With Easter just around the corner, I thought this week that we would turn our thoughts back to where it all began. No … not that very first Easter in Jerusalem. Believe it or not, it all began, actually a few thousand years even before that.

Right now, today, this very minute, how many people do you think are in slavery? The estimates vary between 20 million and 100 million. Some put the number even higher. Many of those are children. Many of them are trafficked as sex slaves. That’s staggering! It’s shocking! In fact to think that there is even one slave in this world is absolutely abhorrent, don’t you think?

Official statistics can’t begin to tell the story of the misery of slavery. And where do you draw the line between a slave and someone whose labour is being exploited? Does it really matter? The point is that we people do terrible things to one another.

We’re heading into Easter this week and as we rush around to buy those last few chocolate Easter eggs, slavery may be, well, might feel like a really weird subject to be talking about. But slavery, well slavery is actually what Easter’s all about. Slavery is the place where Easter finds it’s real roots.

I can’t imagine two things further apart. Chocolate Easter bunnies on the one hand and slavery on the other. But we live in a funny world. So over these next couple of weeks, as you and I consume maybe a little bit more chocolate than we should, we’re going to discover the roots of Easter. And as we take that journey, my real question is this: does Easter really matter? Does it have anything relevant to say to you and me, here and now?

Well most of us know that Easter’s about more than chocolate. After all it’s the time in the TV news where they always flash up the stories of the grand Easter celebrations in the big cathedrals. Those Christians are busy celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ, allegedly the Son of God, died and rose again at Easter.

The basic thing that Christians believe is that every one of us, you, me, the next guy, we’ve sinned. We’ve done things that are wrong. And God is a God who loves us but also who punishes those who do wrong. Which turns out to be everybody. And so Jesus dies to pay for the sins of everybody. So that you and I can be forgiven if we believe in Him. While, at the same time, ensuring that justice is done. Someone was punished. He was punished. And then He rises again to give us victory over death and a life eternal. That is it in a nutshell. That is the executive summary. The question is: so what? What does that mean to the average punter in the supermarket aisle buying Easter eggs?

Well, the whole Easter thing goes back much further than 2,000 years ago and it turns out that there is an incredibly rich history and rich symbolism. And the more I’ve dug into that, the more I realise that this rich story has so much to say to you and to me. That’s what I’d like to share with you over these next couple of weeks on the program. Just snippets, bits and pieces of this rich history. You see, history repeats itself in familiar cycles. My hunch is that we’re in one of those cycles right now, Easter week.

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. There’s crowds everywhere. Then there’s a plot to kill Him, it thickens. But the reason that the crowds are here, towards the beginning of the 1st century, is that they were in Jerusalem celebrating the first of three major annual festivals on the Jewish calendar.

It was the Passover festival. Sometimes it’s called the Festival of the Unleavened Bread. And as we unpick the whole Easter story, as we’re going to do on the program these coming weeks, what we discover is that Easter and the Passover are inseparable. In fact, if we don’t understand the Passover, Easter doesn’t begin to make sense.

The Passover goes back into Israel’s history to a time when they’ve been in slavery in Egypt for about 430 years. The year is around 1270 BC. The whole nation of Israel are slaves. Can you imagine that? The record, in Exodus chapter 12, verse 37, tells us that there were about 600,000 men plus women and children. So somewhere between 1 and 2 million Israelites, maybe more, in slavery. That’s a lot of slaves. And they’d been under terrible oppression. And this is what God says to Moses. The Lord said:

‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt. I’ve heard their cry on account of their hard task masters. Indeed, I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land, to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ It comes from Exodus, chapter 3.

And so God appoints Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that Pharaoh let God’s chosen people go. Pharaoh refuses and so God curses Egypt through 10 plagues. He turns the Nile into blood. He sends plagues and sickness and all sorts of things. But Pharaoh still refuses. So God plays His trump card. The 10th plague that God brings on Egypt is terrible. Have a listen. It comes from Exodus chapter 11:

Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord. About midnight I will go through Egypt. Every first born in the land of Egypt will die. From the first born of the Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the first born of the female slave who is behind the hand mill and all the first born of livestock. Then there will be a loud cry through the whole land of Egypt, such as has never been before and never will be again. Not a dog shall growl at any of the Israelites though. Not at people, not at animals. So that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. Then all the officials of yours shall come to me and bow low to me and say, ‘Leave us, you and all the people who follow you.’ After that I will leave.’ And in hot anger he left Pharaoh.

See, that’s exactly what happened. This whole Passover thing was about the freedom of God’s people from slavery. And that’s exactly what Easter is all about. The whole slavery thing crept up on Israel. They started off in quite a privileged position in Egypt with Joseph effectively running the country. But then, as their numbers grew, little by little, the Egyptians enslaved them.

I wonder whether it isn’t the same with us. Most people today, most people listening to this program wouldn’t consider themselves as slaves. But stand back and take a look at life. Take a look at the treadmill that we’re on. The number of people labouring under high debt. The number of people labouring under the consequences of their lifestyles. The number of people, who should be happy, who should be fulfilled, who should be living a life of freedom but seemed to be trapped by life.

Look around at the marriages falling apart. The mortgages failing. So many things falling over. We think we’re free. But actually so many people are slaves. It creeps up on you. Almost without realising. Until one day you look at life and think, ‘This stinks, it really does. What went wrong? Why is my life like this?’

And then, as we’re munching on another chocolate Easter bunny, some guy comes along to talk about Easter and you hear God speaking His words into your heart:

 ‘I’ve seen your misery. I’ve heard your cry on account of your task masters. I know you’re suffering and I have come down to deliver you from this land. To bring you out into a good and broad land. A land flowing with milk and honey.’ 

What if God spoke words like those into your heart today? What if He is looking at your life right now and He feels the ache, He knows the burden, He hears the cry? And what if Easter has everything, everything to do with that? That would give Easter some real meaning wouldn’t it? I mean, this whole Easter thing, it could make a massive difference in our lives.

God’s anger, God’s wrath, God’s terrible punishment of our rebellion against Him – our Sin as He calls it – isn’t something that we like to talk about. But unless we do, Easter just doesn’t make any sense. In fact, unless we do – Easter is a complete waste of time.

If you’d been with us on the program earlier this week, you’ll know that with Easter almost upon us, we’ve been taking a look at Easter from a different perspective. Through it’s origins. No, not chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies. And not even the very first Easter a couple of thousand years ago. But even further back than that to what’s called The Passover. That time when Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt. Around 1270 BC. Through a series of amazing miracles.

Well, they were amazing if you were an Israelite. But if you were an Egyptian, you would have called them plagues. Terrible plagues. Locusts and frogs and diseases and of course, the very last one, the tenth one. The death of the first born in every Egyptian household and every Egyptian flock.

We saw yesterday how the Israelites were spared this scourge and it was this horrible punishment of the Egyptians that finally caused Pharaoh to say to Moses, ‘Alright you lot, get out of here, I can’t take this anymore.’

For the Israelites it was an amazing blessing. They were spared from the scourge because they’d painted the blood of a lamb on their door posts. And so the punishment passed over them. Just like when you and I put our faith in the blood of the Lamb, the Lamb of God, Jesus, who died for our sins. The punishment passes over us.

But what about this whole “Passover” thing from the Egyptian perspective?

It wasn’t such a blessing if you were an Egyptian. And as I said on the program yesterday, this deadly punishment is something that I struggle with every time I read it. Have a listen again. This is the record from the book of Exodus, in the Old Testament, chapter 12:

At midnight the Lord struck down all the first born in the land of Egypt. From the first born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the first born of the prisoner who was in the dungeon and all the first born of the livestock. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians and there was a loud cry in Egypt for there was not a house without someone dead.

God took not only Pharaoh’s first born but right down to the prisoner in the dungeon, his first born as well and the first born of all the livestock. This was extreme punishment and it just doesn’t sit very well with the notion of a loving God. And I’d love to be able to sit here and say, “Well actually, you know, God would never do that”. But He did and He does. And there’s a reason for that and if I don’t share that with you, then I’m just not doing my job.

Most of us don’t respond well to threats of punishment. Most of us want to be wooed and convinced to fall in love with God and that’s good. That’s how I fell in love with Him. But there’s another part to God. This God of amazing love that comes out of His profound sense of justice. His profound sense of right and wrong. It’s this: God is God. He is the one God. The living God. The God who made the heavens and the earth and everything that’s in them. They are all made by Him for His good pleasure. And He puts you and me in the middle of all that so that we can enjoy not just His creation but Him. God Himself.

The problem is that all of us, at sometime, have turned our backs on Him and He calls that sin. Missing the whole point of what God’s up to in creating this amazing universe. Like Pharaoh, we heard the word of God, as Pharaoh heard it through Moses and Aaron, but Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to yield to God. So he suffered the punishment and all his people with him.

