july 4 2005 photo

hope

july 15, 2005

Passover Ex 11:10—12:14

Although Moses and Aaron performed various wonders in Pharaoh's presence, the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the children of Israel leave his land.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, "This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then,
with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole,
with its head and shanks and inner organs. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning;
whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.

"This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,
no destructive blow will come upon you.

"This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution."

The Lord promises to passover the people of Israel on the night of destruction. Those who have the blood of the lamb on their doorposts will be saved. A young unblemished lamb a male. It is the foretelling of the lamb of God Jesus who is to come and of the people of God on their faith journey, from the slavery of sin to the promised land. The salvation of those who believe and follow God.