Passover

By Pastor Don Elmore

March 27, 2016

Passover was a special time for the special people known as the covenant people of God.  They were the ones, the ONLY ones, who experienced the first Passover.  Their time in Egypt was expressed in the covenant that God made with their father, Abram and later Abraham. 

Genesis 15:13:

“And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Compare this with Acts 7:6:

“And God spake on this wise, That His seed should sojourn to a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.”

Compare this to Exodus 12:40:

“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.”

It was 430 years from the time of Abram’s 75th birthday till the exodus.  This entire sojourning took place in Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan, Philistia, and Egypt.  The sojourn in Egypt was only 215 years, one-half of the 430 of the whole period.

Septuagint: 

Exodus 12:40:

“Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, when they sojourned in Egypt and Canaan.”

Exodus 12:41:

“And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.”

The Exodus happened right on time.  As God told Abram in his covenant that He made with him: Genesis 15:16:

“But in the fourth generation [1.  Levi,  2.  Kohath, 3.  Amran, and 4.  Moses] they shall come hither again:  for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

Israel had been in bondage for 115 years.  They had no hope of ever being rescued by any person, even by a person of Egyptian royalty.  But God had said in His covenant that He had made with Abram, that “in the fourth generation”, and it was the fourth generation, they would be rescued.

When Moses was 80 years old, he was sent to his people, the Israelite slaves, and he told them that they were going to Canaan to live.  He and his brother, Aaron, were to go to Pharaoh to tell him to “Let my people, go.”  That resulted in a contest between Pharaoh and Moses that lasted for about a dozen different conflicts. 

It wasn’t until God told Moses to that he may know that the “LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” Exodus 11:7.

Exodus 12:12, 13:

12)  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment:  I am the LORD.

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 plagues shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.

The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from the murder of their first born son.  But the Egyptians had their first-born sons murdered that night; because they had no blood on the doors of their homes.

Later on in history, on this selfsame day, it came to pass that Jesus Christ died for His people.    No wonder that is not known any longer as Passover in the majority of homes, for the average Christian when asked, “When did Jesus die and resurrect” would answer:  “At Easter!”

Passover only has to do with the covenant people of God:

•  The fact that they were slaves in Egypt is in the covenant.
•  The fact that they were being redeemed from slavery to freedom was in the covenant.
•  When Israel was groaning about their slavery in their fourth generation since the time they entered Egypt, He “heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” Exodus 2:24. 

The world today is about the same.  Israel is once again in slavery.  This time it is debt-usury servitude.  Esau has gained the advantage over the seedline of Jacob because of our sin in not reading God’s Word and obeying it. 

Our enemies are controlling our politics, economy, education, social life and even our religions.   What are we to do?

We say this prayer:

Here we stand before our Holy God, who loved our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and made an unconditional covenant with them and elected, married, and became the King of the holy seed of Jacob/Israel.

We, the children of Jacob/Israel, are making this vow to our Kinsman Redeemer that He will protect us and completely destroy our enemy, Mystery Babylon, just like He did when He answered the similar pleas of kings Asa, Jehosophat, Hezekiah, and Josiah in the Old Testament.

Help us O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we move against this vicious enemy that teaches the evil doctrines of multiculturalism and/or racial-reconciliation and universalism. We have no might against this great Beast that comes against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee. Save us before we are completely destroyed.

Psalm 91:1-8

1) He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2) I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3) Surely, He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4) He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5) Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6) Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7) A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8) Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.