Follow Jesus our Passover Lamb! (Exodus 12:1-14)

Maundy Thursday 

April 5, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

Back in March of 2006 a man named Jack Dorsey created and shortly after launched what we now know as Twitter.  Now, if you are not familiar with Twitter, it is an online social networking service that allows you to follow your friends, experts, favorite celebrities, and breaking news, as they tweet or post their latest information online.  For example, as of 9:05 PM on April 3, there are 385,065 people following leadership expert, John C. Maxwell on twitter.  There are 13,704,986 people following President Obama, and there are 22,143,612 people following singer Lady Gaga.  Yet while it can be fun to follow people on twitter and find out what they are up to on a regular basis, as Christians, the person we want to be following is Jesus, our Passover Lamb.  In fact, as we study the lesson before us this evening we will take a closer look at the feast of the Passover as we follow after Jesus, our Passover Lamb.

Now, as we heard in our lesson a few moments ago, Israel is still in Egypt, suffering under the oppression of slavery.  Moses is going head to head with Pharaoh, and the Lord is preparing to send the tenth and final plague against the Egyptians.  As the Lord is preparing this, he relates to Moses and Aaron how he wants the people to prepare for their departure.  The Lord says, “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 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… On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 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. "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD--a lasting ordinance. (Exodus 12:3,5-7,12-14).

This meal of the Passover was first eaten by the Israelites in Egypt according to the Lord command.  On that night, they ate it with their cloaks tucked into their belts, their sandals on their feet, and their staffs in their hands.  They ate it in haste because the Lord had said they would be leaving Egypt that very night, and that is exactly what happened.  For on that night, the Lord did exactly has he had promised.  At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn of Egypt from the house of Pharaoh to the house of the lowliest prisoner, as well as the firstborn of all their livestock.  But when the Lord saw the blood on the doors of the houses of the Israelites, he passed over them as he had promised.  From that time on, the Israelites had celebrated the Passover as the Lord had commanded them to.  They had gathered to eat roast lamb and bitter herbs and to tell their children the stories of how the Lord had delivered them from Egypt as he had promised. But while this was truly an important event in the lives of the Israelites, this meal of the Passover not only reminded them of their deliverance from the Egyptians, it also foreshadowed another important event.  If foreshadowed their deliverance from sin and satan, which found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ our Passover Lamb.

It is this deliverance that we are celebrating tonight, the deliverance from sin and satan that Jesus won for us as our Passover Lamb. Although we normally associate the Passover with Maundy Thursday, and Jesus’ crucifixion with Good Friday, the beautiful truth of God’s plan is that Jesus, our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for our sins on the day of the Passover.  On that evening, our Passover Lamb celebrated the Passover with his disciples, he instituted the new meal of the Lord’s Supper, and he was slaughtered to bring to fulfillment the forgiveness that was foreshadowed in the Passover meal. 

But now comes the question, “How could that be if Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples on Thursday night?”  To answer that question we must remind ourselves of how the Israelites counted their days; for them, when the sun set on Thursday evening, Thursday came to an end, and Friday began.  The setting of the sun marked the ending of their day.  Take for example our services tonight.  If we measured our days the way the Israelites measured them, we would be holding this service in the closing hours of Thursday evening.  In this way even though we would have started worshiping on Thursday we would have finished our service in the early hours of Friday morning.  So, when Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples at twilight, he was eating it in the first few hours of the day of the Passover.  When Jesus was crucified some 15 hours later, he was being sacrificed as our Passover Lamb, on the day of the Passover.

Thus, tonight, as we celebrate Maundy Thursday, we have followed our Passover Lamb to the upper room where he celebrated the Passover with his disciples.  We will shortly be dining with him as we come forward to receive his body and blood in the Sacrament, and tomorrow evening we will follow our Passover Lamb to the Cross.  We will again remind ourselves of how Jesus was pierced there for our transgressions.  We will remind ourselves how the Holy Spirit took some of the blood of our Passover Lamb and painted it on the door posts and door frames of our hearts to mark us as forgiven children of God.

This is why we have gathered here this evening.  We have gathered to follow Jesus our Passover Lamb; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He is the Lamb who was slain.  He is the Lamb whose blood has caused God’s great wrath to Passover us.  He is the Lamb who willingly gave his life in our place and gives us his body and blood to eat and drink to assure us that we have been completely cleansed of all our sins .  This is Jesus, our Passover Lamb whom we follow this evening.

