The Exodus
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29 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.
This has been a long time coming, really.
The Lord knew this from eternity past; it’s been a long time coming.
The Lord told Moses exactly what was going to take place before Moses even returned to Egypt:
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
It’s been a long time coming.
What’s more, the 9 plagues leading up to this—the 10th plague—likely occured over the period of a year or more. So the people of Israel and Egypt had a long time to wrap their heads around what was coming, if they had eyes to see and ears to hear.
It’s been a long time coming.
This has been announced to Pharaoh, to the Lord’s people, and to us:
1 Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.
4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
And here now, it happens:
29 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.
>All of this took place, just as the Lord hath said.
This is an encouragement. We know whatever the Lord says He will do, He will do. What He wants done will be done. What He has purposed from eternity past will come to pass.
Be encouraged, Christian. When everything is crumbling down around you, when the world is out of sorts and full of chaos, remind yourself of what the Lord has said; repeat to yourself, over and over, “I know what the Lord has said, what He has promised. So it shall be.”
All of this is taking place, just as the Lord hath said.
Let this encourage you and motivate you today, here and now.
The Lord will come soon; He IS coming soon to judge the living and the dead.
Those apart from Christ will experience death—everlasting separation, everlasting death.
The death of the firstborn in Egypt is a reminder to us, to all of us: only those who are hidden under the blood of the lamb are spared; only those of us who are hidden in Christ, underneath the blood of the perfect, spotless Lamb of God will escape death.
Friend, if you are not hidden in Christ, if you have not entrusted your life to Him of your own volition, on the Day He returns to set the world at rights, you will be struck down, you will be lost forever.
Have you entrusted your life to Him? Have you, in faith, united yourself to Christ? Have you confessed your sins, seeking His forgiveness?
This is something you have to do for yourself, of your own will. This isn’t something your parents or grandparents or spouse can decide for you. It’s not enough to be a “good person”, not nearly enough. Belonging to a church is insufficient. Good deeds will never come close to accomplishing this.
You must, yourself, give yourself to Christ, trust that His death on the cross, His blood spilled for your sins, is all you need.
If you’ve yet to trust in Jesus for yourself, friend, don’t delay. The Day of the Lord has been a long time coming, and it is at hand. Don’t delay.
Surrender to Him. Pray He would rescue you. Bow your head here and now, and pray:
I need You Jesus,
To come to my Rescue;
I confess my sins and my sinfulness.
I need you to save me.
I need your blood to cover me.
I trust in You, Jesus, and You alone.
And I will follow you all the days of my life.
>Let’s continue on in our text. If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Exodus Chapter 12. If you’re able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word. Exodus 12, beginning with verse 29—
29 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.
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.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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“The death of the firstborn was the final blow, the tenth and deadliest plague. By visiting death on the Egyptians, while at the same time protecting his people, God was declaring the basis for salvation…the distinction God made that night is the one He always makes. It is the distinction between those who have faith in the blood of the sacrifice He provides and those who do not. And on that distinction rests the eternal destiny of every human being.”—P.G. Ryken
Sadly, here in Egypt, the Egyptians did not have faith in the Lord, the God of Israel. They did not put blood on their doorposts; because of this, they were destined for destruction.
Not one single family escaped. The Bible says (12:30)—there was not a house without someone dead.
This plague affected everyone from Pharaoh and his family to the prisoner and their family, all the way down to the firstborn of all the livestock.
As difficult as this is to imagine, as hard as this is to read (and to preach!) the first sentence of our text for this morning highlights one of the more hard-to-swallow attributes of God:
29 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.
The Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt...
This, very clearly, is the JUSTICE of God.
This, very clearly, is the JUSTICE of God.
Our God is a just God. It was true for the Egyptians, and it’s true for us.
What Pharaoh and his countrymen suffered was just a glimpse of what will happen at the end of the world.
“We will all be there: the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the sinners and the saints. From the dungeon to the throne, from the cubicle to the highest office in the land, no one will escape. No one will receive special treatment.
God is no respecter of persons, and He will judge everyone by the same standard. He does not care what color we are, how much money we have, where we go to school, what company we work for, or even how good we are.
What matters to God is whether or not we have faith in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. Those who trust in the blood of Christ will receive eternal life. Those who do not hold on to Him and to His cross will be finally and fatally lost.
The great divide between salvation and damnation is marked in blood.”
It’s clear to see the Lord’s justice on display here, isn’t it?
I can’t even imagine what it would be like—not for the Egyptians in their grief and loud wailing; and not for the Israelites.
You know that some of the Israelites heard the loud wailing coming from the Egyptian homes. And for those who didn’t hear the screams of pain and heartache from their captors, they knew what was happening. They knew that tonight was the night when the Lord was going to strike down the firstborn of every home.
For sure, some of the people of Israel were fearful; but all they had to do was look to the blood on the doorframe—that was the sign of their salvation.
Believers in Jesus Christ have the same confidence. Whenever we are fearful or anxious or unsure of God’s love for us, all we need to do is look to the cross, where we see the proof of His love and guarantee of our salvation marked in blood.
>Finally, after all this time (more than 400 years for the Israelites; and almost 5 months for us) we finally get to the point in the story where Pharaoh tells Moses and Aaron to get the heck of out Dodge, them and all the Israelites:
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.”
Finally, the Israelites will be freed from their slavery and oppression; and they will be able to worship the Lord as He deserves to be worshipped.
Pharaoh has suffered great loss in all of this, as have the people of Egypt—their firstborn, their livestock; all the gods they worship have been shown to be powerless, useless, worthless. They’ve suffered greatly.
What’s more, the Egyptians are afraid that they all might die if the Israelites hang around any longer. So they beg the Israelites to hurry up and leave the country.
