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(Last Day of Unleavened Bread)
Fred R. Coulter—April 15, 2020
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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! What a Feast this has been with everything that's been going on. It shows the Truth that a little leaven leavens the whole lump is the sum total of why we have Unleavened Bread. It is so that we can—with the Spirit of God—put in the righteousness of God through:
- His Word
- His Truth
- His Spirit
- living God's way
- trusting Him in everything
In everything!
Leviticus 23:6: "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days."
Tonight, after sundown, you can have whatever leaven you desire. It's only during the Feast of Unleavened Bread that leaven is a type of sin!
Verse 7: "On the first day you shall have a Holy convocation. You shall not do any servile work therein, but you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a Holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein" (vs 7-8).
We also know that we are to give according to how God has blessed us, and think about how God has dealt with you in your life:
- rescuing you from sin
- bringing you out of the world
- granting you His Holy Spirit
- giving you understanding of His Word
- leading and guiding you in the way that you need to go
Think about al of those things when you're making up your offering! It all goes to the use of what God wants.
As you know, we are very careful with the funds—the tithe and offerings—that the brethren send, because it's God's money! We have to use if for every purpose for:
- preaching the Gospel
- feeding the flock
- serving the brethren
- producing to the world the things that is necessary to preach to them
We have a great many things, as you know, for your personal study. If you still have the catalog of all of our literature, go read through that catalog again and order whatever you think you need.
Living in these days when there are a lot of false prophets and false doctrines, and Satan the devil is busy and active, we need to stay close to God in everything that we do!
- God will bless us
- God will be with us
- God will pave the way for us
to accomplish His will be it in your life, or the life of all the brethren everywhere!
(pause for offering)
Nothing is impossible for God, and we will see that He brings us to circumstances so that we will trust in Him, that we will have faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ!
Just to show you how important that is, and how it relates to everything that God does, come to Psa. 148, which is quite a little Psalm. This tells us how God created everything that there is. All of these things are important for us.
Notice all the praise to God, because God deserves all the praise:
Palm 148:1: "O praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created" (vs 1-5).
That's a tremendous thing! The Word of God is so powerful, so great that He can command and it will be! Think about this:
- God has called us
- God has promised us eternal life
Remember that it's impossible for God to lie! So, His Word is absolutely true. He also tells us that 'many are the afflictions of the righteous.' Why is that? Because when we have afflictions, we learn to trust in God!
We learn to look to Him! We come to various points in our lives, as we go down the pathway of life, to where there are things that happen that we can't change. We can't do anything about it except believe God and trust in Him! That's how God helps us t build character. This is why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Psalm 146:5: "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help…" God will help us in all our trials, difficulties, and circumstances! That's why we have this last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Nothing is impossible for God!
- God has decreed that His plan is going to be fulfilled
- God has decreed that all of those who have His Spirit and love Him and obey Him will receive eternal life at the resurrection
Regardless of the trials in the path of your life!
"…whose hope is in the LORD his God" (v 5).
- What is our hope? The resurrection and eternal life!
- What is the fulfillment of that hope? That we will be raised without sin!
We will be changed from flesh to spirit and God has promised!
Verse 6: "…Who keeps Truth forever." That's why the Word of God is called Truth! It is spiritual and spiritually understood!It is only understood by those who love God and keep His commandments!
We saw with the Night to Be Much Observed unto the Lord, what a fantastic night that was, as they were leaving Egypt. They didn't go very far that first night, but God led them with the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. He also gave them great wealth, great everything, because of destroying the Egyptians, their firstborn and everything that they had. Think about this: the children of Israel, leading up to the Passover, saw the plagues of God that came, and awesome the were, indeed! Very powerful!
God's Word is true, and when He said He would do it, He did it! Then He final had the coup de grace to let the children of Israel go, the killing of the firstborn of all the Egyptians and all of their livestock, which was a mass slaughter!
The children of Israel were spared because they were in their homes and under the blood of the Lamb. Then on the day portion, as we saw, of the Passover they came to Rameses and gathered to go, starting the Exodus! This was all organized, and they left right as the Night to Be Much Observed to the Lord was coming on! By the time the last group left the bounds of Rameses, it was already dark and God was showing that He was going to take His people and bring them to the Holy Mount to give them His laws, commandments, statutes and judgments, and that He would personally speak. The lesser ones He had Moses write down. All from God! But to get there…
One of the assumptions that the children of Israel had was that they were going to go to the 'promised land.' They thought that they would just scoot right along the Mediterranean seashore and come over to the 'promised land' and get it. But God had other things in mind, because He had to give them His laws and commandments, and He had to separate them from the children of Egypt! Here's what God did, and He took them on a little different route.
