We are in chapters 11 and 12 today. We are going to wipe out the first-born of Egypt with stroke #10, plague #10.

You'll recall that Pharaoh has become very angry now and has told Moses at the end of chapter 10, "Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die!" Moses said, "I've had it with you too." So, we have a basic conflict of wills here.

Then in chapter 11, starting with verse 1, "Now the LORD said to Moses, 'One more plague [The word in the Hebrew is literally "stroke."] I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely.'" This plague, of course, is the death of the first-born. This one is the hand of God directly. Some of the notes and the commentaries indicate all the other plagues may have been natural phenomena, but I don't think they are necessarily right. I think the commentaries miss the whole point of the Hebrew attitude toward God. To the Hebrew, God was in total control in His creation. He was not the god of the deists of the 18th, 19th or 20th century, or even now, who believe God spun the world like a top, threw it out into space, forgot about it and anything that happened to this earth just happened because it happened. The God of the Hebrews was a God who was intimately involved in every aspect of His universe. He was particularly involved in the life of the earth and the life of his people. They would see the direct hand of God in everything that happened and not some special invasion out of eternity into time.

Besides this 10th plague was a real plague. Interestingly enough Egypt and Philistia, which is just northeast of Egypt, were noted in the old days for their plagues. This could have been the bubonic plague or maybe even polo which tends to affect young people. Interestingly enough they are plagues that are most devastating in the spring of the year, and that is exactly where we are here. It hit at Passover which is in April. So probably this is a real plague. However, it is controlled by God and occurs at the right time in His program. It strikes only the first-born of Egypt. It does not strike the first-born of Israel. The only antidote to it is the blood of the kid over the door post. It is totally controlled by God and strikes only the first-born males. Again we have a beautiful picture of God doing His sovereign act and completely controlling the outcome.

At the same time He has given a warning. There have been nine terrible disasters, nine terrible "strokes," and the Egyptians have gotten the message. The only person who hasn't gotten the message is Pharaoh.

As an aside here, let me mention that Hebrews 11 implies very strongly that when Moses made his choice for Christ, for the Messiah, for being the deliverer of Israel, he made it in exchange for actually being Pharaoh of Egypt. Let me read Hebrews 11, verses 24-26: "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt [Not the treasures of the palace but the treasures of Egypt}; for he was looking to the reward." It implies very strongly there that what Moses gave up was the "treasures of Egypt". Pharaoh owned Egypt. You'll recall during the famine in Joseph's day the Egyptians came to Joseph and gave him all their money to buy grain. Then they gave him all their possessions to buy grain. Then, when they had run out of money, they gave their bodies to buy grain. So, when Joseph got through, Pharaoh owned all of Egypt, body, soul and spirit. Only the priests were exempt. So this passage in Hebrews 11 makes the point that, when Moses was confronted by God at 40 years of age, he made a very serious choice. He probably would have been Pharaoh, and the implication is that he gave up all Egypt for the "reproach of Christ."

Back to the text. God still wants to reach Pharaoh. Even though God had hardened both the heart of Pharaoh and the hearts of the courtiers, the threat of the locusts broke the courtiers, and they said, "Give him anything he wants but get him out of here. We can't have him. We'll be destroyed." So Pharaoh still has a choice. This is the strange paradox of God. Even though He has hardened Pharaoh's heart, Pharaoh is still morally accountable to make a choice. God hardened the hearts of the courtiers too, but they made a choice, "Get Moses out of here. Let him go."

So, starting with Exodus 11:4 we really have a continuation of chapter 10, verse 29. Verses 1 through 3 of chapter 11 are a parenthesis.

Exodus 11, 4:

And Moses said, [to Pharaoh] "Thus says the LORD, 'About midnight [He doesn't say which midnight] I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones [That's the one who grinds the corn, the lowest slave]; all the first-born of the cattle as well. 'Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. But against any of the sons of Israel a dog shall not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.' "And all these your servants will come down to me [This is Moses talking] and bow themselves before me, saying, 'Go out, you and all the people who follow you,' and after that I will go out." And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

"In hot anger," note his temper again.

