The Tenth And Final Plague (Part 1)

THE TENTH AND FINAL PLAGUE

Exodus 12:21-32

The Exodus

By now you have heard me say that there are 4 parts to the Exodus –

-The Passover

-The 10th and final plague

-The leaving of Egypt

-The crossing of the Red Sea

Today we look at part 2 – the 10th and final plague!

-This is a message that the world needs to hear which is why I am so thankful you are

here!

Read Exodus 12:21-32

Pray

The Message

God is personally active in both salvation and judgment –

Let’s say that in different ways to get the point –

-God is personally and actively involved in bringing salvation and judgment.

-God doesn’t leave it to someone else –

-While He may use secondary causes, He is the One who is always working so that His

will and ways prevail.

God Brings Salvation – Israel

1 – “Go and select lambs.”

-Let’s pretend something –

-Let’s pretend we have a consulting firm – and our specialty is national freedom…

-We help nations gain their freedom from oppressive nations.

-As we are pretending, let’s pretend the Israelites come to us for help –

-They tell us their story – How Pharaoh and the Egyptians have oppressed

and enslaved them for generations.

-What would we tell them?

-We would say – “Get an army”… “Get a general” (everything rises and falls

on leadership)… “Get some weapons”… “Get a strategy”

-We know the wisdom of the world –

-We have studied history; We know what works!

-But what did God tell them? “Get a lamb…and kill it.”

-v. 21 – “Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go and

select lambs for yourselves according to your clans and kill the Passover lamb’.”

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-A lamb does not project strength (especially a dead one) – So why did God, on the

threshold of salvation, tell them to select and slay a lamb?

-Psalm 20:6-8 – “Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer

him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in

chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.”

-Zechariah 4:6 – “… “This is the word of the LORD to Zerbbabel: Not by might, nor

by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.’”

-1 Sameul 17:46-47

-2 Corinthians 12:8-10

-When Israel was delivered from the hand of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, one thing was

crystal clear – God delivered them!

-This was not human strength, wisdom or ingenuity – It was the power of God!

-Salvation is of the LORD – there’s no self-rescue!

-When it comes to the instructs for anointing the doorframe with the lamb’s blood, the

only addition detail from what was given earlier, is to use “a bunch of hyssop” to apply

the blood.

-I only make mention of it because “hyssop” will become synonymous with

forgiveness by the applying of blood sacrifice –

-Psalm 51:7 – “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me, and I shall

be whiter than snow.”

-The picture…

2 – “The LORD will pass over”

-The LORD is taking full responsibility for the judgment that comes upon the Egyptians –

-v. 23 – “For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians..”

-v. 27 – “…when He struck the Egyptians.”

-While God takes full responsibility for the deaths of the Egyptian firstborns, He

uses a secondary means to accomplish it –

-v. 23 – “For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when

he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will

pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to

strike you.”

-The identification of “the destroyer” is uncertain –

-Examples….

-But what we see is this –

-The presence of God went into the land of Goshen –

-He passes over the homes of the Hebrews that have the blood.

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-God personally keeps the destroyer from entering their homes!

-All this to show us once again that the LORD is actively, personally, intentionally

involved in saving you!

-He doesn’t just say, “I’ll save all the Hebrews…”

-He says that He will – pass through, see the blood (on each individual

home), and then pass over those homes in order to save the firstborn.

-They had to see, as we need to see, the salvation of the LORD is personal.

3 – “The people went and did so”

-This is a statement that expresses their faith!

-Think for a moment if they would have followed our consulting firm’s advice…!

-They would have been destroyed – It would have been over!

-But we need to understand that their faith was not a “blind leap into the dark” –

-They cried out to a God they did not yet know – (Ex. 2:23-25)

-They saw God answer their prayer in sending Moses back to them – (Ex. 4:29-31)

-Then, along with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, they witnessed one powerful act of

God after another in the plagues – (Ex. 7-9)

-In each one, God specifically revealed His power and authority over all the

so-called gods of the Egyptians.

-He showed His sovereignty over all things, including their bodies.

-He showed His authority over Pharaoh and his magicians.

-So, when God said, “Go and select lambs” they were ready to live by faith and

obey the commands of the LORD.

-Their obedience was the evidence that they believed –

-They believed the Word of God and put their trust in God’s plan for their

salvation.

God Brings Judgment – Egypt

1 – “He struck the Egyptians” –

-v. 27 – “You shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the

houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our

houses.’”

-In the same way God was active in the salvation of the Israelites, He was active in the

judgment of the Egyptians – He “struck” them.

-v. 29 – “At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt…”

2 – “There was a great cry in Egypt” –

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-v. 30 – “…And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone

was not dead.”

-And this was merely the culmination of a whole series of plagues and judgment

God had inflicted on the Egyptians.

-And these judgments were poured out in them because of the treatment of God’s

people and for their defaming the glory of God through pagan idolatry.

-Many people reject this about the God of the Bible and in His place fashion a god in

their own image –

-They say, “I wouldn’t do something like that so why should I believe in a god who

isn’t as nice as I am?!”

-But we must deal with the God of Scripture and not our own versions of Him –

-God judged Lucifer and those spirit beings that followed him in his rebellion.

-God judged Adam and Eve for their sin in breaking His commandment.

-God judged the physical world with a curse so that it is fallen.

-God judged the world through a universal flood.

-God judged individuals and nations throughout the OT

-God will judge the world in Tribulation and eternal hell.

-Jesus –

-Matt. 10:28 – “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the

soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

-A mega theme in the Bible is the just and righteous judgment of God.

-God’s glory is seen in His holiness and justice –

-Any violation of God’s holiness incurs God’s wrath.

-And in His justice, God requires that a fit penalty be paid to appease His wrath.

-You might ask, “How could God be actively involved in the death of people?”

-But there’s a more fundamental question and that is “Why do people die?”

-Or “Where did death come from?”

-Death is the penalty for sin –

-Death is required to satisfy the righteous demands of God’s wrath.

3 – “And bless me also” –

-God’s judgment through this final plague was enough to remove all resistance to the

Children of Israel leaving.

-The last words that Pharaoh will speak to Moses –

-v. 32 – “Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and

bless me also!”

-

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Why do we have such stories?

1 – That we would fear God

2 – That we would flee to God