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Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

Mark Finley

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

02 The Burning Bush

03 Rough Start

04 The Plagues

05 Passover

07 The Bread and Water of Life

08 Covenant at Sinai


Welcome back to another Sabbath School lesson. We're studying the book of Exodus, deep spiritual lessons for an end time people. Our title of our lesson number 5 is the Passover. Now there are 4 basic truths that we're going to take a look at in this lesson. Let me outline them for you.

First, the importance of choices. If we see anything in this lesson that concludes the 10 plagues on Egypt, we see Pharaoh's resistance, Pharaoh's rebellion. We see his lack of making a godly positive choice. Secondly, we see the folly of all false gods. They could not protect Egypt in the time of plagues.

Thirdly, we see the importance of submission to God. And fourthly, in the Passover, we see God's provisions of salvation. And we see in the Passover lamb, a example of a foreshadowing of the death of Jesus Christ. We've seen the blood of the Lamb, the cleansing blood of Christ. So this is an exciting, exciting lesson.

Now in the account of the Exodus, 1 man's refusal to submit to God, Pharaoh's refusal, had powerful and profound impacts on the entire nation. We jump right into Sunday's lesson. You remember what Amos says, surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he reveals his secrets unto his servants, the prophets. Amos 3, verse 7. So God worked on Moses' heart.

God worked on Moses' mind to reveal what was coming. The most solemn warning was given to Pharaoh so Pharaoh could prepare. And this would be a just judgment, that is the slaying of the firstborn, would be a just judgment on the pride, exploitation, violence, and idolatry, all of which have triggered these calamities upon Egypt. We're gonna get deeply into the death of the firstborn a little bit later in the lesson. I know when you first think about it, babies killed, innocent babies, What kind of a God is that?

We're gonna look at that very seriously. But before we do, I wanna take a look at Exodus 11, in the lesson it's listed at verses 1 to 10. And here is God's warning through Moses to Pharaoh. We're gonna look at Exodus 11, verses 4 and onward. And Moses says, thus says the Lord about midnight, will I go out into the midst of Egypt.

And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sits upon his throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill and the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, such as there was never like it, nor none shall be like it anymore." So God gave to Pharaoh a warning. Now you remember before this, there were 3 days of darkness. Why did God put those 3 days of darkness before the slaying of the firstborn? For 1 simple reason.

A loving God wanted to give Egypt Time to reflect, time to repent, time to think about the need for submitting to the will of God and letting Israel go. God is not a capricious God that does things randomly, but rather God is a merciful, compassionate God. And through Moses, through the outpouring of the 10 plagues, he wanted to show the importance of making right choices, the folly of worshiping the gods of Egypt, and the necessity of submitting to the true God. Here in our lesson, we read in Sunday's lesson, the third or fourth paragraph down under the question, And we read, God is the judge and he is against pride, injustice, discrimination, arrogance, exploitation, cruelty, and selfishness. He is on the side of the sufferers, the abused, the mistreated, and the persecuted.

You remember that the Egyptian taskmasters lorded it over, beat into submission Israelites, and Israel suffered terribly, tragically, under this mistreatment. God is the God of the sufferers. God is the God of the abused. God is the God of the abused, God is the God of the mistreated and persecuted, and ultimately will execute judgment and justice, which is truly another expression of his love. If you have so-called love and no justice, you then have the rampant exploitation.

You have the growth of evil. You have oppression. So justice is 1 aspect of love. Love's aspects are mercy, compassion, graciousness, but also justice. So love and law go together.

And the last paragraph in Sunday's lesson says, we should try the best we can to be both loving and just. However, we can easily fall into extremes 1 way or the other. Out of love we turn to blind eye to wrongs, to things that need to be corrected, or we can coldly execute justice as if there were something as if it were something made of steel. Neither extreme is correct. Indeed, there is an ideal.

What does the Lord require of you? But to do what? Justly, that's justice. To love mercy, that's compassion. And to work humbly with your God.

Monday's lesson, we jump over to healing the body, Exodus chapter 12. God is going to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage. And notice the specific instruction that God gives to Moses and Aaron. We find this in Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12, we're looking there at verse 3.

Speak you 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 a house. And if the household, verse 4, be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of souls. Every man according to the eating shall count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be, verse 5, without blemish, a male of the first year, she shall take it from the sheep and the goats." Now, they were to take a lamb without blemish, why? The Bible was pointing out that salvation comes not from their efforts, but from God.

They were to take that lamb, slay the lamb, place the blood upon the doorpost, and the angel of death would pass over their homes. What an illustration of Jesus Christ. What an illustration of the Lamb without spot and blemish. You remember the times that throughout the Bible the concept of the Lamb is mentioned as Jesus? John chapter 1 verse 29.

