Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, 17 August 2025, Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 06 July 2014 which was based on an earlier version presented 01 July 2012 by Major Michael Ramsay.
This is the 2025 Version, to see the 2014 Version click here:
To see the 2012 version, click here:
https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2012/06/exodus-1224-28-remember.html
Our team has been working away
with the fires. The other week our team was in Qualicum feeding people. This
week we were coordinating our fire response here – concerned about a possible
evacuation and how to get all our people out. I spoke with the City, ACRD,
media, and TSA EDS quite a bit – planning for possible evacuations, etc. The TC called us on Friday morning, along
with the DC and others to thank us for our work. With all the work with the
fires the past weeks I was reminded of a fire story I heard a few years ago
from a member of my Rotary Club in Swift Current Saskatchewan. Dave told us this
story of a family vacation in Acapulco in 1968:
Dave
and his wife were on holiday in Mexico. They check into their hotel. They are
near the ground floor and there are these little lizards - Geckos or something
else – climbing all up the walls; so they speak to the hotel and ask to be
moved as far away from the lizards as they can, up to the top floor. They do
move up to the top floor. This turns out to be a mistake. In the middle of the
night, they are woken up as people are running through the halls screaming.
Some girls from Quebec tell them what was happening: the hotel is on fire. The
stairs, they are concrete for the top few floors and then wood beneath and the
wooden stairs are ablaze. The girls from Quebec jump over the railing from the
10th storey or more up and plunge all the way down. Dave and his wife and his
two sons, aged six and nine, are trapped. Without thinking they run to the
elevator but the door closes with people inside it just before they get there.
Actually I think Dave may have even gotten his hand in the closing door but
they don’t catch the elevator, which is good because we know what happens to
people in elevators in a fire. Dave and his family are trapped. They try to tie
sheets together to scale down the outside of the building but as Dave is
heading over a balcony, it is good that he has an arm linked through the
railing because someone unties the sheets. He then climbs down the side of the
balcony and swings onto the balcony below. His wife then drops one of his
children for him to catch and then the other and then she scales down as far as
she can, then falls and Dave catches her legs and pulls her in. They do this
until the third story or so of the building when they run out of balconies.
Dave then throws one child down onto a straw thatched roof, hoping that will
break his fall. He sees the boy fall through the roof and run away; so he
throws the other son down who makes a new hole as he crashes through the
thatched roof. He runs to safety. His wife jumps next and Dave is able to scale
a palm tree to the bottom. They are injured but they survive. It was quite a
tale to hear. They survived by the grace of God but others on their floor who
leapt over the railing or who took the elevator did not.
What had happened was,
apparently there was a dispute between two ownership groups – one local and one
foreign – the foreign group was residing in the hotel on that day and some
local people had attacked the hotel with Molotov cocktails – hoping to collect
insurance, I believe.
It was quite something to hear.
There is more to his story too. One of his sons had a piece of the thatched
roof he fell through stuck into his foot. The other had a twig protruding from
his neck with blood spurting out. They were okay though. There was another
miracle in this story. Dave and his wife recognize this as a miraculous
salvation. When Dave and his wife were climbing down the balconies to escape
the flames, they left somewhere her straw purse with their passports, money,
plane tickets, and the like. The next day Dave went back and began looking in this
burned-out hotel building for this straw purse. God saved it for them. It was
on a balcony on a burned-out floor but this straw purse with its contents was
still there. God protected it and God protected them. God was there for them in
the midst of this ordeal.
It is the same with the
Hebrews in our text today and with us. This week we have been planning for if
we have to evacuate (due to the fire) the people who sleep at the TSA shelter
and eat at the Bread of Life Centre. There are a lot of moving parts to
consider in evacuating our 70 to 90 regular diners plus sleepers. Even mores so,
can you imagine what it is like for Moses and Aaron as they plan to evacuate up
to a million people from Egypt?! And we
have the fires to consider but they had a number of plagues (like covid maybe)
only they just kept coming and each one was more awe-inspiring than the
previous one.[1]
1.
The Nile turning to blood (7:14–25)
2.
Plague of frogs (7:25–8:11)
3.
Plague of lice or gnats (8:12–15) [2]
4.
Plague of flies or wild animals (8:20–32)
5.
Plague of pestilence (9:1–7)
6.
Plague of boils (9:8–12)
7.
Plague of hail (9:13-35)
8.
Plague of locusts (10:1–20)
9.
