11 “These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover. 12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! 13 But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.”-Exodus 12:11-14
The story of Israel coming out of Egypt is a historically significant event that is packed with a ton of spiritual truth. Israel’s exodus out of Egypt is a type or shadow of you and I coming out of sin. Have you ever considered why it takes some people so long to find freedom once they've been set free?
Israel’s exodus gives us a lot of answers. Did you ever do the math and consider why it took Israel so long to reach the promise land? A journey that should have taken them three weeks lasted 40 years. Some people’s journey out of sin, seems to reflect the same cycle of events that kept Israel wandering in circles.
Over the next several weeks we want to break that cycle and help people find the freedom Jesus secured for them at the cross:
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”-Galatian 5:1
We will do this by examining three things that Israel had to overcome to break the cycle: hesitation, frustrations, and false expectations.
Before we fully understand the significance of the passover that we read about in Exodus 12:11-14 we need to understand the history. Israel had been in Egypt for over 400 years. They fled there during a time of famine when Joseph (one of Jacob’s sons) was second in command of all of Egypt. However, scripture tells us that after Joseph died another Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph and was intimidated by the number of Jews occupying the land. So he subjugated them and made them slaves. This was there lot for hundreds of years. Bondage was all Israel knew. Entire generations were raised that never knew what freedom looked like or felt like, until God called a man by the name of Moses to lead them out.
However, Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the people of Israel go. So, God brought 10 plagues against the land of Egypt. You would have thought, after the first plague or two, that Pharaoh would have relented, but it was not until the final plague (the death of all the firstborn) that Pharaoh relented and let Israel go.
We read in Exodus 12, how God instructed to Moses to slay a lamb and apply the blood to the doorposts of their homes. When the death angel passed through, he would see the blood and “passover” the children of Israel’s homes. God did many miracles leading up to Israel’s deliverance, but they didn’t come out until the lamb was slain! It was the blood of the lamb that brought them out.
Somebody needs to hear this today. You’ve tried everything, yet you still feel like you are in bondage. You feel trapped in a never ending cycle of sin. You fear you will never find freedom, however the the blood of the lamb can bring you out. Freedom from sin begins with the lamb that was slain. Jesus is our lamb!
Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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