Exodus Chapter 12
Their months were changed. The first month was considered to be about what is the middle of our month of March.
God was making provision perhaps for the small family or the poor ones. Perhaps He was seeing into the future because I assume since they were slaves, they were all poor at this time. Here was a supreme test of faith. They had to go into the house and place the blood of the lamb upon the overhead lintel and the doorposts to escape the coming judgment of God signifying the lamb of God that was to come to be a sacrifice for sins in which we can escape the judgment of God. .
As Jesus was the spotless male sacrifice without sin, the lamb had to be spotless.
Jesus died in the evening at the same time the Passover lamb was to be killed. So much in the Old Testament was a type of that which was to come. The law could not save anyone from sin but only showed everyone that they had sinned against God and it brought us to the realization that we all need a savior, both Jew and Gentile. We all have sinned and we all need someone to save us from sin. A way had to be made in which something would enter into our souls and make a change so that we would be cleansed of sin. This way is what Jesus made when He died for our sins and arose from the dead so that we have the hope of being raised. He was raised for our justification. When He left to return to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to abide with those that believe in what Jesus did for them and who believe to the point of turning away from sin and turning to the true and living God. We have to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died for our sins before we receive salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There was no time to add leaven and make the bread to rise. They had to eat in haste not looking back. Leaven represents evil and they were to eat it unleavened. Their lives were to change. They were no longer to be full of the leaven of false doctrine of the Egyptians but the doctrine of God. They were getting ready to receive the law which would become a schoolmaster to bring them to Jesus Christ. Things would not be easy. Eating bitter herbs was a type of what it would be to serve God and not trust in the things of this life only. It is similar to taking up the cross (reproach for living for Christ) and following Him. Along with the righteousness, peace, love and joy will come trials, persecutions and troubles for the gospel's sake. He that endures to the end shall be saved. As only the faithful was able to enter the promised land of Canaan. Only those that stay the course will be saved. If we start out following God and turn back into a life of sin with no repentance from that backslidden condition, we cannot expect to be saved no matter what anyone preaches otherwise.
They were not to break it in pieces. Signifying that not one of Christ's bones were broken at the crucifixion fulfilling the prophecies in the book of Psalm. The thieves that were crucified with Jesus had their legs broken to haste their death but when they came to Jesus He was already dead.
Just as the blood of that lamb kept them safe from death, the blood of Jesus keeps us safe from the latter day judgment and wrath of God. We must remember this always. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
Leaven represents evil, compromise and mixing of doctrine. Most bad doctrine is not all false but a mixture of good and bad so that it is easier to deceive the hearer. They were to have no leaven and be pure as a remembrance of this day when they had to eat in haste and had no time to add leaven and wait for bread to rise.
See how the New Testament explains the old many times. The only bible they had was the Old Testament and Jesus even quoted from it.
God cares for our eternal souls. I believe He made the Sabbath day as a day to be refreshed in the Lord. We need to sit aside a time to worship and refresh our souls. We must worship in spirit and in truth all days but to lay aside one day to rest from physical labor and also to refresh the soul in making that day dedicated to the Lord above others. When once they were limited to one certain day or the special feast day to remember the Lord, through the salvation of Jesus Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit we now can worship God in spirit and in truth any day, time, week, month or year. Everyday is the Sabbath to me as afar as the spiritual rest but the body does need a whole day to rest if we work hard labor all the other six days. God is showing them though how much they need Him. If He had not commanded a season of rest and worship, slaves, servants, and the poor could never have a day of rest to seek the Lord. The Sabbath day of rest was made for man out of the compassion and heart of God. We don't get along so well without Him. I don't know how unbelievers can stand getting up in the morning or lying down at night.
Actually this is where we get our tradition of spring cleaning. The Jewish people gave us this tradition.
Any who abided in unbelief might be tempted to go out but those with faith stayed inside. It was similar to being saved by faith. This faith produced good works for if they had not have put blood on the door and followed the Lord's commandments they would not have been saved. Faith is not a weak passive, belief in the existence of Jesus Christ. Faith is active belief in Jesus. To believe is to believe His words and keep them.
