Daily Devotions

Exodus 9:34-35, When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

Pharaoh got the physical relief he wanted and he did what he has been doing. But notice it was not just Pharaoh who hardened his heart, it was his officials as well. I wonder if they simply followed Pharaoh’s lead, there are many people today who will do whatever the “boss” does. Maybe they want to fit in, maybe they want to gain his attention or favor, maybe they are just not strong enough to stand up for themselves. I know what we are all thinking, I wouldn’t have gone along, I would have told Pharaoh enough was enough!

That is easy for us to say today, far removed from Egypt, the plagues, and the power of Pharaoh. But it is amazing the number of people who simply go along with the crowd, they accept whatever the world, their peers, the boss, the cool people in their lives are doing. I often wonder (about the sins that don’t tempt me, to be honest) why people do those things. They don’t seem like fun, they seem to have high consequences, and so forth. And yet, it seems so many people are caught up in them. And it seems many are just trying to fit in, to be accepted, etc. (To be honest, there are things I do struggle with, we all sin, but in different ways.)

We’ve talked before about how Pharaoh hardened his own heart at first, before God hardened it. And that is true for these officials as well. And it is true for each of us. We each need to make sure that our hearts are soft before God. Reading in Ezekiel yesterday, God told the people, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, 36:26. That needs to be the prayer for each of us.

Father, remove my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:1-2, Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD.”

God tells Moses what is really going on here. As we said before, Pharaoh and his officials have made up their own minds about what they are going to do. They hardened their own hearts, and now God has agreed with their decision and given them what they wanted, or at least what they thought they wanted. God has hardened their hearts. Paul speaks in Romans 1 about the sinful condition of mankind, how they rejected God and his plan, and how God gave them over to their own even more wicked desires. That was not what God wanted, he wants all people everywhere to repent and return to him. But God gives us what we want.

And God tells Moses the reason for this in Pharaoh and his officials cases. God is going to use them to perform miracles and so display his power for all the world to see. Then these Israelites will be able to tell their descendants about what God had done for them. Maybe that doesn’t seem quite right, even if the Jews are God’s chosen people. Why should God misuse others in order to bless the Hebrews? It is simple enough to say God’s plans are not our plans, and his ways are higher than our ways. But that is not necessarily satisfying to us. We want more.

But there is not always more, in the way of an explanation. God allowed Pharaoh to make his own choice, and Pharaoh made a bad choice, actually a string of bad decisions. And God allowed that. And then God held him to those choices, and reinforced those choices Pharaoh had made by hardening his heart. Free will is a dangerous thing. We like to choose, but we don’t always like the consequences of our choices. But that is one responsibility that goes along with the freedom. Choices have results. And we need to think carefully about the choices we are making. And sometimes when start down a path, it is hard to turn back.

Father, help me make good choices. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
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“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.

Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬
 
Exodus 10:3, So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

Once more Moses and Aaron are sent to confront Pharaoh. I wonder how they felt doing this? To be sure they were intimidated at first, Pharaoh had the power to put them to death immediately, if he wanted to. But maybe the more they went, the bolder and more confident they began to feel. And yet, they had to remember every time they went, they were not bringing Pharaoh the news he wanted to hear, they were constantly telling him the same thing: God said let my people go! I would have wondered if Pharaoh wasn’t getting tired of this message, and maybe getting tired of me!

This is a very pointed question they ask this time, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before God? I can’t help but wonder if God ever asks us that same question. You know, as well as I do, there is an area in our heart, or maybe many, that we refuse to submit to God. Maybe we try to convince ourselves it is not that big, not that significant, not that important. Maybe we can justify it, claiming at least to ourselves it is not that bad, not really an issue, something that God doesn’t even care about. And yet, we know this is an area we are holding out on, something that we need to let go. Something that we are proudly and fiercely holding on to.

Those things seem pretty obvious to us when we look at other people. And I’m sure ours seem obvious to others. If you have the nerve, and a close enough friend, maybe we should ask them about that thing in our heart. But we do need to find the thing we often hold out on from God. And we need to deal with that thing ruthlessly. I wonder, what it is in my life, that holds me back from God.

Father, help me find that thing and clear it up. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:4-6, If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your parents nor your ancestors have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now.' ” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh.

God has blessed man with free will. But with those free choices also come consequences. Pharaoh's position is firm and he has made it clear to Moses, Aaron, the Israelites, his officials, and the rest of the Egyptians; he is not going to let the Israelites go. That is his choice. But God also has the choice to punish Pharaoh as well.

Moses, from God, promises the worst invasion of locusts the Egyptians have ever seen. When we in eastern North Carolina think about locusts, we are really thinking about cicadas. (It seems the earliest settlers in America had never seen cicadas before, and had no idea what they were, but there were so many of them they reminded them of the plague of locusts here in Exodus.) Locusts are a subspecies of grasshoppers, cicadas are more closely related to crickets. But this type of grasshopper is very destructive, especially when they are swarming. And they come through eating basically everything that is green. So, obviously, the more locusts there are, the more they eat. North Amreica does not specifically have locusts, the only place other than Antarctica. But we still hear about locusts swarms in Africa and Australia specifically and how devastating they are to the crops there. Just imagine the worst plague of locusts ever, in the history of Egypt. These things are going to be everywhere, even in your houses, where there is really nothing for them to eat. And they will eat everything the hail left behind. Commentators think this was a month or two since the hail.

How often do we see the clear warnings, from God and from other places, about the dangers that are ahead of us? How many times do our friends and families warn us about some destructive behavior we are engaged in, about some poor plans we have made, about the peril that is before us, and yet we continue to ignore them and plunge headlong into the thing we have decide to do? Free will is a great blessing, but misused it can be a real curse. We need to think carefully about what we want to do, and why we want to do it. As Christians, our goal should be to make the Lord happy, to put a smile on is face. And we need to consider whether the course we are on is doing that.

Father, help me use my free will to honor you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:7, Pharaoh's officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”

Have you ever had to tell someone something you knew they didn’t want to hear? I suppose that is the situation these officials were in. They could look around them and see the damage and destruction that had been done to the land of Egypt. They had experienced the gnats, flies, boils, and so forth. When you think about it, those things were more personal in nature; whatever it was was a bother to you, but in the bigger picture, it really didn’t affect the nation as a whole, other than bothering the people for a little while. But when the hail came and the plants were damaged, that was more of a national disaster, they depended on those crops to make it through their lives. It was just the flax and barley, not the wheat and spelt that they used for food.

But when these locusts come, they will eat up the spelt and wheat. Those were the main crops the Egyptians used for food. If there was a massive crop failure, as Moses was predicting, they would feel this plague for a long time. This would affect them all throughout the year, until the next crop was harvested. These officials realized this. But why didn’t Pharaoh? Maybe it was simply because of his stubborn and hard heart. How often do we see (or do) things that really cause us more harm than they do to anyone else. Maybe it is our pride that prevents us from changing, maybe we are just stubborn, maybe we don’t see the reality of what we are doing, or maybe we just do those things out of spite.

