The Passover and the Crossover Exodus 12-14 Parkdale Grace Fellowship Sunday AM, May 13, 2018 Here is a link to a good online video citing evidence for the Red Sea crossing - http://truediscoveries.org/red-sea-crossing God is now going to add greater insight into His plan of bringing salvation to mankind. Exodus 12:1-2, Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. This is a time of new beginning for the people of Israel: it is the beginning of the nation of Israel they were about to leave Egypt and for the first time ever become a nation. They were to begin a new way of life free from slavery. For most of them it was the beginning of a new religion in Egypt most of them never knew and never worshipped the Lord. It is a picture of salvation, it is a new life, a new relationship with God, a new Master no longer slaves to sin and Satan salvation is a new beginning. We will begin by looking at the very first Passover which really was what started this new life for Israel. The Passover triggered the transformation and opened the way for the crossover the crossover from death to life the crossover from bondage to freedom the crossover from being the property of Pharaoh to being children of the LORD. 1,500 years later it was at the Jewish Passover when our Lord Jesus would be crucified, which was the start of our new life in Christ. Everything changed for us at the cross which took place at the Passover. Exodus 12:3-5, Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb [one] lamb for [each] household 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year The lamb could have no defect (no cuts, scars, bruises or any kind of disability). It could not be chosen because it was of little value it had to be chosen as the most valuable of the flock. That is a picture of sinless purity. The sinless male lamb is a picture of Jesus Christ. He had no sin of His own His death was not punishment for His sin, He would die for our sin.
2 In 1 Pet.1:19 the Bible says that we were redeemed, with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Exodus 12:6-7, Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. The blood from each household s lamb was to be brushed all over the door frame of their house. The blood of the sacrificial lamb when placed on the doorway would keep the death angel from entering. This was a demonstration of the people s faith in the Word of the Lord, they had to publicly identify themselves as ones who believe the word of God spoken through Moses and publicly, visibly apply it to their own home. If they merely believed in their hearts, but did nothing about it, it would have done them no good. They had to respond with a demonstration of their faith, and it resulted in the first-born of the household being spared from death. It is a picture of the blood of Jesus which when applied to our hearts by faith will save us from spiritual separation from God from eternity. Romans 10:9-10, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Exodus 12:12-13, For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. There is coming a day of God s judgment against this world, but there is escape, a place of safety for those who by faith have put their faith in the blood of the Lamb of God (the blood of Jesus) to save them. Exodus 12:21-23, Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until 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 not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
3 Exodus 12:28-30, Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 29 And it came to pass 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 livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, 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. God had given Pharaoh and the Egyptians many opportunities to believe God s word, to repent of their stubborn rebellion, and to obey the Lord, but Pharaoh and most of the Egyptians refused and God brought judgment upon them, just as He said He would the Lord always keeps His promises and does what He says. But in contrast to the Egyptians, the Israelites experienced God s mercy because they believed His word and they acted upon it they believed that He would do what He said He would do. When the Lord swept through Egypt that night in judgment, wherever He saw the blood on the door of a house He passed over that house and the firstborn inside lived because a lamb had died in his place. Wherever there was evidence that a lamb had died that home was spared death. Even today God is calling a rebellious world to repent from their sin and turn to follow the Lord. And there is coming a day of judgment in which everyone will give an account for how they have responded to the word of God and to the blood of Jesus Christ. Have you, by faith, applied the blood of Jesus to your life? Exodus 12:31-33, Then [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33 And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, We shall all be dead. Exodus 12:37, Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. So if you double that number to include the women, you are over a million, then add children and there were easily 2.5 million Israelites in this mass exodus. Exodus 12:51, And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. It is very significant to notice that in spite of all the miraculous displays of God s power through the ten plagues He sent upon Egypt, not a single Israelite had bee freed from their bondage as slaves by any of the miracles.
4 It was not until the blood of the lamb was shed that their deliverance was effected, and as soon as it was shed, even that very same day Israel marched out of the land of Egypt a free people. As blessed as Jesus ministry was; as great as were His miracles, as powerful and life changing as was His teaching, as sinless and perfect was His life, yet if He had not died, the Just for the unjust, not one human being could possibly have been saved from our bondage to sin. (Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, p. 96) Exodus 13:17-18, Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt. 18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. How do you give directions to lead approximately 2 ½ million people to keep everyone together and moving in the same direction? Exodus 13:21-22, And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. 22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. The cloud served as a guiding beacon. All the people had to do was look ahead and follow the pillar of cloud wherever it went. This is how the Lord guided them through the wilderness. Exodus 14:1-4, Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in. 4 Then I will harden Pharaoh s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. God is leading the Israelites into a dead-end trap, but the trap is not for Israel Israel is the bait the trap is to catch Pharaoh s army. To approach the Red Sea from the west, the shorelines are very mountainous, so they had to travel down a valley between mountains to get to the shore of the Red Sea at the end of the valley. When they got to the sea the only way out was to turn around and go back the way they came. It seemed like a foolish mistake, a tactical blunder, and that s exactly how Pharaoh saw it. All Pharaoh has to do is lead his troops down the valley behind the Israelites, following them down the dead end valley, and he s captured the whole group. Many in Jesus day saw Jesus intentional journey to the cross as a tactical blunder.
