“When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.” (Exodus 13:15, NIV)
Golf comes at a price. It doesn’t have to be as expensive as critics make it out to be, but whether you are mailing in your monthly dues or walking up to the register each time you play, you’ll need to put your money down before putting the first peg in the ground.
Of course, life comes at a price, too. You may have your bank paying your bills automatically, but the supermarket and the hardware store—not to mention the golf shop—won’t just let you walk out with the goods. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to pull out that wallet of yours.
Sin asks the greatest price yet. The apostle Paul told the Romans quite tersely, “The wages of sin is death.” He knew this partly from the way his Jewish people commemorated the Passover.
If you need to brush up on your Old Testament history, here you go: God’s people, the descendants of Abraham, had been enslaved in Egypt for several generations. Now Pharaoh had turned up the heat, forcing the Israelites to work harder than ever. They were overwhelmed. God entered the picture, first sending Moses to petition for Israel’s release, then sending a plague each time Pharaoh refused. Finally, God had enough of Pharaoh’s stubborn resistance.
The meal is a remembrance that the lamb paid the ultimate price, which otherwise would have been laid on the son. What followed was the Passover. God told the people through Moses that he would put to death the firstborn son and the firstborn cattle among all the Egyptian people. In order to prevent this from happening to their own children, the Israelites were to slaughter a lamb for a household meal, then take the blood of that lamb and smear it on the doorframe of their house. This was a sign to the destroyer to leave this house untouched. In the night, the Egyptian sons and cattle died; in the morning, Pharaoh relented. The Israelites were set free.
But this is only the first Passover. Every year since, for more than 3,400 years, the Jewish people have commemorated the event with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. These meals no longer include lamb, but the redemption of the firstborn of each family comes into view. It is a remembrance that the lamb paid the ultimate price, which otherwise would have been laid on the son.
Believer, you should already know that Christ is your Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). We were bought at the ultimate price—redeemed. Another, our Savior, has taken our place. We have been brought out from under the pain of judgment and given life we do not deserve. This is something worth remembering any day of the year!
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Jeff Hopper
May 8, 2019
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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