YOU WOULDN'T HAVE GLAZED OVER IT IF YOU WERE THERE!

April 23, 2013

YOU WOULDN'T HAVE GLAZED OVER IT IF YOU WERE THERE!

Exodus 12:14-34

Andrew Johnson

Central Truth

God is loving and just. We want justice when referring to murderers and thieves and a God of love when referring to loved ones and ourselves. God has always desired for His people to choose to obey His promises for salvation. He also has always required a payment for sin.

Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. (Exodus 12:29)

14 This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 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 someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Exodus

33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.

Did you glaze over when you were reading this passage? The details of the Passover are shockingly horrific. If your stomach didn't just turn over, reread it. This section of Scripture is very difficult to accept in light of 1 John 4:8(b): "God is love." Every firstborn, really? Isn't God loving?

If you are asking yourself these questions, join the club. But don't stop there, keep reading your Bible. The Passover, just like the rest of the Bible, shows God as both loving and just. We can't separate His justice from His love and vice versa. Our God is perfect, pure, holy, and righteous. Therefore, He can't be in a relationship with us who are born with a sinful nature, who sin daily, and whose righteous deeds are considered filthy rags.

God was about to judge the evil in Egypt, yet He demonstrated His love for the people of Israel in that He gave them a way out -- a lamb, a sacrifice. All they had to do was believe and obey Him. If they believed and placed the blood on their door, they were saved from His judgment. Some 2,000 years ago, God again revealed His love for us. Despite our sins, He did the amazing, the unthinkable, the most loving thing a Father could ever do -- He crucified the Unblemished Lamb, His Son Jesus Christ, and provided a way for our sins to be judged and a way for us to be saved.

But what about all of the firstborn? Did they have to die? Can you imagine? I can almost hear the screams of the moms and dads. "There was a great cry in Egypt" (verse 30b). Every day, shockingly horrific things are happening -- people are dying in their sins and will remain separated from God forever, and we are glazing over it, just like I glazed over it the first time I read Exodus 12. God's commands and His offer of grace have eternal impact. Don't glaze over the Passover; don't glaze over Jesus! Believe God at His Word, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

1. Do you struggle with God being both loving and just?

2. What did the Israelites gain by placing the blood on their door? What would you gain by believing in Jesus' shed blood?

3. Does knowing the God of the Scripture, both loving and just, motivate you to be more intentional in sharing your faith with a co-worker, family member, next-door neighbor?

4. Are you equipped to defend your faith in a just and loving God? If not, will you consider the many resources at Watermark to help you grow in your understanding of Scripture?