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An Unleavened Feast

14This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread. ~ Exodus 12:14-20

After the Passover lamb was slaughtered and the people of Israel partook in the Passover, the next day they were to remove the leaven from their homes. Anyone who did not would be cut off from Israel. Why? Because the Passover lamb foreshadowed Jesus and partaking in Passover foreshadowed accepting His free gift of salvation. So, what about removing the leaven? The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They had been influenced by the Egyptian culture and religion as they had no leader, judge, king, or law to guide them during these years. So, they began to take on and participate in the sins of their slave masters, the Egyptians.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a reminder of the LORD bringing the people out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. God was saying, I am physically removing you from slavery, now remove the leaven from among you so that I might foreshadow that one I will remove you from spiritual slavery. Leaven is a representation of sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-7). When the Passover lamb was slaughtered and the Israelites partook in the Passover, they were spiritually partaking in the taste of the salvation that has come through Jesus Christ, our final, perfect Passover Lamb.

There is nothing in the Bible that the LORD has done or said arbitrarily. Each and every thing was done with a purpose. It was done to foreshadow the good things to come. It was done to foreshadow the terrifying things to come. Each and every moment, no matter how insignificant it may seem, was done in order to prepare us for what has come and what will come.

Dear LORD, thank You for making a way for us to come to You. Thank You for all Your many blessings upon me. Please help me to not just partake in the Passover meal, but to remove the leaven from my home as well. Help me to crucify my own flesh, so that Your will might be done in my life. Help me not to make Your sacrifice null and void because I refuse to remove the leaven. Help me to live for You, LORD Jesus. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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A Passover Feast

Exodus 12:5-13NIV

[5] The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. [6] Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. [7] Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. [8] That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. [9] Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. [10] Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. [11] This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. [12] “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. [13] The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

The Passover is the feast in remembrance of the LORD passing over all who had the blood of the sacrificed lamb on the doorposts. This was the protection given to all who listened and obeyed. A protection against what? The Destroyer coming through the land of Egypt and striking down the first born. So, the LORD, when He saw the blood, would stop the Destroyer from entering the home of any person who had the blood on their doorposts.

This feast foreshadowed the LORD God Himself coming in the form of man and dying on the cross. Three days later, He rose from the dead and ascended to the father to sprinkle His blood in the altar in Heaven. Just as the blood was brushed on the doorposts, we, as Christians are washed and covered in the blood of Christ. Why? So that when the LORD comes to bring judgment on the earth by pouring out His wrath, He will look for His blood, see it, and call us to Himself so that we might not be caught in this wrath.

Dear LORD, thank You for Your sacrifice. Thank You for Your promise of redemption. Please help me to live my life striving to be worthy of Your precious and holy blood. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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Another Moses

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to Him. ~ Deuteronomy 18:15NIV

Before Moses died, he reassured the people that the LORD would send them another prophet like him, from among their own people. Moses had been saved from the decrees of pharaoh to be thrown in the river. That very river brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who would pay his own mother to nurse him until he was old enough to be given to pharaoh’s daughter. He was raised in the palace of Pharaoh free from the persecution his people felt, yet he willingly risked it all to try to help his own.

This led to him fleeing for his own life and ending up a stranger in a strange land. There, he became a shepherd, a husband, and a father. He was free, enjoying life when the LORD called him back to Egypt. So, what does Moses do? The risks it all once again and goes to help his people. Then, throughout their deliverance, and even after, they complain to him. They blame him for their hardships.

Then, when God met with them, he was the only one who went into the presence of God and therefore became the bridge between God and man. Jesus’ story is similar but more intense.

He wasn’t just a guest in a foreign king’s home. No. He was the King of kings and LORD of lords seated on His own throne in Heaven. Free from all pain, suffering, and want, only to freely give it up to take on the from of a servant. He felt hunger, thirst, pain, suffering, and even temptation. All of this for the world He knew would ultimately reject Him and even crucify Him.

What’s the major difference between them? Moses physically delivered his people, but Christ physically, spiritually, and emotionally delivered all people willing to believe in Him. This deliverance was not for just a moment but is for all eternity. As Moses died, Christ also died, but the biggest difference is that Christ rose three days later. This is the most important difference.

Christ died but rose again to never die again. This is our hope. To die to sin and live to Christ. To look forward to His physical return, but even as He is physically in Heaven, His Holy Spirit dwells in us, and He lives through us. So we are not alone.

