The Great Passover Event
- Supernatural Plague Announced (Exodus 11:1-9)
- Instructions for Observing Passover (Exodus 12:12-13, 21-28)
- Manifestation of God's Power (Exodus 12:29-36)
Central Truth: God is mighty to deliver from all bondage.
Focus: Realize that God is the Soverign Power and serve Him wholeheartedly.
Evangelism Emphasis: God is mighty to deliver from the bondage of sin through Jesus Christ.
Key Scripture (Exodus 12:12): 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.
1. Supernatural Plague Announced
a. freedom coming
Key Scripture (Exodus 11:1-3): Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” 3 (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)
b. divine distinction
Key Scripture (Exodus 11:4-9): So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. 9 The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”
God's Heavy Hand
When God's heavy hand comes down, you can be sure that one of the places it's going to settle is on those who trouble the people of GOd. When GOd's children are troubled, GOd inevitable punishes the troublemakers.
-- Woodrow Kroll
2. Instructions for Observing Pasover
a. blood on the doorposts
Key Scripture (Exodus 12:12-13, 21-23): 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.
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
The Lamb's Blood
The blood, thus sprinkled, was a means of perserving the Israelites from the destroying angel, who had nothing to do where the blood was. The blood of CHrist is the believer's protection from the wrath of God, the curse of the Law, and the damnation of Hell.
-- Mathew Henry
b. passing on the faith
Key Scripture (Exodus 12:23-28): When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
3. Manifestation of God's Power
a. the destroyer comes
Key Scripture (Exodus 12:29-30): At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
b. the israelites leave
Key Scripture (Exodus 12:31-36): During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
Escape from Slavery
According to the 1860 U.S. Census, there were almost four million slaves in the United States of America. Like all humans, these enslaved people desired to be freed from bondage. Many of the slaves embraced Christianity and discovered in the BIble many stories that gave them hope. The story of God's miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt was a favorite.
Harriet TUbman escaped slavery in 1849. She said, " I looked at my hands to see if I was de same person now I was free. Dere was such a glory obet eberything, de sun came like gold through de trees and ober de fields, and I felt like I was in heaven"
(christianitytoday.com/history/people/activists/harriet-tubman)