. Your economic status,
your social status, your racial status has absolutely nothing
to do with a right standing before God. And the spiritual lesson
is this, that if we're not in Christ, if we're not washed in
his blood and clothed in his righteousness, then we're headed
for an eternal damnation under the just wrath of God. And look
at verse 31, he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said,
rise up and get you forth among my people, both ye and the children
of Israel and go serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your
flocks and your herds as you have said and be gone and bless
me also. In other words, this is what
Pharaoh said. Moses. In other words, Pharaoh
at this point in time, he's ready and willing to get rid of them.
And when he says bless me also, he says bless me with your absence. That's what he means when you're
gone. Now Pharaoh didn't know what
blessing is from the Lord. He didn't know God, but that's
what he said. Now, think about this. You know,
I've got in your lesson here how Egypt really has some symbolic
significance in the Bible. Egypt represents bondage, the
bondage of sin, the bondage of the law, the bondage that men
and women by nature are under by the deception of Satan. That's
what that bondage is all about. And how did God deliver his people
from this Egyptian, this physical Egyptian bondage through the
blood of the lamb, the Passover lamb. Well, in the spiritual
realm, God has a people whom he chose before the foundation
of the world and gave to Christ, but we fell in Adam, fell into
the bondage of sin and death. And how does God deliver his
spiritual people, spiritual Israel, from that bondage through the
blood of Christ, the blood of the Lamb of God, typified in
the Passover Lamb. And think about the children
of Israel here too. You know, when they first went
to Egypt, it was really a place of comfort. They came there, you remember,
through Jacob, and his sons, and they came there because they
would have starved elsewhere. So it was a refuge from famine,
but it became a place of oppression and slavery. And I think about
Adam in the garden, how it was such a beautiful place before
the fall. But then when he fell, everything
turned, everything changed. His status before God changed. Egypt represents a life of slavery
to sin. And a life of slavery to sin
is a life without Christ. It's a life lived in unbelief,
no matter what your appearance is. You may be religious, you
may be irreligious or unreligious, but a life of slavery is the
only way without Christ. Bondage. And here's another thing
you need to understand about Israel in Egypt, If it hadn't
been for the Lord, the first cause of everything, the Lord
coming to them through Moses, they would have remained right
there in that bondage. That's where they would have
been. And it's the same thing with us spiritually. If the Lord
hadn't come and opened our eyes and showed us our sin, showed
us our bondage and drove us to Christ, we would have been perfectly
content to remain in the bondage of spiritual slavery and death.
And so that we see all these parallels here to this. So just
as God called the Israelites and brought them out of the bondage
of Egypt by power, He calls His spiritual people and brings us
out of the bondage of sin and Satan and the law by the redemption
through the blood of Christ. And I want to emphasize this
too. God always, is always just in
His punishments. He's even just in His deliverance
of His people through the blood. Now God punished the Egyptians
where there was no blood on their door. That's his pure justice. That's all you can hope for without
Christ, without the blood. Where there was no blood on the
door, there was death. But God's justice fell upon the
lamb, for those whose blood, that put blood on the door, fell
upon the lamb of God. And that's the way it is for
us. See, when God saves us, it's not without justice satisfied,
because God's justice fell upon Christ for our sins imputed to
him, and it's important that we keep that fact in mind. You
see, when Christ came to the earth as God in human flesh,
he kept the law and he went under the wrath of God. And the Bible
says he executed judgment and justice. In fact, a lot of the
prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament are connected with
his performing works, a work. that would execute judgment and
justice. And it is an act of mercy, it
is an act of grace, and it is an act of love, but it's mercy,
grace, and love based upon what the Bible calls propitiation,
which is a substitutionary sacrifice that satisfies justice. So when God says, when I see
the blood, an act of mercy and justice coming together, I'll
pass over you. So understand that here we see
Israel as a picture of God's people being brought out of this
bondage by the grace and the love and the mercy of God. Now,
look at verse 33. Now, it says, and the Egyptians
were urgent upon the people. They wanted them out fast, that's
what that means. That they might send them out
of the land in haste, for they said, we be all dead men. If
they stay, we're all gonna die. And verse 34 says, and the people
took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs,
being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And you
know, we've already talked about the unleavened bread and how
that's significant in this matter. It says in verse 35, and the
children of Israel did according to the word of Moses. and they
borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold
and raiment. Now that word borrow there does
not mean that they asked the Egyptians for a loan of materials
that they would return later, like we think of borrowing and
loaning. It means they asked the Egyptians for these things
and the Egyptians were anxious to get rid of them so much that
they were ready to give them these things. In fact, some translations
have it that they demanded these things because God told them.
