Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.theupperroomfellowship.church/sermons/93252/the-feast-of-unleavened-bread/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, good morning. So we're on feast. Well, it's feast number three for us.! Feasts or appointed times, which is a better title.

[0:13] ! Bread.

[0:30] Now, this can be a source of confusion to quite a lot of people, particularly Jews, because they often call Passover the Feast of Unleavened Bread because there is no break between them.

[0:42] And so they start celebrating Passover and then they carry on with a similar mindset and a concentration on unleavened bread right the way through to seven days after Passover is finished.

[0:57] And sometimes they don't call it Passover. They call it unleavened bread. So there's room for confusion. Now, all of the feasts are described in chronological order in Leviticus chapter 23.

[1:15] And they have two. If you just turn to Leviticus 23, they have two descriptors. Now, they're all listed in alphabetical order.

[1:27] But you'll notice if we start at verse four, these are the appointed times of the Lord. So the first descriptor they have is it's an appointed time. A time.

[1:38] It's not just, I don't know, it's not like a birthday. Although you could say that was an appointed time. But to the Jew and to us, this was you've made an appointment with God.

[1:51] So it was it's more like a doctor's appointment, except God's a lot bigger than your doctor. But it's an appointment. And it's an appointment that God made and demanded his people to obey that appointment.

[2:05] Now, we're not all of these have been fulfilled. So we don't do that as the church. But it's important to understand, particularly today as we're breaking bread together.

[2:16] And just a principle through scripture is God requires remembrance. He requires us to remember things that happened. And not only to remember the things that happened, but also to remember what he has planned for the future.

[2:32] So you're kind of remembering events before they happen in the sense that you're remembering that God has a plan. And that we are part of that plan. And in that plan, we place our hope.

[2:44] So if everything we're talking about now is not true, there is no hope. But because it is true, there's every hope. And the other word that's used as a description, again, in verse four there.

[2:55] Holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. So you've got this appointment with God and he wants you to have a convocation. What is a convocation?

[3:07] And for years, I just thought it was a party or a celebration. And then I came across the Feast of Atonement, which is actually quite morose and quite self-examining.

[3:18] And so the party title doesn't really fit. And so I look more deeply into it. And it means a holy meeting or gathering, but it also carries the meaning of a rehearsal.

[3:32] And so those of us that have been involved in rehearsals will understand that the rehearsal is a practice for the real thing. It's something that you use to get your act together.

[3:45] So when the final performance comes, you're ready. And these convocations were intended to make the Jews and because of study and because God's left it in his word, us ready when it all comes to a conclusion.

[4:01] If you quickly look at Hosea chapter 12. This is something that we've been considering on Thursday Bible studies as we go through Genesis.

[4:14] But in in chapter 12 and verse 10, what we read is God saying to his people, I have also spoken to the prophets and I gave them numerous visions.

[4:28] And through the prophets, I gave. Now, my version says parables. Some of your versions, particularly if you're using an old King James, will probably say similitudes. Right.

[4:39] I gave you similitudes. So God's reason for giving us similitudes is so that we'll go, oh, that's like that. Very simple.

[4:50] That's you use a metaphor or you use a similitude to say this is like that. And these studies of the feasts are full of the this is like that kind of stuff.

[5:03] They are similitudes. But they're more than similitudes because they're based on real historic events. So God has taken real historic events and used them to paint a picture of something in the future.

[5:18] And what is also interesting about both Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is that the instructions for the feasts were given before the events happened.

[5:32] So the instructions themselves were prophetic, which shows us that God already knew what he was going to do before he did it and told the children of God before he did it.

[5:45] So he he'd said to the Jews, put the blood on your doorposts, make yourself ready. I'm going to go through the land and I'm going to kill the firstborn and you need to be ready.

[5:57] You're going to eat unleavened bread. You've got to consume this lamb. And when you leave the land, you've got to be ready with your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hand, your loins girded up.

[6:09] And the minute I've done it, you're going. So it was prophetic. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread similarly is prophetic because he then goes on to talk about the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

[6:21] So let's go back to Leviticus 23. Actually, just before I move on, could I have the first photo up? Yeah, there should be some pictures. Slide picture.

[6:32] Right. Now, that might seem a weird thing to put up. But what we're going to read is that one of the things the Lord said is this will be a sign for you. Right. So he he he said he was going to give these feasts as signs.

[6:46] Now, the word sign is three letters. The Vav, sorry, the Aleph is first because you've got to read from right to left. So it reads Aleph, Vav and He.

[6:58] There's He. Aleph, Vav, He. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, so not the top line there is modern Hebrew and you can't see it so clearly.

[7:10] But in the old pictographs, which would have been how the language was written in the time of this feast, you've got the Aleph. Now, the amazing thing about the Hebrew language is every single letter has a meaning of its own.

[7:24] Right. So you obviously a sentence is made up of letters, but you can often infer things about what's been said because each individual letter has its own meaning. So Aleph, the first letter of this word, remember, they read from right to left, means ox, but it also means a strong leader.

[7:46] The Vav was a tent peg or a nail. And then the final letter, He, means behold or revealed. So when God said, this will be a sign for you, the sign spoke of a strong leader that we should behold who was nailed.

[8:07] Now, I think that's amazing. And what's more, if you look that word up in your Bible, almost every example of it is in the book of Exodus and refers to God doing something to save everybody.

[8:19] And I just, I couldn't pass that by. I just thought it was absolutely fascinating. So I'm done with the picture. Thank you. So Leviticus 23, we were at, weren't we?

[8:32] I got so carried away, I forgot where I was. Right. So we've covered, as I say, in this chapter, all the feasts are in chronological order and we've covered Passover.

[8:46] And if we pick it up from verse four, which just briefly refers to the Passover again. These are appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.

[8:58] In the first month, on the 14th day of the month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Then on the 15th day of the same month, there is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord.

[9:10] For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, that's the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but for seven days, you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.

[9:26] On the seventh day is a holy convocation and you shall not do any laborious work. So you have Passover that finishes at approximately 6 p.m. on the 14th of Nisan.

[9:39] You must remember the Jewish day starts at 6 p.m. and goes through to 6 p.m. the next day. So I guess 5.59 the next day. And the feast of unleavened bread, as the day passes from the 14th to the 15th, the feast of Passover finishes and the first day of unleavened bread is a Sabbath.

[10:01] No laborious work shall be done. And then they eat unleavened bread for a week and at the far end of the week is another Sabbath. And as we touched on last time, this is a reminder to the Jew that when they left Egypt, when the people of Israel came out of Egypt, it happened so fast that they did not have time to allow their bread to rise.

[10:26] And so for the next period of time, they ate unleavened bread, not just on the one occasion, but all week right through to the end of the Sabbath at the end of unleavened bread.

[10:40] And this was going to be a sign for them. We read that in Exodus 13 verse 9 in a moment. So they have to eat unleavened bread. And we talked when we talked about Passover that leaven was a type of sin.

[10:55] Do you know I'm modifying my view of this? Because actually, when you look at the definitions of leaven in Scripture, it's also used in a godly sense to talk about the leaven of God, that leavens also the whole lump.

[11:11] So I actually think leaven is more descriptive of influence. If you're under the influence of Satan and sin, then it will leaven the whole lump.

[11:24] But if you're under the influence of the Holy Spirit and of God, that too can leaven the whole lump. That's just an opinion. By all means, feel free to argue with it. I became convinced as I went through this that there was more to it than it just being a straightforward descriptor of sin.

[11:42] But it's a descriptor of whichever influence you allow to have preeminence in your life. So this link between the Feast of Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread is very strong.

[11:55] So much so that they often can't tell when one finishes and one starts. You can, obviously, because sunset at the end of Passover is also the beginning of Unleavened Bread.

[12:06] But they run into each other seamlessly. So what we can then infer is that what starts at Passover carries on through Unleavened Bread.

[12:19] Now, Passover has this particular significance. As a historic event and as a predictor of the future, it was the point at which they were delivered from Egypt.

[12:33] So there was a... The axe came down. The firstborn died. The Jews were free. And that was a mark of a single event.

[12:44] But that single event was also the beginning of the next event, which took place over the next week. And so the influence of what happened at Passover carried on in the lives of the Jews.

[12:57] And I'll return to this concept as we go through, because I think it models our salvation in that I can't speak for you, but there was a day when I definitely got saved.

