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This blog post is Part 19 of a series entitled "From Fear To Freedom" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN. 

Message Date: June 30, 2024

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Imagine in the dead of night… you are awakened. You hear a noise, a noise unlike any other noise you have ever heard. It is eerie. Ghastly. Horrifying. Frightening. Devastating. It’s the kind of noise alerting you of which you immediately want to help, yet you feel helpless to do so; even hopeless. At this moment, you arise from bed, you run over to your window, and as you open the curtains, the noise you hear is now piercing. It isn't merely the screams of one person. The cries are not coming from merely one direction. No, the grim and unsettling screams are like a chorus of misery crying out in unison; a deplorable noise ringing in every direction; coming from every home; wailing through every street; a piercing noise; a noise which leaves the hairs on the back of your neck fully erect. And then… you begin to hear the same screams coming from the hallways of your own home. And as you open your bedroom door, you run to where the screams are coming – your child’s bedroom. You enter the room realizing immediately what is happening; you now know your life will be changed forever. You kneel down to pick up your first born – the same child you placed in bed a mere few hours previous is now a lifeless body; gone.

What I have just described for you is not a mere daunting climax to another Hollywood hit on the big screen. No, unimaginably, inconceivably, this is the reality of:

Plague Ten: Death of the firstborn
Directed at: The entire nation of Egypt
False god(s): All [all 2,000+]

We are in week 19 of a study on the life of Moses entitled From Fear to Freedom. Today we come to the end of a very dark chapter in the nation of Egypt and her position in the world. For on this day, unless he chose to obey the will of Jehovah God, the tenth and final plague played out exactly as Moses had warned the King of Egypt it would. For any parent, any grandparent here today, the possibility for such a scenario to occur in your own life, I presume, leaves you mostly breathless. And the realization that in a blink, in a moment, so very many people perished throughout the nation of Egypt, is unfathomable. Too, here is a thought I wonder if you have considered… this final plague was not merely a plague upon young children. No, this plague, was for every single Egyptian family, and no matter ones age, no firstborn was spared.

This horrific plague devastated every single home in all of Egypt.

Egyptian history reveals to us that many families within this nation lived together under one roof. It was very common for multiple generations of one family to live among the same household. This means that in any given family, on this night, numerous people died.

Exodus 11:1-7

How interesting, and devastating, this plague completely mirrors the decision of the Pharaoh many years ago that that led Moses’ mother to place baby Moses in a papyrus basket setting him afloat in the Nile. Recall, it was the Pharaoh who ordered the murder of every male Hebrew boy. And now, 80 years later, Jehovah God has the final say on this brutal and senseless massacre that has now come full circle for the Egyptians. Once again, and at every turn, we see there are no coincidences when it comes to God’s display of power and His complete control over everything this is happening with His people, the nation of Israel. Man... the words God speaks in Deuteronomy 32 truly come to life here when He says:

Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them. Deuteronomy 32:35

I don’t know about you, but there are places in Scripture when, after reading, I just have to sit for a moment and process what I have read. This is one such read to which I am refer. You see the thing about Scripture that is so very important to us, and this is why I often remind you of such, is that we as the Church, as the recipients of these Scriptural truths, must rage against the tendency so very many church-attending folk have of approaching Scripture with a foreknowledge of “where the story is going.”

Scripapathy / Jeffrey-ism: A gradual process by which one becomes apathetic toward the Holy Scriptures; underwhelmed and unenthused as a result of prior knowledge.

I myself have to work against this – the reality that I already know where the story is going… this can be really hard to master. It’s like the lyric to that favorite song you know so very well. And every time you hear that song, you just start singing without even really thinking about it:

For example, complete this lyric:

I can’t get no… satisfaction. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Rolling Stones, 1965

The hills are alive with…the sound of music. The Sound of Music (Theme Song), Rogers and Hammerstein, 1959

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I … once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see. Amazing Grace, John Newton, 1772

