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Today’s Devotional

Today’s background scripture comes from Exodus 12.
Passover is one of the most important of the festivals for remembrance I directed for My people. It changes the calendar for the Israelites and becomes the first month of the year because of its significance. Passover brought freedom to My people. It broke their chains of slavery to their Egyptian masters. It marks the beginning of the life of the new nation just as it marked the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian household.

What do I want you to remember from Passover? You already surmise a lot of symbolism can be found throughout the entire Passover festival from the time of year I chose for you to celebrate it, to the foods you eat, to the clothes you wear. But I want you especially to think about three things today.

Second, Passover is about urgency and preparedness. I demanded My people eat with their shoes on, their cloaks on, and a walking stick in their hand. I wanted their bags packed and nothing left to do before they walked out the door because they would leave in a hurry. The Passover had an urgency about it because as soon as the death angel visited at a time of My choosing during the night, the Egyptians would cry out and Pharaoh would tell My people to leave. I wanted them to go immediately.

It will be the same when My Son returns. Waiting for Him should create an urgency and a measure of preparedness in you. Just like with My people at the first Passover, those that were not ready could not go. They were lost to the exodus. My command for My people was to go when commanded. Don’t wait, don’t dawdle, don’t prepare anything else. Grab your pack, get on your feet, and get out of Egypt! When My Son returns, He will come in the blink of an eye to take His church. Those who are ready will come home with Him. Those who are not will remain. There is urgency in the remembrance of the Passover.

The Passover is about family and community. The Passover meal was never eaten alone. There was a reason a whole lamb or goat was required. One of the most important, a large number of people must gather together to consume it. Families must mend the differences between them and eat together. Neighbors must tear down any barriers between them and eat together. Newcomers on settlement were invited into homes to become part of the community. Meat in Goshen was too scarce to waste when many dined on onions and leeks. A lamb or goat as the Passover meal meant something extravagant and not for Me, but also something not to be wasted, so houses were filled with family and friends ready and waiting to begin the journey to a new life.

Finally, Passover is about sacrifice. It’s easy to think about the lamb and the goat that lost its life for the passover meal, but each Egyptian family also lost their firstborn in sacrifice for their failure to believe in Me, the One True God. Freedom takes sacrifice. Whether from the chains of slavery or the chains of sin, sacrifice remains a necessary component. For you, I already paid the ultimate price in the blood of My perfect Son, Jesus. The blood on the doorpost represent for you the blood of My Son, as well, to remember your salvation isn’t free. It comes at a price.

Jesus, My Son, instituted a remembrance at the last Passover meal He celebrated that many call the Lord’s Supper, Communion, the Eucharist, or other names. Like the first Passover, it brings with it a remembrance of His sacrifice for your sins, urgency and preparedness for His return, and togetherness as My family, My children, born of blood and spirit. Born into My kingdom…if you believe in Him. Passover didn’t just happen as an historical event, it remains as a permanent reminder of My grace in the lives of those who dare to believe in Me.

Today’s Scripture

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Exodus 12:1-30
Set – Exodus 12; Psalms 21
Go! – Exodus 12-13; Psalms 21; Acts 1

Exodus 12:1-30
Eternal One (to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt): ^1-2 Mark this month as the first month of all months for you—the first month of your year. ³ Declare this message to the entire community of Israel: “When the tenth day of this month arrives, every family is to select a lamb, one for each household. ⁴ If there aren’t enough people in the family to eat an entire lamb, then they should share a lamb with their nearest neighbor according to how many people are in the neighbor’s family. Divide the portions of the lamb so that each person has enough to eat. ⁵ Choose a one-year-old male that is intact and free of blemishes; you can take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Keep this chosen lamb safe until the fourteenth day of the month, then the entire community of Israel will slaughter their lambs together at twilight. ⁷ They are to take some of its blood and smear it across the top and down the two sides of the doorframe of the houses where they plan to eat. ⁸ That night, have them roast the lamb over a fire and feast on it along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat any meat raw or boil it in water; only eat the meat after the entire animal has been roasted over a fire with its head, legs, and intestines attached. ¹⁰ Eat whatever you can, but don’t leave any of it until morning; whatever is left over in the morning burn in the fire. ¹¹ Here is how I want you to eat this meal: Be sure you are dressed and ready to go at a moment’s notice—with sandals on your feet and a walking stick in your hand. Eat quickly because this is My Passover.

¹² I am going to pass through the land of Egypt during the night and put to death all their firstborn children and animals. I will also execute My judgments against all the gods of the Egyptians, for I am the Eternal One! ¹³ The blood on the doorframes of your houses will be a sign of where you are. When I pass by and see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague will not afflict you when I strike the land of Egypt with death.

¹⁴ This will be a day for you to always remember. I want you and all generations after you to commemorate this day with a festival to Me. Celebrate this feast as a perpetual ordinance, a permanent part of your life together. ¹⁵ You are to eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day get rid of any yeast you find in your house. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven festival days must be cut off from the rest of Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh, gather the community together for a time of sacred worship. No one may work on those two days except to prepare what every person needs to eat. ¹⁷ Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread because it commemorates the day that I led your forces out of Egypt. Honor and celebrate this day throughout all your generations as a perpetual ordinance, a permanent part of your life together. ¹⁸ From the evening of the fourteenth day of that first month to the evening of the twenty-first day of that month, eat bread made without yeast. ^19-20 No yeast is to be found in any of your houses during the seven festival days. Whoever eats anything that has yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. It doesn’t matter whether he is a foreigner or a native; the same standards apply. During the seven festival days, do not eat anything made with yeast; wherever you live and gather together, be sure you eat only unleavened bread.

²¹ Then Moses called all of Israel’s elders together and gave them instructions.

Moses: Go and pick out lambs for each of your families, and then slaughter your family’s Passover lamb. ²² Take a handful of hyssop branches, dip them down into the bowl of blood you drained from the sacrifice, and mark the top of the doorway and the two doorposts with blood from the bowl. After you do this, no one should go out that door until the next morning.

²³ The Eternal will pass through the land during the night and bring death to the Egyptians. But when He sees the blood-markings across the tops of your doorways and down your two doorposts, He will pass over your houses and not allow His messenger of death to enter into your houses and strike you down. ²⁴ You and all your descendants are obligated to keep these instructions for all time. ²⁵ Even after you arrive in the land the Eternal has promised you—the land flowing with milk and honey—you must keep these instructions and perform this ritual. ²⁶ When your children ask you, “What does this ritual mean to you?” ²⁷ you will answer them, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Eternal, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites when we were slaves in Egypt. And although He struck the Egyptians, He spared our lives and our houses.”

When Moses finished these instructions, the people bowed down and worshiped.

²⁸ The Israelites went and did as they were instructed; they were obedient to what the Eternal had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ Now this is what happened: at midnight, He struck down all the firstborn sons in Egypt—from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoners locked in the dungeon, and even the firstborn of all the livestock in the land. ³⁰ Pharaoh woke up during the night. He wasn’t the only one. His servants, as well as all of the Egyptians in the land, had awoken. A great scream shattered the night in Egypt, for there was not a single Egyptian house where someone was not dead.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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