Gibson, Jean: Studies In Exodus-04 ~ Chapters 12-15

But there's one significant section that stands out, and uh, I think in a sense that it, uh, is even given prominence with respect to the New Testament. And, um, I'm just wondering, as we sit here this morning, if you could say that of all the things that you had in this section, uh, that you could center on that which was most important. What would you say? How many of you read sections chapters twelve through fourteen? Will you raise your hand? All of you read that? Lee, did you read twelve through fourteen? No, I didn't. Yeah. Well, I'd like to again encourage you to read your chapters, so you may be behind on some of your other work, but I think it's extremely important that you lead- read the sections before you come each day, because only then can you get the maximum benefit. If you're running behind, then you simply will not get the best benefit out of it. What's the most important thing that you think in this entire section? Passover. The Passover, without any question about it. Tremendous section here on the Passover. We say that it is the most important section. Why would you say that, Fred? What's the reason for it? Because it was, uh, we're told in the New Testament that Christ is our Passover. Right, 1 Corinthians 5 and 7, 8. And since that's again, that reinforces the thought of the symbolism that's inherent into the Old Testament and in the Pentateuch, doesn't it? We're left in no doubt as to the justification for finding Christ and lessons of spiritual life in this. We say, obviously Christ is in this because First Corinthians five seven through eight also is in this. What else is also in this entire section, though, as a teaching according to the New Testament. We had this in your Exodus introduction. First Corinthians ten, you recall that? And we read that in class. Yes. Yeah. And it says these things were our examples. Therefore, they were examples of the people of God here, or examples in Christian experience for the people of God now. And that the lessons of these people passing through the Red Sea and following Moses are lessons which the Holy Spirit says apply to our lives now. We're not pulling something out of that thin air. This is not just imagination. This is the direct teaching of the New Testament, so that we have full justification for seeking things in here. Why we say that, uh, Passover is the most important thing? What, what would be the basis of it, Fred? Why? Why do you say that? Well, it's a picture of, uh, of a lamb substituting himself for the, uh, for the household there. Mm-hmm. And, uh, the lamb actually, the blood of the lamb delivers the, uh, the participants from the death brought by the angel, the judgment of God. Uh, well, I could go on and on. In a short, in a short word, though, basically what you're saying, it is, it is supremely important because it is a crystal clear picture of redemption through the blood of the lamb. That's what we're saying. It's a crystal clear picture of redemption through the blood of the Lamb, which finds, of course, uh, is the key to the understanding of the various New Pass- New Testament passages. John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus, said what? Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. That should be trem- tremendous significance to the hearers. John, in effect, said, this is the man, and this is the person, and indeed this is moving toward the central act of which Moses and the prophets spoke. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. So we have a prefiguring of Jesus, and then we know the eternal characterization of Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation. It said, we, I saw in the midst of the throne what? A lamb. A lamb as it had been what? Freshly slain. Freshly slain, yes, uh-huh. So there is an eternal characterization of Jesus Christ in the heavenlies, you see, as the Lamb of God slain for our sins. So in a sense, we're introduced to something that is not only significant to us in the present day, but something that is also of eternal significance, you see. All right, what else marks it as important? All right. Okay. But there was not only the fact that the lamb that was slain, but something else was set up. What was, what is that? What is set up? Memorial feast. A memorial feast. In the wisdom of God, he set up a memorial feast, and how long, how was that to, how long was that feast to be observed? Perpetual. That's right. Which indicates the desire of God that the ca- this characterization of the Lord Jesus should not not only never be forgotten, but specifically a memorial feast was set in memory of it. Now, uh, it's not very many things that God set up as a memorial to the people in the Old Testament, right? And even among the feasts, this was one of the three, and certainly the principal feast of the Jews, the feast of the Pa- of the Passover, of tremendous significance. So this, and also touches a part, as in the opinion of God, of tremendous importance because he instituted a feast, and nobody was to disregard that feast. Then we think of the New Testament. It was in the night in which Jesus was betrayed, and before the cross, that it was on the, the, the very night, the, the Passover observance, you see, at the very time that Jesus went to the cross was the time of the Passover, wasn't it? So of all the times that he might have gone, he selected this time, didn't he? Moreover, at this Passover, he, he did something else. What was it that he did? He instituted a memorial feast, and what did he ask people to do? That's right, he asked them to keep it. Of course, most people don't pay attention to it. They see no significance to that. Matter of fact, interesting to say, the Quakers don't observe it at all. It's spiritual. Well, it sure wasn't spiritual here, was it, in the Old Testament? It