Now what you hear is not a test, I'm rappin' to the beat… And me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet… You see, I am Wonder Mike, and I'd like to say hello
To the black, to the white, the red, and the brown, the purple and yellow
But first I gotta bang-bang the boogie to the boogie
Say up jump the boogie to the bang-bang boogie
Let's rock, you don't stop
Rock the riddle that'll make your body rock. Rapper’s Delight, The Sugar Hill Gang, 1980

For each of us here today, there is a song, or two, or many you know that when hearing the song it takes a minimal exertion on your part to recall the words, to sing along with the song as you hear it, and to even give much, if any at all, consideration to the song. Why? Because you are so very familiar with this song and this lyric. And with such familiarity, there is often, too, a casualness in the way in which you ingest the song. Oh Church, how I pray you and I are never guilty of the same application when it comes to reading the Holy Scriptures.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 

“Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29

May we consume this Word, this verbal fire of God, with great tenacity; with an eager anticipation and expectation that it will invoke within us a holy spiritual rage blazed like that burning bush through which God first approached Moses, a fire that will evermore ignite with us a flame that cannot be extinguished.

If a grandfather was the firstborn son, he died. If a father was the firstborn son, he died. If an uncle was the firstborn son, he died. If a young child, a baby, or even infant was the firstborn child, he died. On this night, and in so very many homes throughout the entire nation of Egypt, in an instant, multiple firstborn sons died. Death was everywhere. As we arrive at this pivotal moment in history, today’s time of study is such an important one for us. For on this day in history, the nation of Israel will never forget what God will do. At daylight, the Hebrews awaken on day 157,054 as slaves. By midnight, they begin day one of a new life – one they are to commemorate for generations to come! As we come to the end of this most bloody and brutal regime, we too come to the beginning of a new day for the chosen people of God, the nation of Israel. For today is both a day of death and a day of deliverance. 

I want to offer you 4 words as we consider this day, a day unlike the world has seen or will ever see again!

1. Gratitude

For what are you thankful? I am thankful for my salvation. I am thankful for the most wonderful wife, Amy, whom I do not deserve. Since arriving as your Pastor 4 years ago, we have been engulfed in a project involving local, state and federal funds and leaders, and Amy has done a fantastic job working alongside me and the Ministry Team, and I am so thankful for her! I too am thankful for Bailey and Brynnan, our daughters. I'm thankful for our two sons Boone and Bentley… our two canine sons! I'm so very thankful for my parents and my brothers. I too have tremendous gratitude for this church… I could go on and on and on sharing with you the gratitude I have for so very many people and so very many things!

For what are you thankful?

I do feel so very passionate about this: My highest praise of gratitude should be to Jehovah God; the only God; the one true God; the God who holds in His very hands the breath of my life; the God who can take my life at any time. What should be most sobering for us each as a humanity, and too is often too inconceivable to consider is that you and I do not deserve the life we have. I am a sinner. I am broken. I fail. I do wrong things. I think bad things. I often want the wrong things. I'm selfish. Sometimes jealous. Often very ungrateful for all that has been given to me. What does this all have to do with Moses and the people of God, the Israelites? Church… listen clearly… I want to connect the cry for generosity that is so very much lacking among Christians today to what happens on the night of the final plague in the nation of Egypt. 

Please listen… I have heard so very many people teach that “an angel of death” passes across the land of Egypt on this night killing all firstborn Egyptian males. You may have heard such teaching before too. But is this accurate? Is there any biblical truth to this presumption that an “angel of death” made its way through the streets and alleys and cities and desert sands ravaging families and robbing the breath out of every male firstborn? I say, “No!” It was not an angel of death. Read this verse again:

Exodus 11:4-7

And then look at: 

Exodus 12:12-13

Who, does Scripture reveal, passes through Egypt with the swift hand of death? The Lord! The Lord brought judgement on Pharaoh, on the Egyptian people, and on all of the false gods of Egypt with this last fatal plague. Why do I offer this word, “gratitude” as a word we are to cherish when studying this story? I offer it because I want this word, “gratitude” to be a word you NEVER forget for the entirety of your life as you study and remember and cherish this remarkable, unique, and one-of-a-kind event that happened on this very planet…You see Church, the story of Moses, From Fear to Freedom, calls to us, His Holy Church, from the very pages of God’s Word to this very day imploring us each to live in gratitude every day for this very reason:

The final judgement of death that ravaged the nation of Egypt because of their sins, is the same instantaneous, just and righteous death we too deserve. 