You recall here in John 1 29, John looks at Jesus and he says, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus would be that perfect lamb. Throughout the sanctuary system in Israel, after the Passover, when Israel was let out of Egyptian bondage, you recall that sacrifices, a lamb and other sacrifices as well, were brought to the sanctuary. The sinner held his hands over the head of the sacrifice and confessed his sin. The sin was transferred from the sinner to the sacrifice.

The sacrifice was slain. Blood spurted on the hands of the sinner, maybe on his legs. The divine truth was that the wages of sin are death. And without the shedding of blood, Hebrews 10, 22, there is no remission of sin. So sin is transferred to the sacrifice.

When we come to Jesus, our sacrifice, our sins are transferred to him on Calvary's cross and our guilt is gone. When the sinner came to the sanctuary, he was burdened with guilt, burdened with shame, burdened with condemnation. But as he left the sanctuary, he left that sanctuary rejoicing because his guilt was gone. The death that he deserved to die was foreshadowed in the death that the lamb died. Often, the priest then would either eat portions of the lamb, some would be burned on the altar of sacrifice, the priest would eat portions, and the sin via the blood and via the portions of the priest ate would go into the sanctuary.

So the Lamb of God represents Jesus. The blood of the Lamb represents the blood of Jesus shed for us. Jesus is our dying Lamb. Jesus is our living priest. Our priest Jesus is born through the blood of the sacrifice.

Our sins into the sanctuary above to separate them from us. Remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, in verse 7, talking about the Passover lamb and the death of the Passover lamb. He says, verse 7, "'Purge out therefore the old leaven that may be a new lump.'" The Israelites were to eat unleavened bread, leaven at times a sign of sin. "'As you are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

So the lamb slain, the blood put on the doorpost represents Christ our Passover sacrificed for us. Jesus throughout the Bible is mentioned as the Lamb of God. In the book of Revelation, time and time again, Jesus is mentioned as the Lamb of God. You remember the mighty story, the amazing story in Revelation chapter 5, the heavenly beings look up at the throne of God. John sees an open door in heaven.

He looks up through that open door. Heavenly beings gather around that throne. There are thousands, 10 thousands. It's obviously the throne of judgment in Revelation chapter 5. Then John sees a book and he sees this scroll or this book written on both sides.

It's unsealed. The sins of humanity are there. John says, who can open the book? Nobody can open the book that reveals the seals of humanity that comes down to God's final judgment. If no 1 can open that book, all humanity is lost.

But then, John says, I looked up and I saw a lamb as it were slain. A lamb as it were slain in heaven at the throne of God with thousands there in the judgment bar? Certainly, because through Christ, by Christ, because of Christ, we can be redeemed in his kingdom. That's what the Passover is all about, that gripped with sin in the midst of Egyptian idolatry today, in the midst of worldliness, secularism, godlessness, the false gods of materialism, in the midst of all that, Jesus says, come to me. Come.

Accept me as the Lamb of God. Notice that the blood is on the doorpost of your hearts. Know that through Christ, your eternal salvation is secure. When I look at myself, I see no possibility of being saved. When I look at Jesus, I see no possibility of being lost because he is the Lamb that was slain for me.

That's the story of the Passover. Now what role does blood play in the celebration of the Passover? The blood of course represents the very blood of Jesus. In Tuesday's lesson, third paragraph down, The whole gospel was associated with the celebration of the Passover, because it pointed not only to the freedom from slavery and going to the promised land, but to Jesus Christ's sacrifice for our sins and his merits applied to all who are covered by his blood. The unleavened bread, symbol of the sinless Messiah who overcame all the temptations and gave his life for us.

That's the last paragraph. A bunch of hyssop which was dipped in blood symbolizes Christ's purifying grace. In short, all through the Passover, the redeeming work of Christ is revealed. God told the Israelites that the Passover celebration with the unleavened bread, the Passover celebration with the hyssop dipped in blood putting on the doorpost, the Passover celebration with the slaying of the lamb, that that should be told to every generation. Exodus 12 verse 24 to 28.

Exodus 12 verse 24 to 28. Here, the Passover story, the story and its meaning should be told to every generation. We start with Exodus the 12th chapter. We're looking there at verse 24. What a story.

The story of God's grace that must be told verse 24 exits 12 it shall come to pass when you shall come into the land which the Lord will give you." That's when God says, when I'm leading you into the promised land, according as he has promised. God's promises are true. God's promises never fail. Verse 25, "'It shall come to pass that in that land that the Lord gives you, he will keep his promises. Verse 26, it shall come to pass when your children shall say to you, what means this service?

What does this service of the Passover mean? Because they're gonna be keeping it all through their wilderness wandering. They're gonna be keeping it when they go into the Promised Land. So the children are gonna say, what does it mean? Verse 27, you shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, When he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses, and the people bowed their head and worshipped, and the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

What does the Passover service mean to you and me today? We don't slay a lamb. We don't put the blood above our doorpost. What does it mean? What does it mean that we tell the story to our children?