was nothing spiritual, it was literal when Jesus did it with the disciples, wasn't it? It wasn't spiritualized by Paul when he said that it was revealed unto him by the Lord Jesus, that which he also delivered unto us. So, in a sense, the, the breaking of bread has, in a real sense, taken the place of the Passover feast, hasn't it? And it should be just as significant to us as it was the Passover was to the Jews, in fact, more so, because we have the reality. This is a very interesting thing because we're often accused of making too much of it. We're often accused of making too much of it. All right, so there are many, many things which in here which make this central. Uh, in a sense, if the scene is introduced in, in chapter eleven, and I don't know that we commented on that, but we should. We are told that in verse seven of chapter eleven of Exodus, in connection with the, the warning about the firstborn. But against any of the children of Israel, this includes the threat of, uh, of death against the firstborn. Against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Isn't that pictorial? I get an order, he said, I don't want even a dog to stick out his tongue. We couldn't say that last night, could we, Chris? Had three great big monsters crawling all over us out there. Said, I've said that not even a dog will move his tongue against, against man nor beast, not only against you, but aben- against your cattle, that ye may know what? Know what, Sam? How the Lord just put a difference between the Egyptians. He sure did, didn't he? Well, what was the difference? Yes, characterizes the difference really between life and death, wasn't it? Difference of being of the redeemed of the Lord and not being the redeemed of the Lord. The difference between darkness and light. Remember that the cloud itself was to the Egyptian darkness, but to the, to the Hebrews it was light. And I want to say today that God puts all the difference in the world between his people and between those who are not his people, and we see that in the priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus in John chapter seventeen, don't we? Tremendous difference. I pray for my own that you're in the world, Jesus said. God puts a difference, and when he says that God puts a difference, we better find out what is the difference. We're a wholly different people in the sight of God. Then we find the judgment of Pharaoh. Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, and so forth. And we begin to see, see, he says, Pharaoh and the Lord, Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of the land. The end of this, as we're going to see, is going to be in this entire section, the judgment of Pharaoh. Why did God judge Pharaoh? Why did God judge Pharaoh? Pete? Well, didn't the Lord harden his heart, though? Couldn't, poor man couldn't help himself. How did he start it? Right. The judgment of Pharaoh was expressly, it was the penalty of his pride in resisting God. Who is the Lord that I should obey the Lord? The penalty of pride and resistance to God. I will not let Israel go. Pharaoh prefigures who, Greg? What's the pen- why is Satan judged, basically? Because he's the one who initiated Pride and resisting God, same thing. But the passage also say that, uh, he did that so he, he could make them understand God's word, so that he could show them his power. The later hardening of his heart in the manner of his judgment was des- was designed as an object lesson for his people, right? True. But the basic personal responsibility of Pharaoh as to why he came into the judgment of God was not simply as an object lesson, but was traceable to his own pride and resistance to God. That he was judged as a responsible individual, and in the irresponsibility and resistance of his action, he incurred the judgment of God, a part of which was the hardening of his heart and bringing him to the manner of his own judgment. Sam? I've talked to Jews that, uh, don't hold that, that Pharaoh, uh, first hardened his heart, and they have some reason for it. Have you heard anything like that? But because the Jews, uh, today, you see, are are in rank unbelief, and so they basically hold the same opinion that, uh, that any liberal would have. They don't admit that he was judged as a man because of his own sin. But the question involved is not what the Jews believe, but what the Bible says. What does the Bible say about his reaction to the Lord, and where does it say it? They have no reason for that. Well, what does it say, though, in the scripture? What does it say in the scripture? He, he said, he said, who is the Lord? That was before we ever had any heart hardening going on. Who is the Lord that I should obey the Lord? I will not let Israel go. Now, uh, the question of whether he hardened his heart or resisted God or whatever it is, whatever phrase you want to have, he was doing something there, and that something that he d- was doing wasn't good, and that's before we have any indication that God moves in on him. Of course, the next step is to say, and, um, it's been said very subtly, you see, that the devil is a misunderstood individual. Uh, it was Mark Twain, who was a very clever man, but an unbeliever. He says, but after all, we haven't heard his side. And there are people that, in a very clever way, will justify Satan today. Indeed, they'll worship him. There are people today, as we said, we said in the class the other day, that are justifying Judas, that he was the real hero, and you have that in the theatrical production Jesus Christ Superstar, you see? And this is the upside down world. And man is always absolutely inverting what God says. To sympathize with the devil, to justify Judas, to say that Pharaoh was picked on. You see, it's all, all evidence of a manifestation of anti-God in saying, well, we don't agree with that. We don't agree with that. We have to recognize that. You're going to find that everything that God says, man today is challenging right down the line and contending against it. All right, the Passover instituted. Okay, let's go into it bit by bit. I think that you'll find, uh, as as good a development on this subject any place you'll find in CHM on the Exodus, right in this section here. Let's go down the line. How many have been reading CHM on this area? Don't knock me down here by raising your hands. Well, let's go through it point by point. Let's see. See how good you are now. Chapter twelve. You're going to have to work now. You're not going to sit here and just sponge in class. You'll have to work, okay? Verse three— Well, let's start with verse two. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. So we got a regular civil year going on, and we're going to have a new system. There's going to be a whole new system of calculating the year, and this month from now on is going to be the first month, the beginning of months. New Year's Day. What's the meaning of that, Bill? New beginning. Okay, new beginning. So make an application. Well, the, um, taking out on Egypt. No, that's not an application. You're going back to history. Apply. Now, when we're saved, we're also taken out of the old. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. All right. As far as man is concerned, everything begins with what? Mercy. Yeah. Uh, what's the characteristic word in Exodus, though? What's the key word in Exodus? Redemption. As far as man is concerned, where does it all begin? With God. Redemption. Redemption. Everything begins with redemption. See that, Chris? That's the starting point. The most important day of... Yeah, but it begins with redemption. We didn't say when that beginning was. As far as God is concerned, it begins with your redemption. In point of time, it began with your acceptance of Christ. In point of concept, it began in the mind of God. But whether you speak of God's point of view in his mind, or whether you speak of man's point of view when you accepted Christ, in any event, regardless of the point of view, your history, really begins with redemption, doesn't it? I can't agree with that. Don't forget it. All right, tell me the other view. Well, I see there's a lot of precedents in, in, uh, the idea of... I see, I see a birth taking place. When, when I was redeemed, I was born again. Well, I was redeemed a long time before I was really born again. Something that starts as all, all... before that birth takes place, before I am, I received the Holy Spirit. Uh, there's a whole train of things that take place before that, so I think it really starts before that. Like Abraham started out in Ur, and then he, he went off with those things, but then he came to the place where he, you know, put his son up there. And I think at that time, you know, he did take it too, but, and that's when God said he was declared, right? Isn't that right? Well, I, I don't know, I... The reason I think this is because I see other parallels too, like human birth. There's nine months before a person comes into the world. Marriage, uh, is a confirmation of something that's, something that's built up to. I think the Christian being born again, there's a lot of things that come to the point where a person's born, born again. So when you say it starts with The history. Right. Mm-hmm. I think there's, I think there's things that come up to that. There are things that come up to that. There are a lot of things that come up to that, and in eternity preceded it. But man's history with God, in a real sense of the word, it it is the beginning of life, the beginning of life is to begin with redemption, isn't it? I mean, he, it's very interesting, he says that the Passover feast itself, the occasion of celebrating the fact that God was going to deliver them from death, really, the death of the firstborn. He changes the whole year, and he says, I want you to make this the beginning of months. I want you to make this the starting point. For example, even in marriage, which you cited, the fact of the matter, somebody says to me, when were you married, Gene? Oh, well, let me tell you when I got married. When I was discharged from the Marines, you know, I came out here to California, you know, and I visited my friends, and I did this, and I did that, and then some friends every two or three weeks or several weeks went by, and then they introduced me to this lovely girl, and then we went out and we played, uh, badminton together, and then we went over to this, and we went over to that. You say, wait a minute, man. I don't want all that history. I said, when did you get married? My wife doesn't say to me, when is our anniversary? And I say, well, I got out of the service about April of nineteen forty six. What she wants to hear from me is that we got married on September the twenty sixth, nineteen forty seven. That's what she wants to hear. And, and legally, that's when we got married. It's as simple as that. It's when we said the I do. Our marriage, no matter what we say about what went before it and not denying it, we got married September twenty sixth, nineteen forty seven. That was the beginning. And, and we celebrate that anniversary. Woe be unto you, brothers, if you forget your anniversary date. You know? Think of it in that sense. In any event, without setting aside history, it's significant that God says, I want you to make this the beginning of month. See? So this is the beginning. Well, you can say it's in, in the different symbolism, we say the foundation is redemption, and that is the foundation is Christ. That's in the metaphor or the figure of speech of the house, right? The foundation is Christ. In point of time, the beginning is redemption. See? In other words, it's, it's basic to the whole concept of man's dealings