Where Life Begins
Exodus • Sermon • Submitted
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Moses has walked out of Pharaoh’s presence. Before he left, he told Pharaoh exactly what God was going to do that very night through one final plague upon all the Egyptians. As a result, the Israelites would not be asked to leave, they would be forced to leave.
The instructions given at this point in the narrative were given to Moses by the Lord and he had previously relayed them to the children of Israel at that time. This covers Exodus 12:1-20. It is brought into the narrative at this point because it logically fits here even though chronologically given 14 days earlier than the events that close Chapter 11.
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.
These instructions were given while the people were still in Egypt. Please note the phrase “…the beginning….” This is a new beginning for Israel. It is the commencement of an entire new life with new promises, new experiences, new hopes, and a new walk. Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.
Before now, the children of Israel were only slaves, having a mere existence in the day to day drudgery and ordeal of the slave market. Now they have life, and God wants them to have it abundantly. Their former existence is to be forgotten; it is all forgiven and blotted out. Time starts for them now; there is a brand new beginning for them.
Life for Israel begins now. This is seen as Moses refers to the date of anything that occurred in the history of the nation of Israel, as it relates to this new beginning:
Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.
In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
“On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
Now in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.
Other examples: Numbers 1:1; 9:1; 10:11.
Before this time Abraham and his progeny more than likely used the heathen Babylonian method of reckoning time. Not anymore. Previously, the new year had begun with the month Tisri, near the autumnal equinox. Now it begins with the month Abib at the vernal equinox. Here we see a picture of the way of the world and the way of God are just opposites.
If we were to study Israel’s calendar, we see her spiritual life begins at the Passover. Her civil life begins at the feast of trumpets. The one is the first month; the other is the seventh month. Even at this time in Israel’s history, their civil year begins at Tisri and their religious year with Abib.
Abib means literally “green sprouts,” an apt description of springtime. This, too, speaks of a new beginning. It is interesting to note that after the captivity in Babylon, the month was called Nisan, Chaldaic for “green sprouts”!
Now note this: the beginning of God’s time for Israel was not the Passover. It was fourteen days before the Passover. Why? Israel’s new life began by faith in the word God gave about the lamb and the sacrifice of the lamb for them. It did not begin with the sacrifice itself, but with their faith in the sacrifice that was to be made. Their life began when they believed God in reference to a lamb.
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
This point is no exception.
Life for us does not begin with our Passover lamb—Jesus Christ. It begins when we believe the record that God has given of this Son as our sacrifice. If we do not believe the record and the word of God, we will still reckon time according to the slave market. Whenever we believe God and what He has said about His Son we become immediately “believers” and at that moment on that day, time begins for us.
for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
This is our birthday. We begin our life by faith before we see anything but knowing God’s Word is true. We receive on this day the Word of God concerning the Lamb and we believe it. We begin by faith and we are to continue to live by faith.
Romans 1:16, 17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
We are saved “through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Faith is the means upon our entering into the promises of God. Since true faith believes what it believes, it also works. It is a faith that works; consequently, obedience follows faith naturally and is the outgrowth of true faith.
Israel was saved by faith looking forward to the death of a lamb for them. We are saved by faith in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God that has already been offered for the sins of the whole world. Our redemption was not by corruptible things as gold and silver …
but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
The principle is still the same: faith. Life begins when one believes God’s word about the lamb. Nothing else is the issue.
It does not make any difference what kind of a good life you have lived before, nor how great a sinner you have been. You can be up and out, or you can be down and out, but life only begins when you believe…
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
What made the difference in Egypt was whether people believed God in reference to a lamb. What makes the difference today is whether you believe God in reference to the Lamb He has provided (John 1:29, 36). You either believe or you do not believe, and the issue is the Son.
There were just two groups in Egypt: Those who believed God and those who did not believe God. It was the lamb who made the difference and divided them into these two groups. The lamb was the issue.
People were not saved because they were Israelites, nor were they lost because they were Egyptians. They were saved because they believed God, and they died because they did not believe God. So Christ said in John 3:17-18:
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The issue is not pedigree, wealth, culture, education, experience, strength, works, or anything else. The issue is the Son whom the Father has sent into the world to be “the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).
No matter how many ways the world wants to divide up humanity, the true divisions in the world are only two: either one believes, or one does not believe. The one who believes is saved, the one who does not believe is lost.
What do you have to do to be lost? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The one who does not believe is condemned already … (John 3:18). What did the Egyptians have to do to be under the sentence of death? Nothing but just continue in the same path they were going in. Yet they had to do something to be saved.
What do you have to do to be lost and go to the lake of fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41)? Nothing. Just continue your same path of unbelief and you will die in your sins in the slave market, and you will be involved in the condemnation that is for its ruler.
