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Awesome Hands – part 57

“Remember this day”
June. 4, 2013

In the previous “Awesome hands” studies, we briefly covered a lot of the beginning of the works of the Lord in the lives of those He is working directly with.

We paused the series with the Israelites being brought up out of Egypt by the power of the Lord.

Today, we are going to resume the series with the Israelites being given directions on how to handle their newly found freedom from the slavery and bondage they were subject to under the Pharaoh.

As with all scripture, we are being admonished by what they are going to be told to do, what they live through, and how they react to those scenarios.

We are going to start off this study by looking at how the Lord directly works His “hands” in our lives are we are given freedom by and through Him.

“The Lord’s Law”

Exo 13:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Exo 13:2  Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.
Exo 13:3  And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

As we all reflect on what the Lord has done in our lives, there are some very defined points for us to all keep in our memories so that we do not quickly forget what the Lord has brought us through.

There are many things that the Lord uses in our lives to drag us to Himself, so whatever that is for an individual is the very same thing that Lord wants you to “remember this day”.

The Lord is not giving us an admonition to remember days, months times and years with this statement, though the Israelites DID keep certain holy days and Sabbaths according to “as sayeth the law”.

However, when we take the “sum of the Word” we know that Jesus didn’t “break the Sabbath,” which was to be remembered by the Israelites continually, just to “keep days” with other “important” days to remember.

When we look at the spiritual meaning of what we are studying today, the Lord is actually giving us a LIFE LONG perspective of what He commands us to do and remember.

For me, the death of my brother at a young age was the catalyst that started the dragging process of me to the Lord. For you, that experience is most certainly a different circumstance.

However, the Lord wants us to “remember this event” (or many events if that is the case) so that we can keep Him at the focus of our hearts and minds.

Being human and carnally minded, we are naturally NOT going to remember the bondage we have been freed from and we are going to slip back into our old man ways.

Remembrance is just once part of this puzzle, but there is more for us to not only remember and think about but to also ACT upon.

Exo 13:4  This day came ye out in the month Abib.
Exo 13:5  And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.
Exo 13:6  Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
Exo 13:7  Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
Exo 13:8  And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.
Exo 13:10  Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.

“…..no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters….”

The crux of these commandments of the Lord are that we are to KEEP the commandments of the Lord, but those commandments are actually specific in nature and we are not left to just make them up or wonder what they are.

They are all contained in scripture, in the Word of God, and by having the sum of the Word and multiple witnesses, we are able to determine what those commandments are.

When we keep this type of remembrance and focus, it is actually a FEAST to the Lord. It is noteworthy to recognize that a “feast” is interchangeable with “sacrifice.”

To keep the commandments of the Lord is a “sacrifice” to the Lord. The “sacrifice” in this case is to eat unleavened bread for seven days and on the seventh day to have a feast or a “sacrifice” to the Lord.

Here is the word used for feast in verse 6:

H2282

chag  châg

khag, khawg

A festival, or a victim therefor: – (solemn) feast (day), sacrifice, solemnity.

H2282

chag  /  châg

Total KJV Occurrences: 65

feast, 53

Exo_10:9, Exo_12:14, Exo_13:6, Exo_23:15-16 (3), Exo_32:5, Exo_34:18, Exo_34:22 (2), Exo_34:25, Lev_23:6, Lev_23:34, Lev_23:39, Lev_23:41, Num_28:17, Num_29:12, Deu_16:10, Deu_16:13-14 (2), Deu_16:16 (3), Deu_31:10, Jdg_21:19, 1Ki_8:2, 1Ki_8:65, 1Ki_12:32-33 (3), 2Ch_5:3, 2Ch_7:8-9 (2), 2Ch_30:13 (4), 2Ch_30:21, 2Ch_35:17, Ezr_3:4, Ezr_6:22, Neh_8:14, Neh_8:18, Psa_81:3, Eze_45:21, Eze_45:23, Eze_45:25, Hos_2:11, Hos_9:5, Amo_5:21, Zec_14:16, Zec_14:18-19 (2)

feasts, 5

Eze_45:17, Eze_46:11, Amo_8:10, Nah_1:15, Mal_2:3

solemn, 3

Psa_81:3 (2), Nah_1:15, Mal_2:3

sacrifice, 2

Exo_23:18, Psa_118:27

sacrifices, 1

Isa_29:1

solemnity, 1

Isa_30:29

I am going to read the few times this Hebrew word “chag” is used to show that “sacrifice” is indeed interchangeable with “feast”.

Exo 23:18  Thou shalt notH3808 offerH2076 the bloodH1818 of my sacrificeH2077 (meaning slaughter / the flesh of an animal) withH5921 leavened bread;H2557 neitherH3808 shall the fatH2459 of my sacrificeH2282 remainH3885 untilH5704 the morning.H1242

Exo 23:18  Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

Psa 118:26  Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Isa 29:1  Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

Of course, there are many more times when feast is used but as you read through some of those examples you can easily see where sacrifice would make since when used in English.

I am focusing on this a bit to point out what the Lord is telling Israel is His Law, the Lord’s law. His law requires that we remember that His “sovereign hand” and Will is what has caused us to be in whatever position we are in.

Not only are we instructed with this ordinances but we are to tell our sons this as well and teach them the way of the Lord.

“Show thy son in that day”

Exo 13:8  And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

I have a good example of how this is applied in our lives today and how we are to think upon the word of the Lord as He imparts His heavenly wisdom on our hands, heads and mouth/heart.

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Mat 15:18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

Luk 6:45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

When I think back on my childhood, I have good and bad memories, as we all do. What I realized one day about parenthood is that parents and children are actually LIVING OUT memories.

What I mean by that is when I remember how I was raised and think about the different things my parents did or didn’t do for me, said or didn’t say to me, I bet they didn’t realize that even though I was a child, the memories I would have has an adult would be the things they and I were LIVING OUT as they happened.

In a practical sense, what I do RIGHT NOW with my children will be what the remember later as MEMORIES. So, I am LIVING OUT what will later become memories.

Now, I want you to think for a moment about the concept that you are NOW LIVING out what will later be a memory.

I happen to have physical children as many people do. However, I also have those who I would consider to be spiritual children in the Lord.

What I teach my children in word is very important but what I teach them in DEED can often times have a much more lasting effect. Whether or not I “keep the commandments” of the Lord that I teach them, will have a HUGE impact on the witness of Christ in me … or not.

In fact, anyone who speaks the Word of God to a new babe in Christ is actually being used to parent that person in the Word as a “mother” or at times a “father” in the Word (my mother, brother sister Matt 12:50, Mark 3:35)., and this parenting is very important on how it is lived out.

Paul also shares with us that He considered the Corinthians to be his offspring, and Timothy to be his beloved of sons.

1Co 4:11  Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
1Co 4:12  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
1Co 4:13  Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
1Co 4:14  I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
1Co 4:15  For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
1Co 4:16  Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
1Co 4:17  For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

“In Christ Jesus,” that is to say, “in the Word of God,” I have begotten you, says Paul.

What we are being instructed in the Lord, and admonished though Exodus chapter 13 is that we are to “keep the commandments” of the Lord which is HIS MARK, HIS NAME, and we are to teach this to OUR CHILDREN. That applies to our physical children as well as our spiritual children.

Exodus 13 sounds very familiar to most of us I assume because the phrase found in verse 9 sounds a whole lot like the “mark of the beast” we find in Revelation.

Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

Exo 13:16  And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.

Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Sounds scary, doesn’t it? After all, this is what we are told in most of the orthodox Christian churches all around world. The mark of the beast will usher in the end of the world we are told.

In truth, this is EXACTLY what we are being told to NOT partake of in Exodus 13 as we are FREED from the BONDAGE of the Egyptians and of which we are told to “remember and teach our sons about”.

We are to have NO LEAVEN mixed with the BREAD, the Word of God. We are not to so much as have it in our house. We are warned to TAKE HEED and BEWARE of the LEAVEN of the Pharisees and their doctrine of demons!

Mat 16:11  How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

We are given a new name, the old earth and old heavens are passed away and there will be a new heaven and a new earth when we are given the mind of Christ.

Isa 65:16  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
Isa 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

Isa 66:22  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
Isa 66:23  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The “white stone” we are given is Jesus Christ and we have HIS NAME written on our foreheads. The name which was once written there, naming us the BEAST, is now replaced with Jesus the Christ!

There isn’t much that is talked about in orthodox Christianity about the Mark of God given to those who are His, but it is found in the same book as the “dreaded” mark of the beast.

Rev 22:3  And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
Rev 22:4  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

Of course, everything I have said is being stated to “he that has an ear let him hear”. The words I am relating and speaking are SPIRIT and LIFE just as I repeat what Christ Jesus said about these things.

1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Remember back to what the Israelites had been freed from. They were freed from the bondage of Egypt of which they called out in their distresses to the Lord and He delivered them with his mighty and “awesome hand”.

When He called them up and out of Egypt, He have them instructions on what to do so that they were not inflicted with what the Egyptians and the Pharaohs houses would undergo.

They were instructed to put the blood on the doorpost that the death angel might fly over and not harm their firstborn, and they were FAITHFUL in obeying their “first love”.

Here in Exodus, we are all being instructed on how to serve the Lord faithfully and not allow the LEAVEN of the Pharisees and Sadducees to corrupt the whole lump.

The Mark of God is to “keep this service”, “keep this ordinace” and “keep His commandments”.

We, like the Israelites, are being instructed on how to possess the land of which we have just been FREELY given to us.

Deu 6:1  Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might DO THEM IN THE LAND whither ye go to possess it:
Deu 6:2  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

Deu 11:16  Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deu 11:17  And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
Deu 11:18  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
Deu 11:19  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

We are being taught how to NOT serve other gods, not to worship other gods, and that is very important when you consider what Jesus told us all “don’t you know that YOU ARE GODS?”

When we do this (serve God and not other gods i.e ourselves), and we hearken diligently to the Word of God, we too will be led of the Lord as He directs our paths.

There will be war in our heavens, but the Lord will guide us to where we need to go in order to prosper into mature sons of God.

Exo 13:17  And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:
Exo 13:18  But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 13:19  And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
Exo 13:20  And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.
Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The Lord knows there is a tremendous victory and miracle coming for us in the baptism of the Red Sea, but He also knows that we are NOT GOING to remember His first miracles with us and that we are going to doubt His power.

In the next study, we are going to continue to see what lessons the Lord has prepared for us as we “walk in the shoes” of the doubting Israelites. As we will see, we are all alike in how the old man affects us daily, but we do have hope because we have the Lord fighting the giants and beasts within on our behalf.