Day #33

Sermon - Audio
Ex 10-12 - Audio
Ex 10-12 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment




There is some danger in over spiritualizing (that is only seeing how God 'delivers' us from problems today) the Exodus event. But the truth remains no matter how desperate our circumstances may be or how powerful the oppressor that has us bound, God is able to deliver his people.

The AA Big Book describes the dilemma we face as broken people: "Remember that we deal with alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful! Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter of the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought. Addiction seems like a foe that is all powerful.

Sight: http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyot/sunday23acot.html

In the Exodus' story (Chapter 12) we come now to the tenth plague and its devastating consequences for Pharaoh.
V3-4. No reason is given why the lamb is selected four days before the Passover event. It is to be a family event, one that the whole community of Israel must participate in, and one where there should be enough food for all.
V5-11. The selection of the sacrifice is detailed. It is to be a perfect specimen, male, one year old, and either a sheep or a goat. The animal is to be roasted whole and eaten in an attitude of haste and fear. Haste senses the immediacy of the situation, and fear expresses the repentant attitude Israel should have in the face of this act of God's mercy. Nothing is to be left. What is left must be burnt, indicating that the animal is wholly consecrated to a sacred purpose.
V12-13. The writer now relates God's word of judgment upon the gods of the nations, which event is described in v29-30. The significance of the blood is that it serves as a sign to Israel and the Lord that no harm will befall the family on the night of the destruction of the first-born.
V14-20. The writer intertwines the actual story of the Passover with the annual celebration that was to follow.
V21-28. The writer again draws aside from the narrative and records Moses' instructions to Israel so that parents may properly instruct their children in the significance of the Passover.
V29-30. The actual Passover night is now narrated from the Egyptian perspective. The stress is on the judgment and the complete surrender of Pharaoh.
Comment
The Passover of the angel of death secured for Israel salvation/liberty. The wrath of God was stayed from Israel by the shedding of innocent blood.
These momentous events have served as types for the atoning death of our Lord Jesus (the innocent Lamb of God), salvation in Christ, and our walk of faith. As with Israel, so with the followers of Christ today, the significance of the event is continually remembered. For us it is the feast of the Lord's Supper.
So, in this event we are witnesses of a divine liberation enacted under the strong hand of our God. In Christ we share in this liberation, freed from the slavery of our sin.
The Exodus occurred thousands of years ago, yet it called a people into being and showed us once and for all what lengths God will go to in order to save a people to himself. The good news for us today is that God's power on our behalf is as active and miraculous as it was thousands of years ago. There is a lot of pessimism about the church in North America and its ineffectiveness, perhaps we need to rely less our ourselves and plans and through ourselves on the mercy of God.