But regardless, these men try to convince Pharaoh to see the errors of his ways. These men do not fear God, but they can see the reality of the hand of God on them and their nation. They simply realize Pharaoh is on a bad track, that he needs to turn around, that God is simply too strong for them. But Pharaoh does not want to hear this. And they know he does not want to hear it. But they have to try to convince him anyway.

Father, help me listen to good advice. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:8-9, Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” he said. “But tell me who will be going.” Moses answered, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the LORD.”

Maybe Pharaoh does listen to the hard news his officials give to him. Maybe he does realize the land of Egypt is in a mess. So he calls Moses and Aaron back. And he tells them to go and worship the Lord their God. Maybe this hard hearted man is beginning to soften after all. You know, even the hardest heart can turn to God. There is always hope in that. No matter how far you run or what you have done, the love and grace of God is sufficient to wash all of those sins away. We just need to come to God in faith and surrender ourselves to him.

But then Pharaoh wants to start the bargaining process. Who is going? He asks. Moses has already told him that everyone is to go, you see worshiping the Lord is not something that someone else can do for you. Those Israelites knew that among the most important things we can do is to pass on our faith to the next generation. It seems that many have forgotten this simple fact. Far too many parents today make sure their children are everywhere but at church. Schedules are packed with dance, gymnastics, all sorts of ball practices and games, pageants, hunting and fishing trips, girls’ weekends, play dates, and so on and so forth. And so often, the first thing that is left out is the church.

There is an image floating around on social media, I have no idea where it originated, but it makes this point crystal clear. There is a 0.0296% chance that your child will become a professional athlete, yet there is a 100% chance that your child will stand before Jesus one day. Folks, we cannot afford to neglect the most important thing. We need to make sure our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and the random kids in our life and neighborhood know Jesus. There is nothing more important.

Father, help me include everyone in worship. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:10-11, Pharaoh said, “The LORD be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil. No! Have only the men go and worship the LORD, since that's what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh's presence.

Pharaoh is certainly a stubborn man. I wonder if he paused, and how long, as he gave this answer. There is a dash in our text to indicate one. Just imagine Moses and Aaron hearing this: The LORD be with you (insert a dramatic pause here) if I let you go. And yet, as we have seen before, Pharaoh has the freedom to choose what he will or will not do.

Pharaoh tries a different tactic here, he tries to bargain with Moses and Aaron, and really with God. He offers to only let the men go, everyone else has to stay behind. But that is not what God has demanded of Pharaoh, God said to let the people go, all of them. Pharaoh’s counteroffer is not a good one, and he drives Moses and Aaron away.

But don’t we try to bargain with God? God, I know you said this, but how about if I do that? That is not so bad, and it is nearly this. What makes us think we are in any kind of position to negotiate with God? What do we really have that puts us in a position of power over him? What God demands from us is our complete allegiance, our complete commitment. God wants us to accept his free gift of salvation with no strings attached. But we want to attach strings to it. As Pharaoh is about to find out, that simply does not work.

Father, help me make a complete commitment to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:12, And the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

You’ve got to give it to Moses, when God gave him an order he carried it out. That is not to say Moses was perfect, because he wasn’t. You might remember how he didn’t want to go to Egypt to start with, offered many excuses, and finally just told God to get someone else, Exodus 4:14. But I suspect many of us start out that way. We know what God wants us to do, we know what the right thing is, but we just don’t want to do that. We want to do what we want to do.

In Moses’ case, God has already told him what he is going to do, and Moses has told Pharaoh about it. Sometimes, don’t we wish God would just go ahead and do his thing without us having to play a part? Maybe we feel like that would take some of the responsibility off us us. God is already doing the heavy lifting anyway, he really doesn't need us. It would be easier if God would just go ahead and act, and we wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

But God doesn’t work that way. He wants us to make a commitment to him. And he wants us to use our free will, our freedom of choice to honor him. This is not an ego thing on God’s part; he is who he is regardless of what we do or say. But God wants us to realize this, to realize he allows us to have a part in his plan. And when we do what God wants, we are all better off for it. God is using Pharaoh to show the world, the Egyptians, and especially the Israelites that he is the only God in the universe, and that he is all powerful. He wants them all to realize that and to live accordingly. Again, it is not for God’s sake, it is for ours.

Father, help me realize who you are and who I am. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:13-15, So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the LORD made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

Moses obeyed God and God did as he promised. A strong east wind began to blow and it blew in an unspeakable number of locusts. They were everywhere! The ground was black with them! If you look at a map of Egypt, notice what is to the east. Not much. There is the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, and what is now Israel. If you look at the satellite view of those areas, you see the water and a whole lot of brown; desert, sand, nothing. Where did all those locusts come from? Sure, there had been locusts plagues and swarms before, but nothing like this. So where did they come from? God made them and sent them.

And they did as God intended, they ate everything that was left after the hailstorm. Locusts are pretty indiscriminate eaters, anything plant based is on their menu. There is really nothing green that they won’t eat. And they will eat the fruit off of the plants as well. Moses said nothing green remain on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt. Remember, this time they are eating the wheat and spelt, the grains the Egyptians depended on for their food. Things were definitely looking dark in Egypt.

Have you ever felt like you were left after a locust plague? Where do you turn when everything goes completely wrong? What do you do when there is nothing left? This really shows what the foundation is in our life. If we are standing and building on God, those “things” really won’t matter all that much. I am certainly not discounting the pain or the trouble. Jesus asked what good it was for a man to gain the while world and lose his soul. It seems Pharaoh is losing both.

Father, help me focus on what is important. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:16-17, Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

Look at what Pharaoh has to say to God’s spokesmen now. I have sinned against the Lord and against you. Can you believe it? Pharaoh has finally come to his senses! I wonder sometimes what it takes for a sinner to realize he is a sinner. Oh, I know it is easy for us to look at those sinners and see their faults; they drink, cuss, carouse, are hateful, vengeful, backbiting, selfish, immoral, and we can go on and on with our list of judgments. And honestly we think, why they can’t see the errors of their ways and turn to God.

But then, what about you and me. Do you and I realize that we are sinners? And maybe when we look at the list of things other do, we don’t do the same things. But (and that’s a big but) don’t we do some of those things or maybe things entirely different? Are we judgmental, arrogant about our faith, do we do things we think no one knows about? Or do we just not do the things we know we ought to; visiting the sick or shut in, giving to those in need, listening to the person no one listens to, standing up for the loner, the one bullied, the one rejected by society? Do we watch things we know are not good for our spiritual walk, read those kinds of things? Are we super critical of those who do not agree with us and our points of view? The list can go on and on.

We need to realize and admit we are sinners. We need to seek forgiveness from God, and also from those we have wronged along the way. A fate far worse than locusts awaits those who remain stubbornly in their sin.

Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:18-20, Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

Moses prayed for the relief of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And the Lord granted Moses’ prayer. As a strong easterly wind blew in the locusts, a strong west wind blew them out into the Red Sea. And all of the locusts were gone. It is pretty amazing what God can do, isn’t it? There is nothing too hard for him, nothing to big for him, and in the same way, there is nothing too small to concern him when it concerns his people.

But Pharaoh acted as we would expect him to act, he refused to let the people go. I am amazed at how much we are like old Pharaoh. We come to God when we have troubles, we beg God for his mercy and grace, we even make promises to change and come to him, to make a commitment to him. And maybe we really mean it at that moment. But as soon as we have relief, we change our minds, and renege on our commitment. But God already knows what we are going to do, he knows everything including my heart and yours. I read somewhere this week, nothing catches God by surprise.

We also see here that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. We have talked about this before, but remember there is a limit to God’s love, grace, and mercy. There comes a time in the lives of men where God simply gives them over to their own desires. God lets us do what we want to. And God here is simply reinforcing the decision that Pharaoh has made all along. God is giving Pharaoh just what he deserves. That is a scary thought to me. I know what I deserve; justice, punishment, complete separation from God. And yet as long as we desire to please God, to serve, and honor him, he gives us grace and mercy. Remember, Pharaoh first hardened his own heart. He chose to continue to reject God, and choices have consequences.

Father, keep my heart soft before you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Sorry about yesterday, had an early start and was steady at it all day. It was a good day, no worries; just never stopped until bedtime. So, here’s the devotion.

Exodus 10:21-23, Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

Where is the darkest place you have ever been. I know for me it was in a cave. We used flashlights to go in and explore around. But at some point, we just had to see how dark it really was, so we turned off the flashlights. Down under the earth, having been through several twists and turns, no light got through at all. Really, it was kind of eerie, it was a darkness you could feel. But we expected that, we were in a cave after all.

But here, God told Moses to stretch out his hands and the darkness would spread over the land of Egypt. There is really no natural explanation for this, not an eclipse, not a huge sandstorm (or we would have been told that and Pharaoh would not have the reaction he did). It was a supernatural event, produced by the hand of God. There are two things that stand out here. One is it lasted three days. This was not a quick event, it gave time for Pharaoh and his people to think about what was happening. Don’t you think they tried to figure it out? Imagine not seeing anyone for three days, even though you could hear them around you. No one moved, it was too dark. And second, there was light where the Israelites were. There was a clear distinction between the people of God and the people of the world.

But there is something else to think about here. 1 John 1:5 tells us that God is light and there is no darkness in him. Think about a world where all the influences of God, every presence of God’s people, God’s mercy and grace are withdrawn; that would be a dark world. No matter how dark or bad things appear here and today, remember there are still Godly people doing Godly things, it is not all darkness. But there is coming a day when God will separate the people, when the Christian will be called to heaven, and the evil condemned to hell. And hell is described as a place of darkness, because there is nothing of God there. We need to learn to enjoy and live in the light, we need to not take that light for granted, and we need to live to stay in the light.

Father, help me live in and reflect your light to the world. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:24, Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”

Pharaoh again called Moses and told him to take the women and children and go worship the Lord. That was what he had asked for last time anyway. Take what you want and go, Pharaoh seems to be saying. Notice there is no mention of any sin or wrongdoing at this point. Pharaoh doesn’t seem to be interested in what God wants or has to say, he just wants relief from this darkness, really from the plagues and punishments of God. The blood, frogs, hail, locusts, darkness, and so forth have taken their toll. Pharaoh just wants relief.

But notice too that he tells Moses he cannot take the flocks and herds with him. Pharaoh’s hard, stubborn heart still is trying to set limits, make deals with what he is willing to do for the Lord. How many times have we seen this, or even tried to do it ourselves. I believe in this particular thing, but I’m not going to do that. I’ll go to church every week, but I am not tithing. Or maybe the opposite, I’ll tithe but I’m not always going to church. (It sounds kind of silly when you think about it that way, doesn’t it?) It seems like we all have some pet sin, some thing that we just want to hold onto. Something that we are just not willing to give up for the Lord.

Maybe we are stubborn or hardhearted, like Pharaoh. Maybe we are caught in the web of addiction; it could be to alcohol, drugs, porn, food, gossip, or whatever. Maybe there is someone we simply refuse to forgive for some past incident. Maybe we simply want to do things our own way. Whatever it is, remember, there is no bargaining with God. God commands a complete surrender to his will, there can be no holding part back for yourself.

Father, help me give my all to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:25-26, But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God. Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the LORD our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the LORD.”

What does Moses mean by "until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the LORD.” Was this some kind of tactic to get Pharaoh to let the animals go as well, knowing that the Israelites are not planning to return? Is Moses or God, trying to be sneaky and pull one over on Pharaoh?

Remember, this is before God has given the Law to Moses. We think about the Old Testament, with all of its rules and regulations, with all of those specific instructions about everything the Jews were to do, and we might wonder how they could not know what God expects. But at this point, God had not told them all of that. Sure, God had spoken to the patriarchs, as he spoke to Moses, and given them some instructions. But they have used sheep, goats, rams, and cattle in their sacrifices. And so, they had to have those animals with them to worship.

And what about us? When we come to God, we don’t know everything, that is obvious. We know God is calling us to a complete commitment, but what does that really mean? But the more we serve the Lord, the longer we know him, the more we begin to realize what kind of dedication we are to have. We will learn that nothing we have is really ours, we are managers of his property that he has entrusted to us. This is not just money, but possessions, houses, cars, tools, as well as time, energy, and so forth. And we need to learn to use all that we have in order to honor, to worship God. As our relationship with God grows, we realize, as John the Baptist said, He must increase and we must decrease.

Father, increase my commitment to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:27-28, But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 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.”

I wonder what it looks like when the Lord hardens a person’s heart. We’ve talked about this before, but Pharaoh was a hardhearted individual from the first time Moses appeared before him. And from the start, who would have thought Pharaoh would have let these people go, they were slaves, they did much of the labor for the Egyptians, they depended on these people to get the job done. Who would ever think anyone would just let such a huge part of their workforce just walk away?

But this was no ordinary situation, Moses was not just some guy off the street demanding freedom for random slaves, he was God Almighty’s spokesman. God had appeared to him, shown him miracles, given him miracles to show to Pharaoh, and demanded that his people, the people he had chosen and formed a covenant with centuries before, be let go. Pharaoh’s refusal is not just to Moses, not just to the Israelites, but to God himself!

And if we are not careful, we will find ourselves in the same position. God is calling us, he wants us to change, to commit ourselves to him, to live lives that honor him. God wants us to be free from our spiritual slavery just as surely as he wanted the Israelites freed from their Egyptian slavery. And God has made the way for us to be free as well, he sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins. And God has given us signs, he has pleaded with us, sent us folks to teach us the right way, given us his Word (both in the person of Jesus and his written word), and so forth. But too often, we are as hardhearted as Pharaoh.

And just like here with Pharaoh, one day God’s patience with us will run out as well. And so, we need to make our commitment to the Lord before it is too late.

