Sun, Apr 13, 2025 11:23AM • 40:38
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Exodus, Passover, Promised Land, Cities of Refuge, Firstborn, Red Sea, Egyptians, Unleavened Bread, Sin, Freedom, Covenant, Tabernacle, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Apostles.
There are several things about these instructions. First, many of them are for the future, once they leave Egypt. So there’s the stuff you do for this time, and then there’s the stuff you’re going to do for later. And it works that way when they’re about to enter the promised land too. So these are the things to look forward to once you’re in the land. These are the rules you’re going to have there.
In the meantime, it’s slightly different because, for instance, there’s no land to inherit yet. You’re not settled, so you’re on the wrong side of the border to have the Cities of Refuge, for instance. Later there will be certain things that you do once you’ve entered the land that you’re not doing until you enter the land.
A member comments: As God called them out of Egypt, so we’re called out of the world. It’s not easy. The world has a lot of great stuff. And even after He called them out of Egypt into the wilderness, they claim, “Oh, he brought us out here to die, we could have stayed there.” So slavery didn’t seem extremely bad in hindsight. It’s just that God didn’t want them to live under the inaccurate religious system of the Egyptians.
John: That is true as far as it goes. Yes, they’re idol worshipers, and He wants them to worship Him in truth. On top of that, for instance, He made promises, to Abraham, and wants to keep that promise by delivering them.
Yeah. Okay, so in verses 24-27 He actually specifies that they are to obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for them and their descendants.
So he specifies these are things you do once you enter the Promised Land. At the time, it wasn’t clear that they were going to spend 40 years in the wilderness. That doesn’t happen until they refuse to go in.
Member: Which is approximately two years later, isn’t it?
Yeah. So they have to spend time around Sinai, having the covenant delivered to them, building the tabernacle, all those things, and then they get ready to move in the book of Numbers.
Okay, so in verse, 29 at midnight, the Lord strikes down all the firstborn in Egypt, from greatest to least, including all the livestock as well. Can you imagine the turmoil?
Yeah, so they’re dressed and ready to ready to go, they would have heard the gut wrenching screaming of the Egyptians, the wailing, as they discovered the lifeless bodies.
I read way too much, science fiction. And can you imagine? There’s one Robert Heinlein, an early one that I used to read a lot until he died. He imagined an army, a special services force that could do just about anything. If you want to really scare your enemy, you could, say, identify all left handed redheads and take them out.
God goes a step better than that. So during the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in verse 31 and sends them packing.
The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them whatever they asked for. Notice they only do that after all the plagues. Something like that is going to happen in the future, when Jesus returns, wipes out all of the armies that are gathered around Jerusalem with a the breath of his mouth, and Jesus says, “Let my people go.” And they’re going to say, “Go, please. We don’t want you here anymore.”
And so they plunder the Egyptians. And notice how it’s also the silver and the gold, right? Silver, Gold and clothing, things that are easily carried.
So 600,000 men and their families set out from Egypt. Okay, add the number of women, which would be roughly the same, you get 1.2 million. And then you probably multiply that by two, three times at least, because they kept breeding like rabbits. There could have been 6 million of them leaving Egypt.
The the effect of this on the Egyptian economy and the death of their army would have been devastating to Egypt.
Member comment: Their economy was totally devastated by it. What amazes me? And we have a hard time imagining is, how do you move that many people with all their flocks and herds too? Unbelievable. Yeah, it had to be a very well coordinated process.
Other member: Yeah, later it got better with the father in law suggesting certain ways.
Previous member: But can you imagine trying to empty Regina? We’re only 200,000 people in Regina. We have trouble clearing 25,000 people out of the stadium parking lot after a Roughriders game.
I’ve tried to figure out how much actual space that many people would take up with all their families and all their cattle and everything. It’s a massive amount of space too that the whole assembly would take up. And then, you have to get that whole assembly moving. It was an amazing operation.
