Surviving the Passover
Exodus 12:14,17 You will always remember tonight—it will be a special festival for you. Your descendants will honour the LORD with this festival forever. … You must remember the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this day I took all of your people out of Egypt in groups. All of your descendants must remember this day.
Today, for most of us, is just another day. But for others, it’s a special day. So, if you happen to be one of the one and a half billion Chinese people spread across the globe, a happy New Year to you.
Yesterday we saw that one particular Chinese New Year tradition bears an uncanny resemblance to the Jewish Passover. Chinese people hang auspicious poems on their doorposts, on red strips of paper, in a way that echoes the blood of the lamb that God commanded the Israelites to paint on their doorposts on the night He set them free from slavery in Egypt.
And that, as a mere foretaste of the real sacrifice – Jesus, the Lamb of God – who centuries later died on a cross to save the likes of you and me from our slavery to … well, let’s call it for what it is – sin.
On Chinese New Year’s Day, people meet and greet one another with good wishes, as if congratulating them for being able to get through the Passover safely. It’s something they do year after year – a bit like the Jewish people. This is what God commanded them to do:
Exodus 12:14,17 You will always remember tonight—it will be a special festival for you. Your descendants will honour the LORD with this festival forever. … You must remember the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this day I took all of your people out of Egypt in groups. All of your descendants must remember this day.
That red blood is a symbol of life. Jesus gave His life to pay the price that God’s justice demands for your sin and mine, to give us a new life. A life of freedom. An eternal life. That’s worth remembering over and over again.
And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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