Father, soften my hard heart and help me come to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 10:29, “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

Moses knows that he is finished with Pharaoh, but God is most certainly not. I wonder exactly what Moses felt at this point; was he angry with Pharaoh, frustrated, disappointed, discouraged, simply tired of this business, or maybe something else? You know we all get that way from time to time. Life is hard for us, even if we are not dealing with a stubborn ruler who thinks he is a god. And the Israelites have not been real happy with the situation, either. Pharaoh as made their lives more difficult, requiring them to make the same amount of bricks and not providing them the material. And as these plagues came on the Egyptians, you know they wanted to blame the slaves.

But God still has one last plague for not just Pharaoh but all of the Egyptian people. We know what is coming, but they have no idea. And this plague will strike right in their hearts, right in their homes, there will be no warning, and no idea it has happened until it is all over. I wonder too what Pharaoh thought at this point. Maybe he thought Moses was finally giving up, that he had won.

But tragedy is brewing. And you know, trouble is coming in our lives as well, it always is. But when we look to the Lord, when we depend on him, when we live each day to honor him, God has a way of working things out for us. That is not to say the storms don’t come, but that God will be with us in those storms. And as long as we have the Lord, what else can we need? I know life can be hard, we all do; but when we have the Lord to depend of, it gives us hope to hold out. And God has promised never to leave us.

Father, thank you for always being near. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 11:1, Now 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.

When Moses later wrote these things down, he didn’t have any chapter breaks or verse numbers in the text. Those were not added until the 1550’s, and the idea was it would make things easier to study. So, there is no break between what we see as chapter 10 and 11 here. And it seems that the Lord had revealed these things to Moses before he went to speak to Pharaoh, it is not until verse 8 here that Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. So, these events just continue to flow from what we talked about yesterday.

God had told Moses there was one more plague coming, one that will not only convince Pharaoh to let the people go, but that will be so terrible he will drive the Israelites away, he will be glad for them to leave. What is it going to take to change Pharaoh’s mind, and to change it so completely? Egypt has already been devastated; there has been both a personal toll on the people as well as a toll on the land and crops. Both of those things would work together to take their toll on the people both in the palace and out. What else can God do to these people?

And what will it take for God to get through to some of us? Those of us who are Christians far too often think we have it all together. We think we have been cleansed of our sins, and we have. But we far too often fail to realize we continue to sin, that we have things we need to change; not make excuses for, not justify, not ignore, not explain away, but we need to repent of. I suppose there is behavior in each and every one of our lives that we need to change, things that we need to stop, and things we need to start. But the question is, what will it take to make us realize that? Pharaoh is about to get a very hard lesson.

Father, help me truly see the condition of my heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 11:2-3, Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.)

This verse seems a little confusing for us. Why would the Israelites ask the Egyptians for gold and silver articles? And why would the Egyptians give them to the Israelites? There are various thoughts by various commentators, but many of them seem to think these articles or vessels as some of the older translations say, could be used in the sacrifices they are to go and make in the desert. Being slaves, the Israelites would not have any nice things like this to honor their God with.

But there is a little more going on here that just having nice things to use in the worship of God. Back when the Lord first appeared to Moses, he was actually given this command. Exodus 3:22 tells us, “Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” The Israelites have been slaves in Egypt for a very long time, they have worked as slaves, as the property of the Egyptians. As slaves, these Israelites would have nothing, really no more than the clothes on their backs. Other commentators point out this is the means God uses for the Egyptians to pay for the years of labor the Israelites have given to them. As free men, they would have had the opportunity to acquire clothes and other things, but not as slaves. And so God provides.

But then again, doesn’t God always provide the things we need? Jesus will later tell us to consider the lilies of the field, and how pretty they are, how God clothes them. Consider the little birds that flit around, they do not plant crops, and yet God feeds them. We are told to ask for our daily bread, all we need is one day at a time. And over and over we see God providing for us. Maybe that is the lesson for today, to learn to trust God for the things we need. Those Israelites worked a long time without a payday, but God takes care of that. And God will take care of us as well.

Father, thank you for your provision. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 11:4-5, So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

Moses is still in Pharaoh's presence when he says these words, and he wants Pharaoh and all his officials to hear what he says. Moses has said he will never appear before Pharaoh again, but these final words are chilling. The Lord himself will go through the land of Egypt and every firstborn will die. From the lowest slave to the highest ruler, Pharaoh himself, and even in the barns the firstborn of the cattle will die. Can you imagine what the Egyptians must have thought about this?

To have any child die in your household would be a terrible thing. And when you multiply that by every household in the nation, and all on the same night, it is even worse. But the firstborn, especially in those days, was even more significant. It was the father’s indication of strength, his pride and joy, his heir, the one who would carry on his name, and the family heritage. The firstborn was the heir apparent, logically he was the next Pharaoh. But whether you were a slave or a king, the firstborn son was special. And every firstborn son in the Egyptian nation was doomed, and no one was left out.

This is a pretty big prediction for God to make. What did the Egyptians, Pharaoh, his officials, and the man on the street think about this? God has already done some powerful things among them. But this is not turning a staff into a snake or calling in frogs or bugs or hail. How is the God of the Israelites going to bring this about? How many listened, how many sat up worrying about it, how many thought Moses had gone too far in his threats?

And what about us today? We see, as those Egyptians magicians said, the finger of God around us; and we see it every day if we are looking. And we do see some powerful promises that God has made to us. To provide for us, to protect us, to forgive us, and to one day come back and judge the world, to reward the faithful and punish the wicked. Are you holding to all of those promises of God, or are you picking and choosing which ones you want to believe? God made them all and God will keep them all. We need to hold firm to everything God has said.

Father, help me hold fast to all of your words. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 11:6-7, There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.' Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.



We can only imagine the weeping and wailing that will take place in Egypt on that night. Death is never an easy thing for us, there are so many unknowns, but the one thing we do know is the emptiness we feel when a loved one leaves this life. We ache over the hole that is left in our lives. When a death is unexpected, such as that of a child, that makes things that much worse. And when those deaths are compounded by every family in the nation, from the lowest to the highest, that is unimaginable.



And again we see the distinction that God makes with his people. From the loud wailing in the Egyptian homes to the utter silence in the Israelite homes. Moses says not a dog will bark. If you have ever been around dogs, particularly the little yappy ankle biter types, you know they bark at everything. The wind does not have to blow hard, a curtain can rustle, a bug flies by, the light shifts, or nothing at all happens and they just start barking. We don’t usually mind a barking dog, it is kind of an alarm system when something is not right. But Moses says nothing will bother a dog, he will sense nothing.



I once read about a farmer who hired a hand to help him around the place. When asked what his qualifications were, the young man said he could sleep through a storm. The farmer thought that odd, but hired the man anyway. He was a good worker, solid, dependable, and so forth. On night a terrible storm did brew up; wind, lightning, thunder, rain, even a little hail. The farmer got up to check the barn and the animals, and he noticed the hired hand never stirred. The farmer checked the cows, they were safe in their stalls, the chickens were likewise shut up in the coop, the barn doors were secure, the outside equipment had been put away; in other words everything was just like it should have been. The farmer then realized what the young man had meant by sleeping through the storm, everything was taken care of, all the preparations had been made.



