Monday, January 1, 2024
NEW BEGINNINGS
Ex 12:1-2
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the
land of Egypt, saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of
months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The
fourteenth day of Abib, or Nisan, was henceforth to be considered the beginning of a new
year. It corresponds to our April and conjures up thoughts of springtime and
blooming whereas previously the beginning of the Jewish year was Tisri, or
September, which is a time of harvest.
A fresh
start is very attractive. We are tired and dissatisfied with the old routines and their
results. Nothing changes until something changes! We long to be forgiven and to
discard unusable ways.
The
continuity of life somewhat spoils every new start. We drag along old things until we are
finally able to replace them with something better.
Redemption
is the foundation of this new way. Passover both acknowledged and prescribed
salvation by blood. Atonement must be by sacrifice. In prospect it designed the
Jewish sacrificial system. In retrospect it perfectly pictures Jesus.
Purging is also pictured as an
important aspect of this new beginning. The Jews were to purify their homes and
themselves. Old leaven was discarded so their new bread was baked in haste. This
presents us with a final thought.
Readiness was the mood of Passover
night. The moans in the streets would, in the morning, be replaced with the clatter
of deliverance. It was time to move.
1 Cor 15:9-10
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not
meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all:
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Blessed are you, Lord,
for you have redeemed me by blood, purged me by patience and grace, and set my
feet on a new way which leads to glory. AMEN
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