The first-born in the Oriental culture, particularly Egypt but also in the Semitic culture, was the opening of the womb. It was the fruit, the strength of the male. It was the key person. In the Semitic culture the first-born male became the high priest of the family. He was the patriarch of the family. He got double the inheritance. In the case of Pharaoh, where the law of primogeniture obtained, the first-born got the throne. So it was an extremely important position in the eyes of the ancient Semites and the ancient Egyptians. Now God is going to directly strike at the first-born of the Egyptians plus the first-born of their cattle, because the first-born are dedicated to a number of gods.

So God tells Pharaoh very directly. He doesn't put the burden on Moses you notice, "Thus says the LORD, About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and I am going to kill every first-born male starting with Pharaoh's first-born. Remember Pharaoh was a divine being, a god. and therefore his first-born would be a "godlet." He would be "divine." But God was going to wipe him out. I am including every first-born male in Egypt from Pharaoh all the way down to the lowliest slave, and I'm going to include the first-born of your cattle too because you Egyptians have so many nature gods, so many cattle gods. I am going to make one final deliberate warfare against your gods. Secondly, I am going to set apart the people of Israel so that none of their first-born will be touched. In fact not even a dog is going to bark at all this. When I get through with you, Pharaoh, you not only will not avenge yourself on the Israelites, but you will literally drive them out of your land, and they are going to plunder you as they go." Remember not only the females but also the males would be asking for jewels, gold, silver and clothing. They are going to despoil Egypt, and I mean despoil, because all of Egypt's natural resources have been destroyed. There are no crops left except in Goshen, no cattle except those in the barns. The slaves out in the fields were slain. The only resources left with which they could trade were the gold, the silver, the precious stones, commodity type things, excluding agricultural things, and God says He's going to give those to the Israelites. "When I get through with you, Pharaoh, you are going to be bankrupt. Your mad money is going to walk out of Egypt with the Israelites, and not only are you not going to do a thing about it, you are actually going to drive them out yourself with your own vengeance. In all of Egypt not even a dog is going to bark as they leave." That is pretty heavy stuff.

Now the question always comes up, "If He is a righteous God what right does He have to kill first-born males, even down to the slave girl who just happened to be an Egyptian, or the prisoner in the dungeon [literally a "pit-hole," a hole cut in the ground with some kind of lid across the top], some poor guy who just got in trouble?" How do you acquaint a righteous God with killing off first-born males? Some are adults who can make choices, but some are babies nursing at their mother's breasts. What is your basic gut feeling when you read this? That is a good indication of your relationship to the magnificence of the sovereignty of God. How do you really feel about God's right to kill babies? And He is going to kill them. He says so. How do you feel? Should a righteous God do that? Well, let me ask you this. What is the standard of righteousness?

Class comment: God

Bob's response: God! Whatever God likes is righteous. Whatever God does is righteous. Whatever God dislikes is sin. Whatever God doesn't do is unrighteous. We do not determine righteousness. We do not determine what is sinful. Our relative society now has sin way down the scale compared to our forefathers. You can see what happens when you allow human beings to establish what is right. We are now murdering babies by the hundreds of thousands, and we have legalized the procedure. We kill male and female, first-born, second-born, third-born, fourth-born, whatever, and all in the name of the law.

What have the Egyptians been doing to the male babies of the Israelites? Killing them. It was not just Pharaoh either. Remember when Pharaoh tried to work through the Israelite midwives and they wouldn't cooperate? He got all the Egyptians involved in finding and exposing the male babies of the Israelites. The Egyptians are getting retribution, my friends. It is from God, but it is retribution.

Class comment: Why do you think that it instinctively bothers us that God does this? Why do you think we feel it is unjust?

Bob's response: The question is, "Why do we think it is unjust that God has the right to kill male babies." I don't think we have any concept of the righteousness of God. We look at this earth as though this is it, and we feel that a baby should have a chance for life. We are thinking, of course, of physical life down here on this earth, 30, 40, 50, 60, "threescore years and ten." We think of life as essentially this earth and that is the terrible tragedy. We never think of life as God sees it. God sees this down here as boot camp. Life is out there. As Christians we are indwelled, so we have the first fruit of the Spirit, but it is only the first fruit. The harvest is graduation day. The day we start pushing up daisies is graduation day for the believer. But we inherently think about this life and the things down on this earth and forget the eternal perspective of God. And God is quite willing to slay all the Egyptian babies at their mother's breasts to give them a chance to go home and be with the Lord. You think this is bad, just wait. God is going to have the Israelites kill every single person, man, woman, child and baby nursing at its mother's breast in all Canaan. That's down the road.

