The gravity of this chapter, and the next few chapters, of Exodus are of such
profound meaning that it becomes difficult to relate the depth of meaning in a
devotional format. I urge the reader to study these chapters for a deeper
understanding. Hopefully, today’s devotion, and the next, will serve to outline
your studies.
On a somewhat dismal Sunday afternoon, two men were walking on the Road to
Emmaus lamenting the events of the past three days (the crucifixion and burial
of their great Teacher. They had thought that He could not be killed by any
man, but there you have it. He is dead and buried – or so they believed.
Suddenly, a third party joins in their conversation and asks the reason for
their despondency. They are surprised that there is any so foolish or
uninformed as to not know the sordid events that has stolen their own joy in
all of the region. Little did they know that the Savior, whose death they mourned,
walked by their very side. The life of the Christian is like that. During the
moments that our faith seems to plunge to the depths of the sea and we fill
alone and abandoned by God and man, The One who is BOTH God and man is walking
right beside us in our sorrow and doubts. How blind if the faithless eye!
In the passage today, God has brought the Children of Israel on the way to
leave Egypt. He has promised to bring them out, and He has done so with a
Mighty Arm. He is with them on the way just as He is with us on our way (if we
are His). “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he
said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that
I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye
shall serve God upon this mountain.” (Ex 3:11-12) Just as surely as the Lord was
with the two men on the Road to Emmaus, He is with you and me as we travel the
Road of Life. As the Children leave Goshen, God directs their way just as He
directs our own steps today.
The firstborn are sanctified to God
1 And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, 2 Sanctify unto me all the
firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of
man and of beast: it is mine. You will observe that the just as the Lord required the
first born of Egypt in that terrible Passover night, so He requires the
consecration of Israel’s first-born to Himself. The foundation of this duty
rested on the fact that the Israelites, having had their first-born preserved
by a distinguishing act of grace from the general destruction that overtook the
families of the Egyptians, were bound in token of gratitude to consider them as
the Lord's peculiar property. The called out in the Church of the First Born
are likewise consecrated to God. “To the general assembly and church of the
firstborn (the Lord Jesus Christ), which are written in heaven, and to
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” (Heb
12:23) Redemption
of the first-born male child of Israel required the sacrifice of a lamb.
The
Passover Commanded
3 And
Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt,
out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out
from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. 4 This day came
ye out in the month Abib. 5 And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee
into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the
Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a
land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this
month. 6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh
day shall be a feast to the LORD. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven
days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there
be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. 8 And thou shalt shew thy
son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto
me when I came forth out of Egypt. 9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee
upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD'S law may
be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of
Egypt. 10 Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year
to year. (Ex
13:3-10)
ABIB roughly equates of our March-April period on the modern calendar. This is
the Passover that is to be kept as an observance forever. We still keep the
Passover in our observance of Holy Communion. There are two significant symbols
here that gives us a better understanding of the nature of the Lord’s Supper –
Egypt and Leaven! Egypt prophetically symbolizes the Life of Sin. God has
redeemed us through the Blood of the Lamb from our penalty for sin. Leaven
represents the spreading effects of sin and false doctrine. It is for this
reason that we consume unleavened bread in the Communion. The Bread represents
the Body of Christ, and Christ was sinless; therefore the symbol must remain
consistent with that which is being symbolized. Matzo bread is a fitting symbol
of that unleavened bread of the Passover. For convenience, we use the
unleavened wafer today.
The
firstborn of beasts are set apart
11 And it shall be when the
LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee
and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, 12 That thou shalt set apart
unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a
beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD'S. 13 And every firstling of an
ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou
shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt
thou redeem. 14 And it shall be when thy
son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto
him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of
bondage: 15 And
it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the
firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the
matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. 16 And it shall be for a
token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of
hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.
Here I should point out that all who are the redeemed of the Lord (the OT &
NT Church) are those for whom the Blood of Christ (the First-Born) was shed in
propitiation for sins. The observance of Passover is a memorial to the
redemption of God’s people from slavery in Egypt. The observance of the new
Passover (Holy Communion) is the memorial of the redemption of the People of
God from sin by the shed blood of the First-Born – Jesus Christ – the Lamb of
God.
The Israelites go out of Egypt, and carry Joseph's bones with them
“17 And it came to pass, when
Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the
land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest
peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: 18 But God led the people
about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of
Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones
of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying,
God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. 20 And they took their
journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. (Exodus
13:17-20)
You are reminded of the promise Joseph demanded from his brethren that his
bones not be left in Egypt. “And Joseph took an oath of the children of
Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from
hence.” (Gen 50:25) When we leave sin and Egypt, we are to leave no part of
our persons behind – only those things that belong to sin unlike the wife of
Lot who could not bear leaving her luxuries in Sodom and cast a longing, and
salty, look back.
God
neither forsakes nor leaves His people
“21 And the LORD went before
them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a
pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 22 He took not away the
pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the
people.” (Ex
13:21-22) “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.” (Matt 28:20) “I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Heb
13:5) He is ALWAYS
with His people. Not only did God send forth the Pillar of Fire by Night, and
the Pillar of a Cloud by Day, but God Himself was in that Pillar to defend His
people, Israel. Those who travel in the dark streets of night need light from
without themselves. For the Christian, walking in this dark and sinful world,
we need the Light of God’s Word. We dare not go a single day without that
Light! The Pillar of Cloud and Fire serves to both lead us, and to defend us
from the enemy who “walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”
The Pillar of Cloud is called the Glory, and that Cloud-Pillar is represented
on the Seal of the United States above the great Eagle. How we need, but have
abandoned today, that leading of God in our national life.
There are eight verses in the National Anthem of Serbia
every line of which makes strong reference to the salvation of God for their
country. Perhaps we could revert to back to “God Bless our Native Land” as a
more fitting anthem. For your information I include the National Anthem of
Serbia below:
God of Justice
God
of Justice, You who saved us
From
the disasters of the past,
Today,
hear the voices of Your children,
And
be our salvation, just as in old times.
Defend
with Your mighty hand,
That
very future Serbia walks to,
God
save; God defend,
Serbian
lands and Serbian people!
Bind
them closer, fellow Serbians
Teach
them everlasting love,
United
our enemies we'll conquer
This
shall defend us all.
Serbia's
golden fruits are now ripe
gracing
high from liberty's tree,
God
save; God defend,
Serbian
lands and Serbian people!
Save
all Serbians from Your anger,
Thunder
coming from up above,
Bless
every Serbian village,
Mountain,
meadow, town and home!
When
the days of battle happen,
to
the victory lead the pace,
God
save, God defend,
Serbian
lands and Serbian people!
In
that sepulcher of years
Serbia's
glory rises anew,
A new
era now is dawning,
A new
beginning, God gave us!
Sustain
for us the Serbian fatherland,
just
like the five centuries passed,
God
save, God defend,
Thus
entreats the Serbian people!
This anthem is a fitting prayer to which we can utter, “AMEN!”
