No. 42 - OUT OF SPIRITUAL EGYPT By: Randall Ricker Tuesday, April 06, 2004 First Day of Unleavened Bread, A.M. service In Old Testament times the Days of Unleavened Bread pictured the Israelites coming out of Egypt. That was the meaning of those days in the Old Testament times. Let’s think for a minute, how did they get into that situation? Let us briefly review the story. HOW ISRAEL GOT INTO SPIRITUAL EGYPT You remember that the patriarch Jacob had 12 sons. His favorite son was Joseph. He was such a favorite that he gave him the coat of many colors and gave him preferential treatment. The other brothers were jealous of him. They sold him into slavery, and he was eventually taken to Egypt by the slave traders. He was there quite a number of years. During that time, the king had a dream. He did not know what the dream meant. He had Joseph interpret it. Joseph explained there was going to be seven years of plenty of food and then seven years of famine. The king realized that this was a very special man who was able to interpret this, so he put Joseph in charge of saving up the food for those first seven years, in order that during the seven years of famine there would be food for the whole nation. It happened exactly as the dream had been revealed. Of course, the dream was revealed directly by God to Joseph who revealed it to the pharaoh. As time went on, it was not just Egypt that had this famine. It was occurring apparently all over the Middle East because Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. The Egyptians were selling grain to people in other countries. When they went there, they met Joseph. Eventually it was revealed, of course, who this was. They realized this was their brother. Eventually Jacob and the whole family ended up in Egypt where there was food. They lived there quite a number of years, but eventually there came a pharaoh who “knew not Joseph,” as it is put in the Bible. He enslaved those people, seeing them as a threat and also seeing them as an economic advantage, I would think, too. Their descendants were enslaved for generations in Egypt, but continued to grow and multiply to where there were roughly two to three million people by the time that they were able to leave Egypt. When the time was right, God sent Moses back to them. He announced each of ten plagues, the tenth plague being the death of the firstborn. Of course, that was on Passover night when God “passed over” the Israelites who had the lamb’s blood on the doorpost. Instead, the firstborn of all the Egyptians were killed. At that point, they decided to let God’s people go. The night that they left was the First Day of Unleavened Bread. God starts His days at evening, at sunset. Last night, the Night To Be Much Observed, we celebrated the coming out of Egypt by the ancient Israelites. There is more to that meaning, and we will be getting to that very soon here. PASSOVER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 14TH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH There has been some controversy and confusion in the Church over the last several years about when the Passover was. Turn to Exodus chapter 12. There is some confusion in the Church as to whether the Passover is at the beginning of the 14th day of the first month or at the end of the 14th day of the month. It affects the rest of the timing, if you think about it, although people do not necessarily get into all of those details. We will read Exodus 12:22 where the instructions for the Passover are given. “‘And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin…’” This is from the lamb that they had sacrificed. “‘…and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.’” People ask, is it the beginning of the 14th or the end of the 14th? Whenever this Passover was supposed to be (it was to be at twilight or sunset on the 14th), they were not to be going out of their houses that night. There were clear instructions to not go out of their houses until morning. Let’s skip down to verse 29: “And it came to pass at midnight…” (that same night) “…that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.” These were events of that same night. We see that much. Now we can go into Deuteronomy chapter 16 where it is talking more about their coming out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 16, verse 1: “‘Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.’” They came out of Egypt by night. It cannot be the same night that they sacrificed the Passover because they were told to stay in all that night. It was not until midnight, in fact, that the firstborn were killed. Remember the instructions were not to go out that night, so it cannot be the same night. It would have to have been the following night. We can confirm this in Numbers 33:3. Numbers 33, verse 3: “They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after Passover the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians.” That is the night we observed last night: the Night to be Much Observed. We have it clearly stated here that the Passover is the beginning of the 14th day of the month and they were to stay in that night. The firstborn was killed at midnight that night. The following night, the 15th, is when they actually left Egypt. Our keeping of the Passover on the 14th day of the month is exactly as the Israelites did back 2500 years ago. COMING OUT OF PHYSICAL EGYPT Let us go back to Exodus chapter 12 and read some more about their coming out of Egypt. Exodus 12, verse 15: “‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation…’” (like what we are having today, a commanded assembly) “‘….and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.’” It is showing that the Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures them coming out of Egypt. Continuing in Exodus 12, verse 18: “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’” It is clear instructions on the Days of Unleavened Bread. Why unleavened bread? Let’s go to verse 33 where Moses and Aaron had been called by night. They actually had been sent a message by night. It does not say they went out that night, but the pharaoh had finally given in. Exodus 12, verse 33: “And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, ‘We shall all be dead.’ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.” They did not have time to make leavened bread. They just bound up the bowls that had the dough in them and took them away. Verse 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.” They were not ready for a long journey. They just packed up what they could, which meant to take the bread before it was leavened, and go. Exodus 13, verse 3: “And Moses said to the people: ‘Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.’” Again pointing out what we have been saying about these days picturing them coming out of Egypt. Think of how they felt after generations in slavery and how happy they must have been. Go to Exodus 14, verse 8, the last portion. “…the children of Israel went out with boldness.” In the King James Version it says “with a high hand.” It was a very happy, very jubilant and very special time for them, but not for long! PURSUED BY THE EGYPTIANS Verse 9: “So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, ‘Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, “Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?” For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.’” Things looked bleak for the Israelites. They were hemmed in by the mountains and the sea, and with pharaoh’s army coming, it looked hopeless. It looked like they would be led back into slavery. COMPARE ISRAELITES AND CHRISTIANS Today let’s compare the ancient Israelites coming out of Egypt with the Christians coming out of sin. Let us read another scripture about the Days of Unleavened Bread in Leviticus 23, which is the festivals chapter. All the festivals of the Lord are listed here. Leviticus 23, verse 1: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.”’” Again, these are the feasts of the Lord and not of Moses, the Jews or anybody else. They are the feasts of the Lord and feasts for us. Verse 3: “‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.’” Verse 4: “‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do not customary work on it.’” We see that the first and last days we have commanded assemblies as today. The Apostle Paul taught us that we do not make physical offerings of fire anymore so we do not have burnt offerings anymore. We are to still celebrate these days. They are still commanded. THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF LEAVEN Turn to I Corinthians chapter 5. The Apostle Paul explains the one of the spiritual meanings of the Days of Unleavened Bread. As we read along, it will be very clear from the context that we are reading about the Days of Unleavened Bread. I Corinthians 5, verse 7: “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Here we have mention of the Passover, giving further support that we are to be keeping the Passover, but also talking about leaven and being unleavened and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Verse 8: “Therefore let us keep the feast…” Now we know what feast it is and that it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “…not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” We are not to keep the feast with the old physical leaven. In other words, we are to remove the leavening from our homes as we are able, and we are to avoid eating leavened products during this time of seven days. It also says “nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness”. Malice is a desire to do harm. Where is harm talked about in the Bible? I find it in Romans chapter 13. Let’s go there for a moment. In Romans chapter 13 it is talking about the leaven of malice or a desire to do harm. Romans 13, verse 10: “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Love is the opposite of harm. It is the opposite of malice. But what is love? One of the several definitions of love is right here: “love is the fulfillment of the law.” In other words, keeping God’s commandments. What we are seeing here is this leavening of malice and wickedness is breaking God’s commandments. It is not having love and outgoing concern for our neighbor as expressed by those commandments. Remember in I Corinthians it is talking about malice and wickedness which is evil and breaking God’s law. It is sinning. Turn to I John 3:4. It is a very basic scripture, but we will review it. It is the definition of sin. I John 3, verse 4: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” In the Authorized Version it states “sin is the transgression of the law”. We are finding here that leavening pictures sin. We read about the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Sincerity is the opposite of hypocrisy. That is the type of behavior we are to be having. We are not to be sinning but instead having the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Just as we put out the physical leaven from our homes, we are also to put out the sin from our lives. For seven