Daily devotion – Passover and Easter
Exodus 12: 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Jewish home prior to Passover went through a major preparation for the feast and especially the evening of the Passover meal. A lamb would have had to been purchased, one without spot or blemish. The food and other herbs also bought that would tell the story of that first Passover in Egypt, including the unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Yaniv, our visitor from Israel, tells me that there was actually a total sprucing up of the family home at Passover, and everything from top to bottom was cleaned and repaired.
The children were getting excited because at this time they could ask questions as to what all the Passover elements meant. The stories of the events in Israel, of Moses, the death of all the first born who did not smear their doorways with the Passover lamb, , and then the great Exodus out of Egypt.
Do we as Christ’s Church look to Easter with the same passion and excitement? Are our children eager with anticipation for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday?
Do we as followers of Christ, do a ‘spring clean’ of our personal walk with God? Have we been praying for family and friends who yet do not know Christ, but we will be inviting to join with us in Church at this special time?
I yearn for every Easter and each year its reason for happening digs deeper into my heart as I remember why Christ died on the Cross at Calvary – it was for me!
I ask you in the Sundays yet leading up to our Easter 2025 services to be reading all that happened prior to the Last Supper, Palm Sunday, Christ’s Crucifixion and His glorious Resurrection – its the greatest story ever told and it involves you and I!