We've come now in our study to
the tenth and final plague of God upon Pharaoh and his kingdom. This plague is the end, I believe,
the end or goal of all these plagues. I believe this is what
these plagues have been working up to the whole while. All of these plagues that have
gone before, and then after this plague, after this plague that
God bestows on Egypt, pours out His wrath upon Egypt, all of
Israel will walk free out of Egypt. He said not so much as
the tongue of a dog is going to wag in resistance to them
as they walk out of Egypt. He spoke to Israel, the Lord
did, through His servant Moses, and He said here in Exodus 11, He said, thus saith the Lord
about midnight, will I, see that, will I go out
into the midst of Egypt. And all of the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maid servant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of
beasts. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there is none like it,
nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast,
that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians Now there's three things which I believe are absolutely
necessary to a right understanding of this final plague, what all
these plagues have been working up to. There's three things that
I believe that are necessary for us to understand in order
for this to have any impact on you. I know you can read the
natural history of these things. And a small child ought to be
understanding. There's nothing in here complicated
to understand in these things. But the mystery of it is what
these things foretell, what these things picture and figure that's
going to happen in this age. And that's what I want you to
take away from it. And to understand those things,
there are three things that are necessary to know. First of all,
the significance of the firstborn. Why is He killing all the firstborn? What's that got to do with anything?
What does the killing of the firstborn have to do with your
conversion today? What in the world is this firstborn?
You see what I'm saying? The firstborn. The firstborn
of everybody in Egypt. The firstborn of all the beasts.
Every firstborn is going to die by God's hand. By His own hand. He doesn't send out the death
angel. He said, I am going out. And they're all going to die.
And then the second thing that's necessary to our understanding
is why this firstborn must be slain of God. We've got to know something about
the firstborn, the significance of the firstborn. What does he
stand for? What's this got to do with it?
And then the second thing we have to understand is why this
firstborn must be slain of God. And then the third thing is how
this slaying makes a difference between Egypt and Israel. God
said, I'm going to go out about midnight. And that's the thing. God never tells you exactly when
He's going to do what He does. He's sovereign. He can do it
whenever He wants to. But on this particular occasion, He
said about midnight. About midnight, I'm going to
go out. I will. And all the firstborn
are going to die. Every one of them. God could have easily, as easily,
killed everyone in Egypt as He did the firstborn. Wouldn't have
been a bit more problem. He could have opened up the earth
as He's going to do in just a few Just a short time from this,
he's going to open up the earth and swallow up all of his enemies
and all of their cattle and all of their children. And they're
going to disappear. As Barnard said, he's going to
take them to hell with their shoes on. He could have just
as easily done that in Egypt. He didn't have to do these things.
He might have sent a deadly germ and wiped out that entire nation.
He could have done a lot of things. He didn't do a lot of things.
He did it this way because this plague is not the senseless flaying
of a bunch of men because God's upset. That's not what this is
about. God is fixing to say something,
teach us something, establish something forever. When He tells
them about this lamb, we're going to get into that on the very
next study, but all of these things prepare us for what He's
going to tell us about this lamb. And this plague is not just some
senseless slang, but God's telling us something. He's teaching us
something. And when it gets down to this lamb, He said, this is
going to be something that you're going to remember forever. What
I'm establishing here is forever. This is what this whole thing
is about. This is what you're about. And
I'm going to establish this in the lamb. And it's never going
to be contested again. And it's going to be a memorial
to you throughout all generations, he tells me. All of these plagues are signs
to be seen and read. Signs to be read and obeyed.
While they had zero effect on the minds and hearts of Egypt,
they had a great effect on some of God's servants in Goshen. Some over there heard. Some didn't. We'll find that out in time too.
But here's what I want you to see. There's a lesson behind
the firstborn. So let's talk a little bit about
the significance of the firstborn. There's a lesson behind the firstborn.
