Aloha Dearest Family,
About 5,000 years ago, Israel, God’s chosen people were slaves in Egypt. But it was now time to make the trip to the Promised Land. There was only one problem; the Egyptian Pharaoh would not them go.
God had foreseen Pharaoh’s stubbornness so He sent the one man He knew would do His Will; Moses. Through Moses and his staff God would do whatever it took to get Pharaoh to let Israel go. God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh the ultimate consequence of his refusal.
“Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ” (Exodus 4:22 and 23)
Little did he know the truthfulness of this statement. God would give Pharaoh every chance He could before He resorted to such drastic measures. But Pharaoh had no regard for the God of the Hebrews and he would never let his slaves go free.
Because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness, God send’s plagues upon Egypt in an effort to persuade him to let His people go. So you may ask, why didn’t Pharaoh change his mind after all the destruction upon his country? There are two possibilities. 1) Pharaoh considered himself a god himself since he had conquered all of the other god’s of his slaves, so he must be a greater god. 2) He may have considered Moses’ signs as a magician’s trick. If you recall when Moses cast down his staff and it became a serpent, Pharaoh’s Magician’s did the same. Moses’ God would have to better than that.
The following is a summary of the plagues that befell Egypt.
-Water turning to Blood. When Moses struck the Nile with his staff, the water became blood, as did all the water in Egypt. The fish all died and the river began to stink. The plague lasted for 7 days but Pharaoh’s magicians also could water to blood and Pharaoh would not let the people go. (Exodus 7:14-24)
-Frogs. God then commanded Moses and Aaron to wave their staff over all the streams, ponds and canals and frogs came up and covered all the land of Egypt. The magicians also made frogs come up into the land. Pharaoh then said that he would let the people to go so they could worship the Lord and he asked Moses and Aaron to take away the frogs from the land. So Moses prayed to the Lord and the next day all the frogs died. (Exodus 8:1-15)
-Lice (Gnats). But Pharaoh did not let God’s people go as he said he would, so God told Aaron to strike the dust of the ground and gnats came on all the people and animals in Egypt. The magicians tried to replicate this plague but could not and told Pharaoh that this must be the “finger of God” but Pharaoh still refuses to let God’s people go. (Exodus 8:16-19)
-Flies. Since Pharaoh. still refused to let Israel go, god sent flies to cover the land. But this time God would make a distinction between the land of Goshen (the piece of land that was set aside for Israel to live) and the rest of Egypt. No further plagues would touch God’s people. So flies swarmed into the land of Egypt and into Pharaoh’s palace. This plague was very grievous, insomuch that the Bible says that the land was ruined. Only in the land Goshen were there no flies. Pharaoh then bargains with Moses about letting God’s people go and worship if he would get rid of the flies. Moses prays to God and the next day there was not one fly left in Egypt, but Pharaoh still refuses to let Israel go. (Exodus 8:20-23). By now you might be thinking that the Pharaoh is a madman-and you would be right.
-Disease on Livestock. Next God sends a disease that would affect all animals throughout the land. All donkeys, camels, all cattle, goats and sheep died. But not one animal that belonged to Israel died (Pharaoh checked). Yet this was not enough to turn Pharaoh’s heart. He still refused God’s command. (Exodus 9:1-7)
-Boils. God then tells Moses to take soot from the furnace and toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. This caused festering boils upon every people and animal throughout the land. But even this was not enough to cause Pharaoh to relent. (Exodus 9:8-12)
-Hail. God then tells Pharaoh, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.” God is telling Pharaoh, you haven’t seen anything yet. “You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.” God even goes onto to advise Pharaoh to shelter everything he has because of the storm coming. God then sent thunder, lightning and hail that killed everything that was in the field, man or beast, and ruined crops and even tore the bark off of trees. Only in Goshen was the storm not felt. Would this finally be enough for Pharaoh? Pharaoh in distress calls Moses and admits that he has sinned against the Lord and that he will let His people go. But Pharaoh changes his mind. (Exodus 9:13-35) (What is wrong with this guy?)