[13:08] I knew that I'd found the Lord. I knew that things had changed in my life. I knew that things had changed in my heart. And I didn't really understand at that point that I was free from sin, but that was the effect that I discovered over a period of time.

[13:23] But did I stop sinning at that point? No. In fact, have I yet stopped sinning? I can't think of one right at this minute. But... And if I did, I probably wouldn't tell you.

[13:34] But the point is that sin has not yet stopped chasing after me. So you could argue that the whole of my life since I got saved until now, I've been in this period of unleavened bread.

[13:47] I'm still trying to deal with the influences on my life to make sure they're the right influences and to get away from the wrong influences. If we think of...

[14:00] Then, if we think of this... We don't think of it as one feast because Jesus separated the feasts and the separator of the feasts was the death of the sacrificial lamb.

[14:14] So the separator of the feast in our minds should be the death of Jesus, the lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb. But the process that was begun at Passover carries on.

[14:27] And so what we're then going to read about in Scripture is what happened next. Because the Feast of Unleavened Bread talks about or refers to, celebrates the historical event that happened next.

[14:41] So to all of us Bible scholars in the room, what was that? What happened next? It's a question you're allowed to answer. What happened next? Exactly that.

[14:52] The next event that happened was the journey to and the crossing of the Red Sea. Symbolic, as Malcolm's just said, stealing all my thunder, but I really am grateful.

[15:05] It's symbolic of salvation. It's a symbol of baptism. Like we got saved and at some point we went through the waters of baptism as a symbol that our sin was buried forever.

[15:18] Just like the Egyptian army was buried forever. More of that to come. So you've got this seven day period. And the moment the sun sets on Passover, you're in Unleavened Bread.

[15:31] And for our salvation, what we see is the day we get saved, we are free. But do we live like it yet? All right. The Israelis leaving Egypt were being pursued by Egypt all the way to the Red Sea.

[15:49] Now it's a seven day feast. And in Bible numbers, seven is the number of divine completion. So this redemption from Egypt, and we can draw parallels with our own redemption from salvation, it's attached to this number of divine completion.

[16:09] The redemption is going to be complete. The redemption for them was completed at the Red Sea, particularly when they got out the other side of the Red Sea and looked back.

[16:21] And Egypt was no longer a threat to them. So there is this constant parallel of us overcoming sin totally.

[16:33] Again, I'll have to return to that. But what we have is a type, a sign of our redemption in Jesus coming through this Feast of Unleavened Bread.

[16:46] Now when we see types in Scripture, we're supposed to look for the anti-type. And this does confuse some people because it kind of seems back to front.

[16:58] But the type, so if we think of the Passover lamb, the Passover lamb was a type of Christ. And Christ was the anti-type of that type. Or when you see it, if you ever see it written in, you know, the anti-type, it basically means the fulfillment.

[17:15] Or you could use our previous terminology and say the first one was the rehearsal, and the second one is the real thing. But an anti-type is a fulfillment of an Old Testament type.

[17:26] And there are some people that preach who say, unless you can find an anti-type, you shouldn't claim a type. Personally, I think that's wrong, because there are lots of indications in Scripture where it's not even referred to in the New Testament.

[17:39] But clearly, you look at it and you think, this just models Jesus. So I'm not dogmatic about that. Some are. So we've seen that Passover, when we studied Passover, Egypt is a metaphor or a type for sin.

[17:55] And that the anti-type for getting the firstborn delivered from Egypt, from the curse of God that came on Egypt, the anti-type for that is Christ delivering us from sin.

[18:09] Sorry, I'm belaboring this, but there is a point. So it was the beginning of our pathway to salvation. Our Redeemer redeems us from the slave market of sin.

[18:21] The Egyptians were enslaved in Egypt. And when the firstborn died, and when Pharaoh eventually just got so sick of them that he drove them out of the land, with all their gold and silver and everything else, precious, precious gifts, that's a type of what happens when we get saved.

[18:40] And for those of you who had a little bit of a dramatic salvation, and I'm so glad I did, because I don't think I ever would have turned if God hadn't made it dramatic. It had to be undeniable, because I was stubborn.

[18:53] But I remember feeling that I'd found gold, that it was just a treasure. So we've got this very succinct description of the feast that we've already read.