Maybe the Israelites could sleep through this night of death in Egypt because they had made all the preparations God required. Later, Moses will give them some specific instructions about that night; a meal they are to eat and how to eat it, and something to do with blood. But for now, just realize they are faithful and dependent upon God. These Israelites are in a relationship with God, he called them through their ancestors and they continued to follow God, as best they could. And that is what we need to do as well. We need to live each and every day living for the Lord, doing what he has asked us to do, living to honor him. And if we are committed to the Lord, we don’t have to worry about the things that happen in the night, or the day either.



Father, thank you for watching over me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 11:8, All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

Moses final words to Pharaoh are chilling. Instead of Moses coming to Pharaoh, which has been the norm since Moses arrived back in Egypt, Pharaoh and his officials will come to Moses. And not only will they come to Moses, they will come bowing down, showing him respect and honor. This is going to be quite different from the way they have been treating Moses and Aaron.

Do you ever think about Moses being angry? And this time he was hot! We most often think about God’s servants being meek and mild, humble, turning the other cheek; we don’t think about them getting upset or angry. But anger is sometimes a proper response and emotion. We know there were times God was angry with his people; and probably still are today. We read about Moses being angry one other time, Exodus 32, where he has been up the mountain getting the Ten Commandments from God. And you remember what he found when he returned to camp, the people were worshiping a golden calf that Aaron had made. It says there Moses’ anger burned, again it was hot! He threw down the tablets God had given him, burned the idol, ground it into dust, scattered it on the water and made the people drink it. Then he called and the Levites came forward and went through the camp killing the people. It seems clear Moses anger was burning again.

But what is there about the anger of Moses? It seems to happen when others rebel against God, when they refuse to submit to God’s will, and when their actions affect not just themselves, but others as well. Do we get upset when we see others rejecting the plans of God? I’m not sure I’m so much angry as disappointed, frustrated, sad. Maybe I ought to get mad, mad enough to do something about it. But then the question is, what can I do? How do I direct my anger, righteous as it may be, in a direction that will bring about change in someone else? And maybe I need to be angry with myself, maybe I need to examine my own heart and see where I am falling short. Maybe God is angry with me, and maybe I am so hard hearted that I don’t see it, just like Pharaoh. Wow, that is a sobering thought.

Father, help me not make you angry. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 11:9-10, The LORD had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

The Lord had told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen to him. How do you feel doing a job that you know is not going to work out? Most of the time, we would say, why bother then, what’s the point? But God knows exactly what each of us are going to do in whatever situation we find ourselves in. That does not mean God causes it to happen, just that he knows what choice we will make. It is sort of like you watching your child, knowing how they are going to react or choose in a situation. And yet God knows each of us far more intimately that we can ever know another human being.

So, God knows what Pharaoh is going to do, how hard his heart is, and then God himself hardens Pharaoh’s heart. We have talked about this before, Pharaoh made his own decisions, he chose to ignore the many wonders God performed through Moses in the land of Egypt. He tried to bargain with God, make deals, give less than God demanded. And God refused those offers. And so, as Paul speaks in Romans 1, God gave Pharaoh over to his own devices and desires, hardening his heart. God reinforced the things that Pharaoh did. It is not that Pharaoh had no choice from the beginning, he did. But God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, his resolve to not obey God, to follow his own stubborn, and destructive way.

How often do we refuse to listen to God? How often do we continually resist the Holy Spirit in our lives? How often do we know the truth, and still follow or embrace the lies of Satan? I know what we’re all thinking now, “Not me, I surely wouldn’t, I surely don’t resist the Lord. I love him, I’m committed to him, I follow him.” But do we, you and I, really follow God with our whole heart? This is a question only you, and I, can answer.

Father, help me not resist you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:1-3, The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

The Lord reveals to Moses and Moses is in turn to tell the whole community what is about to happen in Egypt. But first, there are some things that need to be taken care of. What is about to happen is so significant that the Hebrews will mark their time in relation to this event. This month will be considered the first month in their calendar.

And it is going to have something to do with a lamb. What could those folks do with a lamb? Moses has been telling Pharaoh to let the people go so that they can worship the Lord. Lambs were often used in sacrifices by the patriarchs, though this was before the Law of Moses was given. And later, when God does reveal that law to them, lambs will indeed play a prominent role in the sacrifices. Lamb were also used in feasts. Meat was not a “requirement” in every meal, like we consider it today. Meat was used for special occasions, for celebrations. So, this will be a joyful time.

But what does that mean for us today? For those Israelites, they knew God had something big in mind. And we need to realize the same thing today, God has big things in store for his people. Who know what victory you might receive today? Who knows what opportunity you might have to be a huge blessing to someone else? Who knows what a difference you might make in someone’s life, or they make in yours? But like those Israelites, we need to get ready for it. They were to select a lamb, and we’ll read more about that in the next few verses. But we need to open our hearts, we need to be aware of the opportunities around us, we need to look for those chances to be a blessing to someone else.

Father, help me be ready for what you have in store. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:4-6, If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

There are some specific instructions about this lamb and this meal they are to eat. Moses begins here with the instructions for selecting the animal. Most folks today have no idea about these things. We most often get out meat from the grocery store, just go and pick out what you want. No muss and no fuss. It is already cleaned and ready for the pan or pot or grill or whatever.

But these Israelites are to pick out a live year old male on the tenth of the month. They are to pick an animal that will be sufficient for the family, and if the family is small, another family may join in. There is to be no left overs. And they are to keep it up until the fourteenth day of the month, that might include feeding it a specific diet (though there’s no real evidence for this), maybe it was to keep it safe, this would give them time to thoroughly examine the animal and pick another if there was a problem with it, one commentator said it was one day for every hundred years the Israelites had been in Egypt. But perhaps God wanted them to get familiar with the animal, talk about it, what it meant, to know that animal was going to die and they were going to be free.

And maybe we need to think about the freedom that we have. The old cliche is true, freedom is never free. We might think about the men and women who died so that our nation could be free. But we certainly need to think about the Son of God who died so that we could have true freedom, not just in this life but in all of eternity. Maybe we need to get more familiar with Jesus; to examine him, to look more closely at him, to consider his words to us more carefully. We will not find any defect in Jesus, but we can learn so much more than we already know. And we need to be reminded about the price he paid for us, why he died for us, and how we need to live in response.

Father, help me get to know you better. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:7, Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

What is this all about? Remember, we are looking at things from a far different perspective than those Israelite slaves. We have read, heard sermons and lessons, seen movies, and so forth about the Passover. We know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say. But for these Israelites who Moses was talking to, they have no idea what is about to take place. Moses will speak about this blood more in verse 12, but for now he is just giving the instructions.

So, what would those folks have thought? Sacrifices have been offered to God almost since the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned, God made garments of skin for Adam and Eve to wear, so there must have been an animal or more that died because of their sin. Those animals were the first blood sacrifices. And the patriarchs offered animal sacrifices every since. Obviously, there was blood involved. And they knew they were going out of Egypt to worship, that was part of it. Maybe they thought there was some connection with this slaughter of this animal with their sacrifices.