The theology of Canaan is so bad that until recently it was only allowed to be translated for scientific works. The Canaanites were totally infected with venereal disease. We know that from archaeology. They were living in filth you cannot even describe. I teach Home Bible classes which always contain unbelievers, and they get quite incensed at God's telling the Israelites to destroy ever single person, man, women, child and nursing babies in all of Canaan. Then I ask the unbelieving parents to put themselves in God's place. God is a father. He has a father's love for all His creatures. You are not a "child of God" unless you are born-again, but God is the father of all his creatures. He is the author, the source, the creator of all His creatures, and He loves everyone of them including Satan. Ezekiel 28 makes that very plain. The highest form of Hebrew sorrow is expressed by Yahweh Himself at the fall of Satan. He beats His breast in anguish when Satan falls. He hates the work of Satan, but He loves the person because He created him. Now, as a parent with the long-range good of your child at heart, not your short-turn enjoyment but your child's long-range good, and you have these options for your child, #1 Growing up in the Canaanite culture with syphilis, gonorrhea, you name it, rampant, probably die mad and blind at 20 years of age and having lived those 20 years in the utmost filth, or, on the other hand, a quick sudden death and eternity with Jesus Christ the Holy One of God. Babies are under the blood of Jesus Christ. They are not willful sinners. They do not have to repent because they can't. Now if you are an honest, loving parent with only the long range benefit of your child at heart, which would you choose? Unfortunately the Israelites judged God to be unrighteous in this command, and they only partially destroyed the Canaanites. As a result they were dragged down into the same pit as the Canaanites. And that was because they tried to out-judge, out-righteous God, be more religious than God, more compassionate than God. Don't ever call God unrighteous when He kills babies. We, of all people, in the United States do not have that right, if we ever had it before, considering our record.

So verse 8, Moses says, "When God gets through, all this nobility, these high proud Egyptian courtiers, are going to come to me, bow down to me and say, 'Go out you and all the people who follow you.' After they bow down to me and beg me to leave. then, and only then, will we walk out of Egypt." And he went out from there in hot anger. As we have noted before, this was one of the weaknesses of this gigantic man of faith. We saw last time this was going to get him into trouble. It would cost not only Moses but also Aaron the Promised Land. James says, "But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger." The angry man does not "achieve the righteousness of God." We never sin alone, and old wishy-washy Aaron is going to follow in his brother's footsteps, get involved in the same sin and miss the same Promised Land. We never sin as an island.

Now let us take a look at the beginning of the Passover, chapter 12. Verses 9 and 10 of chapter 11 are just another little parenthesis.
Exodus 12:1:

Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

This is actually the seventh month of the official year. However, it is the first month of the new nation. It is the month they walk out of Egypt. It is Abib. This would be about April in our months.

Exodus 12:3:

"Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household.

The word there is literally "kid." There again in the Hebrew that can mean either a goat or a lamb. In the Oriental flocks goats, lambs, sheep are very similar except for their tails. They are treated the same in the Scriptures. This gives you some concept of the discerning judgment of God in Matthew 25 when He judges the nations. It is God who separates the sheep from the goats. It takes the discernment of God to tell the difference. You can pick up the imagery of that passage for a Jew from the Old Testament where the kid they brought could be either a sheep or a goat because they were so similar. If a whole kid was too much for one household, they would share with another household as the whole thing had to be consumed.

Exodus 12:5:

'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw [or underdone as the pagans did with their sacrifices] or boiled at all with water, [which would allow the fat the blood in the water] but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.[It is to be totally consumed, nothing left] Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded,[That means your long robes tied up into your girdle so you can run if you have to eat & move out] your sandals on your feet, [slaves went barefoot, and they are going to do a lot of walking, a lot of hard ground on the Sinai Peninsula so put on their shoes] and your staff in your hand; [That's their walking stick] and you shall eat it in haste [Because Pharaoh is going to drive you out, so get it down while you've got the chance because pretty soon Pharaoh is going to run you out of town]--it is the LORD'S Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am the LORD. [This is the showdown. It is high noon at the OK Corral. Yahweh versus the gods of Egypt. Only one is going to walk away. I'll let you guess who is going to win.] And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

We have another beautiful picture here. The Jews were to take a male kid, one year old, [Literally the phrase means up to one year or actually a year old.] and it was to be an unblemished male, no runt of the litter or lame kid. Why was it to be unblemished? Why unblemished male?

