<Ex 12> 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 

23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 

38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.

Be humble or be humiliated before God.

• 10 plagues demonstrated God’s unequivocal superiority and sovereignty.
• Pharaoh humiliated in series of ironies:
  • Refused to release  begged Israelites to leave
  • Only allowed conditional release  unconditional release
  • Retained nothing from Israelites  gave Israelites gold and silver
  • Sought to kill the sons of Israel  Egyptians firstborns struck down
• The sin of one man implicated whole nation.
• God made His people Israel “more than conquerors” despite their sufferings.
• Real problem is not outward plagues, but inner hardened heart.
• Ultimate plague: non-repentance, refusal to humble before God.
• Each instance of disobedience breeds deeper hardness.
• “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” <Ps 32:9>
• God: “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?”<Ex 10:3>
• What can we gain from being stubborn against God?
• Best time to humble before God is Today!
• <Heb 4:7> “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The actual exodus: Getting out.

• Salvation is about “getting out”, that is the decisive exodus.
• Exodus: Freedom for God’s people.
• We too need to leave our old self, rebellious ways, idols, etc.
• Exodus is the beginning of pilgrimage toward the kingdom of God.
• We never see the destination and we don’t know the journey, so we must go by faith.

The Lord watches over us, so we are to watch and wait upon the Lord.

• <Ex 12:42> Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.
• The Israelites suffered 400 years <Gen 15:13>, but God could save them in an instant.
• We watch and wait, not because we know when and what God will do, but because we know what He has done.