What is the spiritual significance of the firstborn? Let me give
you several things. First of all, the firstborn is
the head. He's the head. He's the one in
charge. He inherits the authority of
God in that family. Turn with me over to Deuteronomy
chapter 21. This man that is first born,
it says in the Scripture, is the first fruits of his parents,
and the strength of his parents, and the strength of his father's
seed. And he is to be the head of his father's house. Now look
here, Deuteronomy chapter 21. Let's look at about three verses
here, beginning with verse 15. If a man have two wives, one
beloved and the other hated, and they born him children, both
the beloved and the hated, if the firstborn son be hers that
was hated. Now he's showing you a controversy
here. Don't come up. This is the one he loved. But
the one he hated was his wife just the same. And if hers was the firstborn,
if this was the firstborn unto him, the firstborn of his seed,
if the firstborn son be hers that was hated, verse 16, then
it shall be when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he
hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn
before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn
by giving him a double portion of all that he hath, for he is
the beginning of his strength, and the right of the firstborn
is his." See that? Now, he's the head. He's the
head. He's not the head because he
deserves it, but he's the head because there is a spiritual
significance to the firstborn. And he has the right of it. Secondly,
the firstborn is he which shall preserve the name and inheritance
of his father's house. In Deuteronomy chapter 25, verse
5, if brethren dwell together and one
of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not
marry without unto a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go
in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the
duty of the husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that
the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of
his brother which is dead, that his name may not be put out of
Israel." He is going to preserve his name through the firstborn.
You see that? That's why it's necessary. That's
why she couldn't just go out and marry a stranger somewhere.
This whole thing of Israel is a picture of God's elect. And
this firstborn is significant. And it don't matter. It don't
matter the situation. It just don't matter. See, he
died. It don't matter. I don't love him. It don't make
any difference. His brother is going to come in to her and take
her to why? To raise up this name. To preserve
this name in Israel. because it has a spiritual significance,
this thing of the firstborn. Thirdly, the firstborn is the
spiritual leader. He's the priest of the house.
Now, this is what Esau sold for a bowl of porridge. He had the
birthright. He was the firstborn. He had
that spiritual responsibility as the priest of his house. He
was to bear that name. He had all this significance
of the firstborn, and it meant nothing to him. It meant no more
than a bowl of porridge to him. It had no spiritual significance,
his being the firstborn, and he sold it for a bowl of porridge.
And then, fourthly, the firstborn is the beginning or the basis
of everything that lies ahead. And you start to see the significance
of the first one. God told Abraham, He said, I'm
going to raise up a seed unto you. It's going to be like the
stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore. But he didn't
have any children. And he went on and went on and
went on. He still didn't have no children.
And pretty soon, this man's nearly 100 years old, and he still ain't
got no children. Well, finally God comes. Of course, you know the whole
story about Ishmael and all of that. And finally the Lord comes
and He gives him His promised son. This son Isaac is the beginning
and basis of all those promises out there. All those promises
out there. That's the firstborn. The hope
of all that God promised Abraham was vested in the firstborn.
Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven, as the sands of the
sea. But you say, now wait a minute, preacher. Isaac wasn't Abraham's
firstborn. Neither was Ishmael. Neither
was Ishmael. Listen to this. Galatians 3.16.
I'll quote it to you all the time. Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. Ain't that what it says? Well,
who is this seed? He's the firstborn. He's the
firstborn. The Holy Ghost tells us in Colossians
1, verse 14, that we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins through Him who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation. The firstborn of every creature. In other words, here it is. Let
me show you that spiritual significance in Christ as he's put here in
Colossians 1. Everything that God has purposed
to do in creation had its beginning in the firstborn son. Everything. All of its significance, the
reason for it being here, the reason God maintains it, the
reason He orders it exactly the way He does. It all has to do
with the firstborn. That's what Paul's telling us
there. He's the firstborn. He is the beginning and the basis
of everything that was to come. In God's eternal purpose of grace,
He first chose Christ and then chose us in Him. He first predestinated
Him and then predestinated everything else through Him. And you can
go on and on with that. In the creation of the world
and the providence that maintains it, Christ is the firstborn.
