Remember God's Love

Devotion

Reading

NLT Exodus 12:1 Now the LORD gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron while they were still in the land of Egypt: 2 "From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Announce to the whole community that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice. 4 If a family is too small to eat an entire lamb, let them share the lamb with another family in the neighborhood. Whether or not they share in this way depends on the size of each family and how much they can eat. 5 This animal must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no physical defects. 6 "Take special care of these lambs until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then each family in the community must slaughter its lamb. 7 They are to take some of the lamb's blood and smear it on the top and sides of the doorframe of the house where the lamb will be eaten. 8 That evening everyone must eat roast lamb with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. 9 The meat must never be eaten raw or boiled; roast it all, including the head, legs, and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it until the next day. Whatever is not eaten that night must be burned before morning. 11 "Wear your traveling clothes as you eat this meal, as though prepared for a long journey. Wear your sandals, and carry your walking sticks in your hands. Eat the food quickly, for this is the LORD's Passover. 12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn sons and firstborn male animals in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD! 13 The blood you have smeared on your doorposts will serve as a sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 "You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the LORD.


Meditation

Literal

The Passover was the key miracle and event that would free Israel from slavery in Egypt and release them to become the nation of God under the direct rule of God. God wanted His people to recognize the great significance of this event. He altered their calendars and said that they must now make this the beginning of everything. The Jews were most likely living under an Egyptian Calendar at the time which would have made their new year normally begin in July. God’s command here moves their New Year to March/April and it is done that they might recognize that this redemptive event is central to their birth as a nation.

God has been showing that He is sovereign over Egypt and their “gods”. In this battle over “who owns Israel” Yahweh has demonstrated that He has the power to humble Egypt and bring His people to Himself. Now in this final plague upon Egypt God is telling His people something very profound. Every household is under the sentence of death. Only the blood of the covenant can keep anyone alive. Here is the reality. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory. All deserve death. Only a God ordained sacrifice can cause this judgment to “Passover” a person and leave them alive.

Our 21st century reaction to this is how unfair it seems. We see most people as innocent. We see no reason for God to condemn us to death. Surely, we are not so sinful as to deserve devastation and tragedy. Weren’t the Egyptians doing the best they could? Why is God so angry with them? These perspectives are due to our lack of taking sin and rebellion against God seriously. The idolatry of Egypt seems primitive to us but not necessary evil. Yet, in the eyes of God it is an abomination and worthy of plagues. The passage challenges us to have a greater love for holiness and of the serious nature of sin.

Here we find a call for Israel to remember. They exist only because the blood has been shed. Death passed over them because of the blood of the lamb. They were a nation born out of the blood of God’s chosen sacrifice. This remains true for the people of God today.

Chrstocentic: ESV 1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

The Church is to see the fulfillment of Passover in the Lord Jesus Christ. All the Passover lambs of all the centuries were really only shadows of Jesus. His blood is the real ordained sacrifice the causes the just condemnation of God to pass over our heads and leave us safe. He is our one hope of life, deliverance, and salvation.

Moral: In light of Christ being our Passover we must be ready to leave our “Egypt”, which is that pagan culture in which we were born with all of its idols. We must be ready to walk with Jesus and leave the unbelieving world system in the same way that the Jews had to be ready to leave with God to worship in the wilderness. We must say no to our culture of origin and yes to God’s kingdom culture ruled by Jesus Christ.

Eternal: We will worship the Passover Lamb on the throne. In heaven we will always be filled with joy that God’s just wrath has not touched us because of the blood of the lamb. This will be the center of heavenly worship forever and ever.

Prayer: Lord, help me remember your sacrifice for my sins and help me see the magnitude of my forgiveness.

Contemplation: Remember my Sacrifice!

Action: Identify a attitude, habit, belief, practice, or activity that reflects part of American pagan culture that is still part of my life. Then purge this out in honor of Christ being my Passover.