John: Three days later, at dawn, they’ve crossed the Red Sea. So they managed to get over to the coast of the Red Sea in in about two and a half days, and then they cross it by dawn on the third day. So the army of the Egyptians is in hot pursuit, and they unwisely decide to go, Well, if the Israelites can go through the sea, we can too.
Let’s see the God who killed all of our first born opened a path in the sea. Yeah, we should be able to cross too, right? At dawn on the third day, Israel is saved when the sea goes back to its normal state, drowning the Egyptians.
So Exodus chapter 15 is the song of deliverance.
I kind of like the way Dwight Armstrong captures that in his in his song. “Hurled the foe into the sea.” Verse three says, “The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army is hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deep waters have covered them. They sank to the deaths like a stone.”
Let’s do a quick recap. First comes Passover and the death of the firstborn. Then three days later, at dawn, Israel has passed through a valley cut into the sea, which causes the death of the Egyptian army as it closes. Israel has finally been saved out of Egypt at dawn of the third day after passing through a “shadow of the valley of death.”
Sound similar to any New Testament stories? Let’s see… Passover, death, salvation at dawn the third day… celebration…
Okay, so let’s flash forward about 1500 years after that. So Israel is technically back in its own land, but unfortunately, the Romans are in charge, and they’re pretty cruel. At the time of his crucifixion, Tiberius Caesar was ruling with an iron hand, and his subordinate, Pontius Pilate was was a in charge,
Caesar ruled over the most effective and brutal military machine the world had ever seen. And so any opposition to Roman rule was met with deadly force, by a spectacularly brutal and painful death, otherwise known as crucifixion. There were times when the people on the crucifix didn’t die for days, and so God was merciful to to Jesus that way.
Jesus had already been beaten to within an inch of his life before he even got on the cross, which was different from the other two, who had their legs broken. The other two had more life force left in them, and so they had to break their legs to kill them before the special sabbath at the start of Passover week.
So Jesus was willing and able to endure that torturous death on our behalf in order to save us through it.
So just like the Israelites went through the Red Sea, we get to go through death and come out the other side. Death is a little bit deeper than the sea. It’s a little harder to get through, and it’s not because of mud or anything, but Jesus did it, and so we know it can be done. More important, He promises to take us through that so called valley of death, just like the waters on the sides formed a valley that Israel could go through.
So Tiberius was actually really good at dispensing death, like making death happen, but he wasn’t good at overcoming death. Jesus was the only one who was able to defeat death.
So he asks us to be willing to follow Him, and where does he go? Well, he has to go through death first, and there’s no way around that.
But in the process, as we’re preparing to go to the promised land before our death, what do we take with us? The Egyptians gave Israel silver and gold.
But we have to take something even more precious with us. In a sense that what we take with us is each other. What we take with us is an unleavening. And so I’m going to get Paul to tell us about that in First Corinthians, chapter five. So notice that this is the apostle Paul, apostle to the Gentiles, talking about how this whole thing applies to Jesus. Jesus is the Passover lamb, and I think he is the first one who completely specified this after Jesus’ death and resurrection, then he says,
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.
2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.
4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” – 1 Cor. 5:1-13
So in a sense, he’s saying, Okay, we, as we’re traveling to the promised land, there are certain burdens that we have to get rid of or we’re not going to make it. Certain things are weighing us down and and you have to travel light when Egypt is in hot pursuit.
When the Egyptians gave them their silver and gold items, they were giving things that were heavy, but at least small enough to carry. What they’re not giving them is a house, right?
So, so we have to travel light, and so you have to get rid of the sin. You have to get rid of the the stuff that puffs you up, or the stuff that really doesn’t belong in the kingdom. Paul is isn’t concerned about yeast. What he’s concerned about is blatant sin.
So he’s talking about not accommodating any sin that leads kind of to an infection among the congregation. He means stuff that’s so so blatant that when people see it, they think, well, maybe, I can do this too, if that person can get away with it. That’s the kind of stuff.