- How about your life on the path that you have been walking?
- Is it a little different than you had anticipated that it would be? Yes, indeed!
- Do you have circumstances that happen to you that you didn't know of? True!
- That you didn't expect? Without a doubt!
What God did is take the children of Israel, and instead of going on into the 'promised land' they took a turn south and came along the western shore of the Red Sea. At that point it was very narrow between the sea and the mountains. So, there was just enough room for the long column of the children of Israel to be there at the sea. Then Pharaoh, when he heard that they were going that way, said:
Oh, what have we done, we've let all of our slaves go. We don't know what to do. How are we going to have all the chores taken care of? We can't do them ourselves and our firstborn are dead, and the firstborn of the animals are dead. Look at us! We need to go down there and get them and bring them back.
Let's see what happened. Let's look at this; there's a parallel with this: Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Does Satan want to come and get us? Yes, indeed! We've already cover that!
- we need the armor of God
- we need the power of God
- we need faith in God
Our weapons are spiritual: trusting in God! The children of Israel didn't understand that. So, here comes Pharaoh:
Exodus 14:8: "And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a high hand. So, the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army. And they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. And, behold, the Egyptians marched after them" (vs 8-10).
They were completely helpless! They had no weapons, maybe a few swords, a few spears. They had nothing! But they had the greatest defense of all; they had God! Keep that in mind when you're faced with a challenge that's greater than you, more than you can handle, more than you can think about. Take it to God! This is the whole lesson for this day.
"…And they were very afraid. And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. And they said to Moses…" (vs 10-11).
See, when something goes wrong, you impute wrong motives! 'You did this because you don't love me' or whatever.
"…'Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt?…'" (v 11). In other words:
We're going to be buried out here in this wilderness. It would have been better if we stayed in Egypt. At least there's enough land for graves.
"…Why have you dealt this way with us to carry us forth out of Egypt?" (v 11).
Stop and think! Have you wondered why God called you? That's what they were questioning:
What is God doing? If He's going to give us the 'promised land' what is this all about?
Well, the truth is God has a different plan of bringing it about than the thoughts that they had. God had many things, yet, that He had to do.
Verse 13: "And Moses said to the people, [#1]'Fear not!…. One of the lessons that we're to learn:
Don't fear, regardless of what happens, because God is there! God is always near, so there's no reason to fear.
[#2]"…Stand still…" (v 13). Don't get up there and run over to the Egyptians and say, 'Keep me alive and I'll go back and be your slave.'
"…and [#3]see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today…" (v 13). Think about that!
Salvation comes from God! Yes, through the sacrifice of Christ we have been saved from our sins. But the ultimate salvation is the resurrection, which is a command of God when the seventh trump blows.
You think about a glorious thing that that's going to be. Remember, the next Holy Day we have is Pentecost, which pictures that. We'll get to that in due time.
- Don't Fear
- Stand Still
Don't run off and do your own thing because you think that you have got to do it, rather than trusting in God!
- See the Salvation of the Lord
"…Which He will work for you today…"
"…for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, [#4]you shall never see them again!" (v 13).
- Shall Never See Your Sins Again
How far does God remove our sins from us when we truly repent and yield to God? As far as the east is from the west!
- sin is like the Egyptians
- sin comes from Satan the devil, who is like Pharaoh
- sin is against God
We, through the power and Spirit of God, can:
- fight against that sin
- resist that sin
- trust in God to deliver us
Verse 14: [#5]"The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall be still." Quit your stupid complaining!
- God Will Fight for You
He will take care of it, and in a way sometimes you don't even know until somewhere down the road you see that God did this!
Verse 15: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.'" That's what this day pictures!
- we keep going forward
- our goal is the Kingdom of God
- our goal is eternal life
- our goal is to rule the world under Christ in the Kingdom of God
So, we must always go forward!As long as we're in the flesh, and as long as we live in this world, we're going to have to:
- fight against sin
- fight against Satan
- fight against society
But God is with us! It doesn't matter what they do to us!
Verse 16: "And you—lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea…"
How is that for a weapon? A big rod in his hand and God says, 'Hold it over the sea!'
"…and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea" (v 16).
Think about that! They were in an impossible situation! They couldn't go back north, they couldn't go to the east because the Egyptians were there and God put a spiritual wall between the Egyptians and the Israelites, and it was dark to the Egyptians but light to the children of Israel.
