Exodus Chapter 12 Verses 1 – 2

• God essentially takes the seventh month and makes it the first month for the children of Israel. It signals a new beginning which is exactly what the Passover is all about!  Their years of slavery are coming to an end.  Their years of labor in the flesh are coming to an end.  Their years of being a stranger and not fitting, no home, all coming to and end!  And God is setting them apart, calling them out, starting them over and making them different.  (Now what everyone else calls the seventh month, they and they alone will call the first month)
• Folks, this is precisely what happens to the heart of a person when because of Jesus, the angel of death moves on…passes you over. Jesus said on that starry night in John 3:3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Born again?  That’s a restart!  A fresh beginning!  I think just about my life…all of the things man…what if it all was gone…and I was left to do it over again?!  That thought is so crazy amazing that I can’t even begin to have it without being just overwhelmed!
• But that’s really it! That’s really what born again is all about.  Your spirit is controlled and covered and owned by death man…and then you welcome the Lamb, you call upon the name of Jesus for salvation and He responds by covering your heart with His blood and now death has no power over you any longer.  The flesh is overcome and overwhelmed by the strength of the Spirt of God…and although you don’t get time back to do it all again, now you get infinite time forward to do it all again!  And life reboots!
• What was 7 becomes 1, what was slavery becomes freedom, what was alienation becomes home as your heart is finally settled into its original and ultimate purpose, to know God and to be known by Him…just as it was at the beginning…before the first birth was destroyed by the first death…

Exodus Chapter 12 Verses 3 – 6

• Interesting, they were to take it in on the 10^th day and keep it until the 14^th By then it would become like a family member.  So that when it came time to kill it, every child would have to be comforted, every child would need a clear explanation of what is going on…to let go of their little lamb.  They would love the little guy, they would mourn its loss.  It would be very personal for the entire nation…each and every person.
• And notice, its subtle but its so very important…there in verse 3 its, “a lamb,” and then in verse 4 its, “the lamb,” and finally in verse 5 it’s “your lamb.” That is a great and accurate picture of what happens to a heart that is arriving at a saving faith.  First, Jesus is One among many.  Another name that others claim has power to save.  And as you look a bit further into the matter you find out there is so much about Jesus that is simply different.
• Not only about Him and what happened and how it all makes sense and how He doesn’t just cover sin, He has paid for it…but also the people that follow Him. They know Him.  They are in communication with Him.  He is alive…  He goes from a Savior to the Savior…and finally, for the precious few (as Matthew 22:14 says, “Many are called but few are chosen,”), for the precious few that choose Him…to them He becomes theirs…  Is He yet YOUR God and Savior?
• Four days…four days to go from “a” to “your.” Just as Jesus for four days from the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem to the cross on Calvary’s hill…for four days He was examined and found to be without blemish.  Jesus was declared innocent 7 times on his way to the cross!
• Judas declared in Matthew 27:4, “I have sinned and betrayed innocent blood!” Pontius Pilate proclaimed in Luke 23:4, “I find no fault in this man!”  Herod Antipas remarked in Luke 23:15, “Nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.”  Pontius Pilate’s wife pleaded in Matthew 27:19, “Have nothing to do with that just man!”  The criminal on the cross announced in Luke 23:41, “This man has done nothing wrong.”  The Roman Centurion stated in Luke 23:47, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!”  And finally, the Romans guarding Jesus as He died on the cross confessed in Matthew 27:54, “Truly this One was the Son of God!”  The number of perfection, biblically the number of completeness…7 times creation cried out, this Man, this Lamb of God is without blemish…perfect…and yet He succumbed to death.
• The wages of sin is death.  But Jesus had no sin…so what happened…Jesus took death by the neck and defeated it.  The law brought it’s case against Jesus and found every page of its affidavit blank…and through that, Jesus shut down the court room forever.  He loosed the grip of death on man…and if that’s true, then He has overcome sin and the grave…all because He was indeed without blemish!

Exodus Chapter 12 Verses 7 – 13

• I want you to see this. The blood of the lamb must be applied in accordance with the Word of God.  Do you see that?  Let’s say that a Jewish family did all of these things but rather than mess up their freshly renovated entrance to their home, they put a little dab of blood on a window.  What do you think would have happened?  What if they covered their home with the blood but did not do what God had specifically asked?  What do you think would have happened?
• Just like that we have movements, and groups, and churches and there are individuals out there (hopefully not you) that just seek to dab Jesus onto their lives. Taking the Word of God and applying it very loosely and calling it   But we also have the other end of the spectrum where movements, groups, churches and individuals are crazy overly experiential and sensational calling it Christianity when it is completely out of line with God’s Word!  The point is this, my, yours, our doctrine and application of that doctrine and way of approaching, worshipping and seeking God must be in accordance with His Word or the destroyer will come.
• Also, notice, before the Passover Lamb could be taken in by the people…the blood had to first be applied. In that order.  If you want to receive Jesus, receive salvation, receive all of the promises of God…you must first apply the blood.  Those that do not approach God with humility cannot be saved.  If you have not yet realized that you are in need of a Savior then how on earth can you count yourself saved?  The blood must first be applied before the lamb is received. 
• Notice this as well. The blood was really for God.  This was the only part of the sacrifice that was for Him.  The body, the lamb, the rest was for the people.  And there is more than enough to go around…for all men to be saved…but anything left until morning…it’s burned.  Too late to take it in if its left until morning. When is the morning?  When the first day of your eternity dawns as your spirit leaves your body and is in the presence of God.
• The lamb is to be taken in, eaten entirely by first light of the morning and it was to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs and just a thought here, God says specifically, no water. I wonder how broken-hearted God was during the flood of Noah.  In the new heaven and the new earth there will be no more sea and promises are given even a symbol, the rainbow, that water will never be used again to destroy earth or evil…I wonder if all of that is an echo of the pain of a father suffering great loss…
• And do all of this with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand…be ready to go. And that is really what it comes down to…in all of your comms with God, all of your thoughts towards Him, all of your prayers…have you ever really been ready to leave it all behind for the sake of receiving and knowing and honoring Him?  Do you pray and read your Bible and remain faithful in attending church, but nothing ever really changes?  Here is a great realization perhaps to awaken you from the illusion…the fabric and structure of who you are…have you prepared for it all to change?  Are you ready to go?