Moses 7 THE DARK BRIGHT NIGHT
Exodus 11:1-13:16
3. Conquering of Pharaoh
3) The Passover Plague (11:1-13:16)
A. The Promised Plague 11:4-10
B. The Promised Possessions 11:1-3; 12:35-36
C. The Promised Protection 11:7; 12:1-42
a. The Promise Delivered 11:7
b. The Passover Described 12:1-28;12:43- 13:16
c. The Plague Delivered 12:29-30
D. The People’s Procession 12:31-42
INTRODUCTION
This past Thursday night (the Thursday before Easter), I looked up and saw the full moon shining beautifully and lazily above Anderson. And then it hit me. This is the same night (the 14th of Nisan or Abib), around 3,230 years ago when that same moon shone down upon Egypt - upon the Nile, the pyramids, the desert sand and thousands of sleeping homes up and down the Nile - when God went through Egypt at midnight and every firstborn male - men and animals - died.
And this is the same moon that shined down on Jesus and His disciples about 1970 years ago as they observed the last supper - the Passover meal. And this same moon, Egypt saw, Jesus saw and we saw last night thar will be shining down beautifully and lazily the night (or day) we die and the night (or day) when Jesus comes again to rescue His people and judge the unsaved.
Can you picture the scene in Egypt? All is quiet. It is midnight. Suddenly, a baby in its mothers arms grows stiff. It is dead. A young boy sitting on the porch falls over - dead. Animals drop in their tracks. There is a scream in one home, then another, then another - until all up and down the Nile, people are awake and weeping and screaming.
Why? The death angel of God has come just like Moses and God warned that it would. Even Pharaoh’s son died that awful night (12:29). The Bible says, “Pharaoh and all his officials and all Egypt got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead” (12:30).
But over in Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, there wasn’t a sound. The Bible says not even one dog barked (11:7). Why? Well, it wasn’t because the death angel didn’t come through there. He did. But God had made a way for His people to avoid death. Every light was on. They were doing what God said.
They had taken a lamb (or goat), four days before (the 10th of Nisan). It was a male, one year old, with no defect. It was killed the evening of the 14th, the death night. A sprig of common hyssop was dipped in the basin of its blood and placed on the two sides and on the top and bottom of the door frame.
That night in their homes, including neighbors who had no lamb, the Hebrews huddled, no doubt in great fear. The lamb was roasted over fire and eaten with bitter herbs and bread with no yeast (leaven). They ate, dressed and ready to leave Egypt - their cloaks were tucked in, their sandals were on their feet and their walking sticks (rods) were in their hands.
God gave them the great promise, “I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn - both men and animals. . .and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt” (12:12,13).
Out of the dark, bright night - dark for the Egyptians and bright for the Hebrews, the beautiful Jewish ordinance of PASSOVER and the seven day festival of unleavened bread, following it, was born (12:11-14).
Practiced to this very day, by devout Jews, it is then the oldest continually observed religious festival known to man. It was the night they were born as a nation under God. It was, says Page Kelley, the Jewish Easter and Independence Day all rolled up into one.
More than that, it is the forerunner, the foundation, the picture in type of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper for the Christian church. It was at the Passover meal, 1970 years ago, under the full moon that Jesus, during the Passover meal (Mt. 26:17,26), instituted the Lord’s Supper (Mt. 27:26) and told the church to observe it and thus proclaim His death until He returns (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
He said the wine pictured His blood and the bread pictured his bruised, beaten and blood body – and it was for our forgiveness. That is why Paul calls Jesus “our Passover Lamb” (1 Cor. 5:7) that has been sacrificed.
One day the death angels will come to our door either when we die or when, as Paul says, “Jesus is revealed from heaven, in blazing fire with his powerful angels to punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel. . .” (2 Th. 1:7,8) and at that moment, what God said 3,230 years ago, is what He will say then - “WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU.
God says to us, “You who have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as the only means of our forgiveness will be spared at the Judgment because your judgment fell upon My Son, Your Passover Lamb. You are under the cross and forgiven. You have also feasted spiritually upon My Son, the bread of life and are born again.” Lets’ see this dark, bright night and how it relates to our salvation.
I. THE PROMISED PLAGUE (11:4-10)
1. The Announcement (11:4-8a)
The terrible night did not come without warning. Nine horrible plagues left Pharaoh unmoved so God, warned him in his and Moses’ last meeting (10:28; 11:4-10) that every firstborn son from the king on his throne and the slave girl in the field would die one night at midnight. The firstborn males of all animals would die as well. (This would include household pets and sacred temple animals whose death would be viewed as a calamity - Pulpit Commentary.) Moses said, “There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt - worse than has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites, not a dog will bark. . .” (11:7). The announcement was met with. . .
2. The Apathy (11:8b-10; 10:27-29)
Pharaoh was unmoved and told Moses if he ever saw his face again he would kill him (10:28; 11:9-10). Moses, in “hot anger” (11:8), stormed out of his presence.