Though I’m sure if we looked hard enough we could probably find a Twitter user sending out tweets as Jesus Christ, tonight we have chosen to follow the real thing.  Tonight we have followed our Passover Lamb to the upper room and to the cross.  Tonight we have been assured of the forgiveness he won for us and the wrath that has passed over us.  Let us continue to follow him as he leads us on the path from his empty tomb to our home with him forever in heaven.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Marvel at the Lord's Work in your Life! (Gensis 37, 39-50)

July 10, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

Have you ever just sat back and marveled at how the Lord works in the lives of his people?  Have you ever considered just how the Lord has orchestrates the events of history so that all things do, indeed, work out for the good of those who love the Lord their God?  Though we may not always see it or understand exactly how the Lord does these things, we know that he is the one who is constantly working in the lives of his people.  He is the one who led the Israelites to the Promised Land and carried them on Eagles wings as he brought them to himself. (Exodus 19:3)  He is the one who saw to it that at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly so that we might be justified and declared not guilty by our God from whom we received reconciliation.  (Romans 5:6-11)  He is the one who provided the Apostles as his messengers and sent them out to proclaim the message of salvation (Matthew 10:1-8) Because they went preaching and teaching wherever Jesus sent them, that message of salvation was passed on from generation to generation until finally it came to you and you came to faith in the Lord your God who is constantly at work in your lives.

But the question still stands.  Have you ever just sat back and marveled at how the Lord works in your lives?  Though it is not always easy to see what the Lord is doing or what he is seeking to accomplish on a day to day basis, when we look back at our lives we can more easily see all that work that the Lord has done in our lives, and we can marvel at what he has done.  Take for example Joseph.  Though Joseph wasn’t able to see exactly how the Lord was working in his life until he hit certain milestones and looked back, from the Scriptures, we can see exactly how the Lord worked in Joseph’s life.  We can see just how the Lord orchestrated different events in his life that were designed to prepare him to be the second in command of all Egypt, the reigning super power of the day.  As Moses tells us in Genesis 41:44-44, “41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” (Genesis 41:41–44, NIV84)  But before we get too far ahead of ourselves this morning, lets take a few steps back and start at the beginning of the story, so to speak, so that we might more fully marvel at how the Lord was at work in Joseph’s life.

Now, you may or may not remember Joseph’s birth, but he was the first born son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel. Of course he was born as the 11th of 12 sons.  Though Benjamin was born to Rachel as number 12 not long after Joseph, Joseph was his father’s favorite son, as Moses tells us in Genesis 37:3-4, “3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. (Genesis 37:3–4, NIV84)

Not only did they hate him because he was the favorite son of their father, they hated him for his dreams.  They hated him for his dreams of sheaves of grain; even the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him.  They hated him for his dreams.  They hated him for his robe. They hated him because he was the favored son. They hated him so much that when Joseph was 17 years old his brothers were willing to kill him, just to be rid of him.  I’m sure you remember how it was.  The brothers had taken the sheep up to Shechem and then up to Dothan (roughly 60 miles from home) for grazing and during the time they were away Joseph’s father decided to send Josef to check on them.  But, as Moses tells us verse 18, “18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” 21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father…25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37:18-22, 25–28, NIV84)

Though the brothers intended to harm Joseph and take his life, the Lord worked in his life to spare him.  The Lord worked in his life through his brother Ruben and his brother Judah, to set in motion the events that would take place during the next 13 years; the events that would culminate in his becoming the second in command of all Egypt.  Jump with me to Genesis 39 where Moses tells us, “1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” (Genesis 39:1–6, NIV84)

Though the Lord had given Joseph success in everything that he did, sadly, his position in Potiphar’s house was not to last, for we all remember the accusation that Potiphar’s wife made against him.  We remember how Potiphar burned with anger when he heard the story his wife had told him of how Joseph was supposed to have tried to seduce her.  Yet, here again we marvel at how the Lord worked in Joseph’s life.  Though we know that Potiphar was angry, we are not told exactly why.  It is possible that he was angry because he suspected that his wife was not telling him the truth and her lie was going to cost him an amazingly gifted, competent and conscientious business manager.  A clue to this is the fact that in the ancient world for a slave to make such advances toward his master’s wife that slave would almost certainly find himself facing the death penalty.  Yet this is not where Joseph found himself.  It seems that because Potiphar could not publically humiliate his wife by ignoring her accusation, Potiphar led Joseph off to the King’s prison.  Not a cell where he would await death nor a dungeon where he would simply be forgotten.  Rather he was led off to the King’s prison—a prison where the king’s prisoners were confined; prisoners such as the chief baker and the chief cup bearer.  Yet even in prison, the Lord was working in Joseph’s life.  Take a look at the middle of verse 20: “But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (Genesis 39:20–23, NIV84)