[19:05] But let's turn back to Exodus 12, because in Exodus 12, we read what they went through. And we're going to read quite a bit of Scripture.

[19:16] Whether we'll read, we could easily read three chapters and still be talking about this, and then I'd run out of time. But you've got a reference to it in verse 14.

[19:28] Now this day will be a memorial to you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove the leaven from your houses.

[19:45] Now, that confuses some people, because we're talking about the feast of unleavened bread, and it's talking about removing leaven from your houses. The first day of unleavened bread was a Sabbath.

[19:56] So you can't be working on the Sabbath, so you can't be cleaning your house on the Sabbath. So the houses were only cleaned once. On the run-up to Passover, houses were cleaned of leaven, and that lasted right through to the other end, just in case there's confusion there.

[20:12] Verse 16. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day. No work shall be done on them, except that you must accept what must be eaten by every person.

[20:25] That alone may be prepared by you. Now, the normal rule for the Sabbath is you prepare everything the day before, so you don't have to work on food prep on the day of the Sabbath.

[20:35] But God put in place here a little clause that says, on this particular Sabbath you can make food. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.

[20:50] Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Okay. So we've gone through midnight, through that dreadful occasion when the firstborn of the land died, and we've come through to the next day, and when we get to the 15th of Nisan, we start walking.

[21:12] And we don't have any time to let the bread rise. So all the bread we're carrying for our journey is unleavened. And we've got a long journey ahead of us. They didn't know how long the journey was.

[21:24] All they knew was that they were leaving Egypt. But they set off with all this unleavened bread. And I think it's, well, it's interesting, because turn to verse 33 of the same chapter, which takes us to what happens when they leave.

[21:43] The Egyptians urged the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, we will all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls, bound up in the cloths on their shoulders.

[21:58] Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request.

[22:15] Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Sukkot, about 600,000 men on foot aside from children.

[22:26] Various estimates come out from one and a half million to three million is the likely size of the crowd. But nobody knows for sure. A mixed multitude also went up with them.

[22:38] So I'm assuming, and it is an assumption, that the mixed multitude that went with them were people who had kind of smelt the coffee when all these judgments were falling on Egypt and had jumped ship and had joined the Jews.

[22:53] Can't prove that to you, but that's my gut feeling. 39, they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread, for it had not become leveled since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

[23:09] So this journey that they've embarked upon was initially to Sukkot, which we understand was between 70 and 85 miles away.

[23:22] But their total journey to the side of the Red Sea was just a little over 200 miles. So you've got a mixed multitude, men, women and children, loads of animals proceeding through the desert.

[23:35] Now I think, this is purely my conjecture, I think what we can assume is that this feast of seven days lasted or painted the picture of their journey from when they left Egypt to when they arrived at the Red Sea.

[23:51] However, to that crowd, 209 miles in a week is a tall order. But, in verse 17 of chapter 13, what we read is that, now let's go back to chapter 13, verse 15.

[24:11] It came about when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting go that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beasts. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.

[24:28] So it shall serve as a sign for you, as phylacter is on your forehead. For with the powerful hand, the Lord has brought us out of Egypt. Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near.

[24:47] For God said, the people might change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt. So God knows that they're going to be in a threatening situation and suspects, and he proves to be true later in this passage, that they might want to rush back to Egypt.

[25:03] Hence, God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea, and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God will surely take care of you and you shall carry my bones from here with you.

[25:23] Then they set out from Sukkot and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way and in the pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

[25:42] So first of all, they're traveling by day and by night, not just by day. But surely they're going to get tired. Now, I don't remember the reference, but we do read that they were born up on wings like eagles, and there is room for suggesting that there was a supernatural element to this journey where they were able to accomplish a far greater mileage than would normally be the case.

[26:08] However, there's a certain amount of conjecture in that and not everybody agrees about it. So God hasn't even taken them by the shortest route. God is not brought to a place of fear like we would be.

[26:23] Oh, they're behind us. We better get a move on. God just says, hang on, I'll just stick my cloud in front of them and they can't then do anything until I let them. Almighty God doesn't have to be in a hurry to do anything.

[26:36] It was when Abraham sacrificed or went to sacrifice Isaac. We read, I think, in the book of Galatians, I could be wrong with that reference, that Abraham knew that God would be able to raise him from the dead if he'd succeeded in killing him because God had promised him progeny.