And that happens to you and me too. That’s the other side of God. The just side. The holy side that executes judgement on those that deserve it. Listen to this, from Jesus Himself, in Matthew chapter 13:

 The Son of man (that’s Jesus) will send His angels and they will collect out of His kingdom all causers of sin and evil doers and they will throw them into the furnace of fire where there’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen.

Jesus doesn’t mince His words. And the apostle Paul in his letter to the Roman Church makes it really clear.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and wickedness of those, who by their wickedness, suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His eternal power and His divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things He’s made. So we are without excuse. For though they knew God they didn’t honour Him as God or give thanks to Him, that they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened.

Take a look around. The fact that there is a God is so obvious.

Now heading into Easter, most of us are looking forward to a bit extra chocolate and maybe a long weekend and a rest. Maybe, maybe a Church service. The last thing we want to hear is some guy on the radio threatening us. I know that. And here’s the thing. I don’t want you to think I’m threatening anyone. I’m not here to bludgeon you over the head or twist your arm or drag you kicking and screaming into some Church service. None of those things.

I’m here to do two things. The first is to lay the facts plainly before you, plain as day. God is love. The love of God is a fact. And God’s judgement is a fact. And it’s a fact that one day, each one of us, you and I, will stand before Him and be judged. And those who believe in Jesus. The Jesus of Easter. The Easter that we’re about to celebrate. The Jesus of the Passover that we’ve been talking about this week. Those who believe in Him. Who put their faith in Him, they will be saved. But those who don’t will burn for eternity in hell. I can’t put it any plainer than that.

And the second thing that I’m here to do today is to plead with you. Because I do not want you, on that day, to be the sinner in the hands of an angry God. I do not want an eternity of punishment for you in hell. I don’t want to see that for you.

Now there are some who’ll be sitting there listening, poo hooing what I’m saying. “Oh get real. This is the 21st century. We’re not living in medieval times.” If that’s you. You’re a big boy or a big girl, that’s your decision. But again I plead with you. God isn’t just a God of love. He is also a God of justice.

That’s what the Passover was about. He passed over His chosen people. The ones who painted the blood of the lamb on their door posts in faith. And He judged and punished the others. That’s what will happen to you and me one day. Either we would have put our faith in the blood of the lamb – Jesus. Who was crucified for you and me and will be passed over. Or we won’t and we won’t be passed over.

We can be passed over when we do just one thing. Just one thing. Put our faith in Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God as John the Baptist called Him. Who died to take away the sins of the world. When we put our faith in Him. When we believe that we are forgiven because of His death and His resurrection. When we put our lives in His hands. We’re forgiven. We’re set free. We’re passed over. That’s it. And if we don’t, we aren’t and that’s it too.

I plead with you today to put your faith in Jesus Christ and let your sins be forgiven so that the punishment will pass you over.

Imagine that you’re one of the people in slavery on this earth. One of the between 20 and 100 million people are estimated to be living as slaves. And you’re living in this yoke of slavery without the normal freedoms that people take for granted. And one day someone comes to set you free. To take you out of your land of slavery to a place that, well a place that’s so different. So much better. On the one hand, your heart would leap for joy, wouldn’t it?

But when they outline their crazy escape plan, well, doubt and fear and uncertainty, they’d creep into our hearts wouldn’t they? Wouldn’t it play on your mind? It would mine. And we could be seriously tempted to knock back the offer of freedom. Perhaps the certainty of where I am at the moment is better than, well better than the unknown. Better than a freedom that I don’t understand. Better than the risk of an uncertain escape and an uncertain freedom.

It sounds strange but that, in fact, is how it is for so many people. Better the devil you know than the one you don’t. And so, we just stay where we are.

Well what, may you ask, does this have to do with the whole “Easter” thing?

We’re talking about Easter this week because we’re heading towards Easter. And we’re taking a look at the link between Easter, the Jesus’ last supper. His arrest. His trial. His crucifixion. His resurrection. And the Passover Festival which is when all this happened. They were celebrating the Passover Festival in Jerusalem at the time.

And we’ve seen, this week, on the program that the Passover is all about 1270 BC. When Israel had been in slavery in Egypt for 430 years. And Moses was chosen by God to send plagues and all sorts of horrible things to happen to convince the Pharaoh to let God’s people go. And the last of those plagues was of course the death of the first born in every Egyptian household.