Dear LORD, thank You for Your promises fulfilled. Thank You for Your great sacrifice that freed me from my sin. Help me to not make light of Your sacrifice nor take it for granted. Teach me to lean on Your Holy Spirit and hear Your guiding whisper. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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A Hardened Heart

21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.” ~ Exodus 4:21NIV

I’ve heard many people say that God creates people for destruction and others for reward. To prove this, many like to use Pharaoh in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, as an example. I personally believe they’re not fully understanding what Paul was saying.

I believe that God gives each person the chance to repent until judgment has come, then He turns them over to their own desires. If we look at the story of Pharaoh and the Exodus from Egypt, Pharaoh’s heart originally was not hardened by God. Pharaoh, when told what the LORD said, not only said “who is the LORD that I should obey Him?” but he made their slavery and oppression even harder.

The Bible recounts that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It’s not until the plagues begin to play out, and they’re halfway over that we set the LORD harden the heart of Pharaoh and seal his fate.

The LORD says that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:32 & Ezekiel 33:11). Peter testifies that the LORD is patient towards us, not desiring that any should perish (2 Peter 3:19). This is the great it the LORD, true love for His creation, but He is also good and just in all His ways. Therefore, He is bound by His own nature, which is law, that He must punish the wicked.

So, when Pharaoh hardens his own heart time and time again and refuses to see the LORD’s signs, repent, and let His people go, the LORD turns him over to a hardened heart. Why? So that judgment might be brought out upon him, his people, and his gods.

This isn’t the only time we see this either. Paul prophesies a coming Great Delusion from the LORD. A turning over of all the wicked to their own wickedness that they might be judged because of their own wickedness.

So, what are we to do? We, as my aunt so eloquently said this past Sunday, must break up the fallow ground of our hearts so that His Word would fall on good soil and not on hardened soil. The LORD places before each of us life and death. So choose life. Tomorrow is promised to no man. We never know when we will take our last breath, neither do we know when we will be turned over to our own desires and harden our heart, as He did Pharaoh’s, sealing our fate

Dear LORD, please forgive me for every time I have hardened my heart against Your word. Please break up the fallow ground of my heart that I might not be against Your Word. Show me what is in me that needs to be removed. Renew in me a right spirit, oh LORD, that I might not be lost to my own desires. Help me to crucify my flesh daily so that I might be with You for all eternity. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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Plagues For Punishment

Exodus 3:18-20 NIV

[18] The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ [19] But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. [20] So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

Ten plagues were shown as ten signs, and after each sign the Pharaoh said he’d let the people of Israel go, if the plague was just removed. Ten times he promised and ten times Pharaoh broke his promise. This is significant.

Ten is the number of covenant. Ten promises to let the LORD’s people go only to refuse after each one. Pharaoh, without realizing it, had set himself up against the LORD as an enemy. Pharaoh kept the Covenant people of God in slavery away from Him. So, what did God do? He brought down ten plagues on Egypt, its Pharaoh, and its gods. Pharaoh kept the Covenant people of God away from God, so God punished Pharaoh.

Pharaoh still refused to let the people of God go, even go as to change his mind each time he agreed to let them go. Pharaoh eventually drowned with his men in the Red Sea.

When we refuse to bow our knee to God, we set ourselves up against Him as His enemy. And when we set ourselves up against God, then we stand no chance of winning, for who can defeat the creator of the universe and all within it?

Dear LORD, please forgive me for each time I have hardened my heart against You and refused to let go of my flesh. Soften my heart. Give me a new heart and renew a right spirit in me. Hear me from Heaven, LORD. Forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Help me to follow You with all that is within me. Help me to love You with all that is within me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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A Friend In High Places

Exodus 7:10-13 NIV

[10] So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. [11] Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: [12] Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. [13] Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and gave him a sign that the LORD had spoken to them. Aaron took his staff, threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent. This didn’t impress Pharaoh, as he understood that the enemy also had power. So, he called in his magicians, and they did the same thing by their magic arts.

I honestly think the scene from The Prince of Egypt truly does a great job embodying that moment. The chief priests and magicians came in the power of like 20+ gods, but Moses (and Aaron) came in the name of only one. The chief priests and magicians were so caught up in trying at their own power and authority over Moses and Aaron that they didn’t even realize that their serpents were swallowed up by the one serpent.

It truly doesn’t matter how many gods you come in the name of. It doesn’t matter how important you believe you are. There is only one God and He alone has all the power and all the authority. Darkness may be able to mimic certain things He does, but never can they truly mimic the power. The prince of Egypt shows but two serpents, but I believe that their were more than just two high priests and magicians standing over Moses and Aaron taunting them with their staff that has now turned into a serpent.