They couldn't go out into the water and they couldn't go further south, so they were in an impossible situation with the enemy right there ready to pounce!
So, God had Moses take his rod and God caused the wind to blow and opened the sea, spread it open. This was a big deal. This wasn't a little channel like you see in most of the movies. This must have been at least ten miles wide, because the whole length of the column of the children of Israel in their marching order was a tremendously long column.
You figure a column of a million people. Maybe not ten miles, but however long it was. They were encamped in a column alongside the shore. So, when God began to divide the Red Sea… Remember, He made it dry ground that had been under the sea and was soft and mushy for how long. Nothing is impossible for God!Remember that! Nothing!
So, He opened the Red Sea, and the wind blew all that night and as morning was coming they all marched in a flanking movement into the Red Sea and across to the other side. Didn't take them very long to get to the other side. They got to the other side and God lifted the division between the children of Israel and the Egyptians.
The Egyptians saw that they were gone, that they had gone through the Red Sea. They came to the Red Sea and looked at it and thought, 'It's all dry!'
Good lesson: God always traps the wicked ones in their own schemes and devices, because they know nothing of God!
Pharaoh said, 'All right, let's go!' So, they all went down into the Red Sea and when they got to the middle of it, God started knocking off the wheels, turning the dry ground into mud. They said, 'Oh, we've got to get out of here! Look at what the Lord is doing!' And the water came back and they all drowned!
Talk about accomplishing an impossible thing by the power of God! That's why we have to have faith in God in everything that we do!
- He will lead us
- He will direct us
- He will teach us
- He will help us
- we will overcome sin
- we will overcome human nature
- we will overcome Satan the devil
By the miracle of the power of the Holy Spirit of God with His Word and our living God's way! That's reaching the dry ground on the other side of the sea.
Then all the people were happy! Well, you know, carnal nature took hold again, and they complained. Then God brought them to Mt. Sinai and gave them the Ten commandments. Here was another one time thing in the history of the world, that that many people—over a million people, maybe 1.5 million—all the children of Israel camped around Mt. Sinai.
God made a proposition for them. Whenever God does something, it starts out with a simple statement. Just like with us: Repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit! That's how it starts out. That's very simple.
God didn't tell about all the things that would come upon us, and all the difficulties that we would have overcoming—did He? No! But we are to believe God, trust in Him, obey His voice, and do what He wants!
So, when they got to Mt. Sinai, God called Moses up into the mountain and He gave them the proposition. Very simple. The details come later. Isn't that how it is in our lives? Yes, indeed!
Exodus 19:3: "And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself"'" (vs 3-4).
To the Holy Mountain of Zion, Mt. Sinai; God dealing with all the people directly with Moses personally, face-to-face. This was a tremendous thing, indeed!
Here's the proposition, v 5: "Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed…"'" Look at that! Never forget those three words: obey My voice!
Everything we have in the Bible is written down and is the voice of God, so no one can say, 'God, I know you talked to them, but You haven't talked to us. What did you say to them?'
- God had Moses write it all down!
- God had the kings write it down!
- God had the priests write it down!
- God had the Prophets write it down!
So, the Old Testament was complied and filled with 356 direct references to the coming Messiah Jesus Christ! An amazing thing, indeed! Isn't that something?
"…if you will obey My voice indeed…"—that is don't make any exceptions, don't complain, but truly obey My voice, and keep My commandments! He hadn't given them, yet. But that was coming.
"'…and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel" (vs 5-6).
All of that sounded really good and wonderful, so Moses came back and told them all:
Verse 8: "And all the people answered together and said…" Listen to this! If you make a statement like this, remember, God is going to hold you to it!
"… 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do.'….: (v 8). Apply that to the New Testament! Paul writes that 'if any do not adhere to the sound words of Jesus Christ, he is ignorant and knows nothing! From such withdraw yourself!' Same thing! 'Keep My commandments!' That's what Jesus said!
- their promise was a 'promised land'
- our promise is eternal life in the Kingdom of God
So, it's so much greater!
Then God had Moses prepare all the people and get all ready. Then as it turns out, this was on the Day of Pentecost. So, here is Mt. Sinai and all the children of Israel at the base of the mountain, and God told Moses to block if off and don't let an animal come near and no man come near. If any do they shall be 'shot through with an arrow' or a dart!
Here is something that all these people experienced at the same time. An impossible thing that God would speak to the people!
