1-3-15. Commemorate The Redeeming Grace Of God Generation After Generation- my devotional

Exodus 12:14-28           Kevin e. Jesmer      

Key verse 14, ” “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.” 

Verses 14-28, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. 17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” 21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.” (NIV)

God wanted his people to commemorate the Passover, never forgetting his grace. They were to let generation after generation know of God’s great love and deliverance. Look at verse 14, ““This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.” And verse 17, “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.”  And verses 24-27, “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” God was very concerned that the children of each succeeding generation knew about their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt. And the people obeyed. The account of the Passover has been told since its occurrence in 1400 BC. Not only the Jewish people, but also the Christians are telling generation after generation after it.

What were they commemorating again? In 1400 BC, God’s hand of judgment would fall on Egypt. Moses told the people to go at once and slaughter the Passover lamb, and put its blood on their doorframes. The people worshiped God and obeyed. The angel of death would pass through Egypt, slaying the firstborn of the Egyptians and of the livestock. But the angel of death would pass over the houses marked with the blood of the Passover lamb. Their first born would be spared. The Egyptians would finally repent of their refusal to let the Israelites go free and allow at least 3 million of their Israelites slaves free to travel to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. They would be set free to become a nation of God’s people. They had already suffered for 400 years, away from their land and under the heavy yoke of slavery. Their slavery could have gone on for another 1400 years if it were not for the grace of God. Now, because of God’s grace and love, were free! The Israelites were to celebrate this day down through the generations and teach their children about God’s grace and mercy, for it was the day of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt (24-27).

God wants his people to proclaim the Gospel from generation to generation. The Gospel is all about Jesus and his suffering, death and resurrection. It is through the Gospel that we have been redeemed and set free from our slavery to sin and death. Satan was our hard task master and wielding sin and death as huge, powerful weapons of war. We tried, with our own human efforts to escape our captivity, but to no avail. We just sank deeper and deeper into our pits of darkness. We were forced, like slaves, to build Satan’s kingdom. The chains of spiritual oppression were tightening like snares.

But this kind of slavery was not what we were meant for. The eternal life in the Kingdom of God is our true home. Jesus is our true king, who rules our lives with peace and love. We should be pouring out our lives to building up Christ’s kingdom. Jesus, by the Gospel has set us free. He forgave us of our sins. We were born again and made into new creations. We are able to proceed on our pilgrimage to the kingdom of God. As we travel we grow in the image of Christ. We experience God’s healing. Our knowledge of God’s grace grows. Our knowledge of Christ and of his love grows in us. Heavenly joy floods into our hearts. It is because Jesus has set us free by the power of the Gospel. We build up God’s kingdom for his glory alone. This is liberating. Praise God.

I thank God for setting me free from the power of sin and death and bringing me into the glorious freedom of the Kingdom of God. It all happened when I was 22 years old. I was a hedonistic young man, only focused on fun and feeding my own ego and my own desires to live in sin. For a while I thought I was having fun, but I was suffering under the devil’s oppression. I stammered. I felt empty and meaningless and I was being led…not led, but dragged along dark paths…straight to death and condemnation. I was under the heavy yoke of slavery. But Jesus set me free. He forgave me of my sins. He shed his light in my heart and made my path straight. He gave me a living hope in the kingdom of God. He set me free and now I can live for his glory and build up his kingdom. One day I will see my Lord Jesus face to face, in the Kingdom of Heaven. What freedom! What joy! What grace! I pray that I can share this liberating Gospel with succeeding generations.

This Gospel needs to be told over and over again. Our children need to know it. That is why we have yearly Easter celebrations. If we stick to the original meaning then it is propagated each year. Christian parents try to impart the Gospel to their kids through Bible study and church etc. But despite of our best efforts, we need to depend on the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to the Gospel and allow it to take deep in their hearts. I pray that my wife, Julie and I may be able to impart the Gospel to the next generation, starting with our kids and our future grandkids and the kids of our community.

These kids, referred to in this passage, were very spiritual. Look at verse 26, “And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’” Wow! If I met kids like this, who heard about Easter and then came to me and asked, “What does Easter mean to me?” I would be floored. Mostly kids remain silent as they struggle with the world. I am reminded about Jesus when he was 12 years old. He went up to Jerusalem with his family. His family thought he was lost. But actually he was conversing with the religious leaders in the temple, talking about spiritual things. When his parents found him, Jesus said, “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) May a wave of strong spiritual desire to know the redeeming Gospel among our youth, wash across our land like tsunami.