And Aaron’s staff ate each and every one of them. Darkness may be able to imitate the appearance of God, but it can never Imitate His power. There is only one God and only one name by which we can be saved. The world can try to duplicate or imitate salvation, peace, love, joy, etc. but these things can truly only be found in the LORD.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the time that I sought the world to fill me instead of you. Please forgive me for all the times I didn’t go in your power but tried to do it in my own. Please open my eyes so that I may see that it is You and You alone that holds the power and authority. Help me to seek You and Your Kingdom and my own. Help me to seek You, oh LORD, and not the things of this world that are mere temporary imitations of the real gifts You have promised me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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The World of “Who?”

1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” ~ Exodus 5:1-2

A new Pharaoh had risen to power in Egypt during the years that Moses had spent in Midian. When Moses and Aaron present their case before him, the very first thing Pharaoh says to them is “Who is the LORD?” Let that sink in for a second. Pharaoh wasn’t just saying, “explain to me who your God is because I have never heard of Him.” Pharaoh is saying, “I don’t care who your God believes he is. Who is He to command me to let Israel go? Does He not know who I am?” Keep in mind that Pharaoh wasn’t just a regular king. His magicians turned their staffs to serpents, water to blood, and even called up frogs on the land just as Aaron had done, so Pharaoh knew that he and his gods had some form of power. The problem was that Pharaoh’s pride didn’t allow him to hear out the God of Israel. He didn’t feel the need to take a chance on hearing what the GOD of gods had to say to him.

Today is no different. We have those in power who enslave and oppress the people of God. We have people who don’t even want to acknowledge or give a single second to the LORD God Almighty. And, much like Pharaoh, God then turns them over to their own hearts’ desires. A heart that desires nothing of God, but only hates Him and His people.

But just as Pharaoh was brought low and humbled before the LORD, so will those who refuse to listen to the Words of the LORD and refuse to let the people of God go. Their slavery and oppression don’t always look blatantly like slavery and oppression, especially here in the West. Today, that slavery and oppression are more times than not, found in the spiritual form of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Our average college students, according to a study a few years ago, have the same anxiety levels as someone who was hospitalized and placed in an asylum less than 70 years ago.

The Church we are today is very much oppressed and enslaved. It feels like pastors are being exposed and falling from grace every other day. Well-known Church people are falling victim to suicide’s lies. And what does the world continuously say to anyone who would dare suggest Jesus as freedom? “Who is the LORD that we should obey His voice?” But just as Pharaoh was humbled, so will the world be humbled in our generation, but only when His people who are called by His name will humble themselves, repent of their sins, and cry out to the LORD for help.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I have accepted defeat and allowed myself to remain enslaved because it felt to hard or too impossible to see a victory. Please forgive me. Please cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Please hear my cry, oh LORD, and send a deliverer. Send someone who can speak on our behalf so that we might be freed from this present darkness. Please help me to learn to pick up my spiritual armor and fight this spiritual battle that I cannot avoid nor can I ignore. I pray that You would always be with me and guide me throughout the rest of my days. Help me to fulfill what You once told Peter that when I turn back to You, I will help strengthen my fellow Church members. Thank You, LORD, for never giving up on me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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A Foreign Word

Exodus 2:11-15 NIV

[11] One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. [12] Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. [13] The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” [14] The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” [15] When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

Moses now living in Pharaoh’s own house has never forgotten his own people. He even tries to save one of them but it backfires on him because the one he tried to save throws it back in his face and then Pharaoh finds out and tries to kill Moses. So what exactly did Moses do?

He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrews and so he killed the Egyptian. The next day Moses saw two Hebrews fighting and when he questioned the one in the wrong, the man threw in his face what he had done to the Egyptian the previous day. So, fear entered Moses that what he done had become known. Then what happened? Sure enough Pharaoh finds out and tries to kill him. So Moses flees Egypt and goes to Midian.

Now, God comes to Moses in the burning bush and calls him, but Moses asks God the very same question the Hebrew slave asked him “who am I to do this?” It had been several years when Moses fled Egypt, yet that same question had caused doubt in him and stayed with him all those years.

Think about this. Moses was talking to God. God was speaking back to Moses and telling him that He was chosen by God, yet Moses is like “who am I to do these things?” This still happens to us today.

The enemy will use a simple phrase from our past in order to keep us from our future. Moses missed out on the priesthood coming through his line. He missed out on performing the miracles before Pharaoh in Egypt. Moses even missed out on a healing touch for his tongue, all because one man who was in the wrong lashed out on him when he was being corrected.

Never let the enemy use someone else to keep you from your call. God has called each and every one of us to a specific job. The enemy knows this, so he plants seeds of doubt, fear, anger, bitterness, etc. in our minds years in advance in order to control us. In order to keep us from our call. In order so that when God finally calls us, we’ll have so much doubt, we won’t be able to trust God.

So, what do we do? We don’t go in our own strength but in the strength of the LORD. When God calls you, He doesn’t send you on your own. He sends you in His Spirit. He sends you in His strength. Matter-a-fact He Himself goes before you. So what do you have to lose?

Fear LORD, I’m sorry for every time you have called me and I have given up. I’m sorry for every time I have slowed someone else’s words and opinions, dictate my life. Please forgive me and give me the strength to overcome. Please give me another opportunity to do Your work and fulfill the call You have on my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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A Foiled Plan

[10] When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”  ~ Exodus 2:10NIV

The people of Israel had dwelt alongside the Egyptians peacefully for 30 years. Joseph, one of the Hebrews, had helped save Egypt from the earth-wide famine. But the new king of Egypt didn’t care about any of that. Joseph himself meant nothing to him, so when he saw how the people of Israel began to flourish in the land, irrational fear began to seep into his heart, and he began oppressing the people of Israel, putting slave masters over them. His fear of them growing more powerful and too great was not eased, as the more he oppressed them, the more they grew in number.

When he saw slavery wasn’t enough, he had the Hebrew midwives kill the male boys at birth, but his plan failed as the Hebrew midwives would not do this wicked request, and instead, the people continued to grow.

Then Pharaoh called for all the Hebrew boys born to be thrown into the Nile. One of the Hebrew mothers hid her newborn son for three months, but when she could no longer hide him, she put him in a basket and set him among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby along the riverbank of the Nile and adopted him. His sister, Miriam, who was watching, spoke to Pharaoh’s daughter and was able to arrange for their mother, Jochebed, to nurse him and even be paid for it. Once he was weaned, Moses was brought back to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son, and she named him Moses.

I want you to notice that everything Pharaoh did in order to destroy Israel, did the opposite, and the Nile River, which he tried to use to destroy the baby boys of Israel, was used in order to bring the deliverer to safety and even give him a place in Pharaoh’s own house. If Johebed had not put Moses in the basket and set him among the reeds of the bank of the Nile, Pharaoh’s daughter would have never found him. And if his sister had not stayed to see what would happen to him, she would’ve never been able to suggest their mother to nurse him on behalf of Pharaoh’s daughter.

God has plans for all of our lives, but if we do not follow His guiding hand in faith, He will use someone else. But if we do, He will use what the Devil meant for evil and make it for our good. The Devil can only succeed when we give up, but if we are faithful, the LORD will be faithful to us.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I didn’t adhere to Your guiding hand. Strengthen my faith, so that in times of trouble, I may not be overcome by distress but strengthened by my faith and trust in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.=

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Rejoice In His Day

John 8:48-59NIV

[48] The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” [49]  “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. [50] I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. [51] Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” [52] At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. [53] Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” [54] Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. [55] Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. [56] Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” [57] “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” [58]  “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” [59] At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Yesterday, we talked discussed how the Messiah was promised to Abraham after he did not hold back anything from God, including his promised son Isaac. Isaac was laid on an altar, but before he could be sacrificed, the LORD stopped Abraham and sent a ram in his place. This isn’t insignificant. That ram foreshadowed Jesus on the cross.

When Jesus was preaching and teaching, He said

[31] To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. [32] Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32 NIV

He and the Jews then went back and forth, and Jesus revealed that Abraham saw His day and was glad. We were set free from sin when Jesus nailed our debt to the cross and cancelled it, putting the enemy to shame. Jesus foreshadowed this Himself when He took the form of a ram and took Isaac’s place on the altar. Abraham saw Jesus’ day, His foreshadowing, and rejoiced.

We have heard His day and are saved by His day, yet do we rejoice? We are no longer bound under sin. We are no longer slaves to unrighteousness, yet how often do we rejoice in the salvation that we have?

Dear LORD, thank You for Your sacrifice. Thank You for loving me, even though I don’t deserve it. Thank You for saving me and redeeming me. LORD, please forgive me for all the times that I have wallowed in my own pain, suffering, grief, bitterness, and anger instead of rejoicing in Your salvation and redemption. I have hope because of You. I have life because of You. When I am down, help me to remember that if I rejoice in You, You will lift up my soul and give me joy for mourning. Peace for anger. Love for fear. Help me, LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. 

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