Class comment: Sinless?

Bob's response: Sinless, sure. Spotless. The Son of God. And you could take this kid from the sheep or the goats, Savior of both the Jews and the Gentiles. They were to keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month at which time the whole assembly was to kill their kid at twilight. Apparently they were to inspect it for four days to make sure it had no blemishes, and then on the fourteenth day at twilight they were all to kill it. "You shall eat the flesh that same night roasted with fire and you shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." One of God's promises in Scripture was that none of Christ's bones would be broken, and so they were to roast the whole animal on a spit, head, leg everything. But the Law of God had two rules in it. One was you were never to touch the blood. The blood was the symbol of the life, and the life belonged to God as He points out in Leviticus 17:11, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you [That is the blood which is the life.] on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement." The blood is Mine. The lives are Mine. You have no right to them. You take a life, and it had better be in self-defense or I'll take your life. All lives are Mine. So all blood is Mine. It is a symbol of life. All fat is Mine. The choicest part is Mine. They were not allowed in their sacrifice to use the fat. It had to be cut off and burned up. Well, you can see if you roasted it you would take care of all the blood that would drip out. I have heart trouble. I am not allowed to eat meat unless it has been roasted. Why? Because that totally destroys all the fat and all the blood.

Then there is the unleavened bread. They didn't have time to put leaven in the bread and puff it up. In chapter 12, verse 14 thru 20 there is quite a discussion about getting rid of leaven in your household. Leaven is a symbol of corruption. When the Jews get into the Land and practice the Passover feast as a regular congregational feast each year, they are to eat it with unleavened bread. Part of the symbolism, of course, is the leaving of Egypt in haste. But that is not the deep part. What is it about leaven? Exodus 12:15 says in fact if you have leaven in your house for seven days you are excommunicated. God was very concerned that there not be any leaven around when the Passover feast was celebrated. The leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy in the New Testament. Why was leaven a concern?

Class comment: Corruption.

Bob's response: Yeah! Corruption, a little bit of the old dough. They always kept a little bit of the old dough to make the new dough. They put a little piece of the old dough in the new dough and pretty soon it pervaded the whole lump and made it rise. Just a tiny little weenie bit of sin, corruption, would puff up the whole loaf. God deliberately has them driven out of Egypt in haste so they won't have time to put any leaven in their bread. But when He set up the ceremony in Israel, Canaan, where they had all the time in the world, He still said they had to make a search of the house the night of the Passover and make sure there was no leaven anywhere. Then for seven days they were not to have any leaven in the house. Any person who did would be cut off, excommunicated. "This is a picture of My Son, and He is unblemished. He is spotless."

Now, Bitter Herbs. Two or three of the commentators say this is to signify the bitterness of the life in Egypt. I can't find that. It may be in the Scriptures, but I can't find it. I think there is a deeper meaning than that. This is a RST (Roe Sanctified Theory). I can't quote you chapter and verse on it, however. Bitter herbs were kind of like the wild lettuce of that day, very bitter. The meaning of Passover, the sacrificial lamb, the meaning of unleavened bread, speak of the purity and the holiness that go along with this sacrifice. What about the bitter herb? How does it fit in with the sacrifice? What is bitter about the sacrifice? Christ is my salvation, a sacrifice for me. I think that is outstanding, but how about the Father and the Son? I think the commentators are missing it. How about the bitterness of the Father killing the Son? How about the bitterness of the Son having to go through the agony of separation from the Father. See the tragedy of using the other picture, the bitterness of the Jew's life in Egypt? That takes the focus off the sacrifice, which is the key issue here. Undoubtedly the Jews had a bitter life in Egypt, but I think the deeper fact is the fact that the sinless Son of God is being separated from the Father and both of them are in anguish. It is not just the anguish in Egypt. I think it is the Father and the Son in anguish in Israel down the line.

Class comment: What crossed my mind was the Book of Revelation, the bitterness of the book that John ate.

Bob's response: I didn't think about that. That is a good point. Why don't you do some homework and let me know. I don't want to shoot from the hip on this.

