Thru the Bible

Host: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent word.

Host: Imagine what it was like in ancient Egypt when every family who had ignored God's command woke up to find their oldest child dead. What a tragedy. Welcome to Thru the Bible. In our five-year study through the whole word of God, we arrive at Exodus chapter 12, an important study that calls us to remember God's rescue.

Host: Even to this day, the Jewish people observe this event, called the Passover. Together, we're going to study its origin and discover how God wasn't only teaching the Hebrews, but all who hear and believe His word. I'm Steve Schwetz, your host and fellow traveler here on the Bible Bus. So as you find your seat, Greg Harris is here, and we've got a few minutes to talk about what's new here at Thru the Bible.

Greg Harris: There are always all kinds of great things going on, and one of the reasons we send out a monthly newsletter is so you can keep up with not all of it, but a lot of it. And this month, we have Barb Peel, who has been with us for some time, and overseas our domestic radio relationships, has written an article about the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, or as we like to say, NRB.

Host: Yes, and it's quite a big gathering. In the past. Yeah, I think it's the only time I saw a sitting president was when I went to NRB. I think George Bush went and spoke there.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yes, several presidents have come and spoken. Donald Trump spoke there. I I could I can go to the original George H. W. Bush spoke there. Yeah. And it's it's it's an important part of our year. It's a very hard work because we have dozens of meetings in over just a couple of days, but it's very efficient because we get to meet with all of not all, but many of our key relationships here in North America.

Greg Harris: And I I know I have a bias Steve, you tease me about it. I have a bias toward the global side of our work, but I I am so grateful and I think it's important we just stop and say, if you're listening on a radio station or through an app that's connected with a radio station, make sure you tell that radio station that you love Thru the Bible because when we meet with them, they ask us how how are we doing in getting your program out?

Host: Yeah, and it is it is an encouraging time. And I don't want you to think that just because we mentioned that presidents show up because of the political aspect of it, we don't get political, we really do. It's it's about meeting with our ministry partners, those that are often broadcasters, since it's national religious broadcasters. And radio has been the backbone of this ministry. It was the birthplace of Thru the Bible as it went out on radio and continues to be pivotal and and a number one source for us for getting out the whole word to the whole world.

Greg Harris: Yeah, it's actually astonishing in this age of so many digital options that Christian radio continues to be very central to our ministry. I had a guy years ago that said, are you still airing the program on radio? I said, probably one of the worst decisions I could make as the president of Thru the Bible would be to go off of domestic radio.

Greg Harris: But one of the reasons we ask you to get in touch with your station or to let us know when you contact us and you listen to, is it helps us with our discussions with the stations about where are we having good response and and where maybe is our stewardship not the best?

Host: Yeah, and that is one of the differences. The the fancy word in the media space is called attribution, which is basically saying, where are these people listening to us? And with digital, we don't necessarily know who you are, but we know where you are and we know how often you listen and there's a bunch of data that's there. And don't worry, we don't sell it or do anything with it. But it is a good metric to because we want to be good stewards of of the resources that God has so faithfully entrusted to us through listeners like you.

Host: And there's no way to do that with terrestrial radio unless you figuratively speaking, raise your hand and either tell us that you listen on a particular station or tell that station. So again, that's that's the why behind why we're asking you to do that.

Greg Harris: Yeah, and the why behind the our being at the NRB Convention and having dozens of meetings over just a couple of days. We have lunches, breakfasts, we we attend small meetings, larger meetings is to build those relationships. And I can tell you, many of the station managers we meet with say, we we started with Thru the Bible the day we opened our doors. And so there is a long history and we're grateful for it.

Host: Yeah. Greg, why don't you pray for the program as it goes out and also for for blessing those ministry partners all around with NRB.

Greg Harris: Father, we are grateful for the many, many partners we have on being on over 1,600 stations across this country. Thank you for the men and women that work so hard to distribute our teaching and and many other teaching ministries, and we pray you'll bless them. We also pray that as your word goes out today, it will reach deeply into hearts and lives in Jesus' name. Amen.

