Introduction: Read Exodus11and12.

This wonderfully dramatic passage of Scripture has at least six clear messages for us today. It is not one of those episodes from history of only marginal significance for the modern age.

(1) A final warning.

Pharaoh had experienced 9 plagues - all of them a result of his unwillingness to let the Israelites go into the desert to sacrifice to their God. The plagues were announced, proceeded and ended at the instigation of Moses, God's spokesman. Pharaoh, for all his power, was helpless to prevent the plagues. Moses finally announces the very worst of the plagues: "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every first born son in Egypt will die, from the first born of Pharaoh who sits on the throne, to the first born son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the first born of the cattle as well.'" 11v4and5.

There was one way Pharaoh could avoid the awful calamity forecast by Moses. He could obey God. He could set the Israelites free. But like so many who have ignored one warning after another he ignored this final warning. Moses had won the hearts of Pharaoh's high officials and also the common people but he had not won the heart of Pharaoh.

Moses really spelled it out. He told Pharaoh: "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." Ex11v8. On the 1st of Sept 1939 an ultimatum was handed to the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop by British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson to the effect that unless the German army withdrew from Poland Britain would come to Poland's assistance. The ultimatum was ignored and Europe suffered five years of war.

The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China Chiang Kai-shek issued the document, which outlined the terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference. This ultimatum stated that, if Japan did not surrender, it would face "prompt and utter destruction." It was an ultimatum that was ignored and led to huge loss of life when the atomic bombs were dropped.

There is a tendency for those who have ignored warnings in the past to ignore a final warning when it comes! I learned this as a school master! I can remember warning some rebellious teenage girls on several occasions to wear the appropriate school uniform. My admonitions were ignored. I issued a final warning to the effect that I would have to report them to higher authority if they persisted in flouting the school uniform rules. They were mortally offended when I sent them to the deputy head!

The New Testament contains some serious, uncompromising warnings, none more so than: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Jn3v36. This is clear and emphatic; men and women will not get away with rejecting Jesus. Paul writes this to the Thessalonians about the Second Coming of Jesus: He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. 1Thes1v9.

(2) A severe judgment.

God carried out his judgment of the Egyptian people: At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all livestock as well. 12v29.

This may seem very unfair. After all, Pharaoh was the villain of the piece and he survived. However, we need to note that AFTER the death of the first born Pharaoh's officials and the general population joined forces to urge the Israelites to leave Egypt. If they had taken this sort of concerted action earlier Pharaoh would have had to give way. There is a sense then in which all Egypt was complicit in the enslavement of the Israelites and insufficiently aroused by the plagues that affected them. Pharaoh would have had to modify his stance if he was in danger of losing the support of his people.

Before we are too critical of God we should remember what it took to stop Hitler and his fellow Nazis. I have no doubt far more died in the Second World War than ever died under the hand of God in ancient Egypt. Similarly it took the deaths of many 'innocent' Japanese before the war in the East ended.

There are many warnings in the New Testament about the last judgment. Some of the severest are issued by Jesus himself. In the Parable of the Net Jesus says, "This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In the equally severe and terrible parable of the Sheep and Goats Jesus warns: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him; he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." Mt25v31to33.

(3) A way of escape.

The Hebrews were given precise instructions on how to escape the angel of death passing through the land of Egypt. The instructions were:

• On the tenth day of the month they were to take a male lamb or kid without blemish.

• At twilight on the 17th day of the month the lamb was to be slaughtered.

• The blood of the lamb was to be collected and splashed with a bunch of hyssop on the top and sides of the door frames. God said: "The blood will be a sign for you on the house where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you." 12v13.

• Each household was told to feast upon the roast lamb. There had to be ample for everyone.

LESSONS:

(a) This was God's way of salvation - not the Hebrew's or Moses' or Aaron's. It owed everything to God.

(b) Not just any old lamb would do. It was kept for a week to watch for any defects! There is a sense in which the lamb was an offering to God. Moses called it the Passover sacrifice to the LORD. 12v25. God should never be offered our second best. Only our finest is a fitting offering for the LORD.

(c) There is an element of substitution in God's way of escape. The lamb had to die and its blood sprinkled on the door frame in order for the first born of Israel to live.

THE PASSOVER PREFIGURES CHRIST'S SACRIFICE:

There is no doubt about this. Jesus arranged it so he died the very night the Passover lambs were being slain in Jerusalem. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1Cor5v7.

Jesus was a lamb without spot or blemish - the perfect lamb of God. He died on the cross at twilight. His blood was shed to save us from sin's consequence - death. Jesus suffered in our place and stead - bearing our sin in his body on the tree. We are able to feast upon him throughout our Christian lives.

O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.


Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other name for me:
There's love and life and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus found in Thee!

So, just as the calendar was changed to commemorate the first Passover so it has been changed in honour of the last Passover.

(4) A display of faith.

The Israelites had to obey the instructions they were given for God's way of salvation to be effective. They needed to do as they were told! Failure to obey God would have tragic consequences. Even though a person was a thoroughbred Israelite if his family was not sheltering beneath the blood the first born would not be spared.

The way of escape was all of God's grace but it only became effective through faith. God could have slain the first born of Egypt and spared the Israelites without the Passover ritual. BUT HE DID NOT. God called on the Hebrews to participate by faith in their deliverance. We read: The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. 12v28.

LESSONS:

(a) Salvation is not by grace and through grace. It is not all of grace. It is by grace and through faith. God has provided a way of escape from the dark paths of sin - but we have to take it - that is as much our responsibility as it was the ancient Israelite's responsibility to do just at the LORD commanded.

(b) The night the angel of death went through the land of Egypt was undoubtedly scary. Suppose the angel didn't spot the blood splashed on the door frame! It was the night before the great adventure of leaving Egypt and venturing out into the desert. The Israelites had to rely on God's word - that he would pass over them and deliver them. We all have scary times in our lives when we wonder if all will be well. On those occasions we have to be like the Israelites and take God at his word.

All my doubts I give to Jesus!
I've his gracious promise heard -
I "shall never be confounded" -
Sweetly trusting in that word.

God's instructions regarding the Passover meal put the Israelites on notice that their departure from Egypt was imminent.

• The lamb was roasted whole - easily the quickest way to prepare it.

• It was eaten with unleavened bread. This was easy to prepare and the dough would keep better on their journey out of Egypt than leavened dough.

• The Israelites were told to eat in haste.

• Everyone was dressed for a journey - sandals on, staff in hand and cloak tucked into belt.

LESSON:

Christians ought always to be prepared for their departure from this life - either through death or on Christ's return. We should not be too attached to Egypt as Lot's wife was to Sodom and Gomorrah - the cities of the plain.

We need to show urgency in Christian service. Jesus encouraged his disciples to work while it was day for the night comes when no man can work.

The rich farmer in Jesus' parable planned to enjoy the fruits of his labour. He had no thought for God. He had made no plans to please Him. God demanded his soul before his retirement had even begun.

Are we ready to meet our Maker?

(6) An act of remembrance.

God told the Israelites: "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." Each year parents would explain its significance. The Passover meal commemorated the means by which God delivered the Israelites from slavery and set them free to journey to the Promised Land. It is amazing that from the time of Samuel to the reign of Josiah the king of Judah the Passover Festival was forgotten about and unobserved.

We Christians have our service of remembrance. We meet to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Christ's sacrificial death at Calvary - his body given for us and his blood shed for us. As we partake of the Lord's Supper we give God thanks for the New Covenant in Christ's shed blood.

It is important to affirm our common dependence on God's grace alone, to acknowledge all we owe to Jesus and dedicate ourselves anew to his service.

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.