(Exodus) Exodus 12:1-2

Now, friends, we have come to a high point in the book of Exodus. It's the institution of the Passover, and we need to put down at the very beginning this statement where Paul says, Christ, our Passover, is offered for us. And that is important for us to see, by the way, that we are going to see Christ in this particular place here.

Now, let me read, beginning chapter 12, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Now, this brings us to what I have called a brand-new division of the book of Exodus.

The first was a Deliverer. Now it's the Deliverance. And the Deliverance is actually not by Moses.

The Deliverance is first by blood. That's the Passover feast, the death of the firstborn. And then we have, in chapters 13 and 14, crossing the Red Sea and the destruction of the army of Egypt.

And that's by power. God delivered them by blood and by power. And redemption, friends, today is by blood and by power.

The blood that the Lord Jesus shed for us to pay the penalty for our sins. And then the power of the Holy Spirit in making this real and making it effectual in our sinful hearts. For it's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.

So it's the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross for us. It's the work of the Holy Spirit in us. And that is important to see here in the redemption.

Now we have here that God says, this is the beginning of months for you. Actually, this is where it all begins. This is the birthday of the nation, actually.

And yet we'll see an emphasis not put upon the nation, but really upon the family. The emphasis is there. That was true, we saw in Genesis.

But now Israel entered Egypt as a family and they make their exit now as a nation overnight. But the interesting point for us to consider here, God did not place the emphasis on the nation, but on the family here. Now the families were the building blocks out of which the nation was made.

You remember Pharaoh forced them to make bricks without straw, but God had them make the bricks of the family for the building of a nation out of the straws of individuals. And we'll find that here. There is an old cliche, it's epigrammatic to say it.

I know, but it's true. No nation is stronger than the families of that nation.