Exodus 12 Devotional
by Pastor Mark Hudson

I would like to point out the truth behind Exodus chapter 12.  One might use the word presuppositions if you like longer words.  I don’t think anything I point out will be new to you but we always benefit from reminders.  Some of these are also just observations you should not miss.  Treat these are goads to prod your thinking in deeper dimensions.

1. God tells us how to worship Him; we do not worship God the way we prefer. There is proper, godly worship that God reveals in His Word.  Notice in Exodus 12, God is detailed and specific about this rite.  We don’t come to Him any way we choose.  He tells us how to approach Him.
2. There are many people that want us to believe that we are all God’s children in the same way. But God makes distinctions between those who know Him, love Him, and serve Him and those who do not.  There is a difference for all eternity between not Baptist. Lutheran, and Presbyterian but between those that truly know, love, and obey our Lord and His gospel and those that do not.  You see this so clearly in this chapter 12:29 and throughout the Bible.  This comforts and convicts.
3. Salvation is always in the midst of judgment. Think of Noah’s ark, think of Jericho, but preeminently reflect on the cross.  Without judgment, there is no salvation.  The exodus is joyous for the Hebrews slaves but the angel of death came to the homes of the Egyptians.  12:12-13. That evening was a terrible tragedy for the mothers and fathers in Egypt.  We can only hope that some became believers and sought refuge in the coming Messiah.
4. Christianity worships a God who speaks with authority. God is not lighthearted.  God does not joke.  When he says something will happen, that thing He spoke of will happen.  When God commands not to do something and anyone does it, there will be punishment.  If not in this life, in the next.   What some people will discover the moment they die!  What a horrible moment that will be.  When He said let my people go, He meant let my people go.  How tragic to disobey this majestic King of the universe.  We ought to tremble at His Word.  “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” Is 66:2.
5. Faith in Christ does not mean you are on your own to do whatever you please. On the night of the Passover, you couldn’t go for a midnight stroll outside visiting friends.  There are specific rules and laws God commands.   We are called to live holy lives.  We are called to follow what God says.  His laws can be understood by the most simple.   We may need teachers to help us plumb the depths of God’s laws.  Yet we are accountable for what we know.  Don’t be deceived.  If you are harboring sin, do not rationalize your disobedience away.
6. Godly faith is lived out in community. You are not meant to go it alone. There are many people who think they are believers who have not been in a church for years.  Since this is 2020, I must be clear that I am not referring to any Covid-19 concerns.  However, we are meant to live out our faith in community. The Hebrews did not leave on their own individually when they felt like it.  They left in a large group.  God was forming them into a worshipping community.
7. Obedience is not an add-on but the essence of faith. ⁵⁰ “All the people of Israel did just as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.”  I wish God would describe us that way.  By the way, Moses is often described as doing what God told him to do.  We believe you are justified by grace alone by faith alone.  But that faith is not alone.  Obedience is an expression of faith.  And . . . ignorance of God’s law is no excuse.  What if He asks you how much time you spent looking at a screen compared to discovering God’s will?
8. We do not know when a person may come to faith. If an Egyptian followed the Passover and asked to be included with the Hebrews, that Egyptian family could eat the meal and have blood on their doors.  And they could have left Egypt as part of the mixed multitude 12:38.  You are not born a believer.  You must place your faith in Christ.  But anyone can come to Christ.  You never know who might come to faith.  Just as that night gave opportunity to the Egyptians, God provides opportunities to people what we might call “unlikely to believe.”
9. Finally, all the events leading up to this moment are significant. And this is the beginning of a journey of faith for almost 1 million people.  Remind yourself you are somewhere in the narrative of your life.  Maybe the beginning, maybe the middle, or maybe near the end. And your life is part of the narrative of many people’s life all around you.  And those people are part of a larger and larger narrative.  You are not by yourself or forgotten or unimportant. You matter to others and to God. You are part of a grander, more glorious, eternal plan for the sake of Christ’s glory.