And He's the head of it, the hope of it, the glory of it.
All that shall be hereafter is vested in Him. He's the firstborn
of every creature. And He's the priest over God's
heritage. And God will minister to us through
Him alone. Everything in creation bears
witness of Him. It has to do with Him alone.
All things were created by Him and for Him, Paul tells us. And
He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And
He's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead. He is the firstborn from the
dead. He is that firstborn of God that
God raised from the dead. So He's the beginning of all
His church. And He is the basis. of everything
that God has promised. Like Isaac, he is the only begotten
of the Father. He came in God's time, by God's
power, for God's purpose. And so we, like him, are blessed
through the firstborn of God. In Exodus 4, verse 22, God told
Moses, He said, you go down there and tell Pharaoh, Israel is my
son, even my firstborn. That's what He told him. This
is my firstborn. So the spiritual significance
of the firstborn is to set before us the person and work of Christ,
who is our hope of all the promises and benefits of God. He's the
rightful heir, and we're heir and joint heirs through Him.
All right. Secondly, it's this spiritual
significance of the firstborn that now declares the reason
for all these plagues. Egypt's pharaoh ruled under the
pretense that both he and his son, who would succeed him, are
God, they're deities. That's the whole basis of his
rule down in Egypt. They worshipped that man as God,
and so his offspring. And his image was worshipped
in Egypt. And his son is heir to his throne.
His name, his priesthood, his inheritance, and his glory would
live on in the firstborn. So in order to set a difference
between Israel and Egypt, the firstborn, of all concern, must
die. Old Barnard got up one time and
he said, I'm going to preach to you tonight the God of the
Bible. But he said, before I can preach
to you the God of the Bible, I'm going to have to kill your
God. That's what this killing of the firstborn is all about.
He had to kill their God. He'll kill all the firstborn
in Egypt. What is this firstborn? This
is that image projected. Now, you remember what all this
stuff typifies and figures. It's figuring in this time, the
conversion of our soul. And this firstborn is Satan's
image. That's what it is. His image
and pretense of God and the false gospel that he spreads. You can't
preach the gospel to anybody until you convince them that
their gospel, that they believe, is not the gospel. You're going
to have to kill their God. You can't get to first base with
somebody until God slays that firstborn. He's going to kill all the firstborn
in Egypt. Now pay attention to how this is worded here. Exodus
11 verse 5. And all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh that
sitteth upon his throne. Who sitteth upon his throne?
The firstborn. Even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant that's behind the mill. Now turn with me to Numbers
chapter 33. I'm going around a horn tonight
because I want to establish some things. We are talking about
the spiritual significance of the plagues and especially this
last plague, which is the end of all the plagues sent upon
Egypt. In Numbers chapter 33, Moses
is describing the deliverance of Israel and why there was no
resistance. He is talking about they borrowed
all this silver and gold and jewelry and all of these things.
He had favor with them. The Israel had favor with them.
And they gave them to them. And then when it come time to
leave, they just stood up and all got in a row and walked out.
Nobody did anything. How come? How come? He was ordering Moses around
just a little bit before this, telling him when he could come,
when he couldn't, and all this stuff. I might let you go. I might not let you go. Why all
of a sudden couldn't they just stand up and walk out? No resistance. Not even a dog is going to move
his tongue against them. He describes this and he tells
us this, Numbers 33, 3. And they departed from Ramses
in the first month on the fifteenth day of the month on the morrow
after the Passover, the children of Israel, went out with a high
hand. You remember what Moses told
him? He said, all your servants, will come bow down before me
and beg me to leave. He said, then I'm going to leave.