with God. That's really what he's saying. And it is rooted in salvation by the blood. It's not rooted in anything that we were or our good intentions. It's the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. All right. Take unto him every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, verse three. Okay, lamb for a house and so forth, Three and four. What's the next shot? Now come on, get in on it, because we haven't got all day here. The lamb had to be unblemished. Well, before we get to the unblemished, we're talking about a lamb for a house. It was a substitution. Okay. Lamb substituted. All right. Who had to do it? The father. Every man. Every man a lamb for his house. What does that say to you, Greg? That sounds like, uh, each Individually appropriated. Individually appropriated, doesn't it? It also indicates something about the, the desires and intentions of God toward a household, you see? That he sees men by families. You get into the whole concept, that you see, of his intention toward families, of household blessings, and of seeing a man as a priest over his own household and as a home, in a sense, as a miniature, really, of the assembly. Tremendous implications in God's household intentions. The man took a lamb for the household. Individual appropriation, but something came into that man's family by his actions, and I want to tell you whether for good or for evil, something will come into your household because of your actions. Tremendous implications there. Okay? Personal appropriation and household implications. All right? Verse five. Now you got your shot. Fred? Oh, I just said that the lamb would be unblemished. Okay, what does that mean? Well, it wouldn't have any, uh, disease. What's the application? Uh... as far as, well, to to Christ's life, he would, he had an unblemished life. He had no sin and no... Okay. Per- perfect substitute. Nothing less than a perfect substitute, does it? It takes a perfect substitute. The only one that can die for your sins or for mine is a perfect person. There was only one. The perfection of the substitution, without blemish. And if you just had so much as a pimple on your skin, Skin out. out. Tremendous implication of the unblemished lamb. All right. The whole congregation of the assembly shall kill it, it says, in the evening between the two evenings. Boy, there's a whole mountain in that. Uh, what's the concept of the whole assembly gathering together to kill it. Does it mean, uh, their assembly, does it mean that they'll gather together? Mm-hmm. How do we, how do we know that? Says you keep it, and the whole congregation, assembly of the congregation shall kill it. That is to say, in a sense, what they did was a corporate thing, as we see, it was individually appropriated and eaten within the house, but there was a corporate activity that was engaged in, in the death. In a sense, it's kind of prefigured in the execution of the death penalty. In the execution of the death penalty, when you, um, when you killed, um, when a person committed adultery, what happened to you then? Uh, to those days? Yeah. Well, they carried them outside the city. Who stoned them? What people? Uh, the congregation. The whole body. The whole body. Yeah. You didn't sit on the sidelines and watch some other guys do it. No, sir. You all participated in the corporate execution of judgment. What do you think the purpose of that was for? Well, I would suppose it had many full purposes, but one I'm sure would be a deterrent for evil. You're doggone right. Boy, you went out there and helped throw those rocks and put somebody away. You, you say, you know, this is a serious matter. Yeah. I don't think that you relished that job if you lived there, would you? No. I think you would have found that pleasant at all. See? You didn't like to execute that judgment, and may I say today that people don't like to execute judgment today in the assembly. They don't like that. They'll stand around and be critical of what you do, and I have never known an act of judgment by the Assembly to meet with unanimous approval of the Christians. I don't care how flagrant it is. Judgment is never popular, never. Whenever you enter into an act of corporate judgment, you're going to find you're going to become under intense criticism. I don't care what they do. Even if you did right, they're going to say this, you didn't do it just the right way, or you didn't do all the things you should have before. They say, well, how do they know? They don't have to know. They can have a friend that'll tell them, and they formulate an opinion. Judgment is never popular, never popular. I says, OK, you're all going to be in on it. You're all responsible. You know, I, I, yes, Bill. Sure, who, who killed Jesus, Bill? Who killed Jesus? Who killed Jesus? Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? Ah, ah, ah. Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? Huh? Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm gonna keep coming at you till you give me the right answer. And it shows you that it's hard for us to do. You're illustrating my point beautifully. Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm not trying to make it anything. You tell me who killed the Lord Jesus Christ. Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? Who killed the Lord Jesus Christ? That's right. See how hard that is to say? See how hard that is to say? How did you kill the Lord Jesus Christ. Mm-hmm. Who put, who put him on the cross? What put him to the cross? Whose sin? Ah, that's right. All right. Your sins nailed him to the cross. See how hard that is? We don't like that. And that's exactly why he had them all come together. They didn't want to kill that man. When I was a kid, you know, my uncle gave me the most horrible task in my life. I love chicken, fried chicken. These people don't understand that, Fred. You know how much we like fried chicken. Kill the chickens? Oh, yeah. Mm. I hate it. I hated it. So you were more bloodthirsty than me. But you see, it was the manner of killing chickens. You know, you know how you kill the chicken down there. You know how you kill the chicken, any of you non-Southerners? No. What? No, well, you didn't break it. What'd you do? You wrung it. Can you imagine how that is? You ever wring a ch- how many of you ever wrung a chicken's neck? Eh, the rest of you eat people, you've been out in the woods, you don't know what's going on, see? My uncle had the absolute gall, the temerity, the brass to ask me to go out and ring that chicken's neck. And I told him I'm good, and he said I was going to do it. He said, you eat those chickens, you're going to do it. Man, I went out there doing it. Most horrible sight in the world when I rung that chicken's neck, I seen that chicken flopping all over the place and blood. For the fact that death, death ministered to life. Got that? These people visibly came together, saw that blood run like a river. Death ministers to life. I want you to know what death costs. See that? I ain't business of going off in the corner and letting somebody else do the dirty work. You're in there too. You belong in here. Verse seven. he took the blood, struck it on the doorpost and, uh, the upper doorpost of the houses. What does that mean? Come on now, you're gonna work this morning. Tired of you sitting out there doing nothing. You know, work your head. It goes from a, from a limit after covering over from the post, post also, and one way of typically looking at that is that, you know, I just didn't have a cross, but I think that's over and all around. What do you have to do with the blood, though, before it did any good? You got there and killed that lamb, and it didn't do any good in the world, did you do what? What's that word? Apply the blood. Blood's no good at all unless it's applied. The lamb may die, but unless the blood's applied to your home and to your heart, it doesn't do any good. So blood must be applied. I don't care they'd have killed a thousand of them, it wouldn't have done them a particle of good until they applied it personally. Personal application. Okay? They shall eat the flesh roast with fire, verse eight. Who's going to try that one? Mm-hmm. Where do you get that? Where do you get that other than digging around in h- here, get some fantasies and symbolism? Where do you get the idea of that? Mm-hmm. It comes somewhere in my notes. He? Roast with fire. Roast with fire. Fire is always speech of judgment. Without exception, without exception. How do you know that? How do you know that, Lee? How do I, where do I get all that stuff that fire speaks of judgment? Come on now. You take them all. Take them all. Don't just take some of them. That's, that's dirty poop. You take them all. Fire speaks of judgment. When God comes in this world, when Jesus comes in glory, he's going to come how, according to Thessalonians, please. In flaming what? Fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not our Lord Jesus Christ. Coming in fire. The future worldwide judgment is going to be, according to Peter, a judgment by fire. Always fire, the judgment of God. This lamb had to be roasted by fire, and they didn't want anything sodden with water or anything else. The judgment of Jesus Christ on the cross was not in any way reduced or lessened. The total judgment of God poured out upon him on the cross. Judgment by fire, roast with fire. Okay? Now we can get in a lot of detail about the head and the legs and things like that, the, the center of the intelligence and the whole inward being, the total, the totality of Jesus Christ involved in his sufferings on the cross. Nothing of it remains until the morning, and anything that is burned with fire, there is a total consumption of the sacrifice, nothing left over. I went to the altar to witness the lamb burnt holy to ashes for me. Did you ever sing that, Lee? You ever sing that one? When the fire came down from God, uh, on Mount Carmel, and Elijah and the prophets of Baal to consume the offering, what happened to the offering, Ron? Remember that? Absolutely all of it was totally consumed. Not only consumed the offering, what did it do? Even it even turned around and got the water out of the trenches all around it, right? Took it all out. Total consumption. All right. Verse eleven: You shall eat it with your loins girded and your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. What does that mean? Okay. Are we talking about redemption now? We're talking about redemption. Not talking about getting ready for the coming of the Lord, we're talking about redemption. Preparation for what? What were they, what were they, what were they all dressed up and ready to go for, with a hat on their hand and their suitcases in their hand? What were they doing? Ready to leave. Preparation to leave. When? Right now. If I tell you to get your hat on, your coat on, put all your belongings in the suitcase and pick them up in your hands while you eat dinner, what am I saying to you? That we're going to leave in a couple of days? Huh? I'm telling you we're going to move out right. So it speaks of preparation to leave Egypt, which was them for them, what was it? The land of what? Land of de- the land of bondage and the land of death. It's going to be they're leaving the land of bondage and the land of death, and where are they en route to? Land of promise. Speaks of being ready to go. Now we don't have to believe, be like that preacher. My wife told me about him one time. He believed this much. Every time when he went to bed at night, he put on his best suit, propped himself, even put his hat on his head, propped himself up on a pillow in bed like this, eh, with a com- with a complete formal attire on. You