The twelfth chapter of Exodus is a well-known chapter on the Passover. It is filled with familiar facts concerning that fateful night. It tells about the blood being put on the doorpost and about the eating of the lamb which had been roasted. It recounts how, at God’s command, the Israelites ate that lamb with their sandals on, their loins girded, and their staff in hand—ready for the greatest deliverance that had ever come.
Verses 12 and 13 contain God’s description of what was to happen at the midnight hour: “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” They called it the Passover because judgment passed over them.
There are many precious songs about the blood of Jesus Christ that are dear to our hearts. They will never be considered old religious songs, because the power in the blood of Jesus Christ is eternal.
We overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). We cannot overestimate the greatness of that precious blood; however, sometimes we forget one of the greatest truths about it. God moves in earnest when He does something like redeeming the firstborn at Passover. He does not fool around.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Sanctify to Me every first-born, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.” Exodus 13:1–2.
There was a stipulation; He did not redeem them just to turn them loose and let them skip through the meadow saying, “Hallelujah, we have been redeemed!”
A price had been paid. It was an actual transaction, and when it was completed He reminded them, “These firstborn are Mine. I did not kill them; I redeemed them. They are Mine.”
And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten. On this day in the month of A bib, you are about to go forth.” Exodus 13:3–4.
“Now it shall come about when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, that you shall devote to the Lord the first offspring of every womb, and the first offspring of every beast that you own; the males belong to the Lord.
“But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every first-born of man among your sons you shall redeem. And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. And it came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed every first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man and the first-born of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every first-born of my sons I redeem.’ So it shall serve as a sign on your hand, and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” Exodus 13:11–16.
In order to receive the impact of this Scripture, let us examine the instructions on the redeeming of a firstborn donkey.
If the owner decided to keep him, he brought him to the altar of the Lord along with a lamb. The priest took the lamb for the redemption of the donkey. Then his owner was able to keep the donkey and put him to work. The donkey could not be used for work until he was redeemed. After he was redeemed, he belonged to his owner to serve him from that time onward. If he was not to be redeemed, his neck was immediately broken. He was not allowed to live.
James 1:18 will help us to grasp what the Lord is saying to His people. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures. We are redeemed! This truth must penetrate our minds.
Exodus 12 records the judgment upon the firstborn, and Exodus 13 records the demands upon the firstborn who had been redeemed. They were redeemed to be possessed.
Today, Babylon is to be judged, but the remnant coming out of Babylon is to be God’s peculiar possession. Our minds may be so focused upon people escaping out of Babylon that we forget what God expects in return. We forget that He is making claims upon a people. He is taking them for His name’s sake. He is taking them out of every tongue and tribe, saying, “I have redeemed you. I have brought you out of Babylon; but I have brought you into My holy company. I have made you My remnant, My first born. I have made you the precious fruit of the earth, and you are to come forth for the glory of God.” That is the positive side of what God does in the Passover.
God was not lighthearted or casual about the Exodus. He did not tell Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery just so they could jump around and shout, “Hurray! We are free from slavery!” He delivered them out into the wilderness, and then He said, in effect, “Now, I want to talk to you about the purchase price that is written in fine print. You dear ones have just gone through escrow. You do not belong to Pharaoh anymore.” (And the Israelites probably shouted, “Hallelujah!”) God continued, “You belong to Me. You are going to be My peculiar treasure in all the earth.”
Isn’t it exciting to realize that God has a claim on you, and that much of what you experience is God’s effort to possess you totally to the praise of His glory? You may feel that you need more of the Lord; however, while you are seeking to get more of Him, He is getting more of you! You are saved to serve.
The precious blood of Christ was both the price of redemption and the price of purchase. You belong to the Lord. Stop fighting it.
If you walk in the way which leads to sonship, you have a growing awareness that you are no longer your own person. You no longer belong to yourself. Even the experiences that Christ has wrought in your life are not an end in themselves; they are a means to an end by which He might possess you doubly.
You are His by the right of creation, and you are His by the right of redemption. Serve Him joyfully with all of your heart.
Do not restrain or hold back anything from Him. It is His to command. Turn away from every selfish thought. You are His person. You were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit (1 Corinthians 6:20).
When a believer is young in the Lord, his only thought is that he has the Lord in his heart. He claims all of His blessings, and begins to feel very important as he thanks Jesus for the nice things He has done for him. Everything is marvelous.
Figuratively speaking, he comes out of Egypt with all of Egypt’s jewelry and finery; but when he reaches the wilderness, the Lord says, “Of course, you realize what has happened.”
“Yes, I have been delivered!”
“No, not exactly—not just delivered. You have been bought!”