Host: Turn now to Exodus 12, as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, friends, last time we were dealing with the Passover feast, and you'll recall that we came to verse 13 and that was the last verse we had in the 12th chapter. And I read, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Now these are the instructions that God gave and he said that when he saw the blood, he would pass over.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, that was not some mystic or superstitious sign at all. There's a great principle that runs all the way through the word of God, and it is without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. In other words, God cannot arbitrarily or big heartedly shut His eyes to sin and do nothing about it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Any more than a judge, when there is brought before him one guilty, the judge should apply the law and the penalty should be paid. And I think frankly, our problem in America today has been the laxity that has come in the enforcement of law. The important thing is that in God's universe, while law is inexorable, and the soul that sinneth, it must die.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Therefore, life must be given up for me a sinner. You see the death sentence is on all of us. Now if you will accept Christ by faith, you'll be saved. Now that night in Egypt on every home, there would be the death of the first born. The death angel went through and the blood was an indication, the application of it on the doorposts and the lintels was an indication of faith, you see.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That answers the appropriation of a personal faith. And that was all that was necessary. They didn't put the blood out there and something else, their good works. They didn't bring an offering like Cain. All that was necessary was just simply this. And the death angel when he came, when he saw that, he passed over. There followed the Passover feast, and you'll find out that when we get to Leviticus, that there'll be instructions given for the Passover, and then the feast of unleavened bread, which actually was part of it, but took place really after the Passover.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And in verse 14, I read, and this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whosoever eateth leaven bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now actually, this had nothing to do with the death angel passing over. This was a feast of fellowship of those within. And it was a wonderful time of fellowship. It was duty, of course. God commanded it, and it was also a privilege. But it hadn't anything in the world to do with their salvation. It had to do with the fact that they were to have fellowship with God.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, you will notice that they're not to eat leaven bread, and beginning here in verse 19, it says, ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. And they ate the unleavened bread on the wilderness march, you see, because they began the night of the Passover, and they then ate the bread for seven days.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And you notice that it's unleavened bread. If they ate leavened bread, they were cut off. That means they were cut off from the fellowship. There'd be no fellowship at all. Now, right here is put down a principle concerning leaven. Leaven is mentioned here, oh, about I suppose, eight or nine times from verse 14 down through verse 20. Well, let me read verse 19. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: For whosoever eateth that which be leaven, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. Now, this is very important because it puts down a principle here that when you move into the New Testament, it doesn't go into reverse and mean the opposite.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Leaven is a principle of evil, and it represents that which is offensive. Now, we'll have occasion to refer to that again. But when you get to the 13th of Matthew and you read about a woman hiding leaven in three measures of meal, that leaven isn't the gospel. It couldn't be because leaven is a principle of evil. Actually, the three measures of meal, the word of God, and in it there has been put leaven today, and that's evil. There has been put unsound doctrine.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And I am absolutely overwhelmed and amazed to see the amount of error that's being taught today, and how gullible people are that just go for it. Fact of the matter is, the rackets and there are many of them, do lots better than those of us that attempt to just teach the simple word of God. You'll find out we're having our problems.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But not the cults or isms. They're having no problem at all. This matter of leaven, it's evil, friends, and it has been put into the teaching of the word. All cults and isms use the Bible, but they put leaven with it. And that is the thing that the children of Israel were told to avoid.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And when our Lord made it very clear that it couldn't be good, He said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. And actually, the disciples at that time thought he meant physical bread. Then they understand later that he meant the doctrine of the Pharisees. That which is evil, you say. And that principle is put down here.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, unleavened bread is not palatable. There are a great many people today that don't like the study of the Bible. I recognize that. A great many people love to come to a church for the social time or the music or the beauty of the place. But not for the word of God. They don't want the word of God. Because actually, unleavened bread is not very palatable.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I happen to be in Israel during the feast of unleavened bread. And I stayed in the Dan Carmel Hotel in Haifa. And friends, I want to say very candidly, I never got as tired of unleavened bread my life because I was brought up in the south where we had hot biscuits, the kind that just puffed right up and not unleavened bread. Oh, but the night it was over and they brought out the bread, the real article, by the way, as far as I'm concerned, because that's good to the natural man, you see.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And they brought out lamb fixed. Oh, it was delicious. It was really a feast, not only for those of us that were there that were Gentiles and Christians, but also for those that were in the land, citizens of the nation Israel. Unleavened bread, friends, is not as delightful and it's not as palatable, not as tasty as the leavened bread is.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But may I say that the word of God is the food that's for the child of God. Now this is a great principle put down here as you can see. Now he goes on and says in verse 22, and ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. Now, there are several things to note here. I wonder if it had had occurred to you as we have been looking at this matter of the Passover and now for two times we've talked about the putting of the blood on the doorpost, have you wondered just how they did it? How did they put the blood on the doorposts?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, hyssop is a little plant that grows around rocks in a damp place. It is a fluffy type of a little plant and it was dipped into the blood and then applied. It was the applicator and again, the hyssop represents to me faith. That is the way that the blood is applied to your heart and my life. Someone says, how do you apply it? By faith, trusting what Christ has done for us when he died for us.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we find here that God goes into a great deal of detail in telling these people about how they are to do at this particular time. He gives specific instructions. Now, in verse 29, why, we see now this is the last judgment, the last plague that's coming on the land of Egypt. And God had prepared his people for it. Now, the land of Goshen had escaped the last three plagues.