Escape Route
Exodus 12:1-7 NKJV
[1] Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, [2] “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. [3] Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. [4] And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. [5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. [6] Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. [7] And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
There is something in God’s Word that many people don’t like to accept.
We live in a world today that pushes God out of nearly everything. There is an undeniable rejection of God and His Word. Jesus is no longer the King of Hearts. He is seen by many a way not the Way! Sadly, even many pulpits will not give the full counsel of God.
Pharaoh in Egypt had issues.
He had idolatry issues.
Pride, anger, doubt would overtake him.
He believed that he himself was the ruler of the world.
The Lord sent Aaron and Moses to plead for Pharaoh to change his mind in these things and free the Hebrew slaves.
Pharaoh was unwilling to surrender his power to the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He was unwilling to relinquish anything that would make him appear to be weak.
So God sends forth plagues.
Out of rebellion and defiance Pharaoh will not submit. All He had to do was let the slaves go free.
Each plague intensifies.
And still there is no sign of submission.
Sometimes we are like the Hebrew slaves in Egypt looking for a way to escape the oppression of this world. We struggle to find our way out. We see the world changing and understand that it is out of our control. So we do what we know and continue in what we must do.
Sometimes our faith in Christ actually will grow in these times of hardship, as it should, because only He is our foundation and protection.
Then many are like Pharaoh.
Unwilling to submit.
The hardness of his heart would not allow the seed of compassion to grow. He was settled in his ways!
No one or nothing would or could give him a change of heart or a change of mind!
My question is this: which one are you?
There was a last and final plague.
It would be the tenth plague brought upon Egypt.
This one is interesting. To many this is brutal. To many today this would be completely outlandish to even consider that a God of love could ever do such a thing.
Many have and will continue to no longer follow God because they will see Him as cruel.
Our God is love.
Our God is also Just.
Our God is Righteous.
Our God is Holy.
Pharaoh was not willing to submit to these other characteristics of God.
We can submit to the love of God but many cannot submit to His Justice and Righteousness.
Nothing has changed in these thousands of years later.
It must be all or nothing!
God has put the last plague upon Egypt. This would be the most devastating.
What is interesting about this is that everyone in Egypt would be affected by this plague.
The Hebrew slaves would also be in the midst of this Plague and suffer the same consequences
The last Plague would be the slaying of the first born Son of the house!
Even though this plague would ravish the whole Egyptian land, God had a plan.
He always has an escape route!
God always lays His plans in front of us. He hides nothing from our faces. He is plain and clear. The difference is the willingness we have to listen to that escape route!
God had given Moses specific instructions.
These instructions would be a matter of life and death.
Exodus 12:12-13 NKJV
[12] ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. [13] Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Blood of an unblemished Lamb! A Sacrificial Lamb!
This is what would save the first born of the household!
God always gives a way of escape.
Yes, He can give us a way to escape the bondage or situation we are in.
But He is more concerned about your bondage to sin!
Yes, He could give you the best life now on this earth
But He is more concerned about your Eternity in Heaven!
But I wonder in my own mind, how many of the Hebrews took the Words and instructions of God to heart?
How many Hebrew homes lost life that night?
The instructions were given, but there must be a willingness to accept them and then take these instructions and use them for life. We must take them and use them for life everlasting because the consequences for not is death!
Palm Sunday is upon us.
Jesus was about to rescue all of humanity and give all those that trust and follow Him the ultimate victory!
The Work of Salvation was about to be accomplished, finished by One Man,Jesus Christ of Nazareth the Messiah!
The Unblemished Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Jesus is God’s ultimate escape route!
As He entered Jerusalem, the people would gather and line up. Hoping to see this Marvelous King that was about to save them.
And the people cried out hosanna meaning save, rescue, Savior.
Finally, the prophecies about the Messiah were coming true!
They came together to see and greet the Savior.
They threw down Palm branches at His feet,a symbol of victory.
As they laid these branches at His feet they didn’t know or understand that this man known as Jesus of Nazareth was about to lay down His perfect unblemished life for the sins of all humanity. And He was going to His Glorious Throne to sit at the Right Hand of the Father as the Eternal King, The King Of Glory, forever!
The door to Salvation only needed to be opened once.
One last Perfect Lamb to be led to the Slaughter.
The Blood to be shed to save a wicked and evil generation that is willing to submit to the instructions the Father has given.
But how many of the Jews that were there that day welcomed Jesus into the Holy City of Jerusalem!
Now how many would actually submit to His Kingship!
Many denied Him and still deny Him to this very day.
He is the escape route from the clutches of sin and death. He is the only way to Salvation. He is the only One to make us presentable to the Father by the shed Blood on the Cross so we too can be Passed over us!
Bringing us to an everlasting life!
And all we have to do is walk through the threshold and accept what has already been done.
Think about this today.
Pharaoh suffered great loss for his self righteousness and pride. I believe that some Hebrews experienced the same sorrow for their unbelief.
Death of this body will touch all of us.
All will be in the presence of God.
But will the Blood of the Lamb be on the Posts of your heart to be passed over from the final Judgement of God?
Pastor Ed
