Reflections of Exodus in the New Testament -- December 24, 2012

We did not have your typical Christmas lesson yesterday.  Instead, we looked at the Exodus of the Jews from captivity in Egypt juxtaposed with New Testament scenes.

We started with a little background about what the Passover is all about...

Passover Exodus Story told with Web 2.0 from GodTube

Our first passage was Exodus 6:2-9.  Let's take a step back to see where we came from.  God promised Abraham a family.  We saw Issac born to Abraham and Sarah.  Issac had a son named Jacob.  And Jacob had many sons--one of which was Joseph.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers because they were jealous of him.  But that was all in the plan.  Joseph became an important ruler in Pharaoh's Egyptian kingdom.  Joseph brought his family to Egypt when a famine struck.

The family multiplied over the years.  When a new Pharaoh came to power much later, he was threatened by the number of Jews.  So he had them enslaved.

For 400 years, the Jews were slaves to the Egyptians.  Only then did God call Moses to lead his people out of captivity.

This passage shows God speaking to Moses.  If you go forward in history, we see God's messengers speaking to people in the New Testament.  Angels spoke to Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and Simeon.

The second passage was Exodus 12:5-13.  In this scripture are the instructions God gave for the Passover.

The first nine plagues affected only the Egyptians.  This final plague would affect Egyptians and Jews.  But God gave the Jews a way to not have their first-born son killed.

The sacrifice of a perfect lamb foreshadowed Jesus' perfect life that would end in his death on a cross.

By the way, what festival was being celebrated when Jesus was killed?  Passover.

The last scripture was Exodus 14:10-14.  Pharaoh let the Jews leave Egypt.  But then he changed his mind.  Pharaoh and his army took off to recapture the Jews.  This scared the Jews.  They began to lose hope about having freedom.

In the New Testament, the time between Jesus' death on the cross on Friday afternoon and His resurrection on Sunday morning was a time of lost hope.  But God had a plan.

We ended with a video dedicated to all of those who lost loved ones this year.  The first Christmas without that special person is always tough.  But we can always remember the Good News...

Make it a great week.  Merry Christmas!

Loyally yours,

Darren Bayne

"Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it." — William Feather