days now leavening represents sin. EGYPT REPRESENTED SIN I said we were going to compare the ancient Israelites coming out of Egypt with Christians coming out of sin, so let’s turn to Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. In the faith chapter we are going to find that Egypt, that the Israelites came out of 2500 years ago, is compared to sin. Hebrews 11, read verses 24-29. What we have here is Moses, rather than enjoying what was called “the passing pleasures of sin” in Egypt, forsook Egypt. So we are comparing sin and Egypt in these verses. Physically the Days of Unleavened Bread picture the Israelites coming out of Egypt, and spiritually the Days of Unleavened Bread picture the Christian coming out of spiritual Egypt which is sin. HOW WE GOT INTO SPIRITUAL EGYPT We already talked about how the ancient Israelites had gotten into slavery. How did we become slaves to sin? At this point we have to go back to the incident of the two trees in the Garden of Eden. We are not going to read that right now, but let’s just think about what happened there. They were given this garden with trees. They were told to eat of all the trees, presumably including the tree of life. It was not stated as such, but they had the opportunity. They were told not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Under Satan’s temptation that was the tree they chose to eat from. Once they did that, God cut them off from the tree of life which they could have taken from. Instead, He cut them off and their descendants for the next 6,000 years where they could not have contact with God. They were just left to form their own religion, governments, economics and their whole way of life any way they chose to, because they had rejected God’s revealed way of life. That is how the world got to the situation where it is. There are a lot of people who mean well but they have simply been cut off from God. It has not been their time. We in the Church were all cut off, too. There was a time when we did not understand. We did not understand God’s truth. We did not understand how we were to be behaving. It had not been revealed to us. Do you remember John 6:44? Let’s turn there. John 6, verse 44: “‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.’” At some point we were drawn to the Father when we came to Christ. Our minds were opened, and we received God’s Holy Spirit. We became begotten children of God. At that point we were to come out of sin and be growing and overcoming. Others will have their opportunity a little bit later. Not everyone has had that opportunity now. Though we have come out of sin at the beginning, even now we still tend to get back into it. We still tend to be enslaved by sin. Turn to James 1 and see the process of how that happens to us. It happens to us and to those who have not yet been called. It is the process of sin, if you want to think of it that way. James 1, verse 13: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” A lot of people blame things on God that He is certainly not responsible for because He has not caused it. Verse 14: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” There is a process. We are tempted by our own desires or lusts which lead to sin. It happens to us. It happens to people who have not been called. AT THE RED SEA Let us continue now where we left off with the story of the ancient Israelites coming out of Egypt. Turn to Exodus chapter 14. The last we read, they were at the Red Sea, seeing no hope for continuing their flight out of Egypt. They were thinking they might be brought back into slavery or killed. Read Exodus 14:13-31. Just as the Egyptians had frightened the Israelites, we get frightened at times, too. For whatever reason, sometimes we tend to want to go back into sin just as the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. Yet they were miraculously delivered by God. Let’s go on to Exodus chapter 15 because there is a song we want to study just a little bit and compare it to us spiritually. THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF THE SONG OF MOSES Exodus 15, verse 1: “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: ‘I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!’” Elsewhere in the Bible we found the horse and the rider to represent demons. Over the years we, at many times, have said that pharaoh and his horsemen represented Satan and the demons pursuing Christians. We have said this many times before in the past and it is certainly true. There is Biblical support for this. It says “He has thrown into the sea.” Keep your place in Exodus 15 and go to Revelation 17. We are going to look up a couple of uses of this term “sea” to refresh our memory as to what the sea can be a symbol of. Revelation 17, verse 15: “Then he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.’” The sea can represent people. Turn to Genesis chapter 1. Again, we will refresh our memories about what the sea can represent. Genesis 1, verse 1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Remember the deep is the abyss. Here we have darkness over the deep, over the abyss. Darkness is not just physical darkness. It is also spiritual darkness. Christ is the light of the world, and the opposite is the darkness. We have the sea which is people. These are people still under Satan’s influence. The Red Sea being parted is symbolic of these people under Satan’s influence just being moved aside for us so we can continue to come out of sin. We can continue our walk with God, and then the demons will eventually be