Passed From Death to Life

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King James Bible StudyAnd when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Tuesday, February 02, 2021
Chapters: Exodus 10-12
Message: Passed From Death to Life

Hello My Friend,

As I was thinking about how God hardened the heart of the Pharaoh, it occurred to me that, at any time, if God had seen one iota of faith in Him, that He would not have been so hard on Egypt. We think that God has this list of people that He brings to earth and appoints them as either being a believer or a non-believer. While He certainly does know the way each one of us will take, and will use each of us however our heart leads us, Christ really did die for all, even if they did turn out to be reprobates. [John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.]

Each of the plagues that God sent upon the Egyptians was sent for a purpose, they were meant to bring the fear of God upon them, even though He knew the majority of them would reject Him. The plague were geared toward three key elements, their gods, their livelihood, and their heart. When you think about it, these are the key elements to our own wellbeing, we need God, we need provisions to live, and we need to know what is deep down inside of us to determine what are motivations are. If our heart is motivated by evil, then it will reflect the rest of the elements. And this was the Pharaoh, he thought himself a god, and therefore, his heart was motivated on keeping the Hebrews in bondage because of His hatred for God, especially after the last seven. God told Moses that He was sending ten, and now, we come to number eight, locusts.

[Exodus 10:1-4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD. And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:]

[that I might shew these my signs before him:] You see, God knew each of their hearts, He just played off of them in order to both show the Egyptians and Hebrews that there is only one Almighty, living God, the great I AM, Jehovah, and He is always among His believers, and even shows Himself among those who are not saved yet. Well, God did send the locusts, and for the first time we her something from the Pharaoh that we never did.

[Exodus 10:14,16-20 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.]

[But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart,] Why did God harden his heart after he asked for forgiveness? God knew his heart, and that it really was not repentant or would it let them go. Now, at this point, pretty much everything in Egypt, except for the land of Goshen was destroyed, they had very little cattle, the crops and trees were gone, and yet, God was still not done. Now, came the ninth plague, darkness. [Exodus 10:21-23,28 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.]

[neither rose any from his place for three days:] For three days it was so dark in the land that the people could not even see their hands in front of their face. For three days, after Jesus was hung on the cross and died a sinless death, there was utter darkness upon the earth, not a literal darkness, but spiritual, anyone who had hope that Christ was going to save them could not see Him. And for three days, Jesus was in paradise, that was the place where the souls of believers dwelt until He would raise from the dead, [Luke 23:43]. On that third day, they indeed saw the Light when they discovered that He did raise from the dead, when the tomb was open, He was not there, for He had risen, [Matthew 8:6]. Those who believe in Christ, once lived in spiritual darkness, but now they see the Light, and He shines in every believer, [Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.]

There was a reason that God kept Pharaoh’s heart hard for such a long time, for that last plague would not have had such an impact had it been any other way. This time, the plague was going all across Egypt. [Exodus 11:1-5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people. And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.]

[And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die,] This means, whether Egyptian or Jew, the first born is male or female of man or beast, they will die. Notice how God instructs them to go to the Egyptians and borrow silver and gold, and they gave it willingly. Later on we will see why God did this, and it was not for provisions as they would be taking those with them. As with all the plagues, they did have the option to prepare themselves for it, God gives them the instructions on what to do to prepare themselves so the plague would not hit them.

[Exodus 12:2-8 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.]

[it shall be the first month of the year to you.] This is why the Hebrew calendar no longer lines up with the western calendar, the beginning of the year for them begins at Passover, which is mid March/April. [And they shall eat the flesh in that night,] Remember when Jesus told the Pharisee’s that unless they eat of His flesh and drink His blood? Well, this is what it was in reference to. You will understand it as God explains the reason for both putting the blood upon the door posts and eating of the flesh, [Exodus 12:11-13 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.]

[and when I see the blood,] When we stand before God, through our faith in Christ, what He sees is His blood, and it is that blood that saves our soul. When I was praying this morning it came across my mind, it has been for a while now, I always thank God for His great sacrifice that saved my soul from death and hell. Well, before I knew Christ as my Saviour my soul was dead, it had no life in it, and if I had died without receiving Christ my soul would immediately be in hell because only the living soul can enter into heaven. And that is true for all of us, [Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.]

God’s people are His people, they may be hardhearted, stiffnecked people at times, but they are His, He loves them, and does not want to lose one soul. After God instruct Moses and Aaron, Moses tells the elders what to do to prepare for this. [Exodus 12:21-23 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.]

[and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.] The entire Passover is a picture of salvation, who is our own Jesus Christ. God is only looking for one thing to save our soul from death, and that is the perfect, spotless blood of His Son applied to our soul, [John 6:53-58]. And notice the time when Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, it was between March and April, and it was in the evening when He was buried, [John 19]. Now, the time had come, the death angel passes over the entire land of Egypt.

[Exodus 12:29-32 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.]

[of the captive that was in the dungeon;] This is proof that it does not matter where you are, death escapes no one, but one can escape death, that is if, they have the blood of the lamb applied to their soul. [and bless me also.] Notice Pharaoh’s change of heart, he practically throws them out, and asks them to bless him, meaning pray for him. Sooner or later, the world will find out that God is in control, and you do not mess with His people. He will bring judgment upon them, one at time, until every single one of them is affected, [Romans 14:11-12 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.]

Today’s Prayer: God, Every soul is in Your hands, You know exactly what will come of each of us, and yet You give each of us a choice to believe in You. I know that there is not one soul in hell that does not beg for You to reach someone who is alive right now if they could tell them of the torment they are in. You are truly the God of the living and we are only made alive through our faith in the sinless death, burial, and resurrection of Your Son, our true Passover. Lord, Lead us and guide us, let us be a reflection of the Light that is within us, so that those who do have one iota of faith in You can come out of the darkness and into Your Light. Open their hearts, show them the fear that only believers have, through our faith and faithfulness to You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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