WEEK 5, Day 3, Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 27 January 21:

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Exodus 12:2 — “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.”

Exodus 12:12, 13 – “I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

Exodus 12:15 – “…you shall remove leaven out of your houses….”

The Passover, this day of salvation and distinction was a new beginning for God’s people. When God executed His judgment over the land, He provided a way for people to escape His wrath and death – the mark of the blood of the unblemished, sacrificial, substitutional lamb. All were subject to God’s judgment, both Israelite and Egyptian, but when Judgment saw the blood of the lamb, it passed over, not because of any attributes of the persons – there was not distinction — only because of the blood of the lamb. There was only one way to be saved from God’s wrath and death, not many ways, and this one way defied human reason. Placing the lamb’s blood on the door was an act of faith done by those who trusted God and hoped in His salvation. The Passover lamb is a foreshadowing of The Lamb of God, Jesus.

• Matthew 26:2 — “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
• Matthew 26:26 — Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
• Luke 22:7 — Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.
• Romans 6:23 — For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 1 Peter 1:19 — But with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
• John 1:29 — Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
• John 19:36 — For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
• Revelation 1:5 — And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.
• Ephesians 1:7 — In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
• Romans 5:9 — Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
• Revelation 7:10 — And crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
• John 3:36 — Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
• Romans 3:25 — Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Those who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb by God’s grace have a new beginning in Christ, they are new creations.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
• Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

With salvation comes the exodus, leaving the old life behind.

Upon placing the blood on the doors, the Israelites were told to remove the leaven from their houses. Leaven is a symbol for sin. The call for the believer, having been saved by grace through faith, not by works, is to now remove the sin from their lives, to live lives worthy of Christ. Sin, like leaven, is pervasive, just a little bit affects the whole batch. There can be no compromise with sin, accepting just a little bit of sin can corrupt the entire person, the family, the people, the church, and the nation. Salvation by grace alone brings with it the responsibility to live in purity and holiness, relying on the strength of the Holy Spirit.

• 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8 — Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
• Galatians 5:9 — A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 27 Jan 21: Having been saved by grace through faith in Jesus, remove the leaven from your life and home.