Issue 1386 – Mercy – March 4, 2024
I’ve been spending some time reading the book of Exodus. It is not only a historical account and a record of God’s miraculous powers and love, but it is also, in many places, a foreshadowing of events that would have been the future.
In Exodus chapter twelve, we see the very first Passover. The Lord has been bringing down severe plagues upon Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, and the people of Egypt to cause Pharaoh to set the Hebrews free.
The final plague will be the plague of death on the firstborns.
In God’s instructions, through Moses to the Hebrews, we encounter a strange passage. In Exodus 12:1-27 the Lord calls his people to sacrifice a lamb with very detailed and specific instructions on what to do with the carcass. In part, we read,
Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Exodus 12:7
A little later on, we see,
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 12:13
As we read further, the instruction and explanation continue,
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. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 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. Exodus 12:21-23
The Lord does precisely that.
At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 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. Exodus 12:29-30
It is impressive to note that the lives of the Hebrews were not saved because of who they were or what kind of people they were. They were saved by trusting in God to honour His promise.
That’s excellent news, and it applies today. Over the years, I have met many people who believed they were beyond God’s saving power. They were “too sinful,” “too far gone, or “not good enough.”
Our salvation isn’t about who we are. It’s all about who God Is. Like the Passover Lambs in Egypt who shed their blood, Jesus came and shed His so that whoever believes in Him shall come to salvation.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? John 11:25-26
Of course, you aren’t worthy of salvation because none of us is. Jesus has paid the price that we would be free.
The choice is yours. Are you under the blood or not?
Praise His name that we can be free by His grace because our own works and goodness could never be good enough.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)