And so all of this was due to the faithfulness, the goodness,
and the power of God who brought them out of that Egyptian bondage
with power. And we understand that they came
in, you know, when Israel first came in through Jacob, they had
a lot, but they lost everything. And they were destitute. They
were slaves. They were in bondage. See, they had nothing. And so,
and that's a picture of our foe in Adam, isn't it? We had everything
in Adam, we lost everything in Adam. But in Christ, what do
we have? We have an abundance. Now what
this is showing here is that when they went out, they had
an abundance of riches that was given to them, that God had demanded
that they be given. Jewels and gold and raiment,
all these material possessions. Well, in Christ, we who lost
everything in Adam and because of our sins, we now have an inheritance
that's incorruptible. We have all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Left to themselves again
now, they would have remained as a poor, helpless slaves of
an evil and cruel ruler, Pharaoh. But what happened, see? It says
here in verse 36, and the Lord gave the people favor in the
sight of the Egyptians so that they lent unto them such thing
as they required and they spoiled the Egyptians. It's like they
looted. Now they weren't stealing because
the Egyptians were more than willing to give. And so that's
what happened, and there we see a good picture of our salvation
and the abundance that we have in Christ. Well, one thing we
need to emphasize that everything that's happening here to Israel
is due to one thing, and that's the goodness and the power and
the promise and faithfulness of God Almighty. None of it was
due to their worthiness, They didn't deserve this and they
didn't earn it, but it was the product of what God had promised
Abraham 430 years before. God made a covenant with Abraham
and he told Abraham, he said, your people will go into bondage,
but I'll bring them out and give them a land flowing with milk
and honey. And that's a picture of our salvation in Christ before
the world began. God chose a people and gave his
people to Christ, promised that he would bring them out of their
bondage and bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey,
which is not a physical land, but the blessings of salvation. We don't look for a physical
land, see, we're citizens of a heavenly city. And so as we started out in the
Garden of Eden, we fell in Adam into bondage and sin, born into
that slavery, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, left
to ourselves, we will remain there in death and damnation.
But before the foundation of the world, God had made a promise
to his son, whom he made our surety, our substitute and representative,
our redeemer by his blood. And Christ would come in time
as our surety, and take our place and pay our debt to God's law
and justice so that we would come out, be brought out by God. And look at verse 40, he says,
now the soldier, or verse 37, he says, and the children of
Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Succoth and about 600,000
on foot that were men beside children. And a mixed multitude
went up also with them, and the flocks and herds, even very much
cattle. A mixed multitude says some of
the Egyptians came out with them. In other words, they must have
put the blood on their door. There were Gentiles here, a mixed
multitude, a great mixture, it says. And then it says in verse
39, they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought
forth out of Egypt, or it was not leaven because they were
thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared
for themselves any victuals, any food. In other words, they
didn't have time to let the bread rise, all right? Verse 40 says,
now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt
was 430 years. That's how long they were in
bondage, or that's how long they were in Egypt. most of it in
bondage because it wasn't very long after Joseph died that a
Pharaoh rose up who didn't know Joseph and put him in bondage.
Verse 41, it came to pass at the end of 430 years, even the
self same day, it came to pass that all the host of the Lord
went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night to be much observed
unto the Lord for bringing them out. from the land of Egypt. And this is that night of the
Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations,
the Exodus. What a time it was. And it was
to be commemorated. And often throughout the Old
Testament history of the Jews under the Old Covenant, God reminded
them, I'm the God who brought you out of Egypt. And it was all God's work. It
was all because of God's promise, all of that. Well, look at verse
43. It says, and the Lord said unto
Moses and Aaron, he said, this is the ordinance of the Passover.
Now here's what he does. This is where the Lord officially
establishes the feast of Passover to be observed yearly by the
Hebrew children. And he says, listen to his instructions. There shall no stranger eat thereof. He says, but every man's servant
that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then
shall he eat thereof. Now you know the picture here.
Look, verse 45, a foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat
thereof. In one house shall it be eaten,
thou shalt not carry forth all of the flesh abroad out of the
house, neither shall you break a bone thereof, and the congregation
of Israel shall keep it. So you had to be a full fledged
citizen of the nation Israel in order to claim any benefit
and to eat this Passover. Verse 48, when a stranger shall
sojourn with thee and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let
all his males be circumcised and then let him come near and
keep it and he shall be as one that is born in the land. That
is one who is a full fledged citizen For no uncircumcised
person shall eat thereof. One law shall be to him that
is home born and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus
did all the children of Israel as the Lord commanded Moses and
Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass the self
same day that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of
the land of Egypt by their armies, by their tribes is what it was.
So what's he showing here? He says, only those who were
full-fledged members of national Israel, as indicated by the circumcision
of the males, could rightfully eat this Passover. And what does
that tell us? Well, in the spiritual realm,
in spiritual Israel, it's only those who have been born again
by the Spirit, circumcised in heart, circumcised in ears, that's
what the scripture talks about, who have a right to eat of the
Passover, to claim the benefits of the blood of Christ, having
faith in Him, having repented of dead works, of bondage and
even in religion and come to Christ That's who's to eat the
Passover spiritually. Faith in Christ, repentance of
dead works. Anybody who has not been born
again by the Spirit, who does not believe in the Christ of
this book and the finished work that he accomplished by his blood,
they may claim to be saved, they may claim to be blessed, but
it's all a false claim. It's all a sham religion. So
only they are full-fledged citizens of spiritual Israel under the
blood of the Lamb, who've been born again by the Spirit, who've
come to faith in Christ. Now I want you to turn over to
Luke chapter nine. And I wanna show you something
here that's really significant. In Luke chapter nine. We're gonna
look at the account where the Lord took three of his disciples. Peter and John and James. And
he took them upon a mount, and he gave them a sight of his glory. We were talking about, Debbie
and I were talking about this last night, how when Christ came to earth
and assumed human nature, his glory, the glory of his deity,
was hidden in his humanity, even though his humanity was without
sin. And John said there in John chapter
one, he said, we beheld his glory. Who did? Those who were circumcised
in heart and ears, those who were born again by the spirit
to know who this man was, who this God man was and is. And they saw his glory. Well
here, Christ gives Peter and James and John a vision of that
glory. And it's called the Mount of
Transfiguration. Now, why am I going to this?
