Exodus 11:5—“And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals.” This sounds cruel to us, in our wimpy, politically correct society. How could a good, loving God just butcher so many innocent people? Such an act doesn’t sit well with out modern sensibilities. Of course, God can do anything He wants to, and if we don’t like it, that’s just tough. But there is much more to this event than that. There comes a point, in national wickedness, when punishment must be meted out. The Egyptians were a pagan peoples who had rejected the one, true God for centuries. They had brutally conquered other lands and had enslaved the Israelites for over 200 years. There are some people that just aren’t fit to live on God’s earth, and so much of this is a lesson for us today. Sin will be punished; not only eternally, but certain malevolent, inexcusable actions have consequences on this earth as well. The death of the firstborn of Egypt will not be the only time in the Bible God punishes people nationally; in fact, it happens many times. And though we do not know exactly what God is doing today in His providence, we can rest assured that if we do not learn the great lessons these Bible events teach us, that we will suffer, individually and collectively, as well. Don’t blame God when people snub Him and get their due. Castigating God for killing the firstborn of Egypt is simply another excuse for not obeying Him. If the Egyptians had honored Him according to the light they were given, then they wouldn’t have suffered this catastrophe.
Exodus 12:25-27—“It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' that you shall say, 'It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.'” It is arguable that the Passover was the most important of all Jewish feasts. It was to be kept yearly, of course, although there are indications later in the Old Testament that the Jews didn’t do this. The idea behind the Passover is stated in these verses—a memorial for what the Lord did for Israel in Egypt. Jehovah did something here for the Hebrews that they could not do themselves—escape bondage. Their deliverance from slavery was wholly on God’s part and none of their own. Of course, at the appropriate time, they had to move and follow His directions, but they were to be reminded, through this yearly feast, of the grace of God in delivering them from Egypt. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 5:7, “Christ [is] our Passover.” Our deliverance from the bondage of sin was totally actuated by God. Just as with the Israelites in Egypt, there was absolutely nothing we could to release ourselves from slavery (to sin). Christ’s “Passover” blood was necessary for our release. Now, we, too, must move when we are told to do so (belief, repentance, baptism, etc.), but without God’s grace, none of this would happen. The Lord’s Supper, observed each week in the early church and by His church today, reminds us of our Passover, Jesus, and the blood He shed in order to deliver us from “Egypt”—bondage. The parallel is perfect. The Israelites were in bondage with no way they could deliver themselves. God acted, led them across the Red Sea into freedom, the wilderness, on their way to the Promised Land. Tragically, many of them did not enter in because of unbelief (Heb. 3:19). So with man today. We are in “bondage” (to sin). God acted (through Jesus). We cross the Red Sea (baptism), freeing us from sin (Acts 2:38), and into the wilderness of life on our way to the eternal Promised Land. They type-antitype is remarkable, and of course, planned by God. The mind of the Lord is so wonderfully plain to see for those whose eyes are open.
The final question here, though, is, how many of us will not enter into our Promised Land because of unbelief?
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