But why put the blood on the doorframe? That would be an obvious mark that anyone could see. There is no hiding a bloody door, right? Does God need to see this mark? This will be referenced later, but God does see our hearts, God knows us better than we know ourselves. Maybe this is about obedience, doing something that doesn’t seem to make sense simply because God said to do it. God does want our obedience, and God will always tell us the right thing to do. Think about some of the things God will tell them to do on their journey: walk through the Red Sea with the water piled up on both sides, take the Promised Land when you look like grasshoppers to the people there, and so forth. Those things make no sense from a human perspective, but God said it would be OK. And maybe God wants our faith to be evident in our lives so that others can see it. No doubt this is not about simply drawing attention to ourselves, not about being praised by men. But the faith in God we have ought to be obvious to those around us and ought to point them to the Lord. Living lives that don’t match our words, the faith we proclaim, is not a positive influence on the world.

Father, help me obey you, whether I understand or not. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:8-10, That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.

This is going to be a different kind of meal. They are to roast the lamb over the fire, and roast it whole; including the head, legs and internal organs. Commentators are all over the place with this. There is much symbolism in fire, think about roasting it over a fire on a spit, they could see the flames, fire was used as a cleansing agent, in their sacrifices, and so forth. But any way they cooked the animal would involve fire. It was also suggested this was the only way to keep the animal whole, they would be unlikely to have pots big enough to cook a whole lamb in one piece. Some have suggested this would allow them to cook the animal faster, but if you’ve ever grilled anything you know it is easy to cook the outside and leave the inside underdone.

And maybe that is the reason, imagine a family (or two if they were small) sitting down to eat and the whole roasted lamb was put on the table. No bones broken, the meat not quite done, the head still there and looking at you, the guts inside. That doesn’t sound like a great centerpiece to me. And then throw in the bitter herbs, why would they want to eat that? There are several plants that have been suggested by the commentators they would have used, but they are all bitter, not pleasant to eat. Some have suggested it was like a condiment, to compliment the meal, others said it was like a salad or side dish. But either way, bitter herbs are not what we would normally eat. And then there was the unleavened bread; hard, flat, bland. What kind of feast is God telling these folks to have? It sounds terrible!

But there is much symbolism in this meal, maybe they do not realize all of this at the moment, but as their descendants eat it year after year, they will learn many valuable lessons. The Messiah is coming who will give all mankind true freedom, not just from physical bondage but from spiritual bondage, not just for earthly freedom but eternal life. Their bondage in Egypt was a bitter time, serving as slaves, being mistreated. And sin is a bitter part of this life, it might not seem so at first, but there are many consequences that come with it. The unleavened bread shows the haste they will leave Egypt, and in the same way we need to leave our old life of sin quickly, as in right now. I’m sure they didn’t understand all of these things to begin with, but they still had to obey God. And so do we. And the things we do today, will help prepare us for the things that are ahead.

Father, help me obey right now. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:11, This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover.

God not only gives them instructions on what the menu is and how to cook the meal, but he tells them how to eat it. When we eat, most of us like to get comfortable. That’s why I had rather eat at home than go out. I can take my shoes off, maybe even loosen my belt, sit back and relax, and enjoy the meal. But this is not going to be the case for this meal, it is be eaten quickly.

Moses tells the Jews to wear their cloak, their longer outer clothes. These were taken off when you went into the house. They are to tuck the cloak up into their belt, like they are getting ready to run or do some work. They are to wear their sandals, again, you took your shoes off when you went in the house, and usually you would have gotten your feet washed as you came in. And they were to eat with their staff in their hand, again like they were going to leave. These Israelites might not have understood all of this, but they didn’t have to understand to obey. But they would understand in the morning, after the Passover was complete and the Lord dropped his final plague on the Egyptians. They would indeed be leaving in a hurry. And for the centuries that would follow, they would eat this meal in the same way. And it would be a reminder of how God had indeed freed them from their bondage.

What are the things we need to remember about the Lord? What are the things he has done for us? Those things ought to be a reminder to us of God’s power and goodness. And as we think about what he has done, that gives us confidence as to what he can continue to do. May we never forget God’s goodness and power.

Father, help me always remember.
 
Exodus 12:12, “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

God reveals to Moses and Aaron exactly what is going to happen, and they will repeat this to the Israelite elders, who in turn will tell all the rest of the Israelites. God is going to go throughout the land of Egypt and all the firstborn males will die. All the firstborn sons of all the Egyptians, from Pharaoh himself to the lowest servant. They will all lose their firstborn son, 11:5. Again, the firstborn, especially if it was a son, was the sign of a man’s strength, the one through whom his lineage would be passed on, his pride and joy, the apple of his eye,

And God says, they will all die, along with the firstborn of all the animals in the land as well. For Pharaoh particularly, who was considered a God in the land of Egypt, his firstborn was also considered a God, since he was to replace Pharaoh on the throne. So this is a direct blow to the Egyptian religion, their god was going to die. But they also worshiped some of the animals, and those animals would die as well, again a blow to those false gods. Also, it will be clear their gods are not able to protect them. These slave people’s God will overcome all of theirs.

It seems clear today that God brings judgment on our false gods as well. Think about the things people idolize in our society today; money, power, politics, celebrities, sports, the list is endless. And yet, time and time again, we see those things fail, they become corrupt, they disappoint us, they fail us, what we hoped for does not come to pass. It is because those things are human creations, and therefore weak and fallible. They cannot really bring us pleasure, because we always want something more from them; another dollar, another win, another good time, and so forth. They are never really enough. If they cannot satisfy us, how do we think they can save us? That is something that only God can do. And so, we need to shift our focus from those temporary things to the eternal. Our focus needs to remain on God.

Father, help me rely only on you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:13, The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

God then explains the purpose of the blood on the doorposts. The blood will be a sign for the Lord to pass over that house. It will protect the people inside from the destructive plague, the death of the firstborn. But look back at the verse, who is the blood a sign for?

It is a sign for you, God says, for the people in the house. God knows who lives where, that’s an easy one. God knows our hearts better than we do, he knows everything about us, he knows our commitment to him, even if we try to pretend it is greater than it is. God does not need blood or anything else, to know where his people are. But we do. There is a sacrifice of sorts involved here. The blood of that lamb is to be a reminder to the people that they are leaving Egypt, and there was a high price to pay. Think back to the first sin, Adam and Eve in the garden, an animal died there as well, to make skin clothes for the couple. Their ancestors had offered many more animals for sacrifice in the intervening years. God will reveal the Law to Moses for the people, and it will call for the slaughter of countless animals for the people’s sin. But here, as their nation is getting started, there is sacrifice.

And this Passover lamb that is slain is a foreshadowing of the greatest sacrifice that will ever be made. Paul will later write in I Corinthians 5:7, For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. That is the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is only because of the blood of Jesus, God’s own son, that death, spiritual death can pass over us. Those Israelites in Egypt had no idea of this, but God did. And he was preparing the world for the entrance and death of his son, the perfect sacrifice. We need to live our lives in a way that shows our thankfulness to him.