Why was Moses mad? He had just witnessed the spiritual suicide of a soul and knew this depraved man would carry many people to death with him including his own son. Look at Moses! This is righteous indignation - we see someone hurting others and it ought to make our blood boil. Our problem is we don’t get mad unless they hurt us.
Look at Pharaoh and remember this - you can harden your heart so much that neither God’s tender love or His terrible threats can touch you. Pharaoh, who had seen what God had done, knew his firstborn son’s life was on the line. But he didn’t care.
You and I, if we choose, can get just that angry at God and just that deaf to His warnings. You’d better listen to God, my friend, while you still hear His voice. The day can come when you can’t.
II. THE PROMISED POSSESSIONS (11:1-3; 12:35-36)
Israel, however, would be spared and set free. This last plague would lead the officials and Pharaoh himself to beg Moses to leave (11:8). God promised this and added a strange instruction. He told Israel to ask the Egyptians for silver and gold and clothing. He would make their hearts “favorably disposed” (11:3; 13:36), and they would give them what they asked for. God said they would “plunder” the Egyptians (12:36). They used these very materials to build the multi-million dollar Tabernacle where they worshipped God in the desert years.
The word plunder does not mean “steal.” This was wages for every brick placed, every back torn by whips, every dead Hebrew baby, etc. When all is going against us and prayers do not bring relief, we may not think God cares, but He is always “in the shadows, keeping watch above His own.” And we may not get our reward down here but we will get it in heaven where Paul says our sufferings here aren’t even worth comparing to our “glory” there (Rom. 8:18).
III. THE PROMISED PROTECTION
Introduction: More wonderful than possessions was their protection. Better than silver, we have salvation. Better than gold, we shall live where the streets are made of gold. Better than fine clothes, we shall wear the perfect righteousness of Christ. God says, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” We say, “When he shall come with trumpet sound/O may I then in Him be found/Dressed in His righteousness alone/Faultless to stand before the throne.”
1. The Promise Delivered (11:7; 12:40-41; Gen. 15:13-15).
God told Israel that when people were crying throughout Egypt, they would live and not a dog would bark in their neighborhood (11:7). And this promise actually had already been voiced 500 years before this night. God told Abraham, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions” (Gen. 15:13).
And they did. This dark, bright night, praise God, they did. When it was over Moses looked back and wrote, “Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, TO THE VERY DAY, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt” (12:40-41).
For 430 years, twice as long as America has been a nation, Israel in Egypt, felt their God did not care. But all the while He was slowly and carefully working out His purposes in them and through them, and ON THE VERY DAY God’s time was up, He delivered them in one night.
Application
Whatever is going on in your life and mine, however dreadful, however disappointing, however much it tempts us to believe God does not care, He does.
He may develop us under it and let us die in it like Moses’ parents and countless thousands of other faithful Hebrews. They didn’t make it out of Egypt into Canaan but they made it out of Egypt into heaven and into God’s “Hall of Fame” in Hebrews Eleven (Heb. 11:23) and that’s better. Sometimes, like Aaron and Joshua and all these Hebrews,
He will deliver us. But either way, in the furnace or out of it, let us be faithful and joyful and helpful, knowing that heavenly Canaan is our next stop.
2. The Promise Depended Upon
(12:1-28; 43-13:16; 1 Cor. 5:5; Mt. 26:26-27)
Trusting in the promises of God, the Hebrew people observed the Passover and were spared. One deliverance we can be sure of is the plague of the second death (hell), which comes to us when our life is over, or when Jesus comes again.
We will go to heaven, the true Canaan, if God sees the blood. Paul says, “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:5). It was at the Passover meal (Mt. 26:17) that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and said, “This is my blood. . .poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. . . This is my body. . .” (Mt. 26:27, 26).
Conclusion
God did not say, “When I see good people, I will pass over you. . . When I see sincere people who are really trying to be good, I will pass over you. . . When I see baptized people, church members, I will pass over you. . . When I see strong faith and no fear or doubt, I will pass over you.”
No, He said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” The New Birth, symbolized here as eating the Lamb, partaking of Christ’s life and strength, will make us good people and sincere people and church members and men and women of strong faith.
But it is our faith in Christ, however weak, our admission of sin and guilt, and our taking forgiveness from His pierced hands, that spares us from the plague of the second death. And, thank God, it is not feelings that God looks for.
Illustration
Picture a Hebrew boy, huddled in his home. He hears the screams from across the road. He feels the very presence of death all around. He says, “Daddy, I’m scared!” That Hebrew dad says, “Don’t worry, son, the blood is on the door.”
Oh, folks, sometimes my faith is strong and sometimes it is weak. Sometimes Jesus seems so close I feel I can reach out and touch him. But the all important thing is my faith, however weak, is in Jesus and no matter how I FEEL, by faith I know “My Lord is near me all the time.” Put your faith in Jesus and when the death angel comes he will be the bright shining angel who will take you to live with God. Over you, hell, the second death, will have no power (Rev. 20:6).
