Jewels From Exodus 12

This morning was delightfully quiet. My children are all away at their Mamaw and Papaw’s house for a nice visit. Selah… I can breathe and pray and praise. This should not be the exception, but all too often it is.

As I sat in the quiet, I asked the Lord to delight me with His Word. This is absolutely my favorite thing to do in life. I LOVE the Word of God and studying it is akin to panning for gold. The treasure hidden therein is beauty beyond compare, and we miss if it we are not intently searching it out. And, as the good and mighty Abba Father that He is, He did indeed delight me again.

I read the following section of Exodus 12 regarding the Passover:

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 This month shall be to you the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel, On the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb or kid, according to [the size of] the family of which he is the father, a lamb or kid for each house. 4 And if the household is too small to consume the lamb, let him and his next door neighbor take it according to the number of persons, every man according to what each can eat shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb or kid shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from the sheep or the goats. 6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall [each] kill [his] lamb in the evening. 7 They shall take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel [above the door space] of the houses in which they shall eat [the Passover lamb]. (AMP)

It fascinates me how the Lord uses the very physical events and descriptions of the Old Testament to teach spiritual truths, and these 7 short verses are packed with those multi-faceted spiritual gems. They are dazzling to the eye when viewed through the eyes of Christianity.

First, we are told that the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. Think of this, the Lord God communicated with man in the place of his bondage. Spiritually speaking, we are slaves to whatever and whomever and wherever we are before the deliverance achieved by the Lord on our behalf. He met them where they were, not where He ultimately wanted them to be.

Also, He communicated to them specifically what He needed for them to do in their present situation in order to work a miracle to serve as a witness to His greatness. I heartily dispute anyone who claims the Lord stopped speaking as soon as John put down his quill at the end of Revelation. My God does NOT change. He has not stopped performing miracles and He has not stopped talking. Tragically, those who say He no longer speaks are those who have stopped listening. Nowhere in the Bible does it in any way indicate that He would stop speaking and in fact we are told, the Holy Spirit gifts some to be pastors, some to be teachers, and some to prophecy (Matthew 23:24, John 8:47, John 18:37, 1 Corinthians 12:28-29, Ephesians 4:11). Why in the world would we continue to have pastors and teachers, but not prophets? In such an instance, we are not taking God at His word, but rather picking and choosing what we will believe. He said what He meant, and He meant what He said. But, I digress.

He prefaced His words to them by telling them that this command that He was about to give them was so profound that it would change the way they recorded time. It was to become an entirely new reckoning of time. It was a new Beginning.

3 Tell all the congregation of Israel, On the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb or kid, according to [the size of] the family of which he is the father, a lamb or kid for each house.

The father of each household was to choose a Lamb for his family. Though it is socially unpopular, one cannot escape the command of the Lord for the father to be the spiritual leader of his home. This verse is only one of many that corroborate the importance of his role to the spiritual health of the family. It is God-ordained. Many volumes can and have been written regarding this subject alone. But again, I digress.

Each house was responsible for accepting the Lamb into their home. All of Israel corporately as a nation was commanded to perform this task, yet each family was responsible for their own portion. Each family, with father as head, had a role to play. And, father had to be mindful of the size of his family. He was responsible for each one having sufficient food.

4 And if the household is too small to consume the lamb, let him and his next door neighbor take it according to the number of persons, every man according to what each can eat shall make your count for the lamb.

If there was going to be any left over, they were to share with their closest neighbor, every man according to his appetite. This verse is so very rich! First, if we have more of the sacrifice than we are able to consume, we are to share it! Not only are we commanded to share it, we are told to share it with our nearest neighbor or those closest to us. They were not to go across the camp and share it with someone on the other side, or to search out their relatives. They were to share it right there where God had planted them. We have become a church obsessed with foreign missions.

Please do NOT misunderstand me. I totally support missions here and ABROAD. Everyone should have the opportunity to hear the Great News of the Gospel of Christ. But even the Lord said,"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8) He started in Jerusalem.

There are people right next to us who need to have the soul satisfying supper. They are our responsibility. We should not be so concerned what someone is eating across the camp (globe) if our neighbor is starving for lack of the sacrificial Lamb. Those foreign believers have neighbors and responsible to share with each other as well. However, as I said, if the Lord has instructed someone to go, then certainly go. Let’s just not ignore the widow next door in order to do it. In my humble opinion.

