Wednesday, February 21
Scripture: Exodus 12:21-27
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. 22 Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.
24 “Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. 25 When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. 26 Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ 27 And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.
I Corinthians 5:6-8
6 Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. 8 So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.
Some thoughts:
Yesterday we spoke something of the significance of blood. In the above description from the book of Exodus, we begin to see the function of blood in God’s plan of redeeming and covering the sin of his people. Have you wondered why the blood was placed over the door posts of the homes? Why specifically there? You will recall that the Lord told Cain that “sin couches at the door.” The thought conveyed here gives the image of danger and or sin lurking at doorways. City gates were also places of vulnerability. The doorway marked the entrance into not only the home, but into the life of the family. On the doorway of the Jewish home was the statement of faith, confidence, and trust in God as contained in the mezuzah, a small box containing the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).Putting blood on the top and sides of the doorpost acted as a covering for the family. The blood of the lamb caused the death angel to pass over the family in that home. They were “covered.” The entryway to their home was safe.
You are aware that the lamb was to be perfect and without blemish. It was chosen from a flock and lived with the family in their home for the four days prior to its being slain as the Passover lamb. The idea was that the whole family would become personally attached to the lamb. It’s death and shed blood would be far more personal as the lamb vicariously took the place of God’s judgment on them. The same applies with the Lamb of God. Jesus is our personal Passover Lamb.In Corinthians, Paul ties Christ’s death directly to the Passover lamb. The church in Corinth had fallen into corruption and grievous moral sin. Paul urged the people to deal with sin in their church as leaven was dealt with at Passover. Leaven, a mark of sin, was to be put away. The early church saw Christ as the fulfillment of the Exodus Passover. Jesus was seen as the new getting rid of leaven in the home is still a part of Passover celebrations in today’s Jewish homes. As with Moses, the Prophet, as the fulfillment of Aaron the high priest, as the sacrificial personal Passover lamb whose blood on the doorposts brought salvation, and finally as the ultimate Redeemer from bondage and slavery to sin, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Suggested Lenten reading or listening: C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce also available on YouTube as well. Fascinating reading as you journey by bus from hell to the outskirts of heaven! You’ll gain, in a delightful way, insight into human nature and the leaven within.
Music: “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” Fernando Ortega www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgkVTtT-0xg
Prayer: Almighty God, because of Christ’s blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us. Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors. By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies—the devil, the world, and our own flesh—never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. – from The Worship Sourcebook, p. 565-566