Father, thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:14, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.

God tells them, through Moses, this is be be a regular feast for the people, they are to continue to celebrate it year after year. We already mentioned this is to be the first month of their new year. So this really is a beginning for these folks. And this is the beginning of a new era for them, an era of freedom and of going to their promised land, they are to remember and celebrate.

What are some of the things we remember and celebrate? And why do we do that? Maybe the what is easy; Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, and so forth. The why for those things is also pretty easy, it is for what they represent, the feelings they cause to well up inside of us. Maybe we remember the good holidays from the past, when family members who are gone were once with us. Maybe we remember the times of those beginnings, as birthdays and anniversaries. And maybe we remember the struggles we went through as those things began and as they continued. Life is good, but it can also be hard. Marriage has many ups and downs. But when we look back, it is the good we ought to hold forth.

These people will have many stories to tell the generations that follow. About Joseph and his trip to Egypt, his mistreatment there, and his rise to power. They will tell about the slavery and abuse they endured, and about Moses coming to their rescue. They will tell about the plagues that God struck the Egyptians with and especially about this last one.

What are the stories and lessons we need to tell to our children and grandchildren? And what will we tell them about God’s provisions and care for us? Those are things that need to be remembered, told, and celebrated.

Father, help me pass on the good news about you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:15, For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

As the Jews commemorate this event, it is to be a week long celebration. And for the whole of the seven days, they are to eat bread made without yeast. We mentioned before, when they are to eat the first Passover, they are to eat it in haste, wearing their clothes, their shoes, and having their staff in their hand. As they eat the yeastless bread, it is a reminder they were about to leave Egypt. And every year since, this feast is to remind them of that trip, of their freedom, and the promises of God.

But what is the big deal about yeast? Yeast is used to make the dough rise, to make it lighter and more fluffy. Think about the difference between a cracker and a big fat, fluffy yeast roll. It takes time for bread to rise, for the leaven to work through the dough. And in the first case, there was no time for this, as the Egyptians drove the Israelites out of the land. They were to remember their haste.

But yeast or leaven takes on a different connotation in the New Testament. Jesus, as well as other writers, use it to refer to the teachings of the Pharisees and other unorthodox groups. Jesus, Paul, and others warn about their teachings coming in just a small way, and how like yeast it will permeate the whole lump of dough. The result is those false teachings are spread throughout, ruining what was before very good.

We need on our guard against all such false teachings as well. And please, don’t just take my word for it, compare what I say and all other teachers say, to the word of God. That is our only rule of faith and practice. As John said, we need to test the spirits, and the standard we are to use is what God has revealed to us through his written word. In order to do that, we need to learn what God’s word has to say. We all need to be students, no scholars of the Bible. That is our standard.

Father, help me study, learn, and apply your word.

Here’s a bonus verse: Acts 17:11, Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
 
Exodus 12:16, On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

This feast is to be a week long, with a sacred assembly on the first and the seventh day. But what is a sacred assembly, other translations say a holy assembly or a holy convocation. The word convocation means a formal gathering of a large group of people. That this is to be holy or sacred tells us what the Israelites are to do there. They are to remember and celebrate the Lord’s granting them freedom. This is part of the lasting ordinance, they do not do this while they are in Egypt.

And during the week, they are to rest, do no work at all. The only exception is to prepare food for the people to eat. Again, this is a reminder of the freedom God grants them from Egyptian slavery. How often do you think the Egyptians gave them a week off? Vacations were not even a thing back then, but those slaves were sure not getting one. God wants to remind them and for them to remember, his power, grace, and mercy. God can give us rest.

Remember on the seventh day of creation God rested. Do you think God was tired or was he setting an example for us to follow? God was telling man that we need time to rest, to recharge, so change our pace. But the purpose of our rest is not just to cease from work, it is to worship, celebrate, and honor God. We all need a regular time when we can stop and think about the Lord. But we need to do more than think about him, we need to honor him, to love him, to serve him. We need to be still and know that he is God.

Father, help me always take time to honor you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:17, “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

God reveals to Moses the meal they are about to eat will become a lasting ordinance for them. They are to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread at the same time every year. The feast became known as the Passover, since the death angel passed over the homes of the Israelites there in Egypt. God wants them to remember these events, he wants the story passed on from generation to generation. He wants the Israelites to always remember what he has done for them, how he rescued them from their slavery. There are some things that are worth remembering.

But what about us, who are not Jewish? What is the significance for us in this feast? I’m not suggesting that we need to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread every year, but we do need to know about it, to know what it meant tho them. And we also need to know what it means to us, as Christians. You see, many years later, another Passover lamb will be sacrificed. This will be the lamb of God who takes away the sine of the world. And we need to remember this was God’s plan from the beginning. He knew man would sin and need a savior, he knew he would provide one in the person of his son Jesus. But God knew that mankind needed to be prepared for that event. You see, the Old Testament, among other things, was to prepare the world for the Messiah.

And so today, we need to remember the things that are taught there. Those things were written for us, as examples, as guides, to help us learn and understand the lesson God wants to teach us. We need things today to help us remember as well. The Lord’s Supper is a weekly reminder of the death of Jesus, of the passing over of the death angel all those years ago. And it is a reminder that we have passed from death to life as well. There are things we need to be constantly reminded of.

Father, help me never forget. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:18-20, In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”

God has already told Moses for the people to get all the yeast out of their houses during this time. But now he comes back to reemphasize it. This rule shall apply to everyone, whether they are Israelites by blood or if outsiders have come to live among them. Here is a glimpse of the future, when all people will be called to God. The Israelites were not very good at evangelism, they didn’t seem concerned about inviting other people, Gentiles, to become Jews. But God will eventually invite everyone to come to him, to a relationship with him. Even this far back, God is preparing for all people to come to him.

But why is God so concerned about the yeast here? To be honest, on one hand, it doesn’t matter. God has given a command and it is to be obeyed. The unleavened bread is to be a reminder of the haste they left Egypt in. God wants them to remember this for generations to come, how he rescued them from their slavery. And one day, the Messiah will come who will rescue all of humanity from their bondage to sin. Yeast is actually a single cell organism, and therefore is invisible to the naked eye, the yeast we buy at the store is mixed with an emulsifier, to help preserve it and make it easier for us to handle. God wants us to understand, though yeast is so small, it makes a huge difference. The yeast grows, reproduces, it ferments and that is why we see so many bubbles in a yeast mixture. And that rapidly reproducing yeast works its way throughout the whole lump of dough.

That is what Jesus was later referring to when he spoke about the yeast of the Pharisees, Matthew 16. But those are not the only ones who spread false teachings. And we have a very negative image of the Pharisees, but to the Jews of Jesus’ day, these were the most righteous looking people the Jews knew. They were the synagogue leaders, the conservative politicians, the most scrupulous about obeying the Laws. And to today, we need to be on our guard about false teachings as well. Even or maybe especially when it comes in sheep’s clothing. Yeast is had to see, until it starts working. God wants us to avoid anything false, anything that will contaminate our relationship with him. But we need to be very careful, those things need be handled early rather than later. It is easier to chop down a sapling than a whole tree.