know what he, what he, why he, why he did that? Can you imagine? I want to be ready to go. Yeah. Yeah. Fully dressed. I want to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Now, the spiritual symbolism of readiness for the coming of the Lord, I think, was very beautiful. The, the, the necessity for material dress, shoes, and hat on to be ready is dubious, but the concept is ready, see. You got to be ready to roll, ready to meet the Lord, ready to go, see? And that's what these people were. And they were ready to go precisely because of what? Why were they ready to go? They were ready to go because of the blood of the Lamb. That's the only reason we're ready to go. And if there wasn't a question of the blood of the Lamb applied to us, then we wouldn't be ready, would we? Are you ready? Ready. If you don't have that blood applied, Pete, you're not ready. And if you do, you're ready to go. Get your suitcase in hand. Waiting for that trumpet. You hear that trumpet shout, grab the wheel. This driver's saved. Right? Okay. And that's the way we ought to live our life. Yeah? Yeah, well, I got a few things I want to do before the Lord comes. You know when you better do them then? You better do them today. Okay. That's pretty good, isn't it? These old Hebrew myths. All right, the blood and things like that. They were eat the feast the same night. In other words, you didn't kill the lamb the night and eat the fe- feast a couple of days later. The concept there, there was to be no separation between the feast and the fellowship. Fellowship with God is founded upon the feast. They ate the lamb. We know, uh, that Jesus said in the New Testament, whoso except he eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you. There's the concept of feeding on the lamb. What that means, Steve? Um. Why you got to feed on it? Just kind of kill it and sacrifice it and burn it up and be done with it. Why do you have to feed on it? Or is it because they were hungry? Realize, um... it seems to be all significant, but, um, how could you do that? What should we do today? Feed on Christ. Feed on Christ. How do you do that? You're right. In meditation, in fellowship, in communion. You know? Feed on Jesus Christ. If you're just feeding on Jesus Christ in simple when you come to breaking the bread, you're not going to do a very good job. The idea is that feeding on Christ should be seven-day-a-week occupation. If you don't have that, you don't have re- you're not really in fellowship. All right. You eat it with unleavened bread. What do they eat it with unleavened bread for? How do you know? How do I know that leaven is evil, Lee? Where do we get that stuff? What right have we to got then to drag that in there and say leaven is evil? Well, I would say, uh, probably a few recorded portions in the churches. Name one in the New Testament. In the New Testament, um, well, Jesus Christ speaks of leaven of the Pharisees. All right, that's one of them. They were the leaven of the five quids and the Pharisees, which is what? Hypocrisy. That's not good, is it? First Corinthians chapter, um, five, ah seven and eight. Begin with, um, five six. Know your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? What kind of leaven was he talking about there in the assembly? An immoral person, that's what he was talking about. And he says, when you have a little leaven in the church, what does it do? Corrupts the whole church, doesn't it? We found that was true, didn't we, Chris? Corrupts everything. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? What do you do with the leaven in verse seven there? What does it say, verse seven? Get rid of it. That you may be a new lump, and ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed to it. Ye are unleavened. Ye are unleavened. Leaven plainly is a symbol of evil. Now, how could you have a feast commemorating Jesus Christ and have leaven in it? Sam? You couldn't, the answer is. You couldn't have it, because Christ is unleavened. Now, don't get me off on whether we should eat unleavened bread, and they went crazy down a believer's chapel trying to make, bake an unleavened loaf down there, just like concrete, you know, in there. We'll talk about that some other time. Let me say, but the symbolism basically that Jesus Christ had no sin, knew no sin, did no sin, in him was no sin. See? There couldn't be any leaven. There's no leaven in Christ, there's no evil in Christ. As a matter of fact, there should be no evil, unjudged evil in our midst. Had to be absolutely separate. The essential symbolism of the unleavened bread, the absence of evil. Bitter herbs. What's the bitter herbs for? In a sense, the descriptive word gives you some idea. That's right, the sufferings of Christ in the place of death. That bitter cup, love drank it up, left but the love for me. You ever sing that, Chris? You remember that one? That was a bitter cup. He drank the cup of Jehovah's wrath. Bitter cup. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bitter. Yeah. And then, of course, in their national experience, what did the bitter herbs speak of? The national experience of the people. The bitterness of their affliction and their bondage. Sure. They were delivered from the bitterness and bondage of their affliction. He spoke of the bread of their affliction. All right. The lamb was in the center, the central part of the, of the paschal feast. What does that mean? Christ is the center. Christ is the center. Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Christ is the center. What, what, uh... Well, I haven't tied it in verse by verse, but you'll find the lamb was the center of the feast. I don't know that it even uses that word precisely. See? But without question, the lamb, the Passover lamb was the center of the whole feast. All right. No uncircumcised strangers were to eat. What does that mean, Spence? He's talking about, um, no one outside the covenant, uh, which would mean that, um, no one would be elected, uh, really partaking of the promise. Feast for the sa- the feast is for saved people. There's no redemption. If you don't know redemption, you shouldn't partake of the feast. Okay? And if you do, according to the New Testament, what happens to you? You eat and drink what? Judgment. Judgment to yourself. That's right. And for this cause, he says what? Weak and sickly among you, and many what? They're just having a little snooze, and they're dead, that's right. Penalty of phys- of of actual physical death. I tell you, uh, the worst thing in the world, one of the worst things in the world you can do is sit there week after week taking those elements as an unconverted man, because you're eating and drinking the judgment of God to yourself, and there are physical con- consequences of doing that. You don't know redemption. I tell you, if, if a, if an uncircumcised stranger snuck in and took one of these, partook of this feast, what would have happened to him? He sure would have. Capital punishment. How about Paul in the New Testament was talking about Christians who weren't right with the Lord taking that, taking that, that the people who True. True, you're out of fellowship with God, that's very true. But you see, if you don't discern the Lord's body, I don't separate that from the fact that people who know nothing of redemption, too. When you don't know, when you don't discern the Lord's body, when you don't discern the si- the significance of the emblems, you see, and I don't think you really know the Lord. And I think that that self-judgment should include the possibility that you really don't know the Lord. What, how do you think God looks known? Well, I, I sort of view it as vanity, what goes on in Catholic church among the young kids, how they run up there and do that every week, and yet they don't know what it means. Well, it, it may well be vanity, but by the same to- token, there is the solemn statement that you eat and drink condemnation to yourself, and there is the threat of physical illness and physical death. Now that is somewhat more than a question of vanity. These are, these are, it is circumscribed by the most serious threatenings of God, isn't it? All right. The blood of the lamb was the basis of everything. This was significant. Something new was brought in that had not been shown and was not revealed in creation. We spoke last night in the, uh, in the exercise about, um, what about the heathen? And we said the heathen, according to Romans, has two, uh, witnesses, the witness of creation and the witness of conscience. But neither the witness of creation nor the witness of conscience tell you the truth of what? What we're talking about in this book. What? Don't tell you about redemption. You'll never know about redemption in creation, and you never know about redemption in conscience. So this is a revelation in a sense of something that is prefigured in the, in the, in the, in the skins, the coats of skins for Adam, but here it is plainly declared and memorialized. So that the blood of the lamb is basic to relationship with God, is not shown in creation, but it's clearly proclaimed here. In that fact, was there anything whatever of self-worth involved in the Passover feast. Anything. Not one thing. Not one thing of man. What was the, what was the value of the blood? The value of the blood was solely in the estimation of God. That blood had value in the sight of God, no matter what men thought of it, and no matter what they discerned. That it was God's estimate of its value, not the mind of man, that gave it significance. Men may despise the blood of Christ, but it does not change the estimate of God. So we see in this, this is the foundation of everything. The question there, there really was the lamb's life or there. The result of this, as we see in the outline, is that if you were not protected by the, by the blood of the lamb, the answer was death. The only way you could find release was by the application of the blood of the lamb. We see how the judgment is executed, how they left and departed, and details on that. Chapter, uh, in section B, chapter thirteen, I just want to call your s- your attention briefly to three things. In verse thirteen is especially significant. In fact, George Cutting, and I'm, I've ordered these tracks for you to have safety, certainty, and enjoyment, makes verse thirteen one of his basic verses. Every firstling of the ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. In other words, beyond the question of the redemption of the household, now we're talking about the sanctity of the firstborn to God. Talking about thirteen, chapter thirteen, verse thirteen. We're talking about setting aside the firstborn for God. Then he comes to an interesting exception, and that is an ass. And he said the firstborn of an ass has to be redeemed before God by a lamb. And if you did not redeem the firstborn of the lamb, what did you have to do with the firstborn of the ass? Break its neck. What is the significance of the ass? Well, he was, uh, I think a picture of unregenerate man. Why? Because, uh, well, he's stubborn and face averse. