EXODUS LESSON 21

    We have already seen the nine plagues that came on Egypt, and we
know that God brought each of these plagues to awaken the people to
the true God; even in this atheistic country of Egypt, where numbers
of false gods were worshipped.  Almighty God wanted to reach these
people, and make them aware that there was only one true God.  In our
society today, we have atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and the
worst of all, compromised Christians.  How in the world we can expect
God to allow us to go on in our sin? I do not know.  Now, movie
producers are even blaspheming the name of Jesus.  God is so patient,
kind, and forgiving Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, "My spirit shall not
always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days
shall be an hundred and twenty years." God has been trying to get men
saved ever since Adam and Eve fell.  We read in II Peter 3:9 "The Lord
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but
is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance." You see, the patience of God with
mankind is overwhelming.  We know that God could end it all right now,
if He so desired.  He just loves us everyone, so much, that He does
everything He can to get us to repent before He judges us.  That is
just what we have been seeing in these 9 plagues and, also, in our
society today.  God wants everyone, from the smallest to the greatest,
to be saved.  We see in these nine plagues, that there is a day coming
when God will finally say: It is enough.  This tenth plague was
actually punishment for not heeding the nine warnings.  This is the
last and most terrible plague that we will study in this lesson.  We
will pick up this lesson now in Exodus 12:1.

    Exodus 12:1 "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land
of Egypt, saying," Exodus 12:2 "This month [shall be] unto you the
beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to
you."

    In these verses, here, we see first of all, the Lord speaking to
Moses and Aaron.  Moses and Aaron did not instigate any of the plagues,
and then tell God.  These plagues, Moses' and Aaron's messages to
Pharaoh, and the people originated with God.  All Moses and Aaron were
doing was carrying out God's orders.  If we are good ministers, that is
what we should do, as well.  We should first listen to God and
whatever He tells us, and then we must bring it to the people.  We see
here, that God established the month, we call April, as the first month
of the Hebrew year.  The Hebrews call it Abib.  We do not know for
sure how they had measured their months before, but we do know, here,
that God said from now on, April is the first month of the year for
the Israelites.

    Exodus 12:3  "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:"

    Here, we see the celebration of the passover for the Israelites
being set up for the very first time.  Notice the word "all" in the
first sentence.  This means men, women, and children.  Whosoever will
is a very good description of this.  In our language, He is saying: On
April 10th, each family go and get a lamb from your flock, and pick out
one that your family can eat at one sitting; don't get one too big.
You will see why in another verse.

    Exodus 12:4 "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."

    Here, we see, if there were just 3 or 4 people in a household, they
 would not be able to consume a whole lamb by themselves.  Then 2
 families would need to go together and pick a lamb that these 2
 families could eat at one meal.  Ordinarily, 10 people could eat a
 small lamb.

    Exodus 12:5 "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the
first year: ye shall take [it] out from the sheep, or from the goats:"

    You see, here, a description of what this lamb, that is to be
sacrificed, would be like physically.  John the Baptist called Jesus the
Lamb of God in John 1:29  "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, 
and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." Again in St. John 1:36 we read, "And looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!" John was speaking
prophetically of Jesus (the Lamb of God) being sacrificed on the cross
for our sin.  Jesus actually does away with sin for His followers.
Just as this lamb, in verse 5 above, was to have no blemish, Jesus had
no blemish.  That is why the soldiers did not break His legs to hurry
death.  Jesus had no blemish.  He was to be a male lamb.  Jesus was a
male.  "Of the first year", means that he was taken before he came to
a female lamb.  Jesus was not married and definitely did not have an
affair with anyone.  He NEVER committed any sin, much less adultery, as
some movies are showing now.  This is blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit (in my opinion) to accuse our Saviour of sin. It appears, that a
lamb could be a goat, or a sheep.

    Exodus 12:6 "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."

    One really interesting thing that we should notice here, was that
the whole congregation viewed this. If you look at it from the
spiritual standpoint, we all, because of our sins, helped crucify
Jesus.  Another thing we notice here, that each head of the house
killed his own lamb.  There was nothing between God and the head of
the house then, except this sacrificial lamb.  There is no one between
Christians and God now, except Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God) .  What
a beautiful parallel.  This 4 day difference in time was a time to
examine the lamb and make sure it was perfect, leaving time to go and
exchange it, if it was not perfect.

    Exodus 12:7 "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."

