Articles / Class Lessons
“The Perfect Sacrifice”
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 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. 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. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 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.
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 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.
Exodus 12.1-13 ESV
TODAY’S READING: Exodus 10-12
Exodus 12 contains the story of the final plague - the death of the first born. This was the event that finally broke Pharaoh. He immediately told God's people to leave. Here we also read about the institution of the Passover. Think of the parallel between the Passover feast and the story of Jesus. When Jesus came to live on earth, He offered Himself as the spotless, innocent lamb for our sins - a perfect sacrifice. When the Israelites covered their door posts with the lamb's blood, their firstborn children were spared from death. When we wash ourselves in the blood of Christ, we are spared from the awful penalty of sin: eternal death. The Israelites were released from physical slavery and led into a relationship with God that brought them into the Promised Land. When we come to Christ we are released from spiritual bondage and enter into a relationship with God who promises us an eternal home in Heaven. Are you trusting daily in the promises of God? Do you have a relationship with Him? Wash away your sins in His blood and live your new life each day in His name. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, John 1.29.
