Beginning of Passover

November 10, 2013 Background Scripture: Exodus 6:2 – 30; 12 Lesson Passage: Exodus 12:1 – 14 The Passover observance is an ordinance of Judaism that is unlike any other. Although the Christian Communion or Lord’s Supper ordinance was derived from the Passover, the two are strikingly different when one considers their purpose and ceremonial procedures. The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus as he and his disciples celebrated the Passover on the evening he was betrayed. Jesus used some remnants that remained from the Passover meal but not remnants from all of the ingredients that were required for the Passover celebration. It is true that the Passover foreshadowed the Lord’s Supper but yet the Passover remains unique in its meaning, celebration, and its participants. The Passover was and is an observance that celebrates a defining time in the history of the Jewish people. That time is marked by undeniable involvement of the one true and living God in the affairs of His chosen people, the Jews. Through a display of nine national disasters that were prophesied by Moses to Pharaoh, God exacted an open attack against all the gods the Egyptians were worshiping. The tenth and defining blow came on the night when God sent a death angel to kill all first born of humans and animals throughout the land of Egypt. The only exceptions would be those who remained inside of their dwellings which had been anointed with blood from an unblemished lamb that was killed on that evening according to God’s instructions. On that night, the death angel passed through the land of Egypt but when he came to those dwellings which were anointed with the blood, he passed over them and the occupants were not harmed. The meat of the lamb that was slain was roasted and consumed with bitter herbs and unleavened bread by the occupants that evening. The celebration commemorating the night the death angel passed through the land but passed over the dwellings anointed with the lamb’s blood was commanded by God to be observed the first month of the Jewish calendar perpetually. The Passover meal was to include roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. The Passover celebration was to be a continuous reminder to the Jewish people of God’s miraculous deliverance of their ancestors from Egyptian bondage. Jesus, like other Jews, celebrated the Passover every year. On the night that he was betrayed by Judas, Jesus was celebrating the Passover along with his disciples. As the Passover meal came to an end, Jesus took some of the unleavened bread and the wine they drank with their meal and used those simple elements to institute what we know as the Lord’s Supper. There was no reference to the bitter herbs or the roasted lamb at this point. The Lord’s Supper commemorates a greater deliverance. This deliverance is for people from all nationalities and languages. It is a deliverance from the eternal death penalty of sin. This deliverance is for whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord for forgiveness of their sins. This deliverance does not benefit people simply because of their association within a house with a group. Each person must accept the deliverance for himself (herself). When the death angel passes through God’s creation, those who are under the blood of Jesus will be passed over. The Lord’s Supper is personal. The Passover is a historic Jewish memorial celebrated by the Jews and it had its beginning in the land of Egypt. Robert C. Hudson October 29, 2013

God Prepares for Deliverance

November 3, 2013 Background Scripture: Exodus 1 – 4 Lesson Passage: Exodus 3:7 – 17 It may serve us well to examine the unifying topic of this lesson before we look at the text: God Prepares for Deliverance. For clarity sake, let me state: God is always prepared. There is never a time when God is not ready to act. We often misconstrue the time of our preparation as a delay to act on God’s part. God is always prepared. The time factor that occurs between prayers and miracles can be attributed to God preparing people, places, or situations that He chooses to use. We only need to note that mankind was created after everything else was created to see that God does not require people to do anything. The preparation for this deliverance has indeed involved people and situations. Unbeknown to Moses, God had concluded eighty years of preparing him for the task of leadership. Likewise, God had made it known earlier that the iniquity of the Amorites had not run its course. And finally, apparently the Hebrew slaves had not been previously conditioned to cry out to God in sincerity and faith. Certainly it would not take God four hundred years to respond had their ancestors been as fed up as the current group who were facing genocide at the decree of Pharaoh. So God says: I have seen the affliction of My people and I have heard them cry out to me because of their taskmasters. God went on to tell Moses that He knew the sorrows of His people. God was and still is a heart-examining God. So now, people and circumstances are properly prepared for God to deliver the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage. This could be accomplished in a moment or an instance but that would probably not cause some people to express glory to God. The Egyptians worshiped many gods and a total deliverance of the Hebrews would require that God bring judgment upon each one of the Egyptian gods. Moses needed to know that God had already prepared him for the task of being the leader and Law-giver. Again, I will add that Moses’ preparation took eighty years. The first forty years was spent learning the ropes inside Pharaoh’s home. The second forty years was spent learning how to responsibly tend to someone else’s (his father-in-law, Jethro) flock in the wilderness. At eighty years old, Moses was now prepared for the task whether he knew it or not. Of course, eighty years old does not seem like the optimum time to start a ministry. Moses acted like many of us today. Moses did not jump at the opportunity to get this assignment. Rather, he tried to get out of it. He did not put his last forty years together with his first forty years to see the big picture. Instead, Moses asked the question: Who am I to deliver them? Obviously everybody doesn’t immediately cry out: “Here I am. Send me.” If Moses is going to take on the task of delivering people, he would need a little more assurance that this was indeed God speaking with him and not his mind playing tricks on him. Leading the people of God is not a trivial task but a weighty responsibility. Moses’ time had come and it was important for him to know that God was prepared for deliverance. Robert C. Hudson October 26, 2013