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because there is that exception that he has to be redeemed. This was the firstborn as a man. But, uh, didn't the firstborn child, male, male child Mm-hmm. Yeah, but we're talking now about here. We're talking about this ass. What is an ass anyway? Where do you have? What is this? It is, it is in the, in the, in the economy in Israel an unclean animal, the product of mixed mating, and which will not of itself reproduce. Here. It's an unclean animal. So the unclean animal is redeemed by the substitution of what? The clean animal. And so therefore it pictures the substitution by Jesus Christ, the just, for the unclean or the unjust, that's you and I. And so the ass, the unclean animal is a picture, as Fred has said, of the unregenerate man. And, and that shows really exactly what an unredeemed man is really worth, what he is in the sight of God. I mean, it must have been a rather, rather hideous sight to see a, the firstborn of an ass lying there with a broken neck. And yet, really, that's the destiny of the unclean man, apart from the substitution which is in the Lamb of God. And once that was affected by the substitution of the Lamb, that firstborn of an ass was absolutely redeemed, wasn't it? And had the right to live. And that ass had no right to live apart from that substitute, and in fact could not and would not live in Israel. No way in the world for that firstborn of an ass, that unclean animal, to live apart from substitution. And there is no life for sinful man apart from the Lamb of God. He will not have any life. Yeah, Ron? Yeah, yeah. No, it's like, in a sense, the mule, it's sterile. See, it's, it's, it's a product of mixed, of mixed, uh, cattle. Crossbreeding. Yes. Why does the first one, first one? I think that, I think that the idea of, of basically, uh, the whole continuity, firstborn, first fruits, everything, the first is for God, the idea of the best. There's a clear teaching of the New Testament of, of, of the best being the first, and that portion always belongs to God and must be set apart for God. It's said of the Lord Jesus, he is the firstborn among many brethren. It also indicates there that it's a title of honor. Uh, he's the first fruits of the resurrection. Everything suggests preeminence and that which goes before. Jesus Christ is the file leader of salvation, of that which sets the pattern for all that comes after. Lee? I think Lady Long might have been questioning, I don't know, uh, if the ass of the donkey is sort of a constant reinforce offspring. Well, in a sense, again, it's, it's, it's still a question of crossbreeding in there, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. Let's get in, let's get into that. As I say, I'm not too good on, uh, the, uh, genetics and breeding habit of cattle and things like that, but let's get into that in the library and then dig up some more. I, I must confess that I need more information in this entire area of the breeding practices of Middle Eastern cattle, but, uh, plain- plainly, the main thing about it is that it's an unclean animal redeemed by the clean, okay? Yes. Now, was there any other reason for, for this thing other than just to be a picture, or was there a, uh, many times the Lord has a real reason for, you know, claiming this. The practical reason involved in it? Or was this just purely a picture? Well, it may well have had a practical value of which I'm not immediately aware. It might well have been, for one thing, to have discouraged, um, um, the mixed mating of cattle. For example, we know that the ox and the ass were not to plow together. There is a, the s- the seed, different kinds of seed, you know, and grains were not to be mixed together. Different kinds of cloth, like linen or cotton, were not to be mixed together in the same garment. Uh, the saved and the unsaved were not to intermarry. You have an unvarying teaching of God against mixing. And I, it may well have been that the practical effect of this was to keep this at a minimal level, because this was an, this, and it was an additional expense, wasn't it? And in a sense, from a standpoint of an instructive thing, constantly reminded them of God's prohibition against mixed mating. When you, when- Come from the especially on Sephora, uh, wild ass of man. Sure. In Israel itself, it was likened unto the wild ass, and, and an untamed and stubborn creature. There were characteristics in the animal which were not good. All right? I mean, I'm gonna, the ass has to be redeemed by a lamb. Mm-hmm. We take that every man is a sin, has to be redeemed. That's right. Just the fact that he's an ass. That's exactly what he, he's a dumb and stubborn animal. How could Jesus Christ then come out of that race and be a perfect man? He could, he could not, apart from the fact that he was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of a woman. He had to be preserved from the natural tendencies and from the sinful nature of man. That's why he took the virgin birth. Without that, he would have been exactly like this, by nature. So then do we say, uh, Jesus wasn't even married once? Well, now you're getting into the question of how the divine and the human nature came together and yet preserved him sinless. We're going to get into that when you get into the doctrinal areas on the person of Christ. Okay? Directions for the journey. Um, he said, I, I want you to be, I don't want you to go, but you can get to the promised land by way of the Philistines. I'm going to send you by the wilderness. Why did he say that? Yeah. But he said, if I send him up through the w- way of the Philistines, what'll happen? Yeah, and he said, well, what'll be their attitude? Not that they would have had a war, because they could have won anyway. What would have happened? Scared. Yeah, fearful. They'll be afraid. So, recognizing their tendencies to be afraid, although they could have had a quicker access to the Holy Land, he sent them by the route of the wilderness, you see. In other words, many times I think that God can give us a, a greater victory and a cleaner victory if we only had the faith and belief in him to claim that victory. It shows that a continual stumbling block to the working of God in our lives has to be unbelief. That's the greatest hindrance to the working of God in our lives, unbelief. And we see that so obviously throughout this. Uh, in the chapter fourteen, that here we're saving through the Red Sea, and Israel's scared stiff.