Instead of being in solitary confinement, Joseph was put in charge of the other prisoners, he had access to all the prisoners, and when the time was right the Lord introduced Joseph to the prisoner who would change his life as the Lord allowed Joseph to correctly interpret the dreams of the chief baker and the chief cup bearer.  Though Joseph would have to wait in prison for two more years, when the time was right, the Lord brought Joseph before Pharaoh, the Lord allowed Joseph to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and when Pharaoh heard Joseph’s solution to the coming famine, the Lord placed Joseph in charge of all Egypt as Pharaoh’s vizier; Pharaoh’s right hand man.  Though the brothers intended to harm Joseph when they sold him into slavery, “it was to save lives that God sent [Joseph] ahead of [his brothers]” (Genesis 45:5, NIV 84)

Now, just think about this for a moment.  Just think about how the Lord worked in the life of his servant Joseph.  For 13 years Joseph dealt with all sorts of situations that were designed to prepare him for what the Lord had in store for him to do.  But while Joseph was living it, he wasn’t able to see how the Lord was working in his life to prepare him for the future.  He wasn’t able to see it until after he had passed through it.  Only then was he able to look back and marvel at how the Lord had worked in his life.  Sound familiar?  How often hasn’t it happened that you have passed through some frustrating hardship, only to discover after it was over just how the Lord was at work in your life even in the midst of that hardship?  How often haven’t you looked back on your life and recognized just how the Lord was working in your life as he moved you through one struggle or another, helping you to grow and stretch, as he prepared you for the next phase of your life?  

Just think back to those days when you were teenagers.  Do you remember that feeling that your life would never start?  Do you remember that feeling that you would never get your shot?  Do you remember wondering what the future would hold for you and how the Lord would work in your life?  Though you really didn’t know exactly what the Lord had in store for you then, you can look back now and see just how the Lord was at work in your life.  Even if you are currently a teenager or a young child, the same thing is as true for you.  Though you may be wondering what the Lord has in store for your future, you can still look back and see just how the Lord has been at work in your life up to this very day.  You can see how the Lord has led you through your lives so that you arrived at this very point at this very time.  No matter what age you are at, you can do that very thing.  You can look backward and marvel at how the Lord has been at work in your life leading you to this very point.  Though you may even now be at a sort of cross roads in your life, or may find yourself facing struggles or hardships, you can take comfort in the fact that the Lord your God is at work in your life even now. 

Though we may find ourselves like Joseph did, unable to understand why all these things were happening to him, we know that through the Lord’s work in our lives he is drawing us closer to himself, he is strengthening our faith, and he is preparing us for what is next to come.  Just think about the work he has already accomplished in your life.  He is the one who called you to faith through the waters of baptism.  He is the one who taught you the precious truths of salvation through your parents, through your Pastor, through your Sunday School Teachers, and if you had the privilege, through your Lutheran Elementary School teachers.  He is the one who has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts who constantly reminds us of all that Jesus did for us and how he freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection from the dead.  He is the one who shaped every single experience of our lives as he molded us and prepared us for the situation in which we find ourselves. Though we may not be able to see exactly how the Lord is using our present situation, be it the sluggish economy, the scarcity of the job market, the constantly changing gas prices, debts, payments, or whatever it is. Though we may not be able to see exactly how the Lord is using our present situation for our good, soon we will be able to sit back and marvel at what the Lord has accomplished in our lives, just as Joseph was able to do.

Though it is always difficult to see what the Lord is working to accomplish in our lives on a day to day basis, whenever we look backwards we are able to marvel at all that he has done.  After all, he is the one who led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land carrying them on wings like an eagle.  He is the one who went to work while we were still powerless and brought us to faith in the one who saved us.  He is the one who prepared the Apostles and sent them out proclaiming the message of salvation.  He is the one who orchestrated the events of Joseph’s life, preparing him for his position of power, and he is the one who causes us to marvel every time we consider just how the Lord has been at work in our lives.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church -Le Sueur, MN

The Lord Is Our Warrior (Exodus 7-15)

February 13, 2011

Dear friends in Christ.

