Exodus 12 English Standard Version

The Passover

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

This lamb’s blood was smeared on the doorpost of each Jewish house and death passed over that house. This was the last plague before Pharaoh set the slaves free.

Matthew 26:26-29 English Standard Version

Institution of the Lord’s Supper

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

This passover set mankind free from the power of sin over their lives.

Here on the Monday after Resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week, is our first day of freedom from sin. We do not speak enough about it. Jesus died for our sins, meaning He took our place at the judgment seat. Like the doorpost we are covered in the Blood of the Lamb.

The sign of Israel’s safety from Pharaoh was the parting of the Red Sea and their passing through the water. In the same way our baptism is a sign of our safety from the power of sin over our lives. We do not emphasize it enough.

We remember His death, burial, resurrection and ascension  once a year, but perhaps we could remember it every time we break bread. That can be daily.

Let us not forget what he has set us free from. That sin, however present, no longer has power over us. Yes, it is present and yes we will stumble from time to time, but our Lord is faithful to cleanse our conscience from those acts, if we confess those sins.

Thank You Father God for sending Your Son to set us free, because you love us.

Proverbs 18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Take a hint. There is something for everyone in this.

James 1:17 New English Translation

17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.

God does not change, but we do. There are few reasons to isolate oneself and hiding our true identity is one and the other is to hide our past. We either are ashamed of what we are or ashamed of what we were.

Those that are proud of what they are desire the limelight. Darkness tends to hide from the light.

I had to dig deep to find any translation that used the word hint. What is not obvious here is the comparison of God’s personality with our own. God is not ashamed to be seen by anyone. We on the other hand tend to hide either what we are or what we were.

Recently we discussed the tax collector that confessed he was a sinner. He did not go into the details of everything he had done as a tax collector. People have opinions about what that tax collector might have done, either by experience or rumor.

Yesterday I said that God has declared what we were to be a witness of God’s influence over our lives, saving us from what we were. We do not have to go into every ugly detail of what we were to be a witness. People will fill in the blanks, either worse or less than fact. That does not matter nearly as much as indicating that God saved us from ourselves.

When I was born again those closest to me witnessed a radical change. Some were grateful, some were afraid for me. My constant move in the right direction allowed those people to accept that the change was real and for the better.

Others fall into two distinct categories, The first are people that did not know I was hiding myself from them. The second are those that have a hard time believing I was any other way than what they knew me to be. Both will have a hard time seeing that I have been changed by God and that I did not change on my own.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This is not a one time event but a constant progress in the right direction.