In short… We each deserve what Egypt received.

Such a realization should usher within us each an overwhelming disposition of gratitude.

2. Remembrance

The Psalmist writes: I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” Psalm 77:11-12

Throughout Scripture, we read over and again where God implores His people to remember all that He has done. This is especially true for the nation of Israel in this moment and on this very specific and special day. Consider this, has there ever been a moment for the nation of Israel like this one? It is quite overwhelming to imagine what this final night in Egypt was like for both the Egyptians, and in contrast, what it must have been like for the nation of Israel:

A night of death. A night of deliverance.
A night of chaos. A night of completeness.
A night of pain. A night of plundering.
A night of horror. A night of halleluiah.
A night of loss. A night of life.
A night of fear. A night of freedom.

As God is preparing His people to finally leave the land and life of slavery, He wants day one of their new life, to be a day they remember forever. 

Exodus 12:1

God wanted to make sure that His people, all His people, never forgot what He did for them. So God institutes, establishes, a memorial. God tells Moses, “This month is to be the first month.” And at least two more times, God makes His intentions very clear that this moment in time, is to be the moment in time, of which the nation of Israel never forget:

Exodus 12:12-14

We see this institution yet again in Exodus 13:

Exodus 13:3

From this day forward, the Hebrew calendar is arranged to evoke a remembrance upon the significance of what God did on the last night of approximately 157,054 nights in which God’s people lived as slaves in Egypt. This was a “marker” moment for the nation of Israel y’all; a moment the Lord desires to imprint upon the hearts of His people so that forever more they never forget what God has done for them! As a prequel to how we will end this series, From Fear to Freedom, later this fall, we will do so with a final passage. Look at what happens once the entire nation of Israel, 40 years after this day we are studying today, cross over from the wilderness in which they have been journeying, to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses - the Promised Land:

Y’all, this will be the final passage we read in this study in just a few short months. Listen to the memorial, the marker, the declaration of “remembrance” from the Lord:

Joshua 4:1-7

These stones will be a forever marker, a momentous reminder to God’s people, of who God is and what God has done in our lives. Isn’t this exactly what we read of Jesus when He is having a final dinner with His followers on the night of His arrest?

Luke 22:14-19

Jesus has asked us, His people, followers of the Christ, to remember, to not forget what He did for us on the Cross. We see this theme throughout Scripture of God reminding His people to remember all He has done for them. Do you know what 6 words God says over and again throughout the life story of Moses on his personal journey from fear to freedom? More than 15 times in this story thus far, God has spoken these words: “This is what the Lord says…”

As I often remind you, let me do so again Church: The more I am in God’s Word, the more God’s Word is in me.

I pray that this bookmark serves as a remembrance to you that, as you get into God’s Word, you will ingest “This is what the Lord says” to you!

3. Expectancy 

Expectancy/English/ noun: A hopeful anticipation that something pleasant will happen.

Answer this: Does the Church live with an expectancy for God to do something great?

Let's make this question extremely personal this morning as we each answer:

Do you live with an expectancy for God to do something great in your life?

Are not we called to do exactly this as the church, as the body of Christ, and as followers of the one true God? I say the answer is an emphatic, “Yes!” Church, could it be that we are not receiving because we are not expecting? Could it be that we are not experiencing God's very best because we're only expecting God's “good enough?” Look at this:

Exodus 12:3-11

Again, as I have shared earlier, those who know this story may very well be reading this story, suffering from what I call: Scripapathy. Try, really try, Church to consider what we have just read as if you were hearing these words yourself from Moses for the very first time. Keep in mind – these Hebrews have never, ever done anything like this. They have never roasted a lamb in this way. They have never gathered the blood of a slaughtered lamb. They have never, ever smeared said blood on doorposts. Think about how crazy this sounds:

