2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
In the last three messages, the Lord directed me to share the three parts of celebrating the Passover (sacrifice of a lamb, offering of the first fruits of the harvest, and eating unleavened bread for 7 days) to give you God’s revelations on both ancient Jewish practices and Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection which they foreshadow. Today, He leads me to revisit the story of the first Passover to view the basis for the observances carried out in modern day Pesach seders. [“Pesach,” pronounced pay-sock, is the Hebrew word for Passover, and “seder,” pronounced say-der, is the name applied to the symbolic meal which Jews, both traditional and Messianic, share to commemorate this meaningful event of their history].
The entire story of the first Passover is found in EX 12. It begins when the Jews are still slaves in Egypt and after Moses has been commissioned by God to lead the people out of Egypt to freedom. EX 12: 3, “Give these instructions to the whole community of Israel [the Lord said to Moses and Aaron] : On the tenth day of this month [Nisan on the Jewish calendar which falls in March or April each year on ours] each man must choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household. “ If the animal was too large for the family to eat entirely, it could be shared with their Jewish next-door neighbors. The animal had to be a one-year old male without any defects. EX 12: 6-7, “Then the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the whole community of Israel will kill the animals. The people are to take some of the blood and put it on the door-posts and the lintels of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten.” It is important to understand that this takes place after the Pharaoh of Egypt has demonstrated his stubborn refusal to let the Jews go. Egypt has endured nine of the ten plagues that God will bring down upon them without him changing is position on this issue. Four hundred years of Egyptian slavery has gone by for the Jews. That is significant because the prophecy of GN 15: 13, “the Lord said to him [Abraham], ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be slaves there and will be treated cruelly for four hundred years.”
The other day, I cited LV 17: 11 and HE 9: 22 which show why blood must be shed to make possible God’s forgiveness. That should be kept in mind when looking at the sacrifice discussed here. In marking the door-posts and lintels of Jewish homes, God is not only offering forgiveness, but He is also promising protection. That is the same promise He fulfills for us when we have faith in Christ, Who is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice making salvation available to all who believe in Him. I can testify to that in my own personal life, and examples of it are seen throughout the Scriptures as well. One such example is the mark of God that will be put on the foreheads of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and others who come to faith during the Tribulation. This too is a mark of protection.
God’s reasons for His command to the Jews to make this sacrifice and mark their homes are made clear in EX 12: 11-14. “You are to eat it quickly, for you are to be dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. It is the Passover Festival to honor Me, the Lord. On that night I will go though the land of Egypt, killing every first-born male, both human and animal, and punishing all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood on the door-posts will be a sign to mark the houses in which you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you and not harm you when I punish the Egyptians. You must celebrate the day as a religious festival to remind you of what I, the Lord, have done. Celebrate it for all time to come.” The urgency of this command and the need for the Jews to focus intently on God for direction is really the beginning of a huge effort on God’s part to train His people to do this. God’s desire for all of us who believe to be self-disciplined about doing this hasn’t changed and still applies to us today. When you put this command to come to readiness to take action as soon as God directs it together with the kind of action God later took in leading the Jews through the desert, this pattern can really be seen.
God’s method for leading the Jews from one place to another on His own time plan is seen in EX 13: 21. “During the day the Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and during the night he went in front of them in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel night and day.” The people had to be ready to move whenever God gave them the signal, and their eyes had to be focused on God at all times. Their physical and spiritual lives depended on it. This kind of discipline didn’t come easy to the Jews any more than it comes easily to us today, but it was required then as it is now.
EX 12: 29 reveals God as a promise-keeper. “At midnight the Lord killed all the first-born sons in Egypt, from the Pharaoh’s son, who was heir to the throne, to the son of the prisoner in the dungeon; all the first-born of the animals were also killed.” At last the Pharaoh relented and in (31) orders the Hebrews out of his nation. Our Lord is Jehovah Jireh, God Who provides. This can be seen in (36), “He made the Egyptians respect the people and give them what they asked for. In this way the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians.” Verse 40 reminds us that the Jews had lived in Egypt for 430 years. This is significant which can be seen when we read GA 3: 17, “What I [Paul] mean is that God made a covenant with Abraham and promised to keep it. The Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, cannot break that covenant and cancel God’s promise.” The value of obedience to God can be seen in EX 12: 50-51, “All the Israelites obeyed and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. On that day the Lord brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we need to understand the two parallel truths of Your sovereignty and our responsibility to it. The story of the Passover reveals You to be a Promise-keeper, our Provider, our Protector, and the Source of direction for us. In response to that, we need to be obedient, ready to take action on any command You give us, respect Your perfect timing, and put our focus on You-making You the center of our lives. We thank You for providing for our every need, especially for being the Source of direction for our lives. Without You, we are “sheep gone astray,” each one on a collision course with spiritual death. When we obey You, we are blessed with being on the path to eternal life with You. You deserve all the glory for blessing our lives with Your presence in them. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at a Pesach seder to understand the lessons God has for us in this wonderful annual event. In the meanwhile, I hope you are basking in the warmth and love of God’s embrace today and always. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn