When your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” – Exodus 12:26-27
Scripture reading: Exodus 12:1-32; Psalm 91
God’s people were to take a lamb into their homes, care for it for four days and then kill it at twilight. Especially for the children, this must have been shocking! “Dad, what are you doing?” And when they said this, their fathers were to answer: “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” God had His people make special preparations packed with meaning as a display of their faith in the face of judgment.
They were to honour the LORD’s Passover by killing the lamb on the fourteenth day, marking their dwellings with its blood, and remaining within these blood-marked dwellings until the dawn broke. And, in a truth that is profoundly significant, the blood of one lamb would cover the life of all who dwelt in that blood-marked dwelling. In Egypt, all who acted in faith were delivered, while all who ignored His promised coming saw death’s cold hand in their homes.
Do we similarly live with faith in the face of God’s coming judgment? The LORD has decreed that He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. In Luke 18, Jesus Christ asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Be sure that you are trusting in Jesus, the Lamb of God who has been provided for you and enables you to live with confidence as you await the coming JudgmentDay!
Suggestions for prayer
Tell our Gracious God that we cherish His wondrous love and the Lamb Whom He has provided to us for our deliverance! Thank Him for His Blood and Righteousness which gives us both forgiveness of sins and righteousness in His Presence!
This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Norman Van Eeden Petersman is the pastor of the Vancouver Associated Presbyterian Church in BC.
