Our Faithful God Is On The Move-All Aboard!

Exodus 12:29-42                                                                                              Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse:  12:42

“42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.”

Lord, please calm my heart and help me to fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith. Help me to hold onto your word and by your spirit may it grow to bear much fruit. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Get On Board With What God Is Doing (29-30)

God was not joking. He wanted his people to be set free and it happened despite to the stubbornness of the ancient Egyptians in 1400 BC. Look at  Exodus 12: 29-30, “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 the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.” (NIV)

At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt. Only those households protected by the blood of the Passover lamb were spared. God struck the very heart of Pharaoh when the Pharaoh’s own son died. He was filled with grief. His hardened heart gave way and he let Israel go.

Some people may try to blame God for the huge numbers of dead. But it was not God’s fault. It was because of the stubborn hearts of the people who were causing the suffering. Yes, thousands of Egyptians died. But tens of thousands of ancient Israelites were dying because of cruel slavery that was being imposed on them by the Egyptians. In the 2014 movie, “Exodus” there was piles of bodies burning in the slave shanty towns. I don’t think that this was far from the truth.

Looking at things from a spiritual perspective, it was Satan, working through people, to impose such suffering on the Israelites over 400 years of slavery, so as to try to eliminate them as a nation. Satan was ultimately trying to stop Jesus, the Messiah, from coming into this world, through the Jewish people. But he couldn’t stop the work of God from happening. Jehovah is God and his plans can not be thwarted. Jesus is coming again and all believers will see the face of God in the eternal Kingdom of God. Until then Jesus will be with us on our pilgrimage through this life.

I guess a take home point is, that it is fruitless and pointless and even painful to resist the will of God and to fight against his will. In the Bible this is called kicking against the goads. This has to do with horses pulling a wagon. Horses may kick and kick and try to escape their mission to pull the wagon, but there are goads that make their struggles useless. It makes their kicks useless and a waste of energy.

The Psalmist also talks about futility of the nations raging in vain against the holy one of Israel. Psalm 2:1-12 reads,

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth rise up    and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

And so, instead of raging in vain against Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the holy One of Israel, we need to get on board with what God is doing. We need to be in tune with what God is trying to accomplish and support that. It means being in step with the Spirit of God. It is fruitless, destructive and even painful to resist work of God, as Pharaoh and his people found out in 1400 BC.

Part 2:  Our Faithful God Keeps His Promises (31-42)

God keeps his promises and watches over his people whom he has called. Look at Exodus 12:31-42, “31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. 40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.”

Pharaoh’s son died. So he summoned Moses and Aaron that night and ordered the Israelites to leave Egypt. The Egyptians feared what God could do next. They urged the Israelites to hurry up and leave. God worked in the Egyptians’ hearts and they were willing give up all their valuables when asked. So they left Egypt, 600,000 men on foot, besides the women and children and large droves of livestock. Many other people who had faith in God left with them. They were to eat the Passover meal with their cloaks tucked in their belts, sandals on their feet and staff in hand–ready to travel. They left in such a hurry that there was no time for bread to rise, so they took bread without yeast to eat in the desert. And so it came to pass. Look at verse 40-42, “Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.”

This was fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham found in Genesis 15:14 in great detail. The promise reads, “But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.”  (NIV) This promise was given around 1800 BC.

Our God is faithful to fulfill all of his promises to us. This is one aspect of the God of the Bible, he makes prophecies and promises in his word that become fulfilling. He is faithful and powerful to keep the promises. The truth of God and his word in the Bible is embedded in historical fact. Archeologists are digging sites up in the Middle East all the time, that support the authenticity of the Bible and how God has fulfilled so many of his promises. I have heard that there are over 300 fulfilled prophecies about Jesus and his ministry and what he will accomplish in the Old Testament.

There are a couple of promises that I hold onto that are yet to be fulfilled. This is the Resurrection, the Second Coming of Jesus, and eternal life, seeing Jesus face to face, forever in the Kingdom of God. His promise to be with me on my life’s journey in this world will also be fulfilled. I know that these will be fulfilled in God’s right time. If 99% of his promises have already been fulfilled over the last few thousand years, why not these? Jesus died and rose from the dead. This confirms what has in store for all believers in the future. Our hearts long for eternal life in the Kingdom of God. This longing is also of God. I trust our faithful God. Nothing can shake his great and wonderful promises.

The Israelites left in such a hurry. Look at verse 39, “39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.”  They didn’t have time to add yeast to the dough. Later, they baked the unleavened bread in the desert–and celebrated the Passover with unleavened bread, for the Millennia that followed the original Passover. They still celebrate it today.

The fact that that never had a chance to bake the bread with yeast in it reveals three things. First, it has to do with haste. God can work very fast and it would behoove us to follow closely and keep in step with the Spirit. When God calls we need to listen and obey. This brings to mind the wheels at the throne of God in the Book of Ezekiel. They followed the will of God perfectly, effortlessly. Those Israelites who hurried and obeyed the will of God were delivered. Those who tarried, thinking that they would catch up later, probably never left their slave shanty towns. May God help us to keep in step with his spirit.

Second, it has to do with remembrance. Every time they would eat their hard tack crackers, they would remember that they were once in slavery in Egypt and it was only by the grace of God that they could be free to be a nation with a great and glorious purpose.

Third, it also has to do with purity. Yeast was like a corrupting influence. It would spread through the whole batch of dough. The Israelites would sweep their homes to get rid of the yeast during the celebration of the Passover. The fact that they were to eat bread with no yeast reflected God’s desire for his people to be pure and holy.

Many other people went with the Israelites. Look at verse 38a, “38 Many other people went up with them,…”  I like this. God is very inclusive. Anyone could join the Israelites as long as they went along with the program. God is an equal opportunity employer. All it takes is faith and a desire to follow the Lord.  Anyone can be a Christian and become a child of God and gain eternal life.

   The Lord keeps vigil over his people. Look at verse 42, “Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.” God does not lead his people out into the desert and leave them all alone. He is with them, keeping vigil, guiding, inspiring and protecting them.

God keeps vigil over his people even today. Jesus is a good shepherd. He leads the sheep out and calls them by name. (John 10). In Matthew 28: 18-20 we read the world mission command of Jesus. “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)  Jesus gives his disciples a command to go forth out into the world on a Gospel mission. This is untried and uncertain territory. But they were not going all alone. Jesus died and rose again. He will be with each and every one of them, 24/7 as they serve God’s mission in their lives. Jesus is keeping vigil over us as we journey towards the kingdom of God.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for being our faithful God. You keep all of your promises and you keep vigil over your people during their life’s pilgrimage. Thank you Lord. We trust you and love you.”

One Word: Jesus is our faithful God who leads his people to freedom.