What will those who dwell on the earth must do to be under the judgment of the great tribulation? Nothing. Notice this in Revelation 3:10:
‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
“Those who dwell on the earth” is an expression that refers to more than just people living on the earth. It refers to those who have made the earth their permanent and only home. They have settled down on earth; they are opposite of those who are strangers and pilgrims sojourning in a strange land. They are at home right where they are, lining the way they have always lived.
Revelation 8:13 bears the same message.
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
They will receive judgment just because they are under the condemnation that is upon all the earth—these refuse to believe God and His word. They refuse the blood of the lamb and therefore suffer the consequences of death.
Others are seen coming out of the great tribulation who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). This blood is the power to overcome the evil one and his slave market (Revelation 12:11).
The Lamb during this time is still seen making the difference and dividing men into two groups even as He does today and as He did in Israel’s day.
I would remind you that these things are not only for us, they are also a prepicture of Israel’s future and final redemption at the second coming of Christ.
The appropriation and beginning of life before the actual experience of redemption will also be true of the nation of Israel in the tribulation period. They will begin by faith, and then they will see what God will do for them.
In Romans 11, Paul’s message is that Israel has a future. He is not speaking of the church here at all; Paul means Israel—his own people. First he shows that the rejection of Israel is partial, not complete, 11:1-10; and the rejection of Israel is temporary, not final, 11:11-32. In this last section the reasons for Israel’s rejection are given in 11:11-24, and the promise of Israel’s restoration in 11:25-32. Let’s look at verse 25 only.
Romans 11:25
For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
“ For I do not want you [Gentiles], brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery [concerning Israel which was before unknown and unknowable, namely that Israel was going to be in bondage, rejected by God for awhile because they rejected their Messiah the first time He appeared, and that during this time God would be taking out a people for His name from the Gentiles]—so that you [Gentiles] will not be wise in your own estimation [thinking that you are the special people of God because of the Lord’s grace to you during this church age] —that a partial hardening has happened to Israel {the first part of the mystery for there are some even today who believe] until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in [the second part of the mystery is that this present age is going to end].
Nowhere does Exodus give the mystery truth that is known by us today that whole Israel was in bondage that God was selecting a people for His name from among the Gentiles. This was a complete mystery. Also, a part of that mystery is that after the people from among the Gentiles have been selected that the Lord resumes, once again, to deal with His people Israel.
This blindness, hardness, or callousness has happened in part to Israel until the full number of Gentiles enter into the program the Lord has instituted. Israel’s blindness, then, has two limitations. It is “in part”—not complete but partial—and it is “until”—that is, not final but temporary. Today God is waiting for the full number of Gentiles to be saved which completes the body of Christ, and then this phase of God’s program is over and once again God begins marking time in reference to Israel. Operation Wild Grafting will be over; Operation Rebirth for Israel will begin.
To understand what Paul is saying here, it is necessary to distinguish between “the fullness of the Gentiles” and “the times of the Gentiles.”
“The times of the Gentiles” refer to that period of time from Nebuchadnezzar to the second advent of Christ in which is under governmental jurisdiction of Gentile nations and is without a king (Hosea 3:4-5; cf. Luke 21:24). This involves Daniel 9 and it includes the tribulation period of seven years duration.
“The fullness of the Gentiles” is an entirely different term with a distinct meaning. It refers to the Gentiles being included in God’s program today in the body of Christ. It is the Lord’s operation of making out of Jews and Gentiles, one new man (Ephesians 2:15). It is that period then from Pentecost to the rapture of the church in which He is completing the church which is both His body and His bride, and it does not include the tribulation period at all.
Israel’s partial hardening is “until” the full number of Gentiles are saved and then at that time when the body of Christ is complete and raptured, God once again begins to deal with Israel. Then the blindness is removed which is upon the nation today.
After this, in the middle of the tribulation, Joel 2 will be fulfilled when Israel will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. This will be at the invasion of the army from the north into the land of Israel which is in that day without defense. It is at this time that the spirit of life shall come upon the nation (Ezekiel 37:1-14). The regathering and termination of the Israelites’ captivity does not come until the end of the tribulation (Ezekiel 39:23-29).
Here is the point: Israel believes the Lord and His word before she is redeemed as a nation. She begins to reckon time before she is redeemed by the Lord and by His power. This is seen in type, and verified by prophecy.
There may be someone here listening today who has just been going along with the crowd and doing nothing. This world is your home—all the home you have ever known. Little have you realized that you are under condemnation already just because you are living in this world. God, who is not willing that any should perish, has provided a “way out” from death. It is the word concerning His Son who died for our sins and rose again for our justification.
God offers you a whole new life, a brand new beginning. You can have the slate wiped clean, and your past completely blotted out. This very day could be your spiritual birthday if you will but believe the record God has given concerning His Son.
John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Did He die for you; or did He die in vain?