Father, help me be on my guard. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:21-22, Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.

It is one thing to talk about doing something, but it is another thing entirely to actually do it. The first 20 verses of this chapter have been instructions for the Passover, how they are to eat it, what they are to have, how they are to do it every year. But now Moses tells them it is time to act. It might sound like a good idea to put blood all over your door frame, so that the Lord will pass by, but what about actually doing it? What will the neighbors think? Is that blood going to wash off? Will there be a stain there? What if no one else does it? I might end up looking foolish.

And isn’t that the exact case today? There are so many people who claim the name of Christ, and yet they live just like the world. There are many people who know what the Bible says, and yet they continue to live as if they don’t. Why is there such a disconnect between what people say, what they “know” and what they actually do? Maybe they have some of the same excuses we mentioned before. Maybe there are other reasons for their actions. But for some reason; fear, doubt, whatever, they do not live as they ought to live.

We need to be bold for Jesus. He promised to acknowledge those who acknowledge him. It is just that simple. We need to do the things God has commanded us to do, no matter what others think, no matter whether it makes sense to us or not, no matter how foolish it seems. We need to be bold in our faith, we need to take a stand, and we need to show our faith by the lives we live.

Father, help me be bold for you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:23, When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

The blood on the doorframe will show the Lord that his people are living inside that house. And the destroyer will not be allowed to enter and strike anyone down. But why did the Lord need to see the blood? God is omniscient, all knowing. There is no where we can go to hide from God. There is nothing we can do that God does not know about. Even the things we think we are hiding, our deepest thoughts, our closest guarded secrets, the things we don’t want to admit, even to ourselves; God knows those things. There is nothing we can hide from him.

So, is God really looking for the blood on the doorframes? Or is the blood really a sign for the Israelites? As we have said before, it is easy to talk about things, but another to actually do them. These people are living out their faith, putting it into action; they have to select a lamb, put it up, kill it, clean it, cook it, and so forth. But in the process, they have to save some of the blood to paint on their doorframes. These Jews are going to associate that blood with life, as they were spared from the destroyer who was coming. They will see that blood when they go inside to eat this meal. And they will see this blood when they get up the next morning and hear about all the death in the land. And they will see how the houses with blood on the doorframes were spared. It is a sign for them of the blessings we receive when we follow God.

What about us today? I’m thankful we don’t have to sacrifice lambs or other animals today. And the reason for that is Jesus, our Passover lamb, (I Corinthians 5:7) has been sacrificed for us. Jesus died for our sins, his blood paid the price we could not pay. And we need to be reminded of that on a very regular basis, as we tend to be forgetful. So, think about the blood that was shed for your forgiveness, your salvation. Maybe we need to set a reminder for ourselves somehow. That’s why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper each week, as a reminder of the blood that was shed for us.

Father, help me see the blood. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:24-25, “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.

Do we realize that our faith or lack of faith is a lesson to our descendants? There was only one time in the history of the Israelites that God sent the destroyer to kill the firstborn. And afterwards, the people will leave Egypt never to return again. It is hard for us to imagine this would ever become ancient history to these people, it would seem it would be something that they would remember forever. And yet, we see in our own lives how really important events begin to fade from our memories.

Most of us remember where we were on 9/11, for example. We remember what we were doing, how we felt, and what those images we watched on TV did to us. We can remember our leaders asking for prayer on TV. We can remember how the nation seemed to come together in the days after. But there are many more people who were born after those events, who don’t have those feelings. Sure, they know about it, they have heard us talk about it, maybe even learned about it in school. But they are not affected by it the way those who saw it unfold were.

And it is the same with our faith. We need to be strong in our faith for a number of reasons. But one reason is that we are setting an example for our descendants, those who come behind us. If we treat the Lord, his church, his people as an option, as less important than other things, those around us will learn that lesson. And they will probably treat the Lord with less importance than we do, because there are always other things to demand our attention. You see, how we live our faith is what people see. And they need to see our relationship with the Lord as of the utmost importance in our life. That is not a guarantee they will follow our footsteps, but we will be leading them in the right direction.

Father, help me live as a positive example. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:26-27, And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' ” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

There is a very specific reason for the Passover the first time. The blood on the doorframe will identify the inhabitants as Israelites, who have put their faith in God and have obeyed his command. That way the destroyer will pass over that house. But what about in the future? Why are they to continue to celebrate this meal every year?

Moses answers that question here, it is for the children. We all know how inquisitive children can be, asking questions about why and how come and when and what and right on down the list. As the Israelites celebrate this meal every year, the children will have questions. And this meal, and the particular things they do during the meal, are to answer the questions those future generations will have. If you have every been involved in one of these meals, you know things are explained along the way; the removal of leaven, the bitter herbs, the salt, the process of eating with your outside clothes on, and so forth. God wants the parents to be able to explain to their children, why they do the things they do.

As Christians, we do not celebrate these Old Testament feast and holy days. But ought we not be able to explain to our children the things we do in relation to the Lord? This is true of the things we do in church; sing, listen to the sermon, have Communion, give, fellowship, and so forth. But we ought to be doing things differently in our lives each and every day. And we ought to be explaining them to our children. It is clear our evangelistic efforts ought to start at home, with our own families. But we also need to be sharing the good news with everyone we come into contact with. And as 1 Peter 3:15-16 tells us, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Father, help me be ready to share the good news. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
Exodus 12:28, The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.

This is one of those verses I have read before, but I somehow missed it. But it is a verse that thrills my heart. I do remember Noah; in Genesis 6:22 and 7:5 where we are told Noah did everything just as the Lord commanded him. Those words are simple for us to read, but imagine how hard they were for both Noah and the Israelites to carry out. Noah was to build a boat, to prepare for a flood that no one could imagine. And these Israelites were to kill an animal and smear blood on their houses. When you think about it, those things don’t really make much sense.

But are we trying to please men or are we trying to please God? Noah was ridiculed for the 120 years he worked on the ark. The Israelites only had one night to do this. Have you ever wondered what their neighbors thought? Maybe they had doubts and wondered about what Moses was telling them to do. And we are not called to build boats or smear blood, but we are called to live different than the world, different than we did before. We are to treat people not as the world treats them, we are to be generous, loving, compassionate, helpful. We are to avoid many of the things the world considers pleasure. But when we really look at those things, they cause more pain than pleasure. Who are you trying to please?

I mistyped the first sentence in that paragraph, but it jumped out at me, and I corrected it. But I think maybe the error might have been better. I typed, But are we trying to please me or God. That is the whole of the matter right there, we love ourselves more than we love the Lord. We want to do what we want to do more than we want to do what the Lord wants us to do. And that, my friends, is sin in a nutshell. So, let’s recognize that, and let’s repent of that, and let’s live our lives for the Lord.

Father, help me to do everything you command. In Jesus’ name, amen.
 
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