chapter 11 outlined by Alec Motyer

11:1 The announcement

11:2-3 The granting of favor to Israel when they made requests of the Egyptians

11:4 The Coming of the LORD to Egypt

11:4-5 The nature of the coming plague and its timing

11:6 The great cry of the Egyptians

11:8 The command to leave Egypt

11:9 A concluding comment that Pharaoh had  not changed but was still resistent to the word of the LORD.

These topics reappear in the epilogue of 12:29-42.


what about 11:7??

Life From Death

These ceremonies are to be observed through all generations as a reminder, in this case a graphic reminder, of the lengths God will go to save His children---his firstborn son, Israel.  We see, then, a hint of what becomes clearer almost fifteen hundred years later on a cross near Jerusalem: Life comes from death, or better, life can only come from death.  The tenth plague was not a divine temper tantrum where God flexes His muscles before the Egyptians and really lets them have it.  It is the necessary implementation of a redemptive pattern, one that requires death as a means to fuller life.  The consecration of the firstborn, therefore, is a reminder of the once-for-all substitutionary death of the beloved firstborn son who is to come.


--Peter Enns

God goes for the jugular

The fact that God would choose to overpower Pharaoh's snake is no small thing.  He is going for the jugular.

“the serpent-crested diadem of Pharaoh symbolized all the power, sovereignty, and magic with which the
gods endued the king"   --John Currid


By finding his security in the serpent-god, Pharaoh was actually making
an alliance with Satan. The ancient manuscripts are explicit about this.
When Pharaoh first ascended the throne of Egypt, he would take the royal
crown and say,
O Great One, O Magician, O Fiery Snake!
Let there be terror of me like the terror of thee.
Let there be fear of me like the fear of thee.
Let there be awe of me like the awe of thee.
Let me rule, a leader of the living.
Let me be powerful, a leader of spirits.

With these words, Pharaoh offered his soul to the devil.

Here is King Tut's death mask:

Outstretched Arm

"Outstretched arm is the fundamental metaphor of the Old Testament traditions of the exodus."

--Karen Martens

Exodus 6:6
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.

Barocha

In the 11:15 (Eleven-Fifteen) service Sunday we'll baptize a couple of our new cherubs.

We are re-instituting a practice that we did for years "back in the day" at CCC----- the singing of the Aaronic blessing over them.

Wanna prep?  Here's sheet music and an mp3 file

http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdVPE.asp?ppn=MN0051530

http://michaelcard.com/audio/cds/Sleep%20Sound%20in%20Jesus/15%20-%20Barocha.mp3

and HERE is where Michael Card wonderfully unpacks this blessing from Numbers chapter 6

Exodus 12, God defines Israel's time

"God is weaving into the very fabric of Israel’s calendar, their time, their schedule, their routine, a remembrance of Him, and a remembrance of what He is going to do in this great redemptive work of the Exodus."

--Ligon Duncan