The Night Nobody Slept. Series

Reading: Exodus Chapter 11-12.

Ill:

• Some dates are etched into our memories:

• January 1st.

• February 14th.

• November 5th.

• December 25th.

• July 16th!

If you were Jewish one date you would never forget was:

• Was the fourteenth day of Nisan.

• The start of the Jewish religious calendar.

• The month of Nisan takes each spring around March-April.

• It is co-incident with Good Friday and Easter.

• Just as we mark modern history by B.C. and A.D.

• So the Jew would mark his calendar by the fourteenth day of Nisan.

In other words an event took place that changed the course of Jewish history;

• The event is want we call Passover.

• An event that is still celebrated today.

• As we will see over the next couple of months;

• Out of this event would eventually come our BOB (communion).

• So today’s passage is a foundation passage;

• That will give us insight into the weekly event we call BOB (communion).

(A). Background:

(1). The Plagues a warning ignored:

Ill:

• Man fed up about being told by his friends that he is going deaf;

• Finally goes for a examination to get his hearing checked.

• The doctor pulls out a watch from his desk and asks;

• “Can you hear it tick?”

• He moves to the far aside of the room;

• “Can you hear it now?”

• He moves into the corridor;

• “Can you hear it now?”

• When he returns he says to the man;

• “You haven’t got a hearing problem, you just don’t listen!”

Nine times Pharaoh was warned by God through Moses,

• To “Let my people go!”

• He heard the warning but he stubbornly refused to listen to

• To bring home to him the serious of his condition;

• God sent nine devastating plagues upon the land:

Ill:

(1). Blood (Nile River turned to blood).

(2). Frogs,

(3). Gnats,

(4). Flies,

(5). Livestock epidemic,

(6). Boils,

(7). Hail,

(8). Locusts,

(9. Darkness.

Notice:

• With each new plague there is an increasing intensity:

• There is a gradual build up from discomfort, to disease, to danger, to death.

Remember that these plagues were a warning:

• Warnings are a sign of love and concern.

• God could have brought the worst plague first,

• But again and again and again (9x) he gave Pharaoh a chance to “Let his people go”,

• But sadly Pharaoh refused to heed the warning.

CHAPTER 11 IS REALLY A BATTLE:

(1a). It is a Battle of the Gods.

• Often we forget that this was a religious contest,

• A contest between the true God of the Hebrew slaves and the false gods of Egypt.

Ill:

• Every one of those 10 plagues,

• Was an attack on a particular Egyptian god.

• The 9th plague particularly was a special insult to Pharaoh,

• For he was believed to be the incarnation of the sun-god.

• Yet the so-called ‘sun god’ cannot prevent darkness over the land.

• He like all the other false gods are powerless to act against the true God!

• The message of the plagues was quite obvious:

• For the Egyptians to understand.

• This one, invisible God of the Hebrew slaves;

• Is far more powerful than all the gods of Egypt!

(1b). It is also a Battle of the wills.

• By the time we pick up the story:

• 9 out of the 10, plagues have run their course.

• But while the spirits were breaking among the Egyptian people,

• Their leader Pharaoh, stubbornly refused to let the Hebrews go.

Ill:

• But in this battle of wills there is only going to be one winner.

• Ill: Livewires: “There’s going to be one winner and it won’t be you!”

• Pharaoh was about to learn an important lesson:

• It is not a question of WHO will win. It is only a question of WHEN God will win.

(b). The Prediction: A Plague of Sorrow (Chapter 11)

(1). God speaks to Moses (verses 1-3)

• Knowing that this final plague would secure the release of His people,

• God instructed Moses to prepare for the Exodus, the departure from Egypt.

1Now the LORD had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.

• Now that’s a strange thing,

• The Hebrew’s were to ask their neighbours for silver and gold.

Question:

• Why would the Hebrews need silver and gold?