This was to help them to understand how important it was that God was dealing with them, and what He was going to give them, and how they needed to live their lives. This was so they would have long lives and many children. They would receive the blessings of God. He would fight for them in their circumstances in conquering the 'promised land.' He would bless them in everything that they did.
Here is an impossible experience, a one-time experience, never happened before or after! Let's go through the Ten Commandments, and look at them, because this is how we are to live today with the Spirit of God in our mind:
- to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and being
- to love our neighbor as ourselves
- to love the brethren as Jesus loved us
- even to love our enemies
because God's plan is so great that it's going to be awesome, indeed, in the fullness of the working out of His plan! Here God comes down:
- the mountain is on fire
- the trumpets are blowing
- the wind is whirling around
- the earth is quaking
- the mighty power of God is there
then it settles down and here is a great flame of fire on top of Mt. Sinai with the smoke going up and the first thing He says:
Commandment #1;Exodus 20:2: "I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." I brought you out of sin and slavery! In the New Testament it's the same thing with Jesus Christ!
Verse 3: "You shall have no other gods before Me…."—because that's the first thing that people like to do; add on to what God has given, have their own gods. Then the next thing they want to have is their own little idols.
So, commandment #2, v 4: "You shall not make… [look at all the idols that people have developed in the name of Christ] …for yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me" (vs 4-5).
There's a blessing for loving God; there's a curse for hating God! Never forget that!
Verse 6: "But showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments." That, brethren, is New Testament doctrine! Doesn't that sound an awful lot like John 14-16. That's an expansion of it!
This also shows that you're not to have anything between you and the love of God.
Commandment #3; v 7: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
The way that the name of God is taken in vain more than anything else is in religious services when people say that God says, when God doesn't say!
Commandment #4; the key to always have contact with God, and this is based upon Him making the Sabbath on the seventh day when he renewed the earth!
Verse 8: "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy." One sentence! And everybody forgets it and goes to Sunday.
Verse 9: "Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger within your gates…. [Why?] …for in six days…" (vs 9-11).
In other words, keeping the Sabbath lets you always know that God is Creator of everything! There's no such thing as evolution.
"…the LORD made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath Day and sanctified it" (v 11).
In Lev. 23 and expansion on the Sabbath Day with the Feasts and Holy Days of God. That's how God works! He first gives a very simple proposition, then He gives the main things that need to done, and then He gives the details of other things under it, which are called judgments, statutes and ordinances! Amazing! That's how God does everything!
Commandment #5; v 12: "Honor your father and your mother…."
Why? Because every single one of us have a perpetual scar right in the middle of our bodies, called the navel, to let us know that we came from our father and mother. Honor father and mother!
It's difficult for children to do it, and it's difficult for parents to train children, but this is necessary so that we understand that as adults life is also going to be difficult and we have to work at it.
Jesus said, 'My Father works and I work!' There's a lot of work that we need to do in honoring your father and mother:
"…so that your days may be long upon the land…" (v 12). Think about how many die because they don't do that!
Commandment #6; v 13: "You shall not murder." The King James say 'kill,' but that's not correct!
Commandment #7; v 14: "You shall not commit adultery."
Those two things that happen the worst, and most of it is because they dishonor father and mother!
Commandment #8; v15: "You shall not steal.
Commandment #9; v 16: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Commandment #10; v 17: You shall not covetyour neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's." Instead of all the people down there saying:
Oh what a wonderful, awesome thing that this has been. We heard the voice of God, let's all commit ourselves to always love God and keep His commandments.
Well, that's not what happened, but that's what should have happened. The carnal mind does not want to do the things of God.
Verse 18: "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, 'You speak with us…'" (vs 18-19).
Isn't that something? Always like to place someone else between you and God! That's the way human nature is!
"…'You speak with us and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die'" (v 19). God said that He did that to prove them!
Does God prove us with trials and difficulties? Yes, indeed! That certainly shows the things that are important. They sinned against God later:
- made a golden calf
- refused to go into the 'promised land'
- were turned back and had to wander a total of 40 years in the wilderness before they came into the 'promised land'
When they did come into the 'promised land' they were outside across the River Jordan and Jericho was on the other side and God performed another great miracle. What did He do? He made the River Jordan stop and the water backed up like a big wall, and all the children of Israel walked across over to be on the other side!