Plague of darkness (10:21–29)
I still remember vividly the
closest thing to a plague of darkness I ever experienced: when we lived in
Swift Current. I still recall that darkness that swept over a corner of the
city: at noon it was all of a sudden as dark as night. I have not seen anything
like that before. It was an ominous and fear-provoking as the blackness
approached – you could see it coming toward you and you could see blue skies
fleeing from its presence. We went to pick up Rebecca for lunch from school (she
was in grade 3 or 4. I think). There was a tornado warning. The school had
announced that the children were not to go outside. Some students, of course,
were pressed up against the windows to see what was happening, others were in
tears hiding safely under their desks. Today many in our community are
concerned about the fires. The feelings of fear and awe, of terror and wonder,
that people were having today and on that day are probably a reflection of the
intensity of the emotions that would be swirling around the Hebrews like a
funnel cloud as they experience the power of God through the first nine plagues
and as they prepare for the final plague, the tenth plague: The Angel of Death
(11:1–12:36).
It is in the context of them huddled
in their houses preparing for Death’s arrival that our pericope is found. In
the opening 13 verses of this chapter, God tells Moses and Aaron exactly what
is about to happen. Just like a Forest fire evacuation alert or order: ‘Get
ready’, God warns them, ‘the Angel of Death is coming’.
Now I have been in a lot of
conversations this week with The Salvation Army, the city, ESS. And just like
we have emergency disaster plans that we are to follow here in Alberni and in
The Salvation Army when disaster strikes, God in our text is giving Moses and
Aaron their instructions as to how to save themselves and their families when
the Angel of Death strikes at Goshen, in Egypt. I don’t know if anyone here has
ever huddled in a storm cellar or has been forced to take shelter or head
beneath deck on a boat being tossed about in a storm, but I imagine that it is
the same feeling. The people take all the right steps and now they are just
waiting hoping and praying for Death to pass.
Today, with the fires raging
near town, each one of us is supposed to have a ‘go bag’ ready as the fire
might be coming. There are things we need: passports, documents, pictures,
water… make sure your car has gas and if you don’t have a car that you have another
way out of town! I have binders full of the city’s and the Army’s plans of what
we need to follow in the event of a disaster: flood, fire, road closure, … God
in Exodus gives Moses and Aaron a disaster preparedness plan (including the go
bag directions) for the impending strike by the Angel of Death. It looks like
this. Picture with me - you and your family – you have received your disaster
preparedness plan from your leaders. Disaster is going to strike, you are
fearful (even more than now with the fire near) and you are in awe as you await
the Angel of Death who you know is coming to claim many on this very night. On
this very evening as Death is approaching; this is the plan:
· You
are to take a lamb or a kid to share as a meal with everyone in your household.
If there aren’t enough of you in a household to eat a whole lamb, you must
share it with your closest neighbour (12:3-4);
· The
animal must be 1 year-old and without defect (v.5);
· You
have already been taking care of the animals for 14 days in preparation for
this day – now everyone in town is to go and slaughter the lamb at twilight
(v.6);
· You
will then – this is important – take some of the blood and put it on the sides
and the tops of the doorframes of the houses where you will eat the lambs
(v.7);
· Then
you will eat the meat roasted over a fire with bitter herbs and bread without
yeast and you must eat it all. You may not leave any of it until morning! If
there are leftovers, you must burn them (vv. 8-10);
· When
you are eating this meal, you are to eat it with your cloak tucked into your
belt, your sandals on, and your staff in your hand (v. 11). In our language
today: you are to have your coats, hats and shoes on and your car keys in your
hand. You are to be ready to go. You are to eat it in haste because it is the
LORD’s Passover.
God tells Moses and Aaron that
as the people follow this plan they will survive the impending strike by the
Angel of Death. Then God tells them, ‘You must never forget this night. You
must remember how I saved you.’ I imagine this evening must be as clear to
those who experienced it as the images were to Dave and his wife of that night
climbing down the side of the building – and Dave’s wife, she’s afraid of
heights. I imagine that every time they think about this night, they remember
every feeling that was racing through their heart and mind and I imagine that
they’ll never forget it.
I remember when I was in
Nipawin, SK and a building exploded right behind The Salvation Army downtown.
My office shook. It felt like a truck had struck it. With others, I headed
outside to see what had happened, I saw injured or dead or dying people lying
on the ground as the flames began to engulf the downtown. My children and
everyone around on that day have stories surrounding those moments. We all here
today remember Covid! I imagine each of us have had times like these that will
never leave our minds.