I don’t know about you, but ever since I was a little child, the account of Moses, the plagues, and the exodus from Egypt has been one of my most favorite Bible History stories. I can still remember the feeling of excitement that would come over me every year when we studied it in our Bible History lessons. I loved hearing about the amazing miracles that the Lord enabled Moses to do in the presence of Pharaoh. I practically cheered for Moses as he and Aaron stood before Pharaoh demanding that Pharaoh let God’s people go into the wilderness to worship. Though Pharaoh kept trying to change the deal, promising to let them go and not delivering on that promise, I admired Moses and Aaron for how they simply stood their ground on God’s Word and never backed down. But most of all, I remember marveling at the plagues that the Lord sent upon Egypt. I remember being amazed by the mighty displays of God’s power against the Egyptians; mighty displays that revealed God’s judgment against those who didn’t believe in him and that revealed his love for those who did believe in him. Though I didn’t realize it then, I realize now that the reason I so love these chapters so much is simply because they reveal the Lord God as the warrior that he truly is. They reveal the Lord as the God who truly loves his people, who defends his people, and as the God who fights for his people. Though there are many other places in Scripture that the Lord is revealed to us in this way, I truly love how these chapters show the Lord as our Warrior. In fact, these are the very words that Moses, Miriam, and all Israel used to describe the Lord after they had crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s Army had been drown. They stood on the banks and sang, “The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his Name!” (Exodus 15:3)

But before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s take a look at exactly how the Lord is our Warrior! After all, the account of the plagues shows the Lord actively fighting to deliver his people from their slavery. Yet, not only do the plagues show the Lord actively fighting to free his people from their slavery to sin, they also foreshadow the Lord our Warrior actively fighting to free his people from their slavery to sin and death. For in the same way same way that a Knight of old would throw down his gauntlet as a challenge or even as a precursor for battle, so also the Lord threw down the gauntlet of a shepherd’s staff to begin his battle with Pharaoh. In fact, it is at the beginning of Exodus 7:1-13 where Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh and command him, in the Name of the Lord, to let the Lord’s people go into the desert to worship the Lord their God. But, as we know, Pharaoh did not feel compelled to listen to this Jehovah, who was the God of the slaves. After all Pharaoh had a plethora of gods and goddesses that he served, roughly 80 different gods and goddesses in fact. Not only did Pharaoh have a plethora of his own gods to serve, as Pharaoh, he was believed to be a god in the flesh himself! So why in all the world should he listen to the god of the Hebrews, the very people who had been enslaved to him for so many years.

So, it began! Pharaoh refused to listen to the Lord and demanded a sign. Aaron threw down his staff and it became a snake. Now this would have gotten Pharaoh’s attention straight away as the cobra was a symbol of Pharaoh’s ruling power. But, not to be out done, Pharaoh summoned his magicians and by their secret arts, which means by their satanic means, they too were able to produce snakes by throwing down their staffs. Yet, it was Aaron’s staff that swallowed up all the other snakes. The snake of God had overcome Pharaoh’s snake and his ruling power. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the Israelites go. Thus begins the 10 round battle between Pharaoh and God. The battle where the Lord brought judgment on all the gods of Egypt (Exodus 12:12 and Numbers 33:4) The battle where the Lord used the things of nature, the very things the Egyptians worshiped, to plague the people, to cause them to wonder why their god so and so was unable to protect them and stand up to the Warrior God of the Hebrews, and to destroy the power of Egypt—a blow from which they have never recovered.

Round 1: The Plague of Blood (Exodus 7:14-24). As Pharaoh was on his way to the Nile to worship, Moses and Aaron met him. They gave Pharaoh the Lord’s ultimatum to let his people go but Pharaoh refused. So Aaron struck the Nile with his staff and its waters turned to blood. Blood was everywhere in the land of Egypt. The fish died! Not only the sacred fish that they worshiped, but also the fish that the Egyptians ate and traded, and the river smelled so bad they could not drink the water. In one powerful swoop the Lord God took down some of the most important and most powerful gods of Egypt. He took down Osiris, one of the chief gods of Egypt who was also first of all the gods of the Nile. He took down Hapi, tauret and Nu, gods of life and fertility in the Nile. Though this was a powerful blow against Pharaoh and all of Egypt as the Nile to them was the source of their life, Pharaoh hardened his heart when his own magicians sought help from satan and were able to reproduce the same results, only on a much smaller scale.

Round 2: The Plague of Frogs (Exodus 7:25-8:15). Seven days later the Lord sent Moses back to Pharaoh with the same ultimatum, “Let my people go so that they may worship me.” To which he added, “If you do not let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.” Though Egyptians were used to a great number of frogs filling their lands after the annual flood of the Nile, these frogs were naturally controlled by other predators. This time, however, the Lord brought the frogs up out of the rivers and streams of Egypt when Aaron stretched his staff over them. There were so many frogs that the people could barely move without stepping on one of them. They came up into the houses, the ovens, the kilns, the bedrooms, yes even the beds of the Egyptians. Though frogs pose no real threat to us, frogs were the symbol of the goddess Heket who presided over conception and birth. She was also said to be present at the birth of every Pharaoh of Egypt. Imagine the feeling of the Egyptians as they wondered what had happened to make their god malfunction and bring a curse upon the land. Imagine the favor that this goddess lost as the frogs sat in piles reeking and rotting after the Warrior God of the Hebrews destroyed them. Though the Lord showed Pharaoh that his gods could not control their own frogs, because the magicians were able to use satan’s power to bring up a small number of frogs, Pharaoh hardened his heart.

Round 3: The Plague of Gnats (Exodus 8:16-19). Again the Lord struck at the heart of the false gods of Egypt. This time, however, he went after Geb, the god of the land, the very god the Egyptians believed had created the earth and the great and fertile land of Egypt. Without warning the Lord told Aaron to strike the ground with his staff and throughout Egypt the dust became gnats or as another translation say, lice or perhaps fleas; the people of Egypt who so valued cleanliness were covered with vermin. The priests who served in the temples of the gods of Egypt were not able to do their duties because no one was permitted to enter a temple of a god with parasites upon them. Though Pharaoh may have been confident that his gods would eventually win the day, this time things were different. This time the Lord did not allow satan to intervene. This time the Lord knocked satan out of the battle completely as the priests themselves declared that this was from the finger of God when they could not reproduce the plague. Yet Pharaoh still hardened his heart!

Round 4. The Plague of Flies (Exodus 8:20-32). Now, in the Hebrew, the word flies is not there. Instead the Hebrew tells us that this is the plague of swarms. It may have been swarms of flies or even beetles. In our days we’ve seen both. Not too many years ago we saw swarms of Asian beetles that turned the air orange where they were swarming, and we’ve seen swarms of flies that turned the air black where they were. But regardless of what was swarming these swarms showed that the god Khepera, the god of creation, fertility, and resurrection, as well as all the other gods associated with those tasks were simply not cutting the mustard. They could not fight against the Lord our Warrior. But here’s the even greater thing. From this miracle on, the Lord separated his people. They were not affected by the rest of the plagues. They were spared while Egypt was ravaged. Yet even as Pharaoh saw this, he hardened his heart. He would not bow to the will of the Lord the God of the slaves, even though the God of the slaves was waging war against Pharaoh and all of Egypt’s gods and winning.

Round 5. The Plague of the Livestock (Exodus 9:1-7). This time it was Hathor, the cow goddess who was the great mother supposed to have conceived and brought forth all life, she was not able to stand up against the Lord. The cattle died, the sacred animals who were worshiped at Hathor’s temple. Even the bulls died, bulls where were symbols of Pharaoh himself. This plague affected all the livestock in Egypt and many died because of it. Yet not one of the Israelites animals died or even got sick. This time God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh who had resisted the Lord had resisted to the point that he was no longer able to repent or turn to the Lord. His time of grace was at an end and the Lord hardened him in his unbelief, because Pharaoh had resisted the Lord—the Holy Spirit.