[26:58] So even if he has to go back and raise the dead, God can sort it out. He doesn't need to be in a hurry is my point. So they had this pillar of fire to lead them by night. If you just flip over to 19 verse 4, Exodus 19 verse 4, and don't lose your place because you're going straight back there.

[27:15] Moses is speaking and says, sorry, God is speaking to Moses. You yourself have seen, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

[27:29] So this travel plan wasn't limited by how far they could walk in a day. It was only limited by God, which means it was unlimited. Do you see? Wonderful, isn't it?

[27:40] And before we move on, let's just consider one little thing. Before leaving Egypt, God brought the severe judgment on the firstborn of the land. And a judgment on the firstborn is a judgment on all.

[27:55] So one of the things he insisted that they did was he said that the firstborn of the nations that were under the blood should be consecrated to him.

[28:09] And so you've got this contrast, which I haven't got time to study in detail this morning, but I mention it in passing. The firstborn of the land were condemned. The firstborn of God's people were consecrated.

[28:22] And you've got this incredible contrast. Sometimes I don't think we appreciate and sometimes we don't preach the stark difference between being in the kingdom and outside of the kingdom and how massive the difference is between the two.

[28:40] The ones who were not under the blood all died. The ones who were under the blood were blessed and consecrated. According to chapter 12, verse 40, you don't need to turn back there.

[28:54] They left Egypt after Israel had dwelt there for 430 years. Back in Genesis 15, verses 13 to 16, God said they would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years.

[29:07] So we have an apparent discrepancy. Not really. A very simple, and people do make large of this, but actually I think the answer is incredibly simple. They were in Egypt for 430 years, but until the pharaoh arose that did not know Joseph who enslaved them, they weren't enslaved for 430 years.

[29:29] They were enslaved for 400. So they had 400 years of slavery and a total of 430 years in the land. And I say that just in case that discrepancy or apparent discrepancy confuses anyone.

[29:43] And what has been said, if we go back to chapter 13, and by the way, the passage about sanctifying the firstborn is at the beginning of chapter 13.

[29:55] So, sorry, go to chapter 14 now, verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-ha-hiroth between Migdol and the sea, and you shall camp in front of Baal-Zephon opposite the sea.

[30:17] Could I have my first map up, please? So, these are the places that we've had mentioned. And at the top there in the middle, you've got the journey from Goshen to Sukkot.

[30:30] And then they were told to camp at Etham. Could I have the next map? I might want to go back to this one in a minute. Oh, what's the next slide? Yeah, that one. So, these places get a mention, Migdol Pi-ha-hiroth.

[30:46] And it's also important to notice that up the north of this place was an Egyptian fortress that had a view over this massive beach and the sea. That becomes significant a bit later on.

[30:59] So, verse 5. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart towards the people and said, what is this we have done?

[31:11] We have let Israel go from serving us. So, he made his chariots ready and took his people with him. And he took 600 select chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

[31:25] The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Now, I dealt with that last time. And if you want a little bit about that, listen to the Passover, which is still to go online. Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army.

[31:44] And they overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi-ha-hiroth in front of Baal-ze-phon. And Baal-ze-phon isn't marked on that.

[31:54] Was it marked on the previous one? No. So, you can leave that one up for the minute. So, you can imagine that them thundering along with horses and chariots, chasing after people who were on foot, they're going to catch up.

[32:07] And they catch up. They catch up and they camp. Verse 10. As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened.

[32:19] So, the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, it's because, is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness?

[32:30] Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 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.

[32:46] Now, of course, we've already read that God took them this route because he knew this would be where their hearts were. But Moses said to the people, do not fear, stand and see the salvation of the Lord which he will accomplish for you today.

[33:00] For the Egyptians whom you have seen today will never, you will never see them again forever. Keep that burnt into your mind. You will never see them again forever.

[33:12] The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.

[33:27] And the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land. As for me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his armies through his chariots and horsemen.

[33:43] Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I am honored through Pharaoh through his chariots and his horsemen. The angel of God who had been going before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them so it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel and there was the cloud along with darkness yet it gave light at night thus the one did not come near the other all night.

