Our Turning Point
Exodus 12:1-13; 13:1-8
World Communion Sunday

What are the turning points in your life? Some of them may be positive, such as marriage, the birth of children, buying a home, a career or business opportunity, or a spiritual awakening. Others may be negative, such as an addiction, a divorce, a death, a failure in work or business, or a dark night of the soul.

The turning points of our lives form a series of milestones by which we can chart the course of our personal histories. It is important to identify your turning points and milestones because they are the events that have shaped you in the past and continue to form you in the present. What is true of the story of our earthly lives is also true of our story of faith. Each one of us has had high points and low points in his or her journey with God.

The story of the exodus of Israel from Egypt was and is the central, crucial, definitive story of the Jewish people. It was their spiritual and national turning point.

The basic confession of faith of a Jew is preserved in Exodus 13:8 and elaborated in verse 14. “It was because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt” (vs. 8). “By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (vs. 14).

In the opening chapters of Genesis, God is revealed as the creator of heaven and earth and all that is there in. Beginning with the story of Abraham and Sarah, God is revealed as the covenant-maker and covenant-keeper. God promises the Jews land, descendants, and blessing.

The account of Israel’s descent into Egyptian bondage and the plagues, culminating in the killing of the firstborn of man and beast, is the story of God keeping his covenant promises to Abraham and Sarah, to Isaac and Rachel, to Jacob and Rebekah. The LORD brings them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

In addition to being their creator, the LORD is the God who made and, most importantly, keeps covenant with his chosen people. The LORD is not only the mighty creator but also the mighty warrior who fights for his people to deliver them from slavery, bondage, and oppression.

Our texts from Exodus 12 and 13 give the instructions for observing the first Passover meal and for its perpetual celebration for generations to come. The Passover is a grim meal. Pharaoh reaps what he has sowed. In Exodus 1, Pharaoh commands all his people to throw every Hebrew boy into the Nile river to drown. At midnight, the LORD releases the Destroyer who passes through the entire land of Egypt claiming the lives of the first born of humans and animal alike.

But the Israelites are to kill a lamb for the Passover meal and put some of the animal’s blood on the two door posts and lintel of the homes. God reassures Moses and the Israelites in Exodus 12:12-13. “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

The Destroyer passes through the land of Egypt spreading death, but it passes over the homes of the Israelites who are eating the first Passover meal. The story is difficult to square with modern sensibilities of innocence, justice, and love. But the intended message is that the LORD is a covenant-keeping God who will take whatever measures necessary to protect and liberate his chosen people. And so, the Passover was, and continues to be, the pivotal turning point in the history of the Jewish people.

And the covenant- making and keeping God of deliverance is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Exodus was the definitive story for Israel. For us as Christians, the death and resurrection of the Son of God is our pivotal event. In fact, it is the hinge of history upon which the ages turn.

Even after the Exodus, humans continued to be oppressed and enslaved to the bondage of sin, death, and evil. But God acted for us with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. The Destroyer was released again, not at midnight but in the darkness of midday, and the object of his wrath was the only begotten Son of God nailed to Calvary’s cross on Golgotha’s hill. He was the completely innocent lamb of God without spot or blemish. And now, when God passes over our lives, he does not see our sin, but the blood of Jesus the Messiah staining the beams of the cross. Now we are spared from God’s fearful wrath. We are forgiven. We are delivered from the tyranny of sin, death, and evil. We are set free indeed.

Along with ancient Israel, the new Israel of God can say, “It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of the Egypt of sin, death and evil.” We can say, “By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of bondage, from the house of sin, death, and evil’s slavery.”

And the LORD has given us a meal to commemorate this even greater deliverance. It is a grim meal too. “As often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again” (1 Cor. 11:26). We proclaim the Lord’s death for us. It is because of what the Lord did for me in the death and resurrection of the Lamb of God that I celebrate with thanksgiving.

Egypt paid a terrible price for Pharaoh’s hardened heart. But God’s heart towards us was soft and tender, and so God himself paid the price for our hard hearts.

Christ’s death and resurrection are our fundamental turning point, our first milepost with God. Brothers and sisters, friends, see what God has done for us and marvel. See what God has done for us and weep. See what God has done for us and give thanks with a grateful heart. "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast” (1 Cor. 5:7b-8a).

Thanks be to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Alleluia! Amen!