Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls. You shall make your count for the lamb according to what everyone can eat.“
(Exodus 12:2-4)

“Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
    Samuel was among those who call on his name.
    They called on Yahweh, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud.
    They kept his testimonies,
    the statute that he gave them.
You answered them, Yahweh our God.
    You are a God who forgave them,
    although you took vengeance for their doings.
Exalt Yahweh, our God.
    Worship at his holy hill,
    for Yahweh, our God, is holy!“
(Psalm 99:6-9)

The Israelites were to start their year celebrating that God made them free. They were to start their year focused on the lamb whose blood redeemed them from death. The beginning of their year, the beginning of their journey, was a reminder that blood was the price and they did not have to pay it themselves. What a great way to start a year! The God who answered their prayers. The God who forgave them from turning away. The God who showed them that the gods of Egypt (worshipped throughout Egypt, Canaan, and the surrounding regions) could not stand against Him. The God who showed He had power and might and glory. This God brought them under His wings like little children and shepherded them out of slavery and into a new life with Him.

When Jesus ate Passover with His disciples, He inserted Himself into the ceremony at the right point. He showed them with those symbols that HE was the lamb. That it was HIS blood that would redeem them. Then He commanded them to REMEMBER it. And they did. As the early church celebrated Passover and began their new year, they celebrated Jesus and how He had redeemed them. As they ate the unleavened bread and roasted their lambs and ate their bitter herbs, they celebrated both the exodus out of Egypt AND the exodus out of the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13). It is by God’s hand, by Grace and Mercy, because we trust in Him, that we are saved and given new life, a new year, a beginning of a journey that we walk with Him throughout all the rest of everything. We will never again be apart, lost, alone, or oppressed. We are free and free indeed.

Summary

Jesus is our lamb. His blood redeems us. His blood paid the price for us. We couldn’t earn it, but Jesus did. And then He gifted it to us. If we want to, we CAN be saved. We can have new life. A new beginning. A journey to the Father with the Son. Because He loves us. Because He thought we were worth it. Because He didn’t want to be without us. Because He is a GOOD God.