True faith produces the works of faith. It brings forth fruit. We can't say we have faith in God and continually ignore everything He ever said.
Special days and feasts served to be a teaching tool for the children that did not live through these times. At the season of Christmas and Easter,
we have gotten away from using it as a teaching tool. Easter is not always celebrated on the correct day for the Jewish Passover is always different than our date of Easter. Sometimes it is a month apart. However, no matter which day we remember the resurrection, Easter bunnies, rabbits and such junk have nothing to do with Jesus. In fact Easter is a name for a pagan holiday celebrated at this time of year. We should remember the resurrection, not the holiday of Easter. Christmas is even worse. We do not know the date of the birth of Jesus. Most traditions of Christmas are pagan. I don't think people are evil if they celebrate it though but there is very little real remembrance of Christ on Christmas. It wouldn't be so bad if we could forget the traditions and use it as a tool to teach children about the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh to live among us, to teach us the gospel and to die for our sins. The trees, the decorations are beautiful but they have nothing to do with Jesus in reality. Many celebrated this festival with trees, gold and silver years before Jesus was born. Jeremiah 10 is a reference for this. Christians continually hold onto their traditions and do not face the pagan roots but ignore it. The cults do not ignore it and when people do their own research made easy by the Internet, they find out the truth and then they think the true Christian church is not teaching them the truth and they are vulnerable to the cults. We need to get out the junk and teach truth only so that no one can find error within our teachings. It takes courage to face the truth and get rid of traditions that are in error but it should be done. Never though by force and intimidation but in gentleness, example and truth. If we don't face the truth, the cults and atheists will, but only enough to deceive and bring people into a lie that will destroy their souls.
We must never take the commandments of the Lord lightly.
All those back wages for the service as slaves were paid back in full.
What a day. It finally came to pass as the Lord said to Abraham.
God did not forget His promise to Abraham. Another promise God made to Abraham was, "I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you." He also will keep that promise. We must be very careful to remember those words in the days ahead. We are to be very careful as a nation how we deal with Israel. God does not forget and will not forget His promise to Abraham. He will judge those that come against Israel. Those that truly and I emphasis truly, believe in Jesus Christ as their savior do not replace Israel as a nation. We become part of the adoption of Israel by our faith but we never replace them as God's chosen people. By faith we are added to them but we do not replace them. Israel has rejected Jesus and those that reject Jesus are lost and without eternal salvation but as a nation they will receive Jesus in the latter days. They will be grafted back into their own vine. They have to be saved by receiving Jesus just as Gentiles have to be saved by believing in Jesus. There is no other way of salvation. There is no such thing as a dual covenant. There was only one way to be saved on that day in history called the Passover and there is only one way to be saved today and that is Yeshua, Jesus who is the Christ, Messiah, savior of the world.
Faith in Christ is the same as circumcision. When Jesus made that supreme sacrifice on the cross, faith in Him is the same as keeping the law of Moses and being circumcised. He replaced the Old covenant with a new covenant that granted eternal life and changed the inner man from a lost sinner to a person born again vessel of the Holy Spirit. The power of God can make one who hates his enemies into one that loves his enemies. There is no other power in heaven and earth that can change the soul into one that is worthy of everlasting life. When that blood is applied all is made clean. Without the blood we remain in our sins.
Egypt represents the world and bondage to sin. Coming out of Egypt represents being made free from sin. A foreigner or stranger represents one who abides in unbelief and does not believe in the truth of God. To be able to eat the Passover, they had to agree to believe in the God of Israel. Circumcision was a sign of this faith. To undergo that process would show them that they truly believed. Now we are saved by faith in what Jesus did instead of what we do. When we turn from sin and turn to Jesus it is the same as what they did by circumcision. Our hearts is circumcised when we place our faith in Jesus. Jesus is called the lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Just as the shedding of blood of the Passover lamb saved the children of Israel from death, so does the blood of the Passover lamb of God, Jesus Christ saves our souls from sin and gives us eternal salvation forever. We will be raised from the dead to die no more just as Jesus was. DC
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