- there they kept the Passover
- there they had the Wave Sheaf Offering
- there they had the second circumcision
- there they conquered the land of God beginning with Jericho
That was an impossible thing! High walls, big and thick; so, God used the impossible method! He said:
All right, what you're going to do is walk around the city once every day for six days. Then on the seventh day you're going to walk around it, and when I give the word, everyone is to shout.
and all the walls fell in and they went in and took the spoil! Rahab the harlot and her family were the only ones saved because they treated the spies correctly. So, God fought their battles for them! God helped them to conquer all the land!
But after a while the people got a little tired of that, so they didn't put all the people of the land out! So, God said:
Because you didn't obey My voice, these are going to be a thorn in your flesh so that you will know that you have to obey the Lord God. He will fight your battles for you IF you trust in Him! But IFyou don't, I'm not going to fight for you.
You can go through all the history of the judges—there were some good judges, there were some not so good judges—and they had various battles here and there, but eventually they conquered the land in seven years. They divided the land, they all had their inheritance as God intended them to have it. They came into the land, God prospered them.
Then God raised up, eventually, David to take the place of Saul. God gave all the plans to David for the temple so David's son Solomon could build the temple. They had at that time peace, all 12 tribes!
Solomon was king over them and they had a great dedication of the temple. You can read the tremendous prayer that Solomon gave. God put His presence, reaffirming His presence, by having a cloud of His presence enter into the temple.
Then Solomon sinned! God had to take away the ten northern tribes. There was never a righteous king of the ten northern tribes until they went off into captivity in 703-701B.C.
The tribe of Judah was left, along with Benjamin. Some of the kings were very righteous. One of the kings was Hezekiah, who was a righteous king. He was one who cleansed the temple from all the idolatry and they had a great Passover and great Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Let's see the impossible miracle that God did to save Judah and Hezekiah from the Assyrians!
(go to the next track)
It was true, the king of Assyria had come and conquered every one of the nations that is listed here. He went into Egypt and took the spoil and he had a huge army, and they were carrying the spoil back to Assyria and they camped right on the border of Judea to capture it, to take Jerusalem. They sent the commander general to speak to the children of Judah who were sitting on the wall and the officials watching it. He came to them and told them all what the king of Assyria had done, and how he got all this treasure and everything.
Now, 'if you surrender we'll take you off as slaves, but you will live.' And he told them not to listen to what Hezekiah will tell you about what God will do for you.
When Hezekiah received a letter, let's see what happened:
Isaiah 37:14: "And Hezekiah received the letter from the courier's hand, and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying" (vs 15-15).
Notice this prayer, because we're going to learn a good lesson from Hezekiah out of all of this:
Verse 16: "O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. Bow down Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; so they have destroyed them. And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand…" (vs 16-20). Good lesson; only God can save us!
He can intervene in our lives now to save us from whatever circumstance we are in. The ultimate salvation is the resurrection from the dead! That is another impossible thing that God is going to do!
Verse 20: "And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone."
Verse 21: "And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, God of Israel, "Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria."'"
Notice how effectual a fervent prayer is. At this time Hezekiah was a righteous man. So, he prayed to God.
Verse 22: "This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him [Sennacherib], 'The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. Whom have you mocked and blasphemed? And against Whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants you have mocked the LORD and have said, "By my many chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and its choice fir trees; and I will go to its greatest height, the finest of its forests"'" (vs 22-24). That's looking at the nations and looking at Israel!
Verse 25: "'I have dug and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.' Have you not heard from long ago how I made it? From ancient times, even how I have formed it? Now, I have brought it to pass that you should lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps" (vs 25-26). That's what the King of Assyria did!
Here they are, all out there camping. Let's see what God did.
- you talk about God fighting for you
- you talk about God intervening to help you
- you talk about trusting God
Look! One of the greatest blessing that can happen is when you come to the point that you know that you are helpless:
- you need God
- you need His intervention
- you need His mercy
- you need His healing
- you need His love
That's a great blessing. That's why we have afflictions!
Here's Hezekiah with this great army out there. What could the children of the Jews do?
Verse 33: "Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, 'He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it…. [to come up over the walls] …By the way that he came, by the same way he shall return, and shall not come into this city,' says the LORD. "For I will defend this city to save it…'" (vs 33-35).
Remember what God told the children of Israel: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, for I will fight for you!
In each case, they got to the point that there was nothing they could do. Everything was against them, but God intervened!
Verse 35: "For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for My servant David's sake."
Notice what God did, v 36: "Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria…."
There they are, going to sleep at night, going to get up in the morning and prepare for battle and go up and take the city of Jerusalem, and take all the treasures and get everything that there is and kill as many as they can. So, God sent the angel and they all died in their sleep, except the king and his chief officers.
