February 11 I Saturday

Leviticus 11-12

Matthew 26:1-25

“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”    —John 1:29

Hard labour and oppression made the Israelites’ life bitter under Egyptian rule. As Moses, a Hebrew, watched his own people get beaten by an Egyptian, he decided to take matters into his own hands. When no one was looking, Moses killed and buried the Egyptian. His act, however, did not go unnoticed and everyone knew, including Pharaoh who went after his blood. Moses then fled and went to Midian. While Moses was there, he came to realize that although he sincerely and genuinely wanted to get the Israelites out and free from Egypt, by applying human wisdom, human strength, human energy, human tactics and human strategy, he would end up utterly bankrupt. Moses had to learn the hard lesson that every human method we try may give us a bit of hope for a while but it will ultimately leave us discouraged, disillusioned and defeated.

       Returning to Egypt after 40 years in Midian, Moses was a changed man. He came to understand that only God could set the Israelites free from slavery. God sent ten plagues against the nation with each plague only hardening the heart of the Pharaoh, making him more resistant until the final plague—God sent the Angel of Death to every home in Egypt to kill every firstborn son as well as firstborn calf and lamb. The Israelites were not immune to this plague, but were instructed to take a lamb without defect or blemish and kill the lamb, take its blood and put it on the doorpost of each home. As God said in Exodus 12:13, “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” The Angel of Death passed over every Israelite home because of the blood of the lamb.

       This picture of slavery is one that Scripture gives us of the natural state of human beings. Yet, God did not leave us in slavery and the blood of the lamb foreshadows the work of Jesus Christ, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” The blood under which we find protection and release from the judgment of God is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is our Lamb of God, His blood protects us from the wrath of God. We have nothing to offer except empty hands and the knowledge that only Jesus’s death cleanses us from all our sin. True deliverance from our slavery to sin can only come through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for being our Passover Lamb. By Your blood and sacrifice, I am protected from the wrath of God. True deliverance comes from You alone. Amen!