[34:13] So they're caught up with the Israelites and they can't get near them because there's this horrible great dense dark cloud they can't see a hand in front of their faces and yet the way of God's people is illuminated.

[34:26] just so much describes what we're like once we once we get our hooks into Jesus we start to see things that we never saw before because there was a cloud in front of us.

[34:39] 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land so the waters were divided.

[34:51] The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Now I presume possibly wrongly that the Lord let them all get right the way across before he took the cloud away from the Egyptians but I don't know for sure.

[35:09] Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit and all Pharaoh's horses and his chariots and his horsemen we're in verse 23 by the way went in after them to the midst of the sea at the morning watch the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and the cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.

[35:31] He caused their chariot wheels to swerve he made them drive with difficulty so the Egyptians said let us flee from Israel for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.

[35:42] Then the Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians over their chariots and their horsemen. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it.

[36:00] Then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them not even one of them remained but the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea and the waters were like a wall to them on their right and on their left.

[36:22] Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Now last verse when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and his servant Moses.

[36:43] So let's why would we believe this account? It's utterly fantastic isn't it? Why? People criticise us for believing this stuff because it is so apparently fanciful but if it were true what would we expect to find?

[37:00] So the first thing could I just have the next slide? Sorry can you go back two? I'm going to be a pain to you now. Alright so next one something's not right that one no the one before this one that one right sorry I got the order mixed up so there is one place in the whole of the Red Sea one place gosh I'm running over time where there is a beach big enough for a couple of million people together and in order to get to it could I go back forward one slide in order to get to it you have to go through this wadi and so as the children of Israel made their way toward the Red Sea they were completely enclosed on the right and on the left and then they finish up on this beach and they've got mountains behind them the Red Sea in front of them and nowhere to go so in every sense under all normal circumstances they are trapped so could we go with the next slide sorry I want to go back to that slide that has got that one at this beach there is a where the water has run down the wadi over centuries it's swept sediment out into the sea and there's a similar effect on the other side that's also swept sediment into the middle and so on either side of this land bridge the depth of the water is about 5000 feet and so if God had parted the waters there you'd have needed climbing gear to get down and back up but here the gradient was a mere 6% and it was a gradient into the middle and back out the other side it's the only place on the whole of the Red Sea as far as we've been able to find where this could have happened right so can we go forward two or three slides please right you'd also expect to find artifacts in the bottom of the Red Sea wouldn't you the sea the seabed over this land bridge which is still kind of 1500 feet deep at the deepest point is littered with artifacts where you have chariot wheels that have got coral grown over them that's preserved them and latterly some of these things have been taken into museums so there's a couple of examples can we have the next one that's a that's another chariot wheel with the other one buried in the sediment next one that's another one there and what they discovered was that these are chariot wheels that have four six and eight spokes and they are known to come from the

[39:36] Moses dynasty of the dynasty that was in place during Moses time next one now the other thing that happened centuries later was Solomon went to this area now he had a dock just down the road where he kept his fleet of ships but he planted a pillar at this point there was one on either side of the Red Sea the one on this side when it was discovered all the engravings on it eroded away and it couldn't be read but the one on the Saudi Arabian side was still readable and it spoke of this being the place that Moses led the children of Israel across the Red Sea next slide please on the Israeli side there was a marker set up because the pillar had disappeared so somebody set up a marker and it got overturned at some point but it was still at the time this photo was taken which I think was in the 70s it was still there okay next one

[40:36] I think we're almost there in fact I'm going to have to stop is there another photo no that's it right so finishing with this a bit clumsy because as you can imagine it's quite an exciting thing to study and I kind of got carried away they were celebrating all that we've just seen as a deliverance from or rather as the process of continued deliverance from Egypt right there was a day when it happened but there was a process through which they had to go to get through the Red Sea symbolic of our baptism and out into freedom totally from Egypt and the Egyptian army was buried as if it never existed so I finished with this statement when we got saved we were saved I think many of us have been through the waters of baptism but we continue a walk but there will come a day when sin will no longer exist when this corruption puts on incorruption and this mortality puts on immortality we will no longer struggle with temptation we will no longer struggle with anything to do with sin because sin will have been abolished and just like the Egyptians they will never be seen again our sin will never be seen again father thank you for this word please give me the gift of brevity in

[42:00]  Jesus name amen who