"…And they rose early in the morning, and behold! They were all dead corpses" (v 36).
- Can God take care an army quickly?
- Can He fight against the enemy for us efficiently?
- Does He know how to do it? Yes, He does!
Now let's see what happened to Sennacherib; v 37: "And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword. And they escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his place" (vs 37-38). Killed by his own sons!
God knows how to fight for us! When God has fought for us, we don't need to do like the children of Israel. What happened? Three days afterward they complained to God because they didn't have any water! So, they came to Marah where there was water, and the water was bitter, and they cried, 'We're all going to die!'
What did God have Moses do? Cut down a tree and throw it into the water and it made the water sweet! They all had plenty of water. God was able to take care of it!
Now, when we come to Hezekiah, after this great miracle and this happened, what a great thing took place? God told Hezekiah to set his house in order because you're going to die!
Isaiah 38:2: "Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, and said, 'Remember now, O LORD, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done that which is good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping. Then came the Word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, 'Go and say to Hezekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your days fifteen years'" (vs 2-5).
Here's the lesson: When a blessing comes from God don't get lifted up in vanity! Here's what happened. All the treasure that all the soldiers had in the Assyrian army, the children of Judah went down and brought all of the expensive things—gold, silver, copper, and all the precious stones—and put them in the treasury house of God.
The king of Babylon heard of this mighty defeat of Assyria, because this was important, because Assyria was dominating Babylon at that time. The king of Babylon was just a vassal king.
Isaiah 39:1: "At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that he had been sick, and had recovered."
The long and the short of it is that they came and flattered Hezekiah and he got lifted up in his vanity.
Lesson: After God has fought your battle for you, and you have won, don't get lifted up in vanity and do something stupid like Hezekiah!
Hezekiah got lifted up, and they said, 'Oh what a great thing that has happened. You must be the greatest king on earth. Now you're the richest king on earth. What did they bring you?'
Hezekiah said, 'Come and see!' He took them and showed them everything, all the wealth and all of the treasure and things that God had given as spoil.
Verse 3: "Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, 'What did these men say? And where did they come from to you?' And Hezekiah said, 'They have come from a far country to me, from Babylon.' Then he said, 'What have they seen in your house?' And Hezekiah answered, 'All that is in my house they have seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them'" (vs 3-4). That was very stupid!
Don't do anything stupid after God has fought a battle for you and you win, and then you get lifted up in your own vanity.
Verse 5: "Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Hear the Word of the LORD of hosts. "Behold, the days come when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left," says the LORD'" (vs 5-6).
That happened in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar; took it all!
Verse 7: "And of your sons which shall issue from you, which you shall beget, they shall take away; and they shall be officials in the palace of the king of Babylon." We know that was fulfilled with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!
Notice Hezekiah's attitude. He didn't repent! After all God did for him, and after all he repented of and prayed and asked God to spare him from the Assyrians and the armies of 180,000, and got all the treasure, everything, and then did this stupid thing! Even after God added 15 years to his life, notice his bad attitude:
Verse 8: "Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'Good is the Word of the LORD which you have spoken.' And he said, 'For at least there shall be peace and truth in my days.'"
That was terrible! He turned to be so selfish that he didn't even think about what's going to happen after he dies. Could have been different. Think of the things that could have been different. And guess who took his place? Manasseh! One of the most evil kings of all, for 55 years! You know the rest of the story.
Let's come to the New Testament and see what Jesus says to us. Remember that whenever God blesses you and fights a battle for you, be thankful, be humble, and don't be all lifted up and in a bad attitude. That won't work!
Jesus was explaining about marriage and what it should be, and that it's difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 19:23-24).
Matthew 19:25: "But after hearing this, the disciples were greatly astonished and said, 'Who then is able to be saved?' But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With men this is impossible…'" (vs 25-26).
Think about that. There are many things that are impossible for men to do.
- they can't raise the dead
- they can't bless like God
- they can't fight the enemies like God can
- it doesn't matter who you are, and how much wealth you have, if you don't humble yourself, you're not going to be saved
"…but with God all things are possible" (v 26). Think about that as you look at your life!
- look at the things that you have been doing
- look at your sins
- look at the leaven that has come into your life this past year
and during the Feast of Unleavened Bread you have been getting them out asking God:
- to help you
- to strengthen you
- to make it possible for you to overcome
and He will! "….With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."
