On the Brink of New Life
Opening Prayer
Lord, fully prepare me for whatever You have planned for the rest of my life.
Read Exodus 12:1–13
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Reflect before God on some of the most significant moments in your life.
I vividly remember my first flight out to Peru as a new missionary in the early 1980s. Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean I had a strange sense of being poised between two existences, two lives. I knew I wouldn’t be home again for four long years. Behind me was all that had been familiar and safe in my life; ahead of me lay a rather scary unfamiliarity. In the plane I was literally suspended between the two. Perhaps the Israelites felt similarly, as they prepared for this strategic moment, poised on the brink of a new life as a nation, free at last from oppression.
Passover marked this new beginning. Individual Hebrews had long offered sacrifices, but this is the first time such emphasis is placed on the shedding of blood by the community. Liberation is only one of God’s purposes (Exod. 6:6,7). The other is redemption: the shed blood (smeared on the doorposts—acted on in faith) will indemnify them against judgment and certify for them acceptance by a holy God into a covenant relationship. The details matter: the date, the choice of lamb, its sequestration, the method of cooking, the dispensing with yeast, the importance of allowing nothing to remain (perhaps to discourage any magical practices). The dress code is important, too (11). They are to be ready to leave immediately, as those committed to walking into the future with God. No dressing gown and slippers for them! This would be a long-term journey.
As those who have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ, we are to walk with him in a manner that is constantly ready for whatever new thing he may call us to. Is there anything you need to turn your back on? Is God nudging you to do something radically different in his service? Do you need to attend to your spiritual “dress code”?
Apply
Prayerfully review where you are with God right now. Remember: “The essence of faith is the trust that obeys” (J. Alec Motyer, 1924–2016).
Closing prayer
Lord, make me as one of the five wise virgins in Matthew 25 who are ready for the master’s arrival.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.