    This is what I call being covered with the blood of the Lamb.  The
 very thing that saves  Christians is when we are symbolically washed
 in the blood of the Lamb; covered over with it, if you will.  We are
 told in Revelation that the Christians will be wearing white robes in
 heaven, washed in the blood of the Lamb.  Revelation 7:14 "And I said
 unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which
 came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
 them white in the blood of the Lamb." The reason this blood of this
 sacrificial lamb was put on the door posts and over the door was
 because this was the entrance to the house.  The devil, or his evil
 demons, cannot cross the blood.  God honors the blood, as well.  God
 cannot look upon sin, He will destroy the person involved in sin.
 The only way to not be destroyed is for the shed blood to be between
 you and God.  God sees the shed blood and passes over, without
 destroying you.

    Exodus 12:8 "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast
with fire, and unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall
eat it."

    This, again, is so symbolic of Jesus.  The flesh of the Lamb is
Jesus, as we read in John 6:53 "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, ye have no life in you." All of this is symbolic, of
course.  You do not literally eat the flesh of Jesus or drink His
actual blood.  The Communion of unleavened bread is symbolic of the
flesh of Jesus, and the grape juice you drink, is symbolic of the
blood of Jesus.  The unleavened bread is symbolic of the sin-free body
of Christ.  Leaven is symbolic of sin, so we see in this unleavened
bread that Jesus was, and is, completely free from sin.  The "roast with
fire" has to do, in my opinion, with the fire, symbolic of God.  The
bitter herbs show the bitter bondage the Israelites were faced with in
Egypt. I believe the bitter herbs show the Christians that to follow
Jesus, and partake of the blessings of Jesus, that there is some self-
sacrifice to be made.  A Christian must crucify his flesh and separate
himself from worldly lust to be a follower of Jesus.

    Exodus 12:9 "Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but
roast [with] fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance
thereof."

    Here they were told especially not to eat it raw, as was the
 practice with some of the false religions.  "Nor sodden at all with
 water", I believe, means don't boil it.  One of the purposes of
 roasting was so it would not be broken apart in the sacrifice, but
 would be whole, as we see in the statement "his head with his legs".
 The "purtenance" was the intestine.  Most of the time this was opened
 and washed out, and the intestine was then cooked with the whole
 body.  So much of this symbolizes the necessity of the body being
 kept intact with no broken bones.  It could, also, symbolize the unity
 of the faith.  Remember, we are looking at these Scriptures more with
the spiritual eyes, than with the physical .

    Exodus 12:10 "And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the
morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall
burn with fire."

    I believe this was symbolic of taking communion, and that nothing
that has been placed out for communion should be left over to the next
time.  Whoever conducts communion, should eat and drink all that is
left.  You should not hold it over to the next communion.  This is
similar to the manna that fell from heaven.  Each day's necessity was
to be taken care of, but not to be held over to the next day.  The symbol
that I see in this is that we must daily eat of the Word of God to
stay in good stead with God.  The Bible (Word of God) is to be
consumed each day.  To be able to live a victorious life with Jesus,
we must eat of His Word every day.  We could, also, see in this that
Jesus is our daily Bread.  We depend on Him, not on our own abilities.





































                          Exodus 21 Questions


1.  What was the purpose in God bringing the 9 plagues, so far, on
    Egypt?
2.  Name 4 types of people in our society today that some of us
    believe are beyond reach, but God wants to save.
3.  What was the message in Genesis 6:3?
4.  How many years did Genesis 6 say man has?
5.  Why has God delayed His coming, that we read in 2 Peter 3:9?
6.  Who does God want to be saved?
7.  What is the tenth plague, actually?
8.  Who instigated the plagues?
9.  What part did Moses play in this?
10. What message should ministers bring the church?
11. What did He establish as the first month of the year?
12. What do the Hebrews call it?
13. What day of the month should they get the lamb?
14. What was this celebration they were establishing?
15. Who would partake of the lamb?
16. If the family was not large enough to totally consume the lamb at
    one sitting, what should they do?
17. Describe the lamb they should choose.
18. Who called Jesus the Lamb of God in the gospels?
19. What was he speaking of, when he called Jesus the Lamb of God?
20. What gender was the lamb to be?
21. How long should the lamb be kept and examined?
22. Who shall kill this lamb?
23. What is this symbolic of?
24. Who is between the Christian and God the Father?
25. What was to be done with the blood of the lamb?
26. Why?
27. What will make the Christians' robes white?
28. What is to be done with the flesh of the lamb?
29. What type of bread is to be eaten?
30. Why?
31. What are the bitter herbs symbolic of?
32. In the communion service, what is the bread symbolic of?  What is
    the wine symbolic of?
33. What does "sodden with water" mean?
34. What is the "purtenance"?
35. Who ate raw meat in their ceremonies?
36. What symbolizes the unity of the faith in all of this?
37. What other time would these Israelites be warned not to have
    anything left for the next day?
38. We, Christians, must daily eat what?