15 BO (Go); Ex 10:1-13:6, Mark 4&5

[Bruce Bertram]

Well, Pharaoh still has a hard heart, and God has some more hammering set up to show His glory. The eighth plague flies in and the locusts consume everything that hasn't been eaten already. Darkness is next, and both of these plagues skip the land of Goshen where Israel lives. Interesting that all the wealth that Joseph helped add to Egypt through God is now being taken away.

In chapter 12, God describes the things Israel has to do to avoid the last plague, that of the death of the firstborn. The Passover is the second of God's feasts to be set up in the nation of Israel (the first is the Sabbath, established way back in the Garden) along with Unleavened Bread (third) and First Fruits (fourth, added later when they enter the Land of Promise).

Take special note of the following verses, where the Word says that the same law shall apply to strangers and native born.

47“All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this. 48“But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49“The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.” (Exodus 12:47-49 NASB95)

The main part of this first Passover is for the Israelites to take blood from the slaughtered lamb and place it on the sides and top of the door of their homes. This allows the Angel of Death to 'pass over' the home on his way to kill all the firstborn in Egypt. Pharaoh doesn't listen again, and the Angel strikes. We are told that there is no household in all Egypt (excepting the ones with blood on the doorposts and lintel) that doesn't have someone dead. If you think about it, this could include people of any age and any gender. So Israel is booted out of Egypt, and is given anything they ask for in the way of plunder.

In Mark, Jesus gets into a boat and teaches some parables, including the one about the sower and the seed, growing grain, and the mustard seed. Apparently, this sower parable is like a key parable, in that Jesus says if we don't understand this one then how will we understand any?

13And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? (Mark 4:13 NASB95)

Other items covered in these two chapters are the rebuking of the wind and the sea by Jesus, the healing of the demon-possessed man from the demon Legion, the resurrection of Jairus' daughter, and the healing of the woman who touches the edge of Jesus' garment (probably the tassels or tzitzit).

Shalom
Bruce

[Bruce Bertram]

Egypt is the ‘abode’ or ‘house’ of slavery in Exodus 13:3 (also later in v. 14) and even much later in Micah 6:4. A dwelling place or home contributes, among other things, something to the identity of what or whoever lives there. For instance, my abode is in the United States, and I am partially defined as a citizen of this country because I live here. God characterizes the nation of Egypt as a ‘house of slavery’ because they made slaves out of Israel. Egypt is a kingdom of slavery; a home for slavery and the place where slavery was home.

Egypt is mentioned at least 625 times in the NASB95 Bible, most of the time referring to the actual nation but sometimes referring to other groups that act in ways similar to Egypt. For instance, Jerusalem is called ‘Sodom’ and ‘Egypt’ in Revelation.

8And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8 NASB95)

Why would John call Jerusalem by the name Egypt? Probably because Jerusalem developed the same traits as Egypt. For instance (and among other things), the ‘overseers’ (Pharisees and Sadducees, Herodians and scribes and rabbis) were ‘adding to men’s burdens’ (Matthew 23) and not lifting a finger to help. The people of Jerusalem were in slavery to the overseers, who turned God’s Word of life into death. Today the so-called church is in slavery to priests and pastors and many bad shepherds who also turn the Word of life into death because they rob it of its fullness and meaning. Israel left Egypt, but Egypt didn’t leave Israel, and Egypt is still with us.

Another reason for calling Jerusalem by the name ‘Egypt’ was due to immorality.

5Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. 6And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. 8Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. (Jude 5-8 NASB95)

Stephen mentions Egypt eleven times in his speech to the Sanhedrin recorded in Acts chapter 7. He mentions it so frequently because the subject of his sermon is the disobedience of the Jews as a whole. So ‘turning back to Egypt’ for Stephen seems to be a shorthand way of showing how disobedient Jewish people are. Repeatedly the Jews wanted to turn back to Egypt in disobedience to God, but even though they didn’t actually go back physically, they instead turned the land of milk and honey into Egypt. This is because they carried Egypt with them, in their hearts. Figuratively, Egypt is sort of equivalent to ‘the world’ or ‘the flesh,’ so when people ‘go back to Egypt’ it is a picture of relying on the world’s power or the flesh instead of God. In this way we all have a tendency to return to Egypt on a regular basis.

A slave is someone who cannot do what he or she wants to do. They must do what the slave owner wants them to do. Slavery is serving someone who is a harsh taskmaster, who makes a person do things that benefit the taskmaster. All the energy and life of the slave is directed towards fulfilling someone else’s wishes. Perhaps we could even say that the end result of the world’s version of slavery is only death, who is a very harsh taskmaster indeed. In Israel’s case they had to make bricks, kill their babies, and build buildings for other people to use.

Freedom, on the other hand, is doing things that benefit yourself or that promote life. God’s kingdom is a form of slavery in this way.

16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. (Romans 6:16-19 NASB95)

Israel was ‘passed over’ for death while protected in their ‘abodes.’ No other house in Egypt went untouched by the plague of death. Passover is a release from the ‘abode of slavery’ and a conversion to God’s house or the house of freedom. Even though we are slaves (in a sense) to God, the work we do doesn’t benefit God as much as it benefits ourselves. In the abode of freedom the fruit of the work we do is given to us by God to enjoy. God’s kingdom is represented by Mark as a house of freedom by the story of the man who had a legion of demons. The man was in slavery to the demons, and Jesus freed him with a Word. He is an example of freedom to all who desire to loose their own chains.

