2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” -Exodus 6:2-8 (NKJV)

Wow. How many times did you read God saying “you” in this passage? None. It was all “I”. He took personal responsibility for the deliverance of His covenant people. He appointed Moses as the human leader, but Moses was to know that he was not doing anything. He was to merely allow God to operate through him by listening and obeying to His command. How did those in bondage respond to the appointed leader of Israel’s deliverance?

9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. -Exodus 6:9 (NKJV)

The Israelites did not heed Moses’ words. Why? Anguish of spirit. The New Living Translation says it this way:

9 So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. (NLT)

What made them discouraged? What made them lose heart? What broke their spirit? What made them distrust the word of the Lord through Moses? Waking up everyday in bondage to their oppressors for over 400 years. The constant beating of their backs from those who “owned” them.

Look back at what the Lord said to Moses in verse 5. He says, “I have remembered my covenant.” What covenant? The covenant He made with Abram:

2 ”I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” -Genesis 12:2-3 (NKJV)

400+ years may have gone by, but God did not forget. When God makes a promise, He never forgets. And that’s what Passover is really about. Remembering what God has done for us, his people. How do we, as followers of Christ, fit into this setting?

6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
-Galatians 3:6-9

Are we of the faith of Abraham? Yes! If we are followers of Christ, then we are of the faith Paul speaks of. We have been saved from the bondage of slavery to fear, death, and external ritual and regulation (religion) to cause righteousness with God. Instead we have been given the grace of Jesus Christ to follow His lead out of our Egypt and have been given His righteousness so that we may be as sons and daughters in our Father’s house. Amen!

Why should we remember and observe Passover? Because the act of passing over was the cause of the blood of a sacrificial lamb set on the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites, saving them from the death that loomed outside their door. We also have been saved from the sin and death of our world by the blood of Christ – the lamb of God – and have been adopted into the covenant family of God. We have been given a new identity and opportunity to follow the lead of the Son of Man, who shows us a whole new way to live.

It cannot be overemphasized how foundational Passover is in God’s plan of redemption. Though other cycles and aspects of life in the Lord are important, it is the sacrifice of the Lamb that gives it all meaning. Except for the sacrifice of the Passover and blood on the doorposts, Israel would have suffered the same fate as the Egyptians. The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have then become void. With no Passover sacrifice and with no blood on the doorposts, then no Torah could have been given, no other celebrations could have followed and there would have been no basis for Messiah, our Passover, to be sacrificed on the anniversary of that momentous occasion. We would have no hope and remain dead in our sins. But it did happen! Deliverance was accomplished by the hand of God. And that, my friends, is why we remember…

Since we’ve been studying some pretty deep stuff lately, I wanted to make a blog to give us the opportunity to dig deeper into the topics we’ve been hitting on. We’ll begin soon with some deeper insights into our Hebrew roots and how the Kingdom of God is much bigger than any religion can handle. Can’t wait!

Look for updates on the Facebook page and in our soon to come email newsletter.

Journey along, my friends. It’s gonna be a wild ride .
–
Jeremy