The Lord told Moses and Aaron that they had to make the month of their redemption the beginning of months, the first month of the year to them (Exo. 12:2). This month in which they came out of Egypt is the month Abib (13:4). Originally, this month was the seventh month, but the Lord made it to be the first month of the year, the beginning of all the months. In the beginning God created, but what God had created was put into a coffin in Egypt. Thus, there was the need of another beginning. The beginning in Genesis 1 was buried in a coffin. But in Exodus 12, God made another beginning. The first beginning is in Genesis 1, and that beginning was for creation. The second beginning is in Exodus 12, and this beginning was for redemption. The first beginning was for creation with the purpose of life. The second beginning was for redemption with the same purpose of life. God has the same purpose with two beginnings. We all need to realize that we have had two beginnings. When we received the Lord, we had another beginning.
This first month of the year was called Abib. Strong‘s Concordance tells us that this word means a young ear of grain or green ears of corn. The ears of corn that are young, green, and tender point to a new beginning. Young‘s Concordance tells us that Abib refers to something sprouting and budding. This is the start of life. When some people ask me what the date of my birth is, I would like to tell them that my birthday is Abib. Abib was our beginning. This beginning is not the beginning of creation but the beginning of a new life. Something is sprouting, budding, with the green, young, and tender ears of corn. This signifies new life and also indicates something further than the tree of life. This new life is something budding, something that sprouts, something that produces green, tender, young ears, and something that is growing. We have to learn how to understand the Bible by looking at the pictures in the Old Testament. A picture is better than a thousand words. This second beginning is the beginning of life and this life is a budding, sprouting life.
The children of Israel were in a coffin in Egypt. Even if they were brought out of Egypt and put into Canaan, they were still dead, without life. They needed to be brought out of the coffin, out of Egypt, and they needed life put into them. The life is signified by the meat of the lamb.
Exodus 12 tells us that the Lord told the children of Israel to prepare the lamb according to every man’s eating (v. 4). If a person could eat more, he would have to prepare more of the lamb. This means that the lamb is prepared not according to redemption, but according to the life capacity. This is because the lamb is not merely for redemption but more importantly for life. Do you need a bigger portion or a smaller portion of the lamb? You may think that you are so sinful and that your sins are greater than others so you need a bigger Christ. This is a human concept but not the divine concept. The divine concept is that we have to prepare the lamb according to our eating. Christ is allotted to us according to the eating capacity, the life capacity.
Our intention is not to lower down the value of the Lord’s redemption, but many Christians stress redemption and forget the matter of life. I heard a number of messages on the Passover when I was young. The blood of the Lamb that redeems us and causes God to pass over us was always stressed. This is good and true, but we need to realize that the blood is not the goal. The blood is the procedure to reach the goal. The goal is life. The goal is that we may have the Lamb get into us, that we may have the Lamb within us as our life.
Because we are sinful in the eyes of God, we need the blood. The children of Israel were fallen and sinful like the Egyptians. On the night of the Passover, God came to the earth to judge the sinful people. Without the covering of the blood, the children of Israel would be smitten by God in the same way that the Egyptians would. But God gave them the way for God to pass over them. They needed the covering of the blood, so they killed the lamb according to God’s instructions. They took the blood of the lamb and put it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of their houses (Exo. 12:7). Then their houses were sprinkled with the redeeming blood, and they were eating the meat of the lamb within their houses. This means that they were under the covering of the blood. Then God came to judge Egypt and smote everyone who was not under the covering of the blood of the lamb. But God passed over the children of Israel who were under this covering. When the Egyptians were being smitten by God, the children of Israel were enjoying the meat of the lamb under the covering of the blood. Thus, the blood is for the meat, that is, redemption is for life.
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