So when Jesus talks about things like cutting off the hand that offends, or digging out the eye, he’s talking about doing what it takes to ensure the health of the body, right? You cut the cancer out so that it doesn’t consume the body.
And in fact, there’s a misuse of a passage that talks about not let a root, a root of bitterness spring up. People think that it’s your self being bitter that takes you out of the church. And while there may be truth to that kind of thing, the root of bitterness actually refers to an Old Testament passage that talks about sin infesting like the rotten apple that spoils the whole bunch, right? That’s what ta root of bitterness, is actually referring to, is the kind of sin that begins to permeate the whole body,the whole group.
So there are churches that stray from truth. There are churches that stray from what is right or that allow things that are popular but forbidden for Christians. Because they let people do their thing, it becomes a sin that permeates. And next thing you know, you can’t get rid of it.
So Paul is saying that this is the kind of thing that you have to uproot. You have to get it out before it becomes a real problem.
So we need to get rid of what Paul talks about, malice, envy, all of those things. In First Corinthians, 11:24, to 34 he talks about how some people have become sick and even died.
The context is that they were not looking to one another’s needs. Some were arriving at the communion service, which was like a full meal back then, with their own food and enough wine to get drunk without sharing with others were arriving hungry. They were self absorbed, “not discerning the body.”
And so now you go to a you go to a communion service, and sometimnes they say, take a few moments to examine yourself. And they don’t ever give you this context. Are you being fair to each other? Are you supporting each other? Are you recognizing the needs of the body?
So that’s the kind of thing Paul is saying we need to leave behind: that lack of care, that lack of concern. What do you replace it with? What was the point of coming out of Egypt, in in the original Exodus?
His job or mission was to bring them to freedom.
That was the mission that God gave to Moses. You’re going to help my people become free.
Galatians, Chapter Five:
1 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. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.
And again, he’s talking to Gentiles, and in particular Gentile men, and is saying, don’t try to enter a covenant that’s already broken. Because you become a slave by walking into a covenant that’s already declared to be sin because they didn’t keep it.
Member comment: They didn’t keep it, and what they added to the rules and regulations weren’t intended to be added. Yeah, so you’re basically adding a yoke to yourself. That’s right, not realizing that the the original, the original law, was good. That when you add a bunch of laws, it’s like our society. You may have good laws, but if you don’t enforce them, then your solutions just add more and more laws, then you basically create a society where nobody is free.
John: So there’s that, but it’s also trying to enter a covenant that was for a certain specific people and not for Gentiles, right? Okay, so, in verse he says a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.
Interesting. He’s still talking about, still talking about unleavened bread, right?
Okay, verse 13.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
That’s a lot of stuff. Can you imagine how heavy a burden all of that is? Even even hate or rage are heavy. Hate allows someone else to live in your brain. Why would you want that? Why would you want to walk around with the weight of hate against somebody? Envy? Same thing. That’s a heavy burden. And well, drunkenness? We have seen it already take the life of one of our friends, and that recently.
Of course, it’s a heavy burden. We don’t need the kind of burden. Says Paul, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Why? Because you’re going to stop before you get there. You’re not going to be able to make it all the way. What should we take with us on the way?
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
In chapter 6 verse 9, carrying on in the same vein:
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Notice that there’s a sense of there’s always the possibility of giving up, and that’s why we have to get rid of those heavy burdens. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
So let’s make sure that we’re carrying a light load as we walk with Jesus through the valley of death. We don’t need the leaven of malice. We don’t need the leaven of hate. We don’t need the leaven of envy. We don’t need the burden of wickedness to prevent us from arriving.
We need Jesus in his spirit and his humility, and we need to follow him wherever he takes us, no matter whether it be through the Red Sea or the valley of death, we should let our load remain light until the very end.
John Valade 
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