-Locusts. Moses then goes in to talk to Pharaoh and told him that if he didn’t let God’s people go, that God would send locusts upon the land. Even the Egyptian officials pleaded with Pharaoh and said, “Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?” Pharaoh still did not want to let the people go and he bargained with Moses and said that he would only let the men go. Not good enough. So God sent locusts upon the land in such an abundance that the ground looked black. The locusts ate up anything that was left from the plague of hail. Pharaoh immediately called for Moses and Aron and begged him to ask God to take away the locusts. The next day the locusts were gone, but Pharaoh still refused to let God’s people go. (Exodus 10:1-18)
-Darkness. God then sent a penetrating darkness upon Egypt and no one moved from his place for three days (but there was light in the land of Goshen). Pharaoh then says that he would let God’s people go but that they were to leave their livestock behind. Not good enough. The cattle must go too. At this point Pharaoh has finally had enough of Moses and Aaron and their God. “Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.” “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.” (Exodus 10:21-29) What happens next would shake Egypt to it’s core.
The First Passover
This next and final plague would be the most terrible of all. All of the firstborn of every family in Egypt will die. From the royal prince to the child of the lowliest servant, no family in Egypt would be spared. To prepare Israel for this plague, God instructed each family in Israel to select a male lamb. At sunset they were to kill the lamb and smear the blood on the mantels and door posts of each dwelling place. This was done so that when the “angel of death” passed through the land, he would see the blood on the doorposts and he would pass over those houses. The blood of the lamb would save them from death.
After the lamb was slain, each family would roast the body of the animal and eat the lamb whole as one family. In doing this the ones who partook of the body of the lamb would be healed. These were the two important aspects of the Passover meal; the blood and body of the lamb. Furthermore, this first Passover meal would be an annual feast that would commemorate this final plague upon Egypt and how God saved Israel, freeing them from slavery.
The Death of the Firstborn.
Because of the stubbornness of Pharaoh, God fulfilled His earlier promise that Pharaoh’s son would die. Pharaoh would finally learn that he himself was not a god and he was not mightier than God Almighty. God gave him every chance to get him to change his mind, but in the end his hard heartedness would not only cost him the life of his firstborn child but cause Egypt to be decimated.
True to His Word, on the night following the Passover meal, death passed through the land killing every first born in Egypt. There was a great cry of anguish in Egypt and Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and told them to take all that they had and leave Egypt at once. This they did with haste. But not long after Israel departed, Pharaoh realized what he had done and sent the entire army after the fleeing Israelites. I guess Pharaoh had not learned his lesson yet, even after his firstborn child died. This final insane action by Pharaoh would cost him his entire army, because they would all be drowned in the Red Sea.
You may now ask yourself, apart from being a great story, what does it have to do with my Christian life today?
Jesus Christ Our Passover
So many feasts, customs and traditions that Israel practiced were just “shadows” of the greatness of what was to come. For instance, some of the dictates of the yearly Passover meal practiced by Israel were:
-The Passover lambs were to be perfect, without any spot or blemish.
-The Passover meal was to be eaten on the 14th day of the Jewish month called Nissan.
-No bones of the Passover lamb were to be broken.
-All of the Passover lambs were to be killed at 3:00 PM
If you look carefully at the death of Jesus Christ, we find that he died on the 14th of Nissan at 3:00. None of his bones were broken and he was truly without sin (without spot or blemish). These phenomenal truths can also be summed up in the following verse, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” (I Corinthians 5:7)
Communion
Before he was arrested Jesus Christ did something very significant. In the book of Luke it tells of a new memorial being instituted.
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19 and 20)
Even though we may have read these verses many times, few have read them in the light of Jesus Christ himself being the ultimate (and last) Passover lamb. As we have learned, during the first Passover, the two important elements were the blood and the body of the lamb. 1) The blood spread upon the doorposts of each household in Israel saved them from physical death. Likewise, the blood (represented by the wine) would be realized when Jesus’ blood would be shed for us. This would save us from spiritual death. 2) The body of the Passover lamb which was consumed by each family member was for their physical healing. Likewise, the body (which was represented by the bread), would be realized when Jesus was scourged and beaten. His broken body was given for our healing. Whenever we take communion, both aspects of the ceremony must be recognized. This was all done for OUR benefit.
We were once slaves to sin under a cruel ruler (the devil). We were trapped with no way to escape. But God stepped in and provided a way out - He chose the perfect Passover lamb. Through his own blood and body he would save us from death and provide us with physical healing. All we had to do was to believe on the lamb. We needed to confess him as our Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. When we did this we were transferred from the devil’s kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, to God’s kingdom.
“For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,” (Colossians 1:13 New Living Translation)
Jesus Christ was the perfect Passover lamb for us all.
Love Always, Ray