But it didn’t happen that way for Israel because God said to them, “look, grab a lamb. Kill it and take the blood and use some hyssop and wash the blood on your door posts” And then when God came over at midnight on that night and caused the death of the first born in every Egyptian household. When He saw the blood on the door, He passed the Israeli households over.

Now this was a double-sided miracle. To the Egyptians, it was a curse. To the Israelites it was a blessing. And there’s a strong parallel between that and the Easter which happened at the Passover celebration in the 1st century. Because the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist points out, is Jesus. And the blood that people put their faith in is the blood of Jesus. The life of Jesus poured out on that cross. When we put our faith in what Jesus did on the cross, that causes the punishment of God, for our sin, to pass us over, through our faith in Jesus.

See, it’s still a double-sided coin today. It depends on which side of the equation you’re on as to how it works. Whether it’s a plague or a blessing. A punishment or a blessed release from slavery. The decision is up to us, whether or not we put our faith in the Lamb of God.

But it’s easy for us to skip over the Passover story really quickly. I mean, back in 1270 BC, which is around when the Passover occurred. People had been slaves, the Israelites, in Egypt for 430 years. That’s about 18 generations. It’s a long time. And what’s been happening, as God has been bringing these plagues down on Egypt, is that Pharaoh has been steadily making things worse for the Israelites, not better. Increasing their workload. Reducing their food. In response to God’s plagues on Egypt.

Put yourself in their shoes. You wonder how they felt when Moses kept going to Pharaoh and send a plague and they get worse for them. And finally, Moses comes to them and says, “This plague, this is the last one. With this one Pharaoh will let us go.’”How do you feel?

We saw the other day the instructions they received. Exodus chapter 12, verse 1:

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they are to take a lamb for each household. The lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish. A year old male. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the 14th day of this month when the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

This is how you shall eat it. Your loins girded up, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand and you shall eat it in a hurry. It is the Passover of 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.’

Now there’s a part of that that I want to focus on right now. Because it speaks volumes to us today. It’s this – the manner in which they shall eat the Passover meal. That final meal. That last supper before God sets them free out of Egypt. It’s here in Exodus chapter 12, verse 11:

This is how you shall eat it. Your loins girded up, you sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the Lord.

Why do they have to eat it like that? Why so hurriedly? Because God wants them to be ready. He’s saying, ‘don’t lounge around. Gird up your loins.’ What that means is, men wore tunics in those days and when you’re running and fleeing and walking it’s easy to trip over your tunic. So what you did, to prepare, is you would gird up your loins. You tucked the long tunic into your belt so that you could move quickly. Put on your sandals. Eat in a hurry. Don’t lounge around. Be ready because God is about to set you free. If you’re just going to laze around and make yourself comfortable in this dung heap of slavery, you’re going to miss out.

See, here it is. Easter’s coming. And so many of us are just kind of sitting around looking forward to a long weekend and a break and a rest and an Easter egg. We’re not ready. Listen to me. The Passover was about setting these people free from their slavery. And that’s what Easter is about today.

When we put our trust in the Lamb of God – Jesus, who gave up His life so that the punishment would pass us over. If we put our faith in Him then we’re set free from our slavery to sin. The consequences of our mistakes – we’re set free.

Let me ask you something, are you ready? Are your sandals on your feet? Are you ready for this new freedom? See, we can even be prepared to believe in Jesus but not be ready for the journey to freedom. It’s a strange journey. It’s not just sitting on the couch waiting for God to do it all. It involves us. And there are going to be battles along the way. There are going to be things in our lives that we have to overcome. Hurdles to jump. Mountains to climb. “Oh yeah, I want to believe in Jesus but I don’t want it to cause me to work up a sweat or to have to change my lifestyle or anything.”

Listen to me. Israel had to get up and walk to their freedom. God opened the door. God did the miracles. But they had to go and take the Promised Land. And it’s the same with Jesus. It’s the same with Easter. God’s done everything. Everything that’s necessary for our forgiveness and our freedom and our new life to begin. Everything. It’s all done.

But now, now we have to get up. Get up and take it and believe it and live it with our lives. Let me ask you something, are you ready? Are you prepared to go? Are you prepared to live out this new freedom?

If those Israelites had decided to stay instead of go, God’s miracles wouldn’t have meant a single thing. Do you get it? We have to be ready to go and take and live this freedom.