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But would not escape here unless there was the blood on the doorpost. And any Egyptian could put it on his doorpost. All he'd had to do was just believe God and the death angel wouldn't have gone in and asked, are you an Israelite? That's going to surprise a lot of people someday when they're going to find out that the Lord's not going to ask the name of the church you belong to, because if you have trusted Christ, the Spirit of God has baptized you into the body of believers.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that is today, of course, the true church. Now, will you notice, and I'm begin reading now at verse 29 of the 12th chapter of Exodus. It came to pass that at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, under the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. You see the firstborn in each house. This is the last judgment. In other words, God up to this point has not touched human life. He's not taken human life, but now he does.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And don't say that God is a murderer. The Lord giveth and the Lord had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. When you are able to create life, then you'll be able to take it away. But wait until you can do that. Now, will you notice verse 30, and Pharaoh rose up in the night. You see, this is something that was tragic.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, verse 31, and he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, rise up, get you forth from among my people. Both ye and the children of Israel and go, serve the Lord as ye have said. Also, take your flocks, your herds, as ye have said, and be gone and bless me also. Poor old Pharaoh, now, he's had to give up.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Up to this point, he's been reluctant, but now what has happened, it's reached in and touched his own son. And believe me, this is where you really get an individual. Now you see, God didn't begin with this plague. He began way back there but just throwing down a rod. And that rod becoming a crocodile. That could have been the message that if he'd believed God, the children of Israel could have gone out then and he'd spared his people these judgments.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Therefore, don't blame it on God. God is making him release the children of Israel, which he was reluctant to do. And the Egyptians, I'm reading verse 33, and the Egyptians were urging upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste for they said, we be all dead men. They didn't know where this would end. And of course, what would be the next step?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If God now took the firstborn, what could he do next? Well, the next thing to do would be to bring death to all the Egyptians. And so Pharaoh and the people said, we want you out of here because we're afraid what will come next. And the people took their dough before it was leavened. Their need trops being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, jewels of gold and raiment. This matter of borrowing is they're collecting back dues. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them. The literal back of borrow is they ask.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And here they lent, they gave unto them such things as they required, and they spoiled the Egyptians. Actually, the Egyptians owed them so much that when they left, they spoiled them. Now verse 37, and the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth. About 600,000 on foot that were men beside children. Now, you can see where Dr. Kyle got his figures on which he attempted to base the number that came out of the land of Egypt.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, how many did come out of the land of Egypt? We're going to get to that when we get to the book of Numbers, actually, but it would seem that there came out of the land of Egypt well over a million people. There were 600,000 on foot that were men. That had nothing to do with the children or the women. And then here our attention is called to something else.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verse 38, and a mixed multitude went up also with them. And flocks and herds, even very much cattle. Now, this mixed multitude will be the trouble in the camp. Who were the mixed multitude? Well, let me stop for just a moment because in the book of Numbers, in the 11th chapter, I'll go into a great deal of detail about them because they were the troublemakers.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, factually, they were half breeds. An Egyptian had married a Jewish maiden, or a Hebrew had married an Egyptian maid. And then there was the offspring. And now the question comes to him, as long as they lived in the land of Egypt, there's no question, no decision to make. But now, what shall he do? Shall the half breed? Shall he go up with the children of Israel or shall he stay?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, many of them didn't know. Many of them didn't go up. And some thought they should go up. And then they wondered whether when the going got hard and difficult, they wondered whether they hadn't made a mistake. And they were the first ones to complain. And by the way, they were not Israelites in the true sense of the word. That's been a big problem for Israel over there today is a half breed. A Gentile mother, does that mean that the offspring are Israelites, are the citizens of Israel?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's always been a problem with them. It's always caused them trouble. And by the way, we have that same thing in the church. We got people that join the church, they're not saved. They're just part of the mixed multitude. And always the complaining and trouble comes from that crowd. I've never believed that a troublemaker in church is really a child of God.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now I've been a pastor a long time, but let's understand what we mean by troublemakers. But we'll see that when we get to the 11th chapter of the book of Numbers, and that will be coming up. Now, we find here that the children of Israel now, they're leaving, they're taking off. Verse 39, and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough, which they'd brought forth out of Egypt for it was not leaven, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee McGee: In other words, the children of Israel were not really prepared for the journey. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years. It came to pass at the end of the 430 years, even the selfsame day, it came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It's a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. And as we said before, this is the oldest observance, the Passover of any religious holiday in the world today. And it goes back to the Exodus out of the land of Egypt. They're never to forget that until the King comes and the millennium is established and then they'll forget it. We'll see that, of course, later.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And we're told that only those that were Israelites were to eat the Passover. Now we're told, verse 47, all the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as one that is born in the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. In other words, that would be an act of faith on the part of a Gentile to come up and under the covenant God made with Abraham.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we are told in verse 49, one law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Thus did all the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass the selfsame day that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. Now we're going to follow through here a section in which we are going to see them cross the Red Sea and then the experiences that these people had in the wilderness, which correspond to Christian experience today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This, my friend, is a rich section. We trust that you're going through the Bible with us. So until next time, may God bless you richly, my beloved.

Host: Listen to the study again on our app or at ttb.org, or if you're looking for a particular resource, we'll just call us. 1-800-65 Bible's the number. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll save you a seat for next time.

Host: Thru the Bible exists to take God's whole word to the whole world, and we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God's word go today?