Monday, July 14, 2014

Verse for the Day, 14 July 2014.



Exodus 12:1-51.

This chapter in Exodus is a foundational chapter in Scripture. It sets the scene for the coming of Christ and clearly points us to the work that He will do. These are just some of the truths about the life, ministry and work of Christ that this chapter prepares and points us to:

Christ is the true Passover Lamb.
Exodus 12:5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,

Exodus 12:21  Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.

Not one of Christ’s bones were broken.
Exodus 12:46  It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.

Christ’s sacrifice turns aside the wrath and judgement of God from us.
Exodus 12:23  For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

Christ’s blood shed for us, sets us free from the consequences of God’s judgement.
Exodus 12:13  The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

Christ through His work on the cross, leads us out of slavery and the kingdom of evil, into freedom and life in His Promised Kingdom.
Exo 12:41  At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

Christ redeems people from every nation.
Exo 12:38  A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

For those who reject and refuse Christ, there will be weeping and wailing as they endure God’s judgement.
Exo 12:30  And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

The Exodus event is the great salvation event of the Old Testament, which prepares us for the greater and ultimate salvation work of Christ. Therefore the Exodus event will be a dominant theme in the remainder of the Old Testament, there will be constant reference to it, Psalm and songs will be written about it and there will be the call upon every generation of Israel from that time forward to remember, celebrate and thank God for it. The Exodus event also reminds us of the truth that God’s plan of salvation was not a last minute emergency plan. God carefully, wisely, lovingly and perfectly planned it out before the world even came to be, and He has carried it out in absolute perfection, for His glory and for our eternal good.

For us as believers, the Exodus event helps to teach us that in a similar way the salvation work of Christ should be the dominant theme of our lives, we should constantly be speaking of it, remembering, celebrating and thanking God for it. We should also heed the warning of Israel’s failing, they failed to teach the next generation of God’s great work on their behalf, and they failed to pass their faith on. Exodus 12:25-27  And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.  (26)  And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'  (27)  you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'"

 Let us not fail in this regard for we have the greatest message of salvation to pass on to those around us and to the next generation. It is the true message of how God planned and worked out our salvation, before time began and then unfolded, revealed and fulfilled in accordance to His sovereign purposes. It is a salvation that we know the joy, freedom, hope and reality of, and salvation that is available to all who would believe.

Redeeming Father, we thank You for the ways in which You carried out, unfolded and accomplished Your plan of salvation. We thank You that the Exodus event was a key moment in this plan, that prepared and pointed us so clearly to the coming work of Christ. We thank You for these many pictures and signs that You gave to us, and we thank You most of all that all these pictures and signs have been brought to their ultimate fulfilment in Christ. We pray that You would help us to keep Christ as the dominant theme of our lives, passing on the true message of salvation to the next generation. Amen

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