Sabbath is on the first and seventh days of Passover. This seems to represent our ultimate freedom from slavery to the flesh and the curse of having to work the ground for a living. No ‘work’ is to be done on this day because God has decreed a rest. There was no Sabbath in the abode of slavery. Every day was a work day, and the unceasing labor was killing the Hebrews. But in God’s house we obtain a permanent rest from our working.

The Kingdom of freedom is not established just by leaving Egypt, which was all at once and physical. Jesus compares His kingdom to seeds of grain and a mustard tree, which start off small but grow into large and beneficial plants. This imagery is used in other places also to describe kingdoms.

12‘Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, And in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, And the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, And all living creatures fed themselves from it. (Daniel 4:12 NASB95)

This is a picture of the kingdom of Babylon before the king was humbled. Ezekiel uses similar imagery too.

23“On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches. (Ezekiel 17:23 NASB95)

His kingdom is started by the seed of His word being planted in our hearts and growing into fruit in all areas of our lives. The plant growing from the Word eventually displaces all traces of the abode of slavery that we once were living in. When that has happened we will truly have left Egypt completely.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Exodus 10:1 – 13:16; Jeremiah 46:13-28; Mark 4 & 5; Luke 2:22-24; John 19:31-37; 1 Corinthians 11:20-24; Revelation 8:6-9, 12, 16:1-21

And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.” (Mark 4:11–12, ESV)

In the parable of the sower and the seed in Mark 3, Jesus identifies the people in the Kingdom, and the people outside. Those who are in the Kingdom have ‘good soil,’ and those outside have bad soil. How can we tell the difference? Good soil accepts the seed of the Word of God and produces fruit. Bad soil might show a little bit of growing things, but that pitiful growth doesn’t continue to the point of producing fruit.

What is fruit? From Genesis 1 we learn that fruit is what plants naturally produce. This fruit contains seeds that keep the different varieties of plants going, expanding, and multiplying. Adam and Eve are told to “be fruitful (filled with fruit) and multiply,” meaning to have children and fill the earth. Every plant yielding seed (Genesis 1:29) is given to humans for food. We eat the food and we reproduce after ourselves, having more children – the “fruit of the womb.”

In Genesis 3 a different fruit is introduced. This is a fruit bearing plant that God says is not food. The fruit of the tree of knowledge is not bad in itself, because apparently it’s beautiful and delicious, but God says not to eat it. God’s command makes it off-limits. When the command is broken, the forbidden fruit produces more fruit of disobedience, which continues to this day.

Paul tells us in Colossians of yet another kind of fruit.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9–10, ESV)

This fruit comes from spiritual wisdom and understanding by walking with the Lord. It is the fruit of obedience, and it is in contrast to the fruit of the tree of our own knowledge. The fruit spoken of by Jesus in Mark 4 is this kind of fruit. The seed is the Word of God, or knowledge of God. Those who accept the seed produce fruit, which is every good work and comes from increasing in the knowledge of God. It is fruit pleasing to God, who only accepts good fruit from us. And only good fruit comes from His seed.

The people of the Kingdom, who accept the seed and produce fruit in accordance with it, can understand the parables. Those outside the Kingdom, who do not accept the seed and do not produce fruit, will not. They let Satan come and take away the Word. Or they receive it with joy of the moment, but when tribulation or persecution arises, on account of the Word they first received with joy, they let the Word go. Others hear the Word, but allow the cares of the world to take it. Or they are seduced by the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the Word. Those who let the Word go produce no fruit. Those who keep hold of the seed, persevering, produce the fruit of it.

Good soil is a euphemism for a soft heart, which receives what God says and responds with every good work. Good works are defined as being according to, or arising from, God’s Word. The “knowledge of His will” is given to us in the Law. His Law is the Word, and the Word is the Law. It cannot be otherwise. It doesn’t matter what we call it, every word He utters is life and light. When we receive it, hold onto it, and keep everything else from getting in the way of it, we produce fruit that is pleasing to Him. Good soil comes from humility and obedience, trusting God and doing what He says. When we humble ourselves and obey, we understand His Word and the parables become clear to us.

If parables continue to be a puzzle, it is because the heart (or the soil) is hard. The soil is softened by the plow of humility. Good soil accepts the seed of the Word and Godly wisdom takes root. The wisdom of God makes all parables clear. We continue to receive His seed and continue to produce fruit, clinging to every part and refusing to let anything come between us and the seed. God helps us with His Spirit (John 14:16, 17) and we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

People outside the kingdom refuse to hang on to the Word. It either bounces off of hard hearts, or the hearts give up too easy, or they get distracted by shiny baubles. Without a soft heart, there might be some little plant here or there, but no fruit. Certainly no continuing fruit. A hard heart will “see but not perceive” or “hear but not understand” because God does not want seasonal repentance. He doesn’t want a little fruit from a little repentance. He wants the whole thing all the time. So some of the Word is delivered in parables. The children of the kingdom will get it because of humility. Those outside the kingdom won’t get it because pride hardens the heart.

Humble yourself and He will lift you up. Harden your heart with pride and He will mow you down.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17, ESV)

Shalom
Bruce