cast into that sea, enabling us to come out of sin. Let’s go back to Exodus chapter 15. We will continue reading verses 2-9. That is what Satan is saying about us at times. When he is after us, he will have his desire on us. He wanted to take his desire on us when we were first baptized and received God’s Holy Spirit. He comes back again and again. Continuing in verse 9: “‘I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.’” We have studied the word sword in the Old Testament. It often represents the drought of the Holy Spirit. Satan would love to take the Holy Spirit away from us if he possibly could and do what he can to get us to quench that Spirit, We must not allow that. Exodus 15, verse 10: “‘You blew with Your wind.’” What is wind? Wind represents God’s Holy Spirit. It is by God’s Holy Spirit that we come out of sin. Verse 10: “‘The sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like You O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.’” What is God’s holy habitation? Turn to Ephesians 2. In a spiritual sense, what is God’s holy habitation? Ephesians 2, verse 19: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.” We are the temple. We are the habitation of God. We are to be building character of silver and gold as part of that temple (habitation). Just as the Israelites were going ahead to the habitation of God, we are becoming the habitation of God, that spiritual temple that Christ will return to. The Days of Unleavened Bread remind us that we must be building that character of silver and gold by coming out of sin. Let us go back to Exodus chapter 15 where we left off. In verse 13 we talked about being guided to His holy habitation. Verse 14: “‘The people will hear and be afraid; sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling will take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of Your arm they will be as still as a stone, till Your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, whom You have purchased.’” It is talking about the people in the promised land, who at times also were symbolic of Satan and the demons who will be replaced. They were replaced, and Satan and the demons will be replaced as well. Verse 17: “‘You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which You have made for Your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.’” It talks about the mountain of God’s inheritance. Let’s briefly go to Daniel chapter 2 and review what a mountain means spiritually. Turn to Daniel chapter 2 where it talks about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the image which was interpreted by Daniel. Daniel 2, verse 35: “‘Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.’” In this dream a mountain fills the whole earth. Go to verse 44 for the interpretation. Daniel 2, verse 44: “‘And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.’” Here we have proof that mountains represents kingdoms. There are other scriptures we could go to as well. Back in Exodus 15, when it talks about being brought and planted in the mountain of God’s inheritance, it is talking about in the government of God’s inheritance which is His kingdom. It is our goal to be in God’s kingdom. Exodus 15, verse 18: “‘The Lord shall reign forever and ever.’” Just when we think the song is done, we find something different. The women start singing. Go on to Exodus 15, verse 20. “Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them: ‘Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea’” Let’s look at what women represent in the Bible. We will turn to just one of those scriptures. We will go to II Corinthians 11, remembering that Ephesians 5 is very clearly saying that marriage represents Christ and His Church. The bride is representative of the Church. II Corinthians 11, verse 2: “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” This is Paul writing to the Church, referring to her as a chaste virgin and being betrothed to one husband. In Exodus 15 it is symbolic of the Church singing. We have felt like singing. When we come out of sin, we felt like singing for the wonderful way of life that we are now able to live. With the knowledge of God’s truth, we have a lot to rejoice about. The next time we sing hymn number 116 “I Will Sing to the Eternal,” think about the spiritual meaning of that song. A PSALM ABOUT US Let’s turn to another song about this time which is Psalm 78. Psalm 78 also talks about this time in their history. We will start reading in Psalm 78:12. “Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters stand up like a heap.” Again it is talking about passing through the Red Sea. Verse 14: “In the daytime also He led them with the cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.” Fresh water is representative of God’s Holy Spirit. He gave us His Holy Spirit, and He continues to give us His Holy Spirit as we need it and ask for it. Verse 17: “But they sinned even more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: they said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?’ Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation.” At times our faith has been weak, too. We have not trusted in God as we should have. Verse 23: “Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them of the bread of heaven.” They are talking about physical bread of heaven, which is the physical manna that was given to the Old Testament Israelites. In John chapter 6 we learn about a spiritual manna, if you want to think of it that way, as opposed to the physical manna that the Israelites had. John 6:48 where Christ is speaking: “‘I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.’” It is a direct reference here to the Old Testament Israelites wandering in the wilderness eating manna. But they are dead. It was a physical food that did not give them eternal life. Verse 50: “‘This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.’” Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He is the personal word of God. The Bible is the written word of God. God gives us the written word of God, that bread of life, this Bible. He also gives us the Holy Spirit to give us the understanding of this Bible to help us as we grow and overcome. Let’s go back to Psalm 78, which is the song of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. Verse 38: “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!” How often have we provoked God? There have been many times that we have stumbled and fallen and had to then go to Jesus Christ as our High Priest asking forgiveness. Verse 41: “Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” At times we have limited God by saying can God really accomplish this? Can God accomplish this in our lives? Can God accomplish this in His plan? Sometimes we doubt. Go on to verse 54: “And He brought them to His holy border, this mountain which His right hand had acquired.” It is talking about the border of the promised land. God was bringing the Israelites to the border of the promised land, much as now we are being brought to the border of the promised land. It is the border of the Millennium, if you will. That time is coming very soon. ENTERING OUR REST Turn to Hebrews chapter 3 where the Apostle Paul compares the Israelites coming to the promised land with our coming to the promised land (our rest). They were to come to their rest. That first generation of Israelites did not enter their rest. We are to come into a rest, too, that Millennial rest. Hebrews 3, verse 7: “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” We are to exhort one another, help each other and encourage each other. Hebrews 3, verse 14: “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” He is talking about not obeying in verse 18 and unbelief in verse 19. We must be sure that we are not guilty of either of those. Hebrews 4, verse 1: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” We have to be sure that we can enter this Millennial rest. The Israelites failed at going into their rest, and the next generation had to go in. We do not want to make that same mistake. We have to encourage each other. We have to work to be sure that we enter that rest and develop that holy righteous character. We need to be putting sin completely out of our lives. Eventually the Israelites did enter the promised land. That next generation of Israelites under Joshua went into the promised land. The first city they took was Jericho. Let’s turn to Joshua chapter 5. We are moving ahead forty years from the time of that first Passover to the time when the next generation of Israelites was able to take the promised land. Remember the only two of that generation who were able to go were Joshua and Caleb. In Joshua 5:10 we are back to this time of year again. “Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.” Go on to Joshua chapter 6. THE FALL OF JERICHO Joshua 6, verse 1: “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua: ‘See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.’” The whole land of Canaan by that time had fallen into such depravity that God had just wanted them removed from the face of the earth. As circumstances had it, He eventually assigned that duty to the ancient Israelites. They were to take the land and drive the inhabitants out or destroy them. When they came to Jericho, it was a walled city. There were people in Canaan living this evil way of life inspired by Satan. Think of them as symbolizing his kingdom. As we go along, I think it will become clear. Let us read about this. God is giving Jericho into their hands. Joshua 6, verse 3: “‘You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.’” Remember this is all starting the day after the Passover. “‘And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.’” On the seven days of Unleavened Bread, each of the first six days they were to walk around the city once. On the seventh day, the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, they would walk around the city seven times. They would sound their trumpets, and then the city would fall. Go on to verse 20, and that is exactly what happened! Joshua 6, verse 20: “So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.” We have the Israelites crossing into the promised land, taking the city of Jericho. In fact, the city of Jericho fell. This is after the seven Days of Unleavened Bread. Remember, seven is the number of completion for God. THE FALL OF SATAN’S KINGDOM Speaking of completion, we must be striving to completely put sin out of our lives. We will continue to do this until we are resurrected or changed. When we are changed, the only thing that will remain will be the righteous character that we will have developed. We will enter that Millennial rest that we have been looking forward to. Instead of Jericho falling before us, Satan’s kingdom will fall before us. Just as Israel entered their rest when Jericho fell, we will enter our rest. Satan’s kingdom will fall. God’s kingdom will then rule over the earth with the firstfruits ruling under Christ. Keep working to put sin out of our lives so that we can enter that Millennial rest.