Pick out a one year-old male animal. Slit his throat. While you're draining the blood out of him, keep some of that blood. Then, dip a branch of Hyssop in the blood and smear the blood on both sides and on the top of the door frame of your home. Don't put the blood anywhere else. Then sit down and eat. Eat every bite of it. If there's any food left that you don't eat, burn it. Oh yeah, while you're eating, tuck your cloak into your belt, put your sandals on your feet, and one more thing… you are going to have to eat with one hand, because you need to hold onto your walking staff with the other hand. After you hear all of this, are you dazed? Are you confused? Maybe, but only for a moment. Because what you hear next, is so bizarre, it just about leaves you breathless. But… it too leaves you consumed with expectancy! As a Hebrew, you know of everything that has been happening within the nation of Egypt. How could you not? You remember as if it were yesterday: The bloody water. The blood in the streets. The blood on everyone's clothes. The blood that flowed everywhere.

You remember the frogs. The gnats. The flies. The atrocious smell of dead animals everywhere. The Egyptians walking around covered in boils. The frozen water, hail, that fell from the sky. The dark swarm of locusts that devoured the entire nation of Egypt. And you too remember the darkness; three days of darkness; a darkness that could be felt.You remember all of this. So when Moses comes to tell you and all of your people what will happen next, with great expectancy, you take Moses at his word, because you have seen the hand of Jehovah God on you, your family, and your people. You may not fully understand everything that's going on, but you know this:

The God of the Hebrews can be trusted. His hand of favor and protection has been upon you and your people throughout all of this crazy. And you now hear that tonight will be a night unlike ever before; a night of reckoning.

Exodus 12:12-14

Imagine the expectancy among the nation of Israel. Imagine 2 million Hebrews sitting in their homes, shoes on their feet, bags packed, ready to go, and then… The screams begin. The wailing is so loud it can be heard in all the places in which the Hebrews live.

Exodus 12:29-30

Let this sit for a moment… One of the most staggering, yet too, revealing verses in all of the Scriptures as to the power and the judgement of God, is discovered in this one verse. Listen to it again:

Exodus 12:30

430 years. The beatings. The embarrassment. The sweat. The pain. The inhumane living conditions. The misery. The shame. The brokenness. The brutality. 157,054 days living as foreigners in a foreign land. Upon this final night in Egypt, do you think there was an expectancy heavy upon the hearts of the entire nation of Israel? Of course there was. And on this night, God did not let them down. Instead, God - made - history.

Oh church... I pray that you and me, we become a people living expectant for God to do something unexplainable. Unfathomable. Unimaginable. Inconceivable. Inexplicable. Incomprehensible.

For the one here today occupied with brokenness, hope with an expectancy.
For the one here today immersed in pain, trust with an expectancy.
For the one here today questioning everything, believe with an expectancy.
For the one here today wondering, “Where is God?”, wait with an expectancy.
For the one here today bitter over the past, let go with an expectancy.
For the one here today consumed with fear, seize the freedom awaiting you with an expectancy.

Gratitude. Remembrance. Expectancy.

All of this leads lastly, to:

4. Obedience

The story of the Exodus hinges upon obedience. The story of Moses hinges upon obedience. The story of my life and yours hinges upon obedience.The Christian’s greatest struggle is not in the jurisdiction over the knowledge of the will of God.

The greatest struggle of the follower of the Christ is the Christian’s position of obeying the will of God.

Imagine the moment, in the dead of the night, when the call went out. 600,000 men with women and children bringing this total number to around 2 million. The Exodus. The mass exit, after 430 years of slavery in Egypt. The night of death became the morning of new life for God’s people. To the nation of Israel, the Exodus, rightly so, was about no more slavery, no more beatings, and no more injustice. To God, the Exodus was about so very much more. To God, the Exodus was about a promise; a new nation; a new beginning.

Exodus 12:37-41

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Jeffrey Dean Smith is a husband, father to Bailey & Brynnan, author, and the Senior Pastor at Donelson First in Nashville, TN. If you are in Music City, meet Jeffrey and enjoy iced tea on the front lawn each Sunday at 10:30a.