The thing with these events as
real as they are to us, they are not as real to people who don’t actually
experience them and as time passes people tend to forget the important lessons
that come from them. I had the honour of speaking at a 70th
anniversary of D-Day memorial. For hundreds and thousands of soldiers present
on June 6, 1944, as long as they lived, this is a day they never forgot; but if
I were to guess I would say that less people across this whole country officially
commemorated the anniversary than lost their lives on that one day. Remembrance
Day and the Legion remind us of the horrors of war, lest we forget. It is no
coincidence that as more and more of our veterans pass away, that there are
more wars in our world than before – and wars the involve the Superpowers too.
People forget and then another generation experiences the same horrors.
As the Hebrew families of our text
are sitting in their houses awaiting the impending calamity, God tells Moses
that they are never to forget this day.[3] They are to remember it forever.
They are to tell their children and their children’s children. This should a
permanent feature in their school curriculum, so to speak. It should be like
our annual Remembrance Day ceremonies and there are some elements that must be
observed. As far as the Passover remembrance ceremonies, they are to
incorporate some of their Emergency Disaster Preparedness Plan into a
ceremonial dinner, and they are not have any yeast in the house for seven days
prior and they are to eat only unleavened flat breads. Then God tells them,
Exodus 12:24-27:
“Obey
these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When
you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this
ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to
you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed
over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck
down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
One reason that the people
were to remember this was so that they would not forget what the Lord had done
for them in the past and another reason is to wait for a future deliverance. As
this ceremony developed over the generations, it came to incorporate an act of
ceremonially ‘looking for Elijah’. This is because tradition later stated that
Elijah must return before the Messiah is to come.
Now Elijah did return and the
Messiah did come and when he did Jesus the Messiah celebrated this very
important Passover remembrance with his disciples and he uttered the very important
words, “Do this in remembrance of me.” This is, I think, a big reason why God
wanted the Passover ceremony etched so deeply in the minds of humanity for so
long because just as when the Egyptians lost their firstborn sons, God saved
His people through the blood of the Passover lamb; so when God gave up His
firstborn son –Jesus Christ – He saved us; His people, all His people, He saves
us all through the Blood of the Lamb.[4]
This is the most important
event in the whole history of the world: The death and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. God, through the giving of His only begotten Son has made it –
just like with Exodus and the Angel of Death – so that none of us need to
perish but all of us can have salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is
important to remember.
This is why we come to church,
this is why we go to Bible studies, this is why we pray, and this is why we
read our Bibles; this is why we have our Mercy Seat, and this is why every year
we celebrate Good Friday and Easter. That is why we are here today: because
just as God offered salvation to all His children from the Angel of Death and
the plagues; so too He offers salvation to all of us from Sin and Death and relief
in everything that is plaguing us. As that is the case, it is my hope and my
prayer that if any of us have not yet implemented our eternal disaster
preparedness plan, that we would delay no longer and that we would all
experience that salvation both today and forever more.
Let us pray.
www.sheepspeak.com
---
[1]
Cf. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis
CD-ROM:Exodus/Exposition of Exodus/I. Divine Redemption (1:1-18:27)/E. The
Passover (12:1-28)/1. Preparations for the Passover (12:1-13), Book Version:
4.0.2. for more detailed list.
[2]
R. Alan Cole, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 1973 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 2), S. 113: In the
evening: literally ‘between the two evenings’. Jewish scholars are not agreed
as to the exact meaning. The phrase is also used of the time for the regular
evening sacrifice (Exod. 29:39) and of the time for lighting the lamps in the
meeting-tent (Exod. 30:8). The orthodox piety of Pharisaic Judaism understood
the meaning as being between the time in the afternoon when the heat of the sun
lessens (say 3 or 4 p.m.) and sunset. Other groups preferred the time between
sunset and dark, or other similar explanations.
[3]
Thomas W. Mann, “Passover: The Time of Our Lives.” Interpretation 50, no. 3
(July 1, 1996): 240-250. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed
June 28, 2012), 241-242: The Passover narrative is arguably the most important
section of the entire book because it is primarily here that the experience of
exodus is communicated not simply as a moment in historical time (in the past)
but as a perennially recurring moment in the present life of those for whom the
story is sacred.
[4] Norman Theiss, "The Passover Feast of the New Covenant." Interpretation 48, no. 1 (January 1, 1994): 17-35. ATLASerials, Religion Collection, EBSCOhost (accessed June 28, 2012), 17: In the eyes of the first three evangelists and Paul, Jesus construed his last supper with the twelve disciples as the fulfillment of God's plan to inaugurate a new Passover meal. In this new meal, Jesus interpreted his death as a new Exodus in which the new people of God were liberated from all that enslaves them and freed to serve God in holy living.
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