And they did. They did that. They left with
a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. Now how could
that be after all this resistance? Listen to this, verse 4. For
the Egyptians buried their firstborn. That's why. They buried their
firstborn. which the Lord had smitten among
them." Now listen to this. I never saw this before. "...Upon
their gods also the Lord executed judgment." He killed their gods. When He killed their firstborn,
He killed their gods. That's what He's saying here.
God destroyed everything in Egypt that was even slightly associated
with deity so that in the end He was God alone. He was God
alone. Now brethren, the God of this
world and His firstborn Son they worship is under the curse of
God. I'd like for you to look with
me for just a minute over here at Galatians chapter 1. It was the intent of Pharaoh
before this For this one to destroy the hope
of the Deliverer, that is the Pharaoh before this, when it
was his intent to destroy the Deliverer, all the hope of the
Deliverer, and he's going to do it by killing all the young
children. You remember that? And as we
studied that and went through that, he's going to take every
child from a certain age and kill them. And they put Moses
in a little basket Sent him down an aisle. God took that evil
king, made him raise his deliverer. And the same thing Herod decided
to do. He sought... He heard them wise men, they
come down there and talked about this and he called those scribes
and they said, yeah, he's supposed to be born down here in Bethlehem.
He's supposed to be born in the land of Judah and he's going
to be the king. And old Herod thought he saw
his throne being challenged by this coming king. He didn't understand
any of the spiritual significance of it, but he saw that this king
could rise among those people and gain favor and those people
rebel against him and he could lose his throne. So to keep that
from happening, what'd he do? He ordered all these male children
in Bethlehem and all that surrounding area to be killed. Gonna kill
every one of them. And in Revelation 12, we're told
that the old red dragon himself has always had this intent, and
now stands before her that is able to deliver, going to deliver
this child, and he stands there waiting on this child so he can
devour it as soon as it be born. That's what it says over there
in Revelation chapter 12. And I know this verse has application
to Mary and her son Jesus, but it also has application to the
church and all those born of God. He waits to snatch away
and devour all that's heavenly born, all God's firstborn. Now
watch this here in Galatians 1.6. Paul said, I marvel that
you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ,
But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed." That firstborn son of Satan is to be accursed of
God. Now back a page or two in 2 Corinthians
11, Paul expressed a fear that his Eve was beguiled by Satan
through his subtlety, so our minds should be corrupted from
the singleness of Christ. He said they'll preach another
gospel, they'll preach another Jesus, and you'll receive it
through the working of another spirit by way of another gospel.
And you'll do it because both Satan and his ministers transformed
themselves into the ministers of righteousness, pretending
to be the ministers of God. All God's plagues were poured
out upon Egypt as judgments against and exposing their idols and
idolatry, and especially in their chief deity, who was Pharaoh. And whenever men refused to glorify
God as God, His deities then began with Himself. That's where
they start. You can read Romans chapter 1
and it will tell you God bore witness of Himself. We were talking
about it this afternoon. God just created all things and
you look at the majesty of it and the infinity of it and the
greatness of it and the power. What kind of a power does it
take to maintain and preserve and just run day to day? Run
and hold everything in the heavens in place. What kind of power
are we talking about? More than you can ever imagine. What keeps
all these things? We've been studying stars for
thousands of years. Those stars ain't went anywhere.
They're still right where God put them. What holds them there?
One move, just a little bit, it can cause the awfulest chain
reaction through creation you've ever seen. But they don't. They stay right where God put
them. And God said that His eternal
power and Godhead can be known by looking at those things. All
you have to do is just look around and think about it. But man,
he don't want to think about it. He don't want that knowledge.
