Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Promise

Every year on July 4 our country celebrates our independence from Britain.

We all celebrate in similar ways.

There are fireworks.

There are BBQ’s.

There are hamburgers.

Hot Dogs.

For some there’s some drinking.

Flag waving.

Some partying.

This is a tradition that for many highlights our identity as a Nation.

We love Independence.

We love those who fought for our freedom.

We love celebrating the freedom we have from oppression.

None of us alive fought during the revolutionary war, but we still look back at it as a watershed moment of our country.

That war solidified us as a nation.

July 4, 1776 was the Day that is remembered as the Day that we Declared our Independence.

Our nation is marked by the things that we celebrate.

Veterans day

Memorial Day

New Year’s Day

And So on and so forth.

The reality is that the things that we remember and the things we celebrate help to create and solidify our identity.

This is not just true for us as Americans, this is true for most people across time.

The Scripture we are going to cover today sets up one of those events for the Israelite people.

Today we are going to talk about the passover event.

So if you have your bible open it to Exodus 12.

Now to set the stage for this event lets look at what’s happened.

God’s people have been in captivity and Slavery in Egypt for over 400 years.

They were faced with a difficulty.

They were Groaning and crying out to God for help.

Exodus 2:23-25 “23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.

Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”

God hears their cries and raises up Moses to deliver them out of the Hands of Pharaoh.

Pharoah is offered opportunities to release them without any consequences, but he refuses.

So God is going to send on him 10 plagues to prompt Pharoah to release God’s People.

We briefly went over them last week but let’s briefly list them again.

Nile River turns to Blood: 7:20-21

An over abundance of Frogs: 8:3-6

Swarms of Gnats: 8:16-17

Infestation of Flies: 8:24

Pestilence: 9:3-6

Boils on Humans and Animals: 9:8-10

Heavy Hail and Fire destroying plants, animals, and people: 9:18-33

Massive Swarm of Locusts: 10:4-15

3 Days of Darkness: 10:21-23

Those are the first Nine, But the Final Plague is what we are going to focus on this morning:

Death of the First Born: 11:4-5

The 10th plague is the pinnacle of God’s judgement on Egypt.

Pharaoh had ample opportunities to recognize who God is, but his arrogance, ego, and pride stood in the way.

Pharaoh thought of himself as a god and was worshipped as such by his people.

With that worship comes an arrogance that is difficult to overcome.

He will not bend the knee to the True God, so he will be made to bend it.

So God has judged Egypt and Pharaoh in a way that marks him out as the One true God.

Remember the story of Exodus begins with Pharaoh's edict to murder all the first born Males of the Israelites.

But this isn’t pettiness on God’s behalf.

God was bringing judgement on a nation and ruler steeped in evil and wickedness.

One Commentator put it this way:

This was not a case, however, of returning evil for evil.

It was a case of divine retribution, justice meted out to those who deserved it, a judgment against an entire society and their absurd religious beliefs that led them to practice the horrible treatment they had given the Israelites in the past, thinking it appropriate.

Evil for evil would have been accomplished if the Israelites themselves had figured out a way to kill Egyptian babies after having come to a position of power over their former oppressors.

God, not Israelites, did this killing of the Egyptian firstborn, however, and did so within the bounds of his righteous judgment against evildoers

This judgement of the death of the first born is going to come over the whole nation.

Including the Israelites that lived there.

Sin is destructive.

Sin deserves punishment.

All people have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and perfection.

So judgement from God can and should rain down on all humanity.

But God is not just wrathful against sin, he is also gracious.

So before the judgement comes God gives instructions for how the Israelites can avoid the consequences of sin.

He gives the initial instructions to both Moses and Aaron.

Preparation

God marks this occasion as the beginning of the Israelite Calendar.

God is now fulfilling the promise he made to Abraham to make a great nation for himself.

And this nation is to begin their year remembering this miraculous and gracious event in their lives.

When the God of the universe saved them from slavery and bondage.

They were to know that God was linking their measure of time to His calling on their lives.

They are going to begin their year celebrating God’s deliverance.

They are going to begin their year remembering how God had saved them.

They are going to begin their year with a sacrifice and a feast.

Because at the heart of the festival was the feast of the lamb.

This is a holiday that is specific in nature.

It can not be thrown together quickly or haphazardly.

God was deliberate in telling the Israelites that they are to take time and reflect on what God has done and is doing.

This is more like our holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If you celebrate these with a meal they are’t just thrown together.

In fact, some people take weeks or even months to think about and prepare a meal for the family.

This is what God commands here.

On the 10th of the month, Every man is to go and find a lamb for their household.

This lamb is to be carefully examined and thoroughly scrutinized so that it is perfect.

No blemish.

No mark.

No defect.

Why is God this specific in the perfection of the lamb?

Because “a defective gift is an insult to the recipient”

God desires not their second or third best lamb, but their best.

He demands perfection.

This lamb must also be at least a year old.

Meaning that it has to be fully grown.