We tell the story to every generation of God's miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage of the Israelites. We tell the story of how they slew the lamb, put the blood on the doorpost. We tell our boys and girls and we tell our children that all of that points forward to Jesus. All of that points forward to his love and his sacrifice, that there was a lamb, the lamb of God, Jesus Christ, slain for us. We tell our children that the blood of Christ was shed for us.

And we read to them the scriptures about without the shedding of blood, there is no remission to sin. We tell them of the goodness of God and the mercy of God. We tell our children that in Christ, their sins can be forgiven. We read to them, Romans 8, verse 1, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. We share with them the story of the true Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, and we share with them the story of the cross of Calvary.

We repeat it to every generation. We share with them the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And we tell our children that 1 day, as Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage to the blood of Christ. So we too can be delivered from the bondage and oppression and injustice and exploitation of this world. And 1 day we too will enter into the promised land and reign with Christ forever.

But that does leave a question about divine judgment. Because just as sin and injustice and exploitation in Pharaoh's day was judged. And just as the first born were slain, so there will be divine judgment again in the 7 last plagues." There were 10 in Egypt, 7 last plagues. The first 3 fell on all the land. In Egypt, the last 7 only fell on the Egyptians.

The 7 last plagues in the end time, in the book of Revelation, chapter 15 and 16, will fall only on those who are rebellious against God. The wicked will be impacted by the plagues, 7 last plagues, but the righteous will not. So again, there'll be divine judgment. There were 10 plagues of Egypt. There'll be 7 last plagues.

But the question becomes, how could God slay the firstborn? That's a very pertinent question. There are those people that turn away from God. They say, if God slew the firstborn, If the angel came down and slew them, then God must not be merciful. How could that possibly happen?

We read Exodus chapter 12, verse 29 and 30. It came to pass that at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne and to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not 1 dead." What sorrow, what sorrow. In Exodus 15, though, verse 11, we get a hint of what was happening here.

Exodus 15, verse 11. We get a hint of what was happening. I read there, Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? And who is glorious in his holiness, fearful, praises, doing wonders? Here we have a key.

Who are some of the gods of Egypt? In these gods, there was Isis, the god who was supposed to protect the children. There was Hekwat, the goddess who attended Egyptian mothers at childbirth. There was Min, the god of reproduction. So Pharaoh was saying, our gods are superior to the god of heaven.

Who is God? Pharaoh was saying, I don't know him. But when the firstborn were slain, all the gods of Egypt, Isis, Hekwat, Min, could not protect the Egyptian firstborn. The gods were proven to be impotent. The gods of Egypt were proven to be folly.

They were proven that they could not protect. The note under Thursday's lesson puts it this way. Pharaoh represented the ultimate power and the God of Egypt, and his firstborn son was considered a God. And who was gonna protect the firstborn son that was considered a god? Isis was the goddess protecting the children.

Hekut was the goddess attending woman at childbirth. Min was the god of reproduction. Besides these, there were several Egyptian gods of fertility. All these gods were powerless in comparison to the living Lord. According to Exodus 1, the Egyptians had killed the firstborn sons of Israel on the command of Pharaoh to weaken the Israelites and to subdue and humiliate them.

Now God strikes the firstborn sons of Egypt. What people sow, they reap. There is a fascinating note in the book, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 280, on the subject of the Passover. Actually, if you read the whole section, page 273 to 280 in Patriarchs and Prophets, and I'll read a section of this. It says, It was not enough that the Passover lamb be slain, its blood must be sprinkled upon the doorpost.

So the merits of Christ's blood must be applied to the soul. We must believe not only that he died for the world, but he died for us individual. We must appropriate to ourselves the virtue of the atoning sacrifice. So you have 2 contrasts. In Exodus 1, the firstborn of Israel dies.

In all through Exodus, Pharaoh is saying my gods are greater than the true God. But in Exodus 12, in the Passover, the firstborn of all of the Egyptians die because the gods of the Egyptians can't protect them. But God's people are protected, why? Because the blood that is placed upon the doorpost represents the blood of Jesus Christ. That blood must be applied to your heart and mine, because in the final divine judgment, God's people will be protected.

Those that have come to Jesus, Those that have had the blood of Christ in their lives, pardoning their sin, redeeming them from condemnation and guilt. Have you opened your heart to this Christ? Have you given your life to this Christ? Do you have just a make-believe experience or a genuine, authentic experience with Jesus? Open your heart.

Ask him today to let his blood cover your sins so that in the final judgment, the angel of death will pass over you and through Christ, you will have eternal life. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your love and grace. Thank you for the lessons of the Passover. Thank you that the false gods of Egypt were proven to be powerless, but that Jesus is all powerful.

We praise your name for your goodness, your grace, and your mercy. Help us to have the blood of Christ applied to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. Or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org.

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Series

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

05 Passover

Parent Series

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Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

22m

02 The Burning Bush

22m

03 Rough Start

24m

04 The Plagues

25m

05 Passover

25m

07 The Bread and Water of Life

22m

08 Covenant at Sinai

27m

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