He don't want to retain God in his memory. So God gives him
over to himself. Now when he does that, the very
first thing he does is he changes the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like what? Himself. Man. And then it goes
downhill from there. Birds, four-footed beasts, and
then creeping things. And so that pretty much describes
why Egypt was the way it was. The image of the firstborn of
all false religion must die. It's got to be put to death before
Israel can go free. And that's the way it is with
you until God destroys all those hopes. You can't be free. You're
still clean. Give man one part, one part,
and say, I don't care what it is. If it's just that walk down
the aisle, do you know what he'll brag on for all eternity? It
ain't going to be the blood of Christ. It ain't going to be
the sovereign grace of God. Even though he talked about all
of that. Talked about how he washed in the blood and how he
was born again in the spirit and all that. But here's what
he's going to tell you. I got out of that pew and walked down
that aisle. And that's going to be his hope
when he goes out before God. I'm telling you this, he's going
to kill the firstborn. All of them. Every last one of
them is going to die. All of them. How many firstborns
in this world? There's a lot. There's a lot. Now there are three essential
things that take place under the preaching of the Gospel that
delivers men out of the bondage of sin. First, his old ideas
of Christ and God must be put to death and shown where they
really are, in the darkness, under that plague of darkness.
And God is going to slay that firstborn. And then secondly,
the firstborn of God must be established in his heart and
mind, and he must die. He must die. Because all the
firstborn must die. And then thirdly, he must see
these things as the sovereign work of God's grace and to the
glory of His great name. Now the third thing is that by
way of this understanding, God shows us how that the Lord does
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. In Exodus
11, verse 7. What is this difference? What
is this difference? God will soon demonstrate that
Israel was every bit as idolatrous as the Egyptians. He's going
to show you that out here in the wilderness. He's going to
illustrate their ingratitude and rebellion. They're not even
going to remember these things that God did. They're going to
sit out there and remember the cucumbers that they don't have
anymore and the leeks. They're going to remember all
them vegetables and them flesh pots down in Egypt. I don't know
when they ate. When could they eat? They had
to gather their own straw. They were under that oppression
of Egypt. And they sat down there in pain
and crying unto God. But they forgot everything. The
only thing they remembered was the flesh pot and the cucumbers
and the good old days. Huh? I get so tired of hearing
believers that profess to be saved talk about the good old
days. Don't you? If they was that good, why'd
you leave them? Or did you? Maybe you didn't. Maybe you're
still living in the good old days. He's going to illustrate to us
their ingratitude and rebellion and their sense of rule and submission. Their fear and incessant grumbling. They feared everything coming
and going and incessantly grumbled the whole while. And he's going
to reveal to us their unbelief. So where and what and wherein
is the difference? The difference that God establishes
between Egypt and Israel is an act of God's eternal, sovereign,
distinguishing grace. That's the only difference. That's
the only difference. God gathered His elect in Goshen,
and the rest of them He cursed. That's the difference. God did. God did. Well, you say Moses
helped. Moses was out there in the power of God. Moses couldn't
cause them frogs to come up out of that river or turn that water
to blood or do any of the things that he did apart from the power
and presence of God with him. This whole thing is a work of
God's sovereign grace. Religion says what the sinner
does determines the favor and blessing of God. The Word of
God says over and over that it's not according to our worth. Ain't
that what it says? Over and over. Can you side with
Paul and say, let God be true and every man a liar? God says it's not of him that
liveth. It's not of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. He tells us that God saved us
and so on. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should vote. And actually, the Holy Spirit
tells us as plainly as words can be used that our election,
predestination to adoption, acceptance, and redemption are all according
to the good pleasure of God's will and to the glory of His
grace. That's what it says. There's
the difference. Who maketh thee to differ? I think sometimes
we won't throw in thumbs in them lapels like old Nebuchadnezzar
and look out and say, boy, what a good job I did, huh? You did. Who maketh thee to differ? Israel found its beginning in
the son of an idol maker. Way over there in the land of
earth. And he took that bunch of ragtag servants of a false
god and he raised them up by His grace and made them the greatest,
most powerful, most glorious nation that's ever been on the
face of this planet. And he did it by His grace. He
said, don't you think now in these days to come that I chose
you because you were the most and that you were the greatest.