In the awareness of every Christian, as he grows to do the will of the Lord, there is a time when he feels that he has a right to grumble about serving the Lord. He may feel as if he is being imposed upon. When he finally realizes that he has done the will of God, he may regret the fact that he thought he had a right to grumble.
The principle of belonging to the Lord recurs frequently throughout the Scriptures. Notice Exodus 22:29–30: “You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.”
This passage helps us understand the story of Hannah (1 Samuel 1). Can you picture her, leading the bullock that she was taking to be sacrificed? It must have been quite a sight.
Samuel was probably crying because he had just been weaned. Hannah understood the law of the firstborn. She brought Samuel to Eli saying, “This is my firstborn. This is the child I prayed for.”
Eli took him in and Samuel became the servant boy in the tabernacle at Shiloh. Hannah made her sacrifices and then she went back home. She had turned her firstborn over to the Lord. She understood the concept of belonging to the Lord.
Jewish people are known for driving a hard bargain. They must have learned it from God, for He is good at pinning people down to a deal. That is why you had better be careful when you figure out your tithe. Never think that the Lord does not care, that you can cheat a little here and there, and it will not matter.
An excellent illustration of a deal is found in Numbers 3:40–51. It is a most interesting story. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number every first-born male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and make a list of their names.” (He gets right down to business.) “And you shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, instead of all the first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the first-born among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” So Moses numbered all the first-born among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded him; and all the first-born males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the Lord.” God was saying, “We will trade, person for person. I will take a Levite for every firstborn, because these firstborn are to he Mine.” But there were 273 more firstborn than there were Levites. What was to be done about them?
“And for the ransom of the 273 of the first-born of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, you shall take five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), and give the money, the ransom of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” So Moses took the ransom money from those who were in excess, beyond those ransomed by the Levites; from the first-born of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary 1,365. Then Moses gave the ransom money to Aaron and to his sons, at the command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
God figured it perfectly. He was still holding onto the bargain. He said, “I bought the men for Myself, and you want to redeem these firstborn. All right, I will take over all of these Levites.” However, there were not quite enough Levites to make the deal, and so they had to give God something extra, a large sum of money. It was a hard bargain right down the line.
I have never seen God bargain any other way. I do not think He allows anyone to get away with anything. A deal is a deal. If you belong to the Lord, you belong to the Lord. If you are redeemed and you are His bond-servant, then you are to serve Him with all of your heart. Let that idea penetrate your mind and your consciousness once and for all until you believe, “I really do belong to the Lord. I am truly God’s person.”
There are many areas (perhaps on an unconscious level) where you retain your identity as an individual who is in control of his fate and his destiny.
The Lord says that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord (Psalm 37:23). Do you realize how much the Lord actually controls your life?
He gives you a great deal of initiative to develop within that concept of belonging to Him; but if you have the idea that you belong to yourself, He will start troubling you.
Sometimes a minister from a denomination comes to a New Testament church and asks for prayer, because he is tired of Babylon’s old system.
However, when he is told about being a bond-servant under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, he soon leaves. In his own mind, he has come to an impasse: “This is going to cost me. I do not mind it costing me a little as long as I can get everything back in other values, but the idea of giving up my ministry bothers me.”
It troubles me to hear a man saying, “my ministry.” If you have a ministry, it is the Lord ministering through you. You are very fortunate to be a channel, but you should never handle it in arrogance or pride, as though you possessed it. In 1 Corinthians 4:7, Paul said, “What do you have but what was given to you? Why do you boast as though you had not received it?” Your ministry is a gift from God. Be humble about it.
The heavenly Lamb brands all lambs that are His. His name is written on their foreheads. Revelation 14:1–5: And I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased (notice—who had been purchased) from the earth.
If you want to be one of that one hundred and forty-four thousand, you must first go through escrow. When the escrow papers are turned over to the Lamb, then He will write His name on your forehead. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are celibates. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. (This is the message of Exodus 13.) And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
That is what the Passover is all about. God is buying some precious people for Himself, and they will follow Him wherever He goes. They will not love their lives unto death. They are certain of one thing: they belong to the Lord; they have been purchased.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “Know ye not that ye are bought with a price and that ye are not your own?” Relinquish the concept that you belong to yourself. Accept the idea that you belong to God. The blood not only redeemed; it purchased. It was the price of a transaction. You are His, and He is taking care of His property.
The fifth chapter of Galatians explains that it was for freedom that Christ set you free, and that you are not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage (verse 1).
It also says that by love you are to serve one another (verse 13). God sets you free so that you can become His servant. You will find yourself drawn back into Satan’s snare unless you acknowledge the rights that Christ has upon your life. Acknowledge with all of your heart, “I am Yours, Lord. I am Yours.”