Matt. 17—here's about praying. This is what is important. This is why we need:
- the Truth
- the love
- the Spirit of God
- the conviction of God
to believe what God has said, and to know that He is for us and that there is nothing that is going to hold us back from receiving eternal life!Here's what Jesus said in casting out a demon:
Matthew 17:20: "And Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief…."
When you don't have the faith, what do you need to do? You need to do like the man who pleaded with Jesus to cast the demon out of his son. He said, 'Lord, help my unbelief!' In other words, 'Lord, give me belief to overcome my unbelief.' God will do that! God wants us to believe!
"…For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a tiny mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Remove from here,' and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you" (v 20).
Stop and think for just a minute. What would that accomplish by moving a mountain? Well, it would move a lot of things! But what is more difficult than moving mountains? Converting the mind! Converting your thoughts is more difficult than moving a mountain! Of course, all of it has to be according to God's will.
Let's see where we are many times in our life, because we have a lot of things to overcome, a lot of things to put aside, a lot of things to be forgiven. Yes, we do because we're human beings.
After going through everything in Heb. 11—by faith… Everything that is listed of the patriarchs by faith they believed God in spite of the circumstances involved.
What did He do that was impossible? What He told Sarah. Nothing is impossible with God! Here she was 90-years-old to bear her son Isaac, as God said it would be. Abraham said it would be. He was strong in faith and He believed, and Sarah also believed. Did it happen? Yes! At the appointed time! Quite an amazing thing! That's why Sarah laughed!
'Do you think a woman 90-years-old is going to have a child and nurse a child?' The Lord said, 'Why did you laugh?' She said, 'I didn't laugh.' The Lord said to her, 'Yes, you did. At this time next year you're going to have a son.' Impossible, but it happened!
From Isaac that continue on from Abraham, and from Isaac onto Jacob, and then on down to the Christ. Did it all happen as God prophesied and said that it would? Yes! Every one of these things were by faith!
Hebrews 11:1: "Now, faith is the substance…" Spirit is a substance, and:
- we're to have the faith of Christ; that is a spiritual gift
- we're to have the love of God; that is a spiritual gift
"…of things hoped for… [if you already have it, you don't hope for it any longer, you have it] …and the conviction of things not seen" (v 1). That's something we all need to have more of:
- conviction of the Truth of God
- conviction of the righteousness of God
- conviction and faith in what God has said that He is able to do
Verse 2: "For by this kind of faith the elders obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the worlds were created by the Word of God, so that the things that are seen were made from things that are invisible" (vs 2-3).
Then it goes through everyone: Abel, Enoch…
Verse 6: "Now, without faith it is impossible to please God…." It can't be by what you think alone. But it must be according to the Word of God, the Spirit of God and His promises!
"…For it is mandatory for the one who comes to God to believe that He exists…" (v 6). And everything that He has said in the Bible.
Why don't you do this for a Bible study: look up every place where it talks about God:
- who He is
- what He's done
- how He's done it
- the way He has done it
- why He has done it
That will help you with your faith! Remember:
- it's impossible for God to lie
- it's impossible for us to believe God unless we have faith
- we know that He exists
- we know that He is there
- we know that He has called us
- we know that Christ came
- we know that He was raised from the dead
- we know that He's at the right hand of God
- we know that He's our High Priest
- we know that He's there to intercede for us
"…and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (v 6)—not halfhearted!
Remember, we're living in a Laodicean age where there are so many things that people are satisfied with them, and have grown rich and they don't know that they're slipping away like Hezekiah did and do stupid things! That's why Jesus says to the Laodiceans, 'As many as I love I rebuke and chasten, therefore, repent!' That's what the Feast Unleavened Bread is all about for us.
Every year it comes so that we learn that it's not going to be of ourselves; it's going to be of God! It's not going to how we think it's going to be, it's going to be the way that God says it's going to be!
- we can believe God
- we can believe His promises
- we can trust in Him
Everything that He has said, He will do!
Heb. 12—here's how we are to do it. We're not to do like he children of Israel who when they came to the Red Sea, 'Oh, how are we going to get across the Red Sea?' They got across, God made a way! God will make a way for you, whatever your circumstances are!
Hebrews 12:1: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great throng of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight…"
Everything that burdens you down. Don't let it burden you down. Come to God, pray about it, overcome it and get it out of your life.
"…and the sin that so easily entraps us… [especially in this society with so many things of Satan the devil out there everywhere and in the air] …and let us run the race set before us with endurance" (v 1).
- not stopping
- not giving up
- not getting discouraged
But being encouraged that God is always with us!He says in the Psalms, I am with you in your troubles! He will help us out of them! The final solution is the resurrection. We all have to be faithful to the end!