The people left in such a hurry, they didn’t have time to add yeast to their bread (the significance of unleavened bread, you see, goes back to this moment).
So ready are they to get rid of the Israelites, the Egyptians even help the Israelites pack their bags.
Not only were the Egyptians helping the Israelites pack their bags, they even give them some of their own belongings.
This has been briefly mentioned before:
2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”
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.
The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people...
This is, very clearly, the GRACE of God.
This is, very clearly, the GRACE of God.
The grace of God is one of the attributes of God we really like; we could do without the justice of God (especially when it confronts our sinfulness), but we love the grace of God.
And we should. This is unmerited favor. And it’s all grace, really.
Everything that’s going on here is grace. Grace upon grace upon grace.
The Israelites are being rescued from slavery, when, honestly, they (like us) deserve the situation they find themselves in.
At the very least, they don’t deserve rescue from it. They certainly don’t deserve the covenantal, electing, love and concern of the Lord.
But…grace.
Sinners, idolaters, doubters, complainers, scumbags don’t deserve grace. No one deserves grace and that’s precisely what makes it grace.
Verses 33-36 are the words of an eyewitness. Perhaps it’s Moses or Aaron watching all this take place.
They watch the Egyptians beg and plead with them to leave. They watch the women take their yeast-less bread dough, wrap it in cloth, toss it in a bowl, and carry it on their shoulders. They watch as the Egyptians hand over to the Israelites gold and silver and fine clothing.
God had promised, long ago, that His people would come out of slavery with great possessions:
13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people...
“Here! Take this, and some of this. Ooooh, and this would look really nice on you. Take this! Silver!? Do you have any silver?! Take some of this, take all of this! No hard feelings, okay!”
It’s grace. Rescue, freedom from oppression, promises kept, blessings received. Grace.
The Israelites don’t leave Egypt empty-handed. They have lived in Egypt as slaves—beaten down, oppressed, poor, helpless. They leave as conquerors, carrying with them the spoils of God’s victory.
It’s all grace. Undeserved. The complete opposite of deserved, in fact.
The Israelites’ story of receiving grace from God’s hand is our story. We’re no more deserving than they were, and yet, here we are.
We sing “Amazing Grace”, I fear, without really listening to what it is we’re singing. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that the Lord shows any of us grace. His grace is amazing.
It’d be amazing if the Lord only saved His people from slavery. But to bless them, provide for them, supply their needs, lead them out, stay with them, protect them, love them, keep them…whew! Grace.
>After all these years, the people of the Lord now find themselves leaving Egypt. The Lord has brought them out of Egypt, just as He said.
600,000 men, not counting women and children or the many other people who left with them. There was an enormous mixed-multitude of people journeying that day from Rameses to Sukkoth.
They traveled with their livestock and all their “dough” (dough for bread and the “dough” they got from the Egyptians).
This day had been a long time coming. For more than 400 years, the people of the Lord lived in Egypt.
But no more. No longer slaves. No longer strangers in a foreign land. On this day, the Lord’s divisions, the clans of His people, left Egypt.
The Lord has brought His people out of Egypt.
All this because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out.
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.
The Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt...
This, very clearly, is the PRESENCE of God.
This, very clearly, is the PRESENCE of God.
God was up all night, standing guard. He was working the night-shift. Our God who neither slumbers nor sleeps was keeping a watch over His people to make sure everything went down just as He planned.
He is not some distant deity. He is the very present God, the ever-present God.
God is keeping His vigil. He is watching to make sure that it all happens just the way he said it would.
As the exodus takes place, the Lord will go before the people, leading them by day and by night (13:21).
The Lord will protect His people, standing behind them, in between them and their approaching enemies (14:19-20)
The Lord is keeping vigil. He goes before and stands behind; He is the ever-present God.
>The exodus is the story of God’s justice, God’s grace, and God’s presence.
>The exodus is the story of God’s justice, God’s grace, and God’s presence.
And that makes this an incredible story.
But let us not miss the point. This is not merely some historical, verifiable, ancient happening. This is not just something to read about in the history class of God’s people.
This is the story of how God works in the lives of His people.
This is precisely how God works in our lives.
This, I believe: what the Lord did for the Israelites in bringing them out of Egypt is no more incredible or amazing than what the Lord has done for you.
It’s a great story, to be sure. The Exodus is one of the all-time great stories in human history (that’s why you cast Charlton Heston and Yul Brenner in a movie about it).
This is an incredible story.
But, you see, if we understood the depth of our depravity, the seriousness of our slavery to sin, the control our captor, Satan, had over us—if we really understood our stories, there’d be a major motion picture telling our stories, too.
Because the story of our freedom, the story of our exodus is just as epic, every bit as amazing; it’s a story full of God’s justice, grace, and presence.
What the Lord did for the Israelites in bringing them out of Egypt is no more incredible or amazing than what the Lord has done for you.
And don’t you forget it! Your story, your testimony about what the Lord has done in your life is absolutely incredible, amazing, unbelievable.
Some testimonies might be more dramatic than yours, but none is any more amazing than yours.
You were a slave; now you’re free.
You were dead; now you’re alive.
You were marred by sin; now, in Christ, you are righteous in God’s sight.
The Lord, ever present, brought you out and has promised to go before you, to watch your back, to tell you, “You’re never alone”; to lead you and guide you until you get all the way home.
The Lord, full of grace, wrote “righteous” on the slate of your life. He wrote this, not in chalk, but in the blood of Christ, and nothing else can be written there ever again. By God’s grace, your sins have been forever wiped off the face of the earth.
The Lord, perfect in justice, punished His own Son in your place. At this, His wrath was completely satisfied; it was Jesus who set you free. His life exchanged for yours.
That, friends, is an even better story than the exodus.