Round 6. The Plague of Boils (Exodus 9:8-12). Isis, the goddess of healing and medicine could not compete or even stand against the Lord God Almighty. One by one the Lord was showing all of Egypt’s gods to be false, useless, and nonexistent. Boils broke out on people and animals throughout Egypt, but not in the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. In fact, because of this plague the magicians could not stand before Moses. Again Pharaoh did not listen. The Lord hardened his heart

Round 7. The Plague of Hail (Exodus 9:13-33). Now it was Nut’s turn. She was the goddess of the sky and she could not stop the rain, the hail, and the fire that the Lord rained down upon Egypt. With this plague there were some in Egypt who began to fear the Lord. They made sure that their animals and their families were inside when the plague came and they were saved. Those in the field, along with the barely and the flax were destroyed. Thus the Lord crippled the clothing industry, as Flax was what the Egyptians used to make linen. He also destroyed the beer industry as barely was one of the primary ingredients of beer and bread. Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart.

Round 8. The Plague of Locust (Exodus 10:1-20). Though there were times when the Egyptians saw plagues of locust, they had never seen a plague like this, nor would there ever be a plague like this again. When the Locusts came they covered the face of the land and they ate everything that was left after the hail. Though Pharaoh refused to listen to the Lord, some of his officials began to openly question his rule and urge him to listen because Egypt had been ruined by this war that Pharaoh kept fighting against the Lord our Warrior.

Round 9. The Plague of Darkness (Exodus 9:21-29). For three days the eye of Ra, the sun was blotted out. For three days the Lord visited the Egyptians with the same darkness that was seen in Genesis 1:2, for the Hebrew word for darkness is the very same word that the Lord used in Genesis 1 to describe what it was like at the beginning of creation when there was nothing but darkness upon the face of the deep! How it must have terrified the Egyptians to know that one of their greatest and most important gods had been taken away from them. There was no light in the land of Egypt anywhere, but there was plenty of light in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were.

Round 10. The Death of the Firstborn (Exodus 12:29-32) (Exodus 11:1-12:32). We know this plague well. At midnight, the Lord sent the Angel of Death through the land of Egypt to kill all the firstborn from the first born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, even all the first born of the livestock. The only acceptation was for those who followed the Lord’s decree of the Passover. They sacrificed a one year old lamb, painted its blood on the doorposts and the door frames of their homes, and ate the roasted lamb in the house. That night the Lord took down the god Pharaoh and Pharaoh drove the people out of the land. That night the Lord our warrior delivered the people from the land of slavery and foreshadowed the deliverance he would bring through the Lamb of God when the time had fully come. That night the Lord won the victory for his pople.

Epilogue. (Exodus 12:33-15:21) Though Pharaoh had driven the people out, he didn’t like to lose. He sent his army after them and trapped them, or so he thought, at the Red Sea. Yet the Lord fought for his people again. He separated the two camps with a Pillar of Fire. He divided the Red Sea so the people could cross over on dry ground. Then, when Pharaoh’s army tried to follow he drown them in the Red Sea as the walls of water came crashing back down upon them. Thus the Lord delivered his people, demonstrated that the gods of the Egyptians, and all other gods for that matter are nothing but idols and demons, and he showed himself to be the Lord, the Warrior who fights for his people and wins.

Now, why did I spend the last 20 minutes telling you a story you already know? Because, even we need to be reminded that the Lord our God is the Warrior who fights for us! He is the one who delivered the Israelites out of the Land of Slavery when Egypt was the world’s super power. He is the one who fought the battle against satan and triumphed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior! He is the Lord who has our backs! No matter what we might face in this life, the Lord is by our side. He will provide for us. He will lead us through trouble and hardship. Even if we should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is with us and we don’t need to fear any trouble, because he will work it out four our good. Though satan, our enemy, is constantly trying to separate us from the Lord, the Lord is our all powerful warrior who cares for us and delivers us. He has promised us that no one can pluck us out of his hand. He is the one who loves us and cares for us because he is God our Savior and our hope is in him all day long.

No matter what satan might throw at us; no matter what hardships might come our way; no matter how hopeless the situations of our lives might seem, from these 8 chapters of Exodus, we are assured that the Lord is our Warrior. The Lord is the one who fights for us. The Lord is the one who loves us and has redeemed us with his own might arm and outstretched hand. So, when you feel down or depressed, remind yourselves of what the Lord did for the Israels, and be assured that the Lord is your Warrior. Just as he fought for his people Israel, he will fight for you, because you too, through faith, are descendants of Abraham, belonging to the house of Israel.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church --Le Sueur, MN