Well, look at verse 20. It came to pass about an eight
days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James
and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and
glistering. This is a glow, a light. it says,
and behold there talked with him two men which were Moses
and Elias or Elijah. Now Elijah represents the prophets,
Moses represents the law, the law and the prophets right here.
And it says that Moses and Elijah appeared with him and And it
says verse 31, who appeared in glory and spoke of his decease,
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Now that word decease
is the Greek word for exodus, underscore it. They spoke of
his exodus, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. They spoke of his
going out. which he should accomplish. Well,
what are they talking about? Well, they're talking about his
death on the cross. What did he say about his death
on the cross? Remember, he talked about it
to his disciples in John 16. He said the Holy Spirit would
come and convict you of sin because you believe not on me, but he
would convict you of righteousness because I go to the Father. You
see, he was going to the Father. Well, how was he going? By way
of the cross. And so he would enter the realm
of death by his death on the cross, but he would be going
out an exodus because of what he would accomplish in his death.
And what would he accomplish? He made an end of sin. He finished
the transgression. He brought in everlasting righteousness. And so the grave, death in the
grave could not hold him just like the Egyptian bondage could
not hold the Hebrew children. Just like the spiritual bondage
that we are in by nature cannot hold us. Why? Because of the
exodus of the cross. Because Christ died and satisfied
the justice of God and put away our sins, shedding his own precious
blood as the lamb slain for the sins of his people accounted,
imputed to him. And it says here in verse 32,
but Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. And when they were awake, they
saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. Now they
didn't see Moses' glory or Elijah's glory. They saw Christ's glory. And it came to pass, look at
verse 33, it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter
said unto Jesus, master, it's good for us to be here. Let us
make three tabernacles. Now listen to Peter here. Let's
make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, one for
Elijah. And the scripture says Peter didn't know what he was
saying. Not knowing what he said. Now isn't that us? Don't we speak
a lot of time, we don't really know what we're saying, we don't
realize what, that's what Peter did. And it says in verse 34,
while he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them
and they feared as they entered into the cloud and there came
a voice out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear
him. And when the voice was passed,
Jesus was found alone. Moses and Elijah were gone and
they kept it close and told no man in those days of the things,
those things which they had seen. What is this teaching us? This
exodus, this decease and this accomplishment, it's not about
what Moses contributed or what Elijah contributed or what any
man contributed, it's all about Christ. Christ is our exodus. He's our deliverance. He's our liberator. He's our
savior, our redeemer. And so let me just go through
these real quickly. Notice some of the parallels
between the type, Israel's deliverance from bondage, and the fulfillment,
spiritual Israel's deliverance from the bondage of sin. Number
one, in both cases, God purposed it long before it actually took
place. For Israel and Egypt, it was 430 years before in a
promise given to Abraham. For us in spiritualism is before
the foundation of the world and a salvation that was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Second, in both cases,
God sent a man to deliver his people. In Israel's case, in
Egypt, it was Moses. But in our case, it was God,
the Lord himself. God, man, who came to deliver
us. He's God manifest in the flesh. and the father equipped him with
a human body without sin so he could die for our sins. And three,
in both cases, the deliverance was accomplished by power and
the will of God based on the blood of a lamb. In Israel, in
Egypt, it was a physical animal, which typified the greater glory
of the Lamb of God, Christ. whose blood was shed to set us
free from sin, who paid for our sins and established righteousness
by which we're justified. Four, in both cases, their deliverance
was based upon God's justice satisfied. It was satisfied in
Israel and Egypt because death came upon the Egyptians. The
soul that sinneth must surely die. That's justice. But justice
came upon the Israelites too through the blood of the Lamb.
They didn't experience it in themselves, but the Lamb did
for them. And in our case, that's the way it is. All who are found
at judgment outside of Christ will receive justice from God
in eternal damnation. But all who stand before God
in the blood of Christ and in his righteousness imputed will
experience eternal bliss and glory with him. And then fifthly,
in both cases, God's purpose and intention was to save not
everybody without exception, but a particular people. His
intention in Egypt was to save his people whom he promised through
Abraham that he chose. And it's the same in spiritual
Israel. God chose a people. and that
people consist of all whom he gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world. And they're all over this world.
Out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, God has a
people, the elect, and he's going to bring them out through the
blood of Christ and circumcise them in heart and ears so that
they would see the glory of Christ and speak of his glory. as Peter and James and John eventually
did on the Mount of Transfiguration. Okay.