The Night of Nights

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

00:18

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

00:25

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. A reading from Exodus chapters 12, 13, and 14.

00:33

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months.

00:40

It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household.

00:52

And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons.

00:59

According to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old.

01:07

You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

01:21

Then they shall take some of the blood, put it on the door on the two door posts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat.

01:29

They shall eat the flesh that night roasted on the fire with unleavened bread, and bitter herbs they shall eat.

01:36

Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roast it, its head with its legs and its inner parts.

01:43

And you shall let none of it remain until the morning. Anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

01:50

In this manner you shall eat of it, with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste.

01:59

It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

02:08

And on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.

02:17

And when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when

02:23

I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the

02:29

Lord throughout all your generations, as a statute forever. You shall keep it as a feast.

02:35

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses.

02:41

If anyone eats what is leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

02:47

On the first day you shall hold an assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days, but what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.

02:59

And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.

03:06

Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty -first day of the month at evening.

03:21

For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel.

03:29

Whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land, you shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.

03:37

Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the

03:44

Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin. Touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.

03:53

None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the

03:59

Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses or to strike you.

04:09

You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and your sons forever, and when you come to the land that the

04:15

Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you,

04:21

What do you mean by this service? You shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the

04:31

Egyptians, but spared our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshipped.

04:37

Then the people of Israel went and did so, as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, and so they did. At midnight the

04:43

Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive, who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.

04:54

And Pharaoh rose up in the night, and he and all of his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

05:03

Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel, and go serve the

05:11

Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also.

05:17

The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said,

05:22

We shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks and in the shoulders.

05:31

The people of Israel had also done as Moses had told them, for they asked the Egyptians for silver and gold and for clothing.

05:39

And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked.

05:45

Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel sojourned from Ramesses to Sukkoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot besides women and children.

05:55

A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds, and they baked unleavened cakes of dough that they had brought out of Egypt.

06:05

For it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

06:11

The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the

06:20

Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

06:27

So the same night is a night of watching, kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

06:33

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the statute of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.

06:45

No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the flesh outside of the house.

06:53

You shall not break any of its bones. All of the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the

07:01

Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it.

07:07

He shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.

07:18

All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses, and on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

07:27

The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.

07:37

Then Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the

07:43

Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

07:50

And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the

07:56

Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall eat this service in this month.

08:04

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast of the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days.

08:11

No leavened bread shall be eaten with you, and no leavened bread shall be seen with you in all of your territory.

08:19

You shall tell your son on that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

08:24

It shall be to you a sign on your hand as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the

08:31

Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt, but you shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

08:44

When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the

08:52

Lord all the first that opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the

08:58

Lord's. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck.

09:05

Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your sons ask you,

09:12

What does this mean? You shall say to him, By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery.

09:20

For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals.

09:29

Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons

09:35

I redeem. It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes. By a strong hand the

09:41

Lord brought us out of Egypt. When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the

09:47

Philistines, although that was near. For God said, Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.

09:54

But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea, and the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt, equipped for battle.

10:03

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying,

10:09

God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here. And they moved on from Sukkoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.

10:19

And the Lord went there before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them all along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

10:31

The pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, did not depart from before the people. Then the

10:37

Lord said to Moses, Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi -hahiroth, between Migdal and the

10:44

Sea, in front of Baal -zaphon. You shall encamp facing it by the Sea, for Pharaoh will say to the people of Israel, They are wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in, and I will harden

10:56

Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his hosts, and the

11:02

Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said,

11:13

What is this that we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot, and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

11:27

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel, while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.

11:36

The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the

11:43

Sea by Pi -hahiroth, in front of Baal -zaphon. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the

11:51

Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the

11:57

Lord, they said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

12:03

What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt?

12:09

Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

12:16

And Moses said to the people, Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the

12:22

Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

12:28

The Lord will fight for you, you have only to be silent. The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me?

12:33

Tell the people of Israel to go forward, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.

12:42

And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, his chariots and his horsemen, and the

12:52

Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.

12:59

Then the angel of God, who was going before the host of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.

13:11

And there was the cloud and the darkness, and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

13:17

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

13:29

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

13:36

The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all

13:41

Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen. And in the morning watched the Lord in the pillar of fire, and the cloud looked down on the

13:48

Egyptian forces, and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels, so that they drove heavily.

13:55

And the Egyptians said, Let us flee before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. Then the

14:01

Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the

14:08

Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course.

14:15

When the morning appeared, as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

14:22

The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea.

14:28

Not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

14:37

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

14:44

Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the

14:49

Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

14:57

So as we consider kind of the mini climax of the story of Exodus, the

15:04

Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea, the Passover pointing us to Christ as the

15:10

Apostle Paul says, Christ, our Passover lamb, has been slain.

15:17

And indeed he has. You see, in the types and the shadows, those lambs that lost their lives on the night of the

15:25

Passover and were consumed and were eaten, they all pointed to Jesus.

15:32

Their blood being taken and painted on the lintels of the doorposts, and every family who heeded the word of the

15:40

Lord and the blood of the lamb covered their houses, the Lord would not send the destroyer in, no plague would touch them, and they were permitted to live.