Next why must this lamb be totally consumed? What is there about the burnt offering, the holocaust, where everything is consumed at the altar? Why is that called a "pleasing odor" offering to God? Why is this lamb, or this kid, to be consumed totally?

Class comment: To give everything to God.

Bob's response: Sure! It is a picture of Jesus Christ yielding up His total being to the Father, the Father's will, and in the burnt offering, the holocaust, it is a picture of Christ giving Himself to the Father unreservedly and totally. You are not allowed to play with that. You are to burn it all up. Nothing left over in the morning.

Now the door in ancient Semitic and Egyptian cultures symbolized more than the entrance. It symbolized security of the house. The doors of the ancients were very heavy. Their houses were built with big thick mud bricks and had very few windows, so the door was their security. Remember when Lot was in Sodom and the men of Sodom tried to break down his door to get at his male guests in order to practice sodomy? They couldn't break the door down because it was so huge, so heavy and strong. The door is the picture of security in Scripture. And the blood was to be sprinkled over the door, the security of the house. Why spill the blood over the door? And what about the door itself? What is meant by that? This is also an RST.

Class comment: The fact that Jesus is the door.

Bob's response: Yeah! "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:9) That is where our security lies. It is a graphic picture of the security of the believer. In chapter 12, verse 22 the Jews were required to stay in the house and not to go out the door until morning. God says, "Then when He sees the door, the angel will pass over you." Now the angel knows who is inside the house. He knows you have sacrificed everything, but he demands you go outside and spread the blood around over the door. I think it is a symbol. What was Moses' argument as to why he could not sacrifice within the land of Egypt when Pharaoh offered him that right? Remember in chapter 8 when Pharaoh said, "You want to sacrifice? O.K. sacrifice in the land. I will let you sacrifice here." What did Moses come back with?

Class comment: It would be an abomination to the Egyptians.

Bob's response: Yeah! "We can't sacrifice in the land. You know that. We kill these animals here without the proper rituals and the proper animals, and it will be an abomination, and they will kill us." This actually happened. They had a pogrom in Egypt because the Jews actually did that, actually went out and sacrificed improperly. So what is God telling the Jews when He says the blood must be on the outside of the door? An angel doesn't need blood on the outside of the door. He can see inside the door. Why does God demand they spread this blood all over the outside of the door? What is God making the Jew choose this night?

Class comment: God over Egypt.

Bob's response: Yeah! "You have to choose. It's either the power of Egypt or the power of Yahweh. I am going to make you do an illegal act. Only priests are allowed to sacrifice. I am going to set you up for a pogrom, an organized massacre, and you are unarmed slaves. I have just devastated Egypt with nine strokes. Now I am going to destroy it with the first-born. Somewhere you have to make a choice. It's either Me or them. So I want you to advertise whose side you are on." In poker we call it, "Put up or shut up." It is as simple as that, and the Jew had to make a commitment.

And then chapter 12, verse 14 on there is a description of the Passover when they get into the Land. There He insists upon this unleavened bread. No leaven to be in the house. In verses 21 through 28, He indicates this is a time when they should "...observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever." They were to do this so when a child asks, "What does this rite mean to you?" they were to describe it as "The salvation by Jehovah when He delivered us out of Egypt and made us a nation." So it was to be for training later on. It was not only a commemoration for them but was training for their children in the truth of the total provision of Yahweh, a God who could take an unarmed rabble of slaves and deliver them from Egypt which was at the height of its power and from a Pharaoh who was committed to keeping them his slaves.

In verse 29, God goes through the land of Egypt and strikes the first-born of Pharaoh on the throne, the first-born of the captive in the dungeon and the first-born of the cattle.

Exodus 12:29:

Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also."

Blessing in the Bible generally refers to the practical results of a blessing. A curse, refers generally to the practical results of a curse, what happens. Pharaoh has been having the curse of God. He says, "I'd like now for once to have the blessing of God." He is acknowledging that Yahweh can do what his gods can't do. Then he literally drives the Jews out of Egypt.

From verse 33 on they are driven out so fast they can't even put leaven in the bread. Then they go to the Egyptians and ask for articles of gold and silver. The Egyptians comply with their request, and the Jews plunder Egypt in verse 36.

Exodus 12:33:

And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We shall all be dead." So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36 and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

And now verse 37.

