Christ has risen...

Yay! The day Jesus rose from the dead to complete the deal and make us righteous! Like the song goes,

You came from heaven to earth,
To show the way!
From the earth to the cross,
My debt to pay!
From the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky!
Lord, I lift Your name on high!

But Pastor Prince had a good mesage today in Church, so I'd like to use his sermon for this year's Easter Post! So just sit back, relax and get ready your Bibles for a full sermon of...

Exodus 12:1-14!

For those who don't know, these few verses are about what God told Moses to expect of the last plague on Egypt - the one which every first born was suppose to die. And they could only be saved if the person's household had the blood of a lamb smeared all over his front door. Then the Angel of Death would pass by the house, knowing that a lamb died in the guy's place.

The Lamb died in the guy's place.

Sound's familiar? Well, let's start on the verses line by line, shall we? Here's the whole thing first:

1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,

2"This month is to be for you the first month of your year.

3Tell 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.

4If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbour, 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.

5The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them form the sheep or the goats.

6Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughterthem at twilight.

7Then they are to take some blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where theyeat the lambs.

8That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.

9Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire - head, legs and inner parts.

10Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.

11This 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 - both men and animals - and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

13The 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.

14"This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance.

Now to go through the signifigance of each verse, starting with Verses 1 and 2. It says there in Verse 2 that that particular month, the month which God was to free Israel from Egypt, would be the first month of the year. Rather interesting that at the death of the lamb(s), a new year would begin. And reading forward, that new start was the begining of Israel's feedom, or anyone who folowed God's commands for the Passover. So at the same time, at the death of the Lamb(Jesus), new life was given to those who believed in him, and that life was free of condemnation and evil claims!

Then for Verses 3 and 4, it states the part where on the tenth day of that month each man must choose a lamb or goat for his household, and that 'if any household is too small for a whole lamb' (if one lamb is too much for a household to finish), then they are allowed to share the lamb with neighbours. Note that there was no instruction given for the senario of not having enough lamb for a household. To think that the lamb wasn't big enough for the family, but the family wasn't big enough for the lamb. And in the same way, the Lord's salvation and grace is never too little to spare for others! And not only does He have so much left over, but He also wants you to share it around with others! Such a generous God we worship!

Next is Verses 5 and 6, with the instructions that the sheep or goat they took better be one year's old and had no defects, and that after keeping the animals till twilight of the fourteenth day of the month, the entire community must slaughter all the animals. From the tenth to the fourteenth - that's about 5 days - the Israelites had to keep their sacrificial animals with them, checking that their not with any skin or gun or nasal disease of the sort, and at the same time raising them in the household like a pet. Now, do you have any idea how adorable these creatures are? Especially when they're a year old? Well, if you didn't, here's a sneak preview:

So you could imagine the Israelite children playing around with the innocent lambs, patting them, stroking them, cuddling them, and if light enough, riding them. While the man of the house keeps checking its fur, gums nd other organs which could hold defects. And at the strike (Well, there never really was a 'strike' back then, now was there) of twilight (Israelite twilight is the equivalant of 3 o'clock in the afternoon) on the fourteenth day, which by now the children must have made a strong bondage with the animals, all the Israelites had to slaughter them all. So you could imagine the scene:

Saying you're the man of the house, you're kneeling in front of a bucket, with the lamb or goat tied up in front of you. There's a dagger tightly grasped in your hand, and you're waiting for twilight's arrival, which is just seconds away. Your wife's struggling to hold your children back, who've found out that you're about to kill their beloved 'Baa-Baa' and want to plead for his safety. "No Daddy!" they shout. "Please don't kill him! We' love him very much, Daddy, please don't hurt him!" ANd there in front of you goes the lamb bleating away in fear of the blade that's drawwing closer and closer to its chest. Suddenly, the call of twilight sounds, and you watch as your neighbours sorrowfully slaughter their animals without mercy. Closing your eyes, you jerk your hand above your head, releasing it with a sharp blow to the poor creature's side.

And your children start to cry over the poor criter, making you have pity over them. But you still remember that this was the only way to save them, so you had to endure the responsibility. A rather sad sight, but it was still required.

And in the same way (again), God's Son came to earth and became one of us, human and mortal, so that He could be appreciated/judged by mankind, and through the judgement He was proven to be innocent and pure. Then at the final five days of his life, he stayed in the Temple, preaching to thers about God and at the same time allowing both the public and the high priests to examin Him 'for any defects'. And once they 'found fault' on Him, Jesus was crucified and died at 3 o'clock for our sins, even when the many believers were present watching His death and cryig to stop it all. A rather sad sight, bu it was still required.

Verse 7's about smearing some of the blood of the lamb over the sides and tops of the doorframes. I'll link this with a couple of other verses later on, but I want to state something interesting here. You know how Israel is connected to the Silk Road, right? Well, somehow on this Silk Road, this story must had went half-way round the globe and reached other countries. Think about it; every begining of the new year, Chinese families place red papers covered with calography on their doorframes. Why new year? Why red? Why doorframes?

Verse 11 is rather interesting. It says that you must eat the Lord's Passover meal 'in haste', 'with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand'. Well if you ask me (or Pastor Prince for that matter), wouldn't the attire of your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand somewhat like as if your about to leave for an extremely great journey? Especially if the journey's going to start within hours? Now, the Israelites didn't know it then, but they WERE about to go for an extremely great journey! And it WAS going to start within hours of the Passover!

So in other words, God was trying to tell them, "Get changed, get packed, get feasted! You're about to leave Egypt tomorrow! Trust me!" And the thing was, the Israelites didn't even know how God could suddenly make Pharaoh dismiss them. Well, you can't blame them, 'cause before this another 9 plagues had already struct Egypt, and the Pharaoh was still as stuborn as ever to refuse freeing the Israelite slaves. But true enough, after the Passover not only did he let them go, but Egypt - being afraid of Israel by now - allowed them to take whatever they wanted to take with them from any Egyptian household. According to Psalms 105:37, God led out the Israelites from Egypt as 'they carried silver and gold'! And from the same verse, we can also see that God also restored their strength and health, being that ' all of them were healthy and strong'! So never under-estimate God's blessings in your life; you never know when He wants to bless you exceedingly!

Then in Verses 12 and 13, God warns first that He'd be passing through Egypt, striking down every first born whether it be a human or an animal, and that once He sees the blood over the doorframes (Verse 7) He'll spare the household in the building and pass over it instead. (Get it! Passover? Pass over? Ahahahahahaha!)(But seriously speaking, that's the real meaning to why it's called the Passover Festival.) He promised that after seeing the blood on your door, 'no destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt'. Similiarly, Christ died for us so that when God judges you, He wouldn't see you but instead the blood of Christ covering you, and through that God's judgement and punishment on you wouldn't touch you. Thus, you are SAVED!!!

And that's Exodus 12:1-12 rveiled to you! And I've just read Tim's post on Easter too! Rather interesting seeing himplay the part of preacher now, eh! Well, all I can say is, God's a lot more easy to please than you think, and all you need to do is have the courage and thirst to have Him happy and with you!

For final announcements;
At 1649 hours of the 8th of April, 2007, Weaponry Model: The Boxer resigned service and broke apart. Rubber bands to rubber bands, ice-cream sticks to ice-cream sticks.

And that's about it! Romans 6:20! God bless y'all!