15:52

In the same way then, consider that we, covered in the blood of the lamb, we who feast on Christ and his body and blood, we who feast on our

16:05

Passover lamb, we too have his blood on us. And God, rather than destroy us as we deserve because of our sin, instead passes over and he takes us into the wilderness to have us baptized.

16:22

Those are all the big pictures that are going on in here, and we're gonna note in this wonderful emphasis in these texts.

16:30

And again, too long to go through in a homily for a midweek service, but here again, these words.

16:37

The Lord said, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the

16:42

Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

16:52

The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

16:58

So what does this have to do with Holy Week? The answer is everything. You see, we were unable to save ourselves, enslaved to sin, death, and the devil, and by nature we were objects of God's wrath.

17:11

But God, having great mercy upon us, has sent his only begotten Son into the flesh in order to set us free.

17:21

And as we consider Christ's suffering and death and resurrection for our sins and for our salvation, then see them for what they are.

17:32

The Lord is fighting for us. We have only to be silent. He is stretching out his mighty arms in order that we might be freed.

17:45

That's the idea. We cannot do it of our own accord. We do not have the strength, we don't even have the will to muster up any kind of strength at all when it comes to these things.

17:56

And so in that regard, consider our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. From the

18:02

Gospel of Luke, we hear of his crucifixion, which reads that when Jesus was taken up to Golgotha, two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.

18:14

And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified Jesus and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

18:24

And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Amazing that Christ from the cross would pray for those who murdered him and destroyed him.

18:38

But in praying for them, was he not also praying for us? Indeed he was. And to fulfill then what

18:44

Psalm 22 says, they cast lots to divide his garments, and the people stood by watching.

18:50

The ruler scoffed at him. He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

18:56

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the

19:01

Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him, this is the king of the

19:07

Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him and saying, if you are not, are you not the

19:12

Christ? Save yourself, save us. But the other rebuked him, saying, do you not fear

19:18

God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds, what this man has done nothing wrong.

19:29

And then one of the most amazing portions of Scripture, this man, in repentance, in a very real way, looking at Jesus, the

19:39

Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb, our Passover Lamb, bleeding, suffering, dying, in a very real way, well, his request is like asking,

19:52

Lord may your blood cover me so the destroyer would not destroy me. He said, Jesus, please remember me when you come into your kingdom.

20:02

Remember the Passover is a memorial meal, and indeed it is. And Jesus says to him, truly

20:08

I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. And so he was.

20:15

Now if you remember, if I were to give you a quiz as to what exactly was the time of day when these

20:22

Passover Lambs are to be killed, the answer, you should remember, was twilight.

20:28

That has a particular time in the day. That time is three in the afternoon.

20:34

Three in the afternoon. Otherwise known in the ancient world as the ninth hour.

20:40

And so the text goes on to say, now it was about the sixth hour, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, and while the sun's light failed, the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

20:53

Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

20:59

And having said this, he breathed his last. Now when the

21:04

Centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, certainly this man was innocent.

21:10

And all the crowds that had assembled for the spectacle, when they saw that what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

21:18

And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

21:25

And so note then that Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been slain so that we, we can have the destroyer, the wrath of God, pass over us.

21:36

We have been saved by a mighty hand. And it's important to note that here Christ breathes his last, and it is also said of our baptism, which is what the crossing of the

21:48

Red Sea pictures and foreshadows. It's in our baptism that we have been united with Christ and in his death and his resurrection.

21:57

Think of the walls of water on one side of the Red Sea and once and on the other side of the

22:03

Red Sea, almost akin to a watery tomb that the people of Israel were passing through, and just as Jesus passed through death itself.

22:13

And so Jesus goes into the tomb, but he comes out victorious, and the devil is ultimately, totally defeated in that victorious resurrection.

22:26

And so note then these pictures, these types and shadows that we've been working our way through in the opening chapters of Exodus.

22:33

They point us to Jesus, his suffering, his death. The Passover Lamb eaten and consumed points us to the body and blood of Christ when we receive the

22:41

Lord's Supper, and the crossing of the Red Sea points us to our baptism and the ultimate defeat of the devil.

22:49

And the only thing we have yet to wait for now as we wander through the wilderness of this life, a generation heading towards the promised land, is where it was to cross the

23:01

Jordan and to once and for all be in the land that God has promised us, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land where we can see the face of God without end and bask for real in the light of his glory and worship in his temple.

23:18

All of this has been promised to us not because we were good or because we earned this, no, but because God has fought for us and has defeated the devil for us, so that he can guide us like a shepherd into the promises that he has promised us, so we will no longer ever again see the devil, sin, the world, our sinful flesh, all the things that trouble and torment us, and we will never again be enslaved but live forever in a world of freedom, true freedom, all given as a gift because Christ, our

23:58

Passover Lamb, has conquered mightily by being saved, slain for you and for me.

24:07

In the name of Jesus, amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

24:28

Avenue Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota 56744, and again that address is

24:35

Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

24:42

Avenue Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota 56744. We thank you for your support.

24:49

All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message, and again thank you for listening.