Verse 2: "Having our minds fixed on Jesus…"
That's why we have the four Gospels; go through them again, study them again. He was the Lord God of the Old Testament, and He's coming as King of kings and Lord of lords, and we're going to be part of that!
"…the Beginner and Finisher of our faith…" (v 2).
He began it by calling us. He's going to finish it by helping us to overcome, change and be perfected to the end.
"…Who for the joy that lay ahead of Him endured the cross, although He despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God" (v 2). Think about the contrast of that.
- crucified and nailed to the stake
- dieing an ignominious death
- raised from the dead
- ascended during Unleavened Bread to the Throne of God
- victorious over everything
That's going to apply to us! Think about that
Verse 3: "Now meditate deeply on Him Who endured such great hostility of sinners against Himself so that you do not become weary and faint in your minds." Don't do that! That's why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Verse 4: "You have not yet resisted to the point of losing blood in your struggle against sin." Isn't that true?
- let's see what it is for us
- let's see how it works
Think about everything in your life that takes place is going to happen for a purpose. All of those things are going to be so that we can:
- learn different lessons
- learn love and obedience
- understand that God is working in our lives
- realize that we cannot save ourselves, or work it out ourselves
If you've got trouble, don't say you'll pray when you have it solved! NO! You're not going to get it solved until you pray first!
Rom. 8:28—regardless of what the difficulties are, this we need to know. This gives us the hope and assurance, and having our mind fixed on Christ.
Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things… [everything that occurs to us] …work together for good to those who love God… [with all your heart, mind, soul and being] …to those who are called according to His purpose… [which we have been] …because those whom He did foreknow He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son… [greater things ahead] …that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren" (vs 28-29).
We can hardly wait to understand more about Pentecost and the resurrection, and what a time that's going to be!
Here's a guarantee if you keep walking the way that God wants, keep trusting in God in the things that He has said. You believe in God and His promises, not doubting. And continue running the race you're running with endurance.
Verse 30: "Now, whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
The only glory we have now is the receiving of the Holy Spirit with the promise, the earnest of the full spiritual promise that comes at the resurrection.
Verse 31: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us… [which He always is for us] …who can be against us?"
- no one
- no thing
- no man
- no circumstance
- nothing that is in this life
Verse 32: "He Who did not spare even His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also grant us all things together with Him?" He's going to grant it to us!
Verse 33: "Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One Who justifies. Who is the one that condemns? It is Christ Who died, but rather, Who is raised again, Who is even now at the right hand of God, and Who is also making intercession for us" (vs 33-34).
Think about all of this for you! Everyone of us, each and every one whom God has called! Notice that if you have this belief, this hope, this conviction:
Verse 35: "What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?"
All of those things we may have to face. All of those thing brethren in the past faced. They took it in stride and in praise to God. Many of those who were carried off to be burned at the stake, killed and tortured by the Roman Catholic Church, against all of the churches in the Piedmonts in Northern Italy.
When they carried them off, they were singing hymns to God, forgiving those who were killing them, burning them at the stake. Think about that! If you think that you have had troubles, you need to get on your knees and thank God that you're not going through that now, so that you can have strength and hope to face the things that you're looking at right now. We haven't had to face those things!
Verse 36: "Accordingly, it is written, 'For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter.'" Another martyrdom is coming again in the future!
Verse 37: "But in all these things… [everything listed here] …we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us"—because those things can never defeat God!
- it's impossible to defeat God
- it's impossible to defeat His purpose
- His Word is true
- He says that we will be raised from the dead
- He says that we will receive eternal life
That will happen!
Verse 38: "For I am persuaded… [this is the conviction and persuasion that we need to have]: that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (vs 38-39).
God will do the impossible! He has proved it time and time again! This is why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so we can:
- trust in God
- look to His help
- look to His salvation
- believe His promises
- believe His Word
We know that we can love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and being!
This is the meaning of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Scriptural References:
- Leviticus 23:6-8
- Psalm 148:1-5
- Psalm 146:5
- Exodus 14:8-16
- Exodus 19:3-6, 8
- Exodus 20:2-19
- Isaiah 37:14-26, 33-38
- Isaiah 38:2-5
- Isaiah 39:1-8
- Matthew 19:25-26
- Matthew 17:20
- Hebrews 11:1-3, 6
- Hebrews 12:1-4
- Romans 8:28-39
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- John 14-16
- Matthew 19:23-24
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 2/25/20
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