And something had to... He said, I chose you because
you was the least. Your great, great, great, great
granddaddy Abraham was an idol maker over on earth. I called
him that. And your first king to sit on
the throne of Israel, by the grace of God, was a shepherd
boy. I took him from the shepherd's
fold and set him on the throne. It's all an act of God's sovereign
grace. God exercises His sovereignty
all the time and in all things. But the glory of His sovereignty
can only be seen in His sovereign grace in the deliverance of His
people out of bondage. That's where it's seen, God's
sovereign grace. And I don't know one man who
truly knows God who don't ask himself every morning when he
opens his eye, why me? Huh? Why me? Of all people, why me? Can you find anything in your
life that might have swayed God to choose you and pass somebody
else by? I'll tell you what you're going
to find out. It's the sovereign grace of God. None but the sovereign Lord of
glory can give and withhold, send or restrain, deliver or
destroy. And all the true children of
God know why they're free while others are in bondage, why they're
blessed while others are cursed, and why they're loved while others
are hated. It's the sovereign, eternal,
distinguishing grace of God, and it's revealed in the substitutionary
death of the Lamb of God. I don't think Jacob ever had
a problem understanding why God hated Esau. I think he hated
him too. I do. He had every reason in
the world to if he did. What he couldn't understand is
why God loved him. He was ever bid as bad as Esau.
So the first thing that set Israel apart from the Egyptians was
the grace of God, and the second thing was the Lamb. And all the
various idolatries of Egypt, they had no lambs. I'll never
forget a message Henry preached years ago. I'm starting to ramble
now. I'll try to wind this thing up. But he was preaching and
he was talking to some Jews. He had a television broadcast
and somebody heard him out there and he was preaching on the true
Jews. And they called him up and started telling him about
the Jewish religion, and she was telling him how she was raised
in it and all of that. And every time he'd try to tell
her something, she'd say, well, we don't believe that Jesus is
the Christ. Finally, he said, all right, let's just take Jesus
out of it. Let's just take that whole thing,
push it aside. He said, where's the lamb? Huh? Where's the lamb? If you're a
true Jew, you better have a lamb. And you better slay him. And
you better have a priesthood. And you better take the lamb
down and give it to the priest. And he better go through all
of these things. And he said, I would think you'd
at least be curious on that day when he goes in under that veil
to watch that veil and see if he comes back out. Where's the
lamb? I'll tell you what set Israel,
what distinguished Israel apart from Egypt was the lamb. It's
the lamb. All those various idolatries
that they had, there was no lamb. And all of the firstborn must
die in the darkness because they had no lamb. He said, when I
see the blood, the blood of what? The blood of the lamb. When I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. If I don't see the blood,
I won't pass over you. The lamb was to be scrutinized.
The lamb was to be slain. The lamb was to be roasted and
eaten. The lamb was to be completely
consumed and his blood put on the doorpost and the linen. Everything
concerning the deliverance was attributed to the lamb. Nobody's
going anywhere without the lamb. Were it not for the lamb, all
the firstborn in Egypt would have perished. All the firstborn
in Israel would have perished. Turn with me to Numbers chapter
3, and I'll see if I can wind this thing up. Numbers chapter 3, verse 11, And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among
the children of Israel, Instead of all the firstborn that opened
the matrix among the children of Israel, therefore the Levites
shall be mine, because all the firstborn are mine. How did they
get to be here? For on the day that I smote all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto me all
the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. Mine shall they
be. I am the Lord. Out of all the natural sons of
Israel, God separated to Himself a holy priesthood. And He said
of this holy priesthood, this is My firstborn. Now Peter tells
us over here in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, Ye also as lively stones are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God. by Jesus Christ. We're His firstborn. His firstborn. And it's by this
Lamb that all the benefits of God's sovereign grace set Israel
apart in this final plague. May God be pleased to show us
that very thing. Kill that firstborn of Egypt
and establish that firstborn of God in our heart, that Lamb
of God for Christ's sake.