“…Each man according to what he can eat…” Isn’t that amazing? Our Heavenly Father intends for us to be completely satisfied and has indicated that the portion that satisfies us in entirely individual!

A very dear woman of God said to me early in my walk, “You can have as much of Jesus as you want, pray that He always keeps you thirsting and yearning for more.” And so, I have. I believe I could eat the whole Lamb myself! And each time I hunger after Him, I am filled. But, though I am filled does not mean in any way that there is less for anyone else in the family, for all appetites have been considered and the Lamb is sufficient for us all! Just like the miracles of the loaves and fishes, no one who comes to the table of the Lord need ever walk away hungry.

At the same time, we are cautioned to let NONE go to waste. And again, just as he portrayed in the miracles of the feeding of thousands, the remains were collected so that “none would be lost” or wasted (John 6:12). What a tragedy it would be for any of Christ’s sacrifice to remain unconsumed and thus be tossed aside as so much refuse. God said He would not allow His Holy One to see corruption. It is incumbent upon us to be sure that each of our neighbors has been offered to partake.

5 Your lamb or kid shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from the sheep or the goats. 6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall [each] kill [his] lamb in the evening.

We who are in Christ know that He alone was the Lamb without blemish. He was the only sinless, spotless sacrifice ordained from the foundation of the earth. There is no other. He was set apart or sanctified for the work of God. And He was indeed killed by the congregation of Israel. I have had readers on this blog from every part of the world, so no matter where you are, please hear me… I am not anti-Semitic. Jesus was a Jew! They were His chosen people and He loves them, and so must I. Just as the Passover Lamb HAD to be sacrificed in order for the blood to be applied and the Angel of Death to pass over, so too did the Lord Jesus Christ HAVE to be sacrificed. What the Jewish leader of Jesus’ time did was ordained by God.

7 They shall take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel [above the door space] of the houses in which they shall eat [the Passover lamb].

I think the King James Version is a bit more descriptive in this verse. It says that they were to “strike” the door posts.

Imagine the scene with me, if you will. Each family is standing together at the door. Each person dressed in their traveling clothes, as if ready to leave in a moment. They are about to embark on a journey. They have some place to go. Once the miracle of passing from death to life has been accomplished, we begin to move toward the Promised Land. He does not save us from slavery in order for us to stay there. He does not free us, only to have us remain in that place. We are ready to move with Him and on the way we will see the works of His mighty hands! He will rise up on our behalf and show us His power along the way! Oh what a sweet journey! Hard, very hard, but oh so amazing!

So, there they all are at the door of their temporary abode, dressed for the journey. In one of father’s hands is a bowl of blood and in the other is a small bundle of hyssop. As commanded, he dips the hyssop in the blood and strikes or slaps the first door post. Blood is dripping and upon impact with the post, spatters. He dips again and…splat… hits the other door post. More dripping, more spatter. Gravity carries the blood to the floor. Again he dips the hyssop and slaps it upward to the top beam. I wonder how much of the blood is now splattered, splashed, and dripped on father. Scripture does not specify how much or the blood must be used, but I imagine it was messier and bloodier than we initially tend to think.

In your mind’s eye look left, then right, then up, and now down. There is likely a pool of blood across the bottom as well. There is a cross of blood, is there not? Do you see it?

The precious Blood of the unblemished Lamb in a perfect cross on the door posts of your temporary abode, so that the Angel of Death will pass over you. Once you have partaken of the sacrificial Lamb, you are prepared to embark on a journey with Him of Biblical proportions. You are immediately freed and you flee from the oppressor and run with Him, as He escorts you from the place of your bondage to the Land of Promise, the place He has prepared for you. Oh SELAH!

Blessed are You, Oh Lord of all creation! You and You Alone are worthy to be praised! How delightful is Your Word! How amazing! Father I pray that each and every soul who reads these words will be blessed by them. I pray your hand on each one that you will show them the freedom of Christ, if they do not already know Him. I pray that those who do know Him will be brought into fresh remembrance of the beauty and awe of Your Word. Thank You Father for this opportunity to gaze into the record of Your mighty work on our behalf and see You again for who You Are! Thank you for dazzling us with brilliant, vivid jewels You have hidden for us and then reveal to us! Praise You, Father!