Exodus 12:37:

Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

They have no time to leaven the bread because they were literally driven out of Egypt.

They have grown now to have a standing army of 600,000 men, which would amount to probably 2-3,000,000 people. And a "mixed multitude" went out with them. These are probably other Semites in captivity, mixed marriages or Egyptians. Anybody that wanted to join could go. One restriction, the Passover.

In 40 through 51 God talks about when He established the Passover only the circumcised could be included. A Hebrew slave in the household was part of the family, was automatically circumcised, became part of Judaism and could celebrate the Passover no matter what their nationality. A stranger sojourning in Israel, if he and all his males were circumcised, could celebrate the Passover. Anybody could celebrate the Passover as long as they were circumcised. Nobody, not even a son of Aaron or a son of Moses, could celebrate the Passover if he was not circumcised. What is God telling us there? Why ten or twelve verses of being circumcised to celebrate the Passover? What does circumcision stand for in the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament? It means deliberately choosing to become a Son of the Covenant and cutting away the "flesh."

How will the sacrifice of Christ avail to you? There are at least two ways #1 It will get you out of Egypt, out of the world, that is what Egypt stands for, and into Christ. #2 It will get you out of the wilderness and into Canaan which is the land of rest for a believer. Canaan is not heaven in Scripture. It is never heaven. It is always the land of rest, but you must take it by force by a spiritual battle. If you want to become a child of the covenant and avail yourself of the sacrifice of Christ, you have to make a choice. Abraham made a choice way back in the age of the patriarchs. He chose to make his whole male flock Covenant people, circumcised people. Anyone that would not do so would be cut off. Back in those days that phrase meant killed, either by man or by God, an early demise. God feels very strongly about circumcision. Colossians tells us, "...in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." So I myself have to make a choice, a positive, definite, willful choice to become a child of the Covenant. I don't sneak in the back door because my father was "circumcised." Proof! The whole circumcised generation who came out of Egypt died without entering the Promised Land. All during the wilderness wandering they did not circumcise their sons. They were really out of fellowship with God out there. So what is the absolute first thing God demanded they do when they got across the Jordan into Canaan?

Class comment: That they all be circumcised.

Bob' response: Yeah! The whole generation that grew up in the wilderness had to be circumcised. They were across the Jordan which at that time of the year was swollen into a mile wide torrent, impassable. The raging Jordan in back of them, enemies in front of them, and they circumcised all the males which totally immobilized them for days. They were at the complete mercy of the land and the people of the land were aware of why they were coming. Boy, if I had been a Canaanite general I would have made hay while the sun shone. God would not let them start possession of one little bit of the land of rest until they were circumcised, cutting off of the flesh. They had to make a choice to be set apart for God both for salvation and for sanctification. Anybody could do that, foreigners, slaves, Israelites, whatever, but they had to make a choice. It is the same choice the world has to make.

Class comment: Why just the male? Why was this sign just given to the male? Why wasn't there some sign for the women?

Bob's response: O.K. this is a valid question. Let me answer this as gently as I can. God made sex., and every single pagan religion, without question, deteriorates into filth sexually. It always winds up violating the law of God which says one woman, one man, united in marriage for life. That and that alone is the only place within God's providence where sex is allowed to be practiced. Women did not have the same opportunity to go out and practice illegal sex that men did. So when a male began going with a prostitute, a cult prostitute, he would be faced with a symbol that would say, "What are you doing here? Whatever are you doing here? You are a marked man?" God is a very pragmatic God. He is not dirty, He is just very pragmatic. That is the purpose for this. It would be a two-by-four between the eyes of a Jewish male. "What am I doing here? I am sinning against tremendous light to go ahead and get involved in this cult." God is a graphic God. He really wants us to know.

O.K. next time we come to the Red Sea.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you so much that you are that kind of a God that you really want us to know, and you will take very pragmatic and very graphic steps to let us know that You disapprove or You approve of whatever we are doing. You do not leave us in the dark. Thank you so much, Father, that you are a God that really loves us enough to tell us the truth in love and let us know where we stand and accept us on the basis of our simple choice of You no matter whether it is Jew or Gentile or slave or free or male of female. All you ask is a deliberate, willful choice to become a Covenant child and to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ our Lord circumcised in the heart. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.

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