5 Exodus 14:5-9, Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. 7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. 8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel 9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. God ordained that Pharaoh takes his entire armed force the mightiest military power in the world at that time because the Lord is going to wipe out all of Pharaoh s military strength in one mighty blow. Exodus 14:10, And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. Why was God allowing this to happen? Why has the Lord led them into a trap? For one thing, God is going to clearly impress upon their hearts that there is nothing these Israelites can do to save themselves. They are not trained for battle, they are unarmed, they are just a bunch of escaped slaves. They are powerless to rescue themselves from Pharaoh s power. This is a picture of man s powerlessness and inability to free himself from Satan s power. Among the most foolish of all people are those who believe that their own good works will save them in the end. Unless you belong to God, you are the property of Satan and in the end he will come and claim that which is his. But God was about to demonstrate that because of what happened at the Passover Pharaoh no longer had any claim to these people they were God s. Exodus 14:13-14, And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Things in life are not always as they seem from our human perspective. It appeared that the Israelites were in a trap with no place to go. Their circumstances were absolutely hopeless in the natural. But from the spiritual perspective, it was Pharaoh and his army who were being lured into a trap by God. It was the end of the road, not for Israel but for Pharaoh and his army. So often in the midst of a stressful situation we take our eyes off of the Lord and look at our circumstances and panic. We falsely accuse God of not caring and of misleading us, because we don t see the end of the story. We don t see what God is doing.
6 We must trust in our God who causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. What seemingly impossible situation are you facing? You can only see what s happening at this moment in the visible realm, and at this moment you may seem to be trapped. There are mountains on both sides of you, there is an un-crossable sea in front of you and Satan and all the demons of hell seem to be charging straight for you from behind. Lord, I thought this was the direction you wanted me to go! I thought I was following your leading. Why God? Why have you allowed this to happen? Homeschooling moms, some of you have times when you feel this way Lord, I thought we were following your lead with our kids, but this doesn t seem to be working out. Maybe some of you moms have taken a radical step to give up your career to stay home and disciple your kids but now you see a financial crisis bearing down on you. I confess that I often get a sense of panic when leading the church Lord, this seemed to be the direction You were leading us, but right now it seems like everything is going wrong and I don t see any way out. But we can t see the outcome. We must trust the Lord that it will end well. Exodus 14:19-20, And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. 20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night. So God positioned Himself between the Israelites and Pharaoh s army. God protects us. Exodus 14:21-22, Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Here is a good online video citing evidence for the Red Sea crossing - http://truediscoveries.org/red-sea-crossing There are many attempts to explain away this miracle as being nothing more than a natural phenomenon. Any time you have trouble literally accepting God s miraculous powers, it is only a reflection of your limited understanding of God. You need to go back to the first verse of the Bible, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
7 Surely the God who created everything can easily, if He wants to, part the Red Sea, or part the Pacific Ocean. It is no problem for God. But it is a problem for us to accept when our concept of God is too limited. Exodus 14:23, And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Once Israel had a good head start the Lord lifted the cloud and removed all sense of reason and sanity from Pharaoh and his army. After all plagues they had experienced the Lord bring against them in Egypt, no man in his right mind would pursue those Israelites into that channel supernaturally carved out of the water. In their right mind they should have fallen on their faces at the sight of that scene and worshipped Almighty God in total awe. But in utter madness, to a man, every Egyptian in the army plunged into that dry pathway through the sea with the walls of water on either side. There can be no doubt that this Egyptian army was demon possessed like the swine in the Gospels plunging madly to their death into the sea. (Mark 5:11-13) This is a spiritual battle between the Lord and Satan which has many parallels in the battle which took place on our behalf at the cross and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus blood on the cross removed my sin but it was the resurrection that brought victory and salvation. The Lord orchestrated the entire event. Then when the Lord was ready He fought for Israel, in the place of His choosing, on His schedule, where the defeat of Satan could clearly be seen by all. Exodus 14:24-28, Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. 25 And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians. 26 Then the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen. 27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. Praise the Lord, what a victory! What a picture of the finality with which God destroyed Satan s claim over our lives through the cross and resurrection.
8 We also have here a picture of baptism. There was the leaving behind of the old life of bondage on Egypt s shore. The burial of that old way of life and the powers that dominated them in the depths of the sea and then emerging to new life on the other shore, no longer in Egypt, no longer in bondage, but set free by the miraculous grace of God which accomplished for them what they could never do for themselves. Exodus 14:30-31, So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses. John 5:24 NIV, Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. They now had a new identity, no longer slaves, but children of God and God was forming them into a nation and a kingdom under God. Copyright 2018 by Parkdale Grace Fellowship Permission: You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.