Passover & the Exodus Creation to Kings | Episode 6
Passover, or Pesach, refers to a Jewish festival that has been commemorated for over 3,000 years.
It is the Jewish spring festival that commemorates the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.
The Bible records how the first nine plagues had fallen,
Pharaoh had refused to release the children of Israel, declaring,
'Who is Jehovah that I should obey Him?'
But after the first nine plagues had fallen, the tenth would prove decisive.
[music]
In Exodus 11, God tells Moses that all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die.
In order to spare the sons of the Israelites,
they are instructed by Moses to mark their doorposts with the blood of an unblemished lamb.
Upon seeing this sign, the inhabitants of the house would be spared by the Angel of Death.
As they waited inside their homes there was a realization
that it was only the goodness and mercy of God which spared them.
As the cries filled the land of the Egyptians,
Moses and Aaron were summoned to the palace of Pharaoh and told they could leave.
[music]
Only too glad to be rid of them, they were sent away by the Egyptians
with gold, silver, and other precious items to aid them in their journey.
Finally the request was now realized for them to leave,
and they packed up their belongings and headed east into the desert.
The Bible says in Exodus 12:37 that there were 600,000 men,
plus women, children, and livestock.
It would have been a slow-moving mass of humanity
in what would have been the largest migration in human history.
[music]
After crossing the River Nile, they then headed south.
This was possibly to avoid an encounter with the Egyptian army
that had returned from a mission to Palestine.
By now the Children of Israel had been gone for a few days,
and Pharaoh had second thoughts and was questioning his own magnanimity
and decided to chase them down.
By now the Children of Israel had reached the Red Sea,
and they faced the unsurpassable sea in front of them
and the advancing armies of Pharaoh behind them.
But the same God who delivered them just a few days before,
wasn't about to forget them now.
[music]
Moses was instructed by God to hold out his rod across the waters
and then miraculously the waters parted
and the Israelites were able to walk across on dry ground.
The Egyptians hurried after them but they did not make it to the other side
and were drowned as the waters came crashing back together.
The deliverance of God's people was now fully complete,
as they were beyond the grasp of Pharaoh.
it does not profit a man to question who God is and be defiant,
as was Pharaoh in the face of such overwhelming evidence.
[music]
While the exact location of the crossing of the Red Sea is debated today,
one thing remains sure: that God delivered His people,
and that is what the Passover is all about.
Freedom from oppression.
Freedom from tyranny.
Freedom from slavery.
Freedom for the Israelites.
But the deeper spiritual meaning for us today
is that God wants to give us freedom from being slaves to sin.
Today, if you're caught up in a web of sin
or held in a pit of despair,
know that the same God who delivered the Israelites,
the same God who parted the Red Sea,
is able to push back the obstacles in your life and take away the forces of darkness.
Trust in God, that He will make a way even when it seems impossible.
Our Heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing.