Striking similarities between the Departure of the Hebrews out of
Egypt and the resurrection of Jesus.
Hebrews knew
nothing about what was going to happen during the night after the Passover.
The departure out of Egypt was a
spectacular event, but the impression given that the Hebrews
were leaving the country by their own will after conquering their freedom thanks
to Yehoah Elohim is misleading.
The reality is quite different and
is often ignored even by frequent readers of the Bible. Indeed, the Hebrews, have accomplished the sacrifice of Passover in the
afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month of the year. Then during the
night following the sunset marking the beginning of the 15th day, Yehoah Elohim strikes all the kingdom of Egypt with His
last but very severe plague, which is the death of all the firstborns of men
and animals. Pharaoh was no exception since his eldest son, also bearing the
title of Pharaoh because he was reigning with him on the throne, died also during
that night.
In the meantime, all the Hebrews
shut themselves up in their homes and ate the flawless lamb of Passover. Everyone is taking this meal while standing awake with his
sandals on his foot and his walking stick in his hand. But none had any idea about
what was going to happen.
Indeed, towards the end of the
night, at the dawn of the 15th day of this first month,
It is the Egyptians who will literally expel all the Hebrews out of
Egypt.
The departure of the Hebrew people
out of Egypt is far from having happened as it is often represented, namely people
coming out freely and at their own pace with unarmed Egyptians watching them
leave. It's the exact opposite!
If you read Exodus 12, verses 37-42,
you will see that the Hebrews were literally chased
out of the land by the Egyptians:
“37 Then the children of
Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on
foot, besides children. 38 A mixed multitude went up with them also,
and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. 39 And they baked
unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was
not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait,
nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was
four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of
the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that
all the armies of Yehoah went out from the land of
Egypt. 42 It is a night of solemn observance to Yehoah
for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of Yehoah, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel
throughout their generations.”
Moreover, as you read above, not
only did the Egyptians drive them out of their land, but the Hebrews were forced to leave their homes hurriedly without
wasting time!
The departure out of Egypt was not an easy one.
The departure of the Children of
Israel out of Egypt was particularly exhausting because after a night during which
they were staying awake, they left Ramses for Sukkoth and had to make a forced
march day and night for several days to get to Etham
as we can read in Exodus 13: 20-22:
" 20 So they took
their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the
edge of the wilderness. 21 And the Yehoah
went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a
pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. 22
He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night
from before the people. 22 The pillar of cloud did not
withdraw from the people during the day, nor the pillar of fire during the
night. "
The crossing of the Red Sea, a victory over death.
Yehoah then guides the Hebrews to Pi-Hahiroth
and they are asked to establish thei camp in front of
Migdol on the shore of the Red Sea.
The miraculous crossing of the Red Sea
by the Hebrews is a victory over the death since it marks the dramatic
disappearance of the new Pharaoh, successor of the first-born dead after
Passover, and his army symbolizing the disappearance of Satan the Devil and of his
destructive demons.
" But overthrew
Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endures forever; " (Psalm
136: 15).
Let us open a parenthesis here to
try to locate the location on the Red Sea where the crossing took place: most experts
are locating it on the western part of the so-called Sinai peninsula,
which is very close to the city of Ramses, which seems to contradict the forced
marches of several days to reach it from Ramses. But a biblical passage in I
Kings 9:26 seems to indicate that another option is the Red Sea on the eastern
part of the peninsula, south of the ports of Eilat and
Akaba. If the latter option is the right one, it
would mean that Mount Sinai and its desert would be found rather in the
northern part of Saudi Arabia! Let's close the parenthesis!
Let us jump 1500 years later, during the last Passover of Jesus,
the flawless lamb of the believers!
Here too, extraordinary events will
happen and we will find a number of similarities with the departure out of
Egypt.
Jesus will also be hurriedly chased away
out of this world where
Satan is the ruler.
Satan will incarnate in Judas and
make every effort to drive Jesus out of his empire which is the world in which
we live. Satan and this world are symbolized by the Pharaoh and Egypt of the
time of the Hebrews.
Jesus will be hastily chased away by
the religious authorities of that time who, on the contrary to all
expectations, behave like a prostitute with regard to the power of the Beast
still in place at that time, namely the Roman emperor. These religious
authorities will indeed ignore the authority of Elohim.
This is confirmed by the following
two passages in the Gospels.
1.
In
Mark 14: “1 After two days it was the
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the
scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death. 2
But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.”
2.
In John
19: “12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews
cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend.
Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” 13
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in
the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of
the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your
King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify
Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests
answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified.
Then they took Jesus [d]and led Him away.”
Jesus' crossing of the veil, in other words, of his flesh during
his resurrection is also a victory over death!
In a manner comparable to the
crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel, Jesus also was victorious
over the death by crossing at the moment of his resurrection the veil which
represents his flesh and being therefore the first to be born in the new world,
this world where he is truly king. Let us read this in Hebrews 10:
" 19 Therefore,
brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20
by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is,
His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of Elohim.”
Indeed, during the feast of the
seven days of unleavened bread, Jesus was experiencing an event to literally
take the breath away. On the first day of the week, Jesus had to raise himself
to the extreme north of the heaven and to offer himself without blemish to his
Father. This will be very emotional moment as it will be Yehoah's
first encounter with his first-born spiritual son, symbolized by the sheaf of
barley that was to be shaken on the first day during the seven days of
unleavened bread under the old covenant.
It is only after this offering of
his body that Jesus will come back to earth and meet all his people to
encourage them.
And it should be noted that the Children
of Israel, because they constantly rebelled against their Elohim without
keeping their words, were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Unlike them,
Jesus obeyed to his Father exemplarily and consequently could have access to the
Promised Land, in this case for him the Most Holy Place. See Hebrews 9:
" 11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with
the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of
this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with
His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained
eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9: 11-12)
As far as we are concerned, if we
want to be part of the people of believers, Paul explains that for us, our
crossing of the Red Sea is nothing else than our baptism by immersion in I
Corinthians 9:
" 1Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our
fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all
were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate
the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that
Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them Elohim was not
well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.6
Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted.”
Paul also insists on the close connection
between this baptism and the victory over the death of Jesus in Romans 6:
" 3 Or do you not
know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death,
certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be [a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7
For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that
Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has
dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin
once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to Elohim. 11
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Elohim
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your
mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
What will be at the time
Just before the advent of the Messiah?
Above all, let us never forget this
important message that our Lord gave to his own disciples when they asked him
what would be the sign of his coming and the end of this world that you can
read in Matthew 24:
" 36 But of that
day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 37
But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39
and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the
coming of the Son of Man be."
It reminds us how Pharaoh and the
Egyptians also knew nothing until the exterminating angel suddenly killed all
the firstborn in the land.
Only those who will watch and be
obedient to the Lord as the Hebrews were will be ready
to act in the right direction when the coming of the Jesus will be decided by
the Father (same chapter 24 of Matthew):
" 42 Watch
therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”
But the striking similarities
between the events just before the departure out of Egypt and Jesus does
not end there! As with the Children of Israel and Jesus, the believers will
also be hunted or chased out of this world. They will end up having no more place in this world we live in and indeed, we should not be
part of it. At least that's how Jesus sees his followers in John 17 :
" 14 I have given
them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should
keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I
am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your
truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent
Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for
their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be
sanctified by the truth.” 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but
also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that
they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also
may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as
We are one”
And at the time of the advent of our
Lord Jesus, everything will happen again very quickly! (Revelation 12):
" 12 Therefore
rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because
he knows that he has a short time.”
Jesus gives an important advice and
a sign in the gospel of Matthew to some of his disciples, the one who, it
seems, are members of the church of Philadelphia as mentioned
in Revelation 3: 10.
This important advice and sign is
given in Matthew 24 and must be read carefully:
“15 “Therefore when you
see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing
in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16
“then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let
him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18
And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19
But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those
days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the
Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has
not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall
be.”
This first part of believers will
agree to give up suddenly all their goods in the world to go to the Kingdom of
Jesus.
Then, after marking the 144,000 of
the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7: 1-8), the world will witness the sacrifice
of the great crowd from all corners of the world who, encouraged by the two
witnesses, will follow Christ's trace in sacrificing themselves to testify
their attachment to their Elohim. They too will have conquered death.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for
beautiful pearls. Having found a pearl of great price, he went to sell
everything he had, and bought it! "
Read Elohim's word without any delay, put
it into practice as you understand it.
Watch all the time to be ready to leave everything and run to our
Lord when the signal will be given to you in one way or another