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Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honour the Lord for the generations to come.

Christian worship is our response to who God is and what God has done. It has a “Because” energising it. Not that we can ever give an adequate response in return. But with God’s help we do endeavour to respond appropriately, even with all our sinful human impediments and limitations.

This is a lovely picture of the good Shepherd of Israel keeping watch over His flock by night. I’ve heard it said that when you have a baby, you never sleep the same again – at least, not for a long time. You are always inwardly alert to hear the voice, the cry of your helpless infant.

Our Heavenly Father never sleeps at all, which means we can.

“…indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep”  Psalm 121:4

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety”  Psalm 4:8

At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.

The church is “the Lord’s.”

It is also the Lord’s army. The use of the word “divisions” may suggest this.

As I reflected on the idea, some words of an old cliff Richard song came to mind:

‘… Sunday finds me curled in bed

I can hear the Sally Army in the old town square

I can hear their brass and chorus’s, they fill the air

And I wonder why they do it when there’s no-one ever there

… Moments later, out of bed goes me and I’m gazing out the window in the morning light

And the lasses in their bonnets makes a pretty sight

And I thought if that’s an army, it’s a funny way to fight

… But its an empty life if you’ve got no purpose

And your lost and feel your on your own

And if I told my work mates, they’d have said I’d gone barmy

When I ran down the stair to join the Salvation Army

Oh it was love that I could depend upon

And all of my emptiness had gone.’

‘And I thought if that’s an army, it’s a funny way to fight’

It certainly was. Look especially at 14:13,14.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4