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#9 The Dedication of the Firstborn: Remembering God’s Great Deliverance Exodus 13:1-16
(13:1-16) Introduction: within the family, one thing is of critical importance to God: children. God wants children to be saved, to know that God is the God of salvation, of redemption, and deliverance.
This is what the dedication of the firstborn was all about: remembering and teaching the children of God’s people that He had delivered His people out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Down through the generations, God wanted every child of His people to know this one great fact: He is the God of salvation, redemption, and deliverance.
How could God best do this? How could He best make sure that His people never forgot...
· that He is the God of salvation and redemption?
· that they must teach this great truth to their children?
By establishing a day of dedication, a day when His people would dedicate their firstborn sons to Him. This God did in founding the great day called, “The Dedication of the Firstborn.” But God did more than this: He tied the day to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember:
Þ The Passover was the great day
Þ when God’s judgment had fallen upon the firstborn of Egypt, but had passed over all who had placed themselves behind the blood of the sacrificial lamb. The Passover was the greatest day in the life of Israel, the day when God delivered His people from Egyptian slavery (a symbol of the world and of man’s enslavement to the evils of the world). Þ The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day celebration of the Passover. The eating of the Passover lamb was celebrated on the first day of the feast. Unleavened bread reminded the Israelites of the urgency of fleeing the evil of slavery, that they must immediately begin the march to the promised land.
Þ The Dedication of the Firstborn was to remind the Israelites...
· that God had delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery, that God had actually adopted Israel as His firstborn son (Exodus 4:22).
· that every family was to teach their children of God’s great redemption. By dedicating the firstborn to God, the parents would set the precedent, the pattern of dedicating all their children to God.
The point to see is this: the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Dedication of the Firstborn were all tied together. All three celebrations focused upon the greatest day in the life of Israel, the day of God’s great deliverance from Egyptian slavery. It was the day when the people of God began their great march to the promised land. But each celebration focused upon one separate feature of God’s great deliverance; each was to remind the believer of one special truth of God’s great deliverance:
Þ The Passover focused upon God’s great redemption, His salvation and deliverance of the believer who hid behind the blood of the sacrificial lamb.
Þ The Feast of Unleavened Bread focused upon the necessity of fleeing the slavery of Egypt (the world), of immediately marching to the promised land.
Þ The Dedication of the Firstborn focused upon the utter necessity of dedicating the firstborn to God. And note: by giving the firstborn to God, the parents would set the precedent of giving all their children to God, of teaching them that God is the great Savior and Deliverer of men.
This is the important subject of this passage: The Dedication of the Firstborn: Remembering God’s Great Deliverance, Exodus 13:1-16.
1. Dedicate (sanctify, set apart) the firstborn to God (v.1-2).
2. Follow these instructions in the dedication of the firstborn (v.3-10).
3. Honor God when He delivers you into Canaan: symbolizing the promised land of salvation, victory, peace, and rest (v.11-16).
(13:1-2) Child— Firstborn— Dedication— Sanctification: dedicate—sanctify, set apart—the firstborn to God.
1. This was the commandment of God (Exodus 13:1). The Dedication of the Firstborn was not a dedication service established by man, not a celebration that man felt was needed, that he founded. The dedication of the firstborn was so important that God Himself founded and established the celebration. It was a celebration, a day that was to be kept because God Himself commanded it to be kept.
2. Note this fact as well: the firstborn of both man and animal were to be dedicated to God. God’s redemption is so important that He wanted it never forgotten, so important that He wanted the firstborn animal dedicated to Him as well as the firstborn son. The point was this: everything that a person had came from God—everything. Everything was either given by God or else redeemed, saved and delivered by God. He and He alone was the true and living LORD, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind. He had proven this fact in the great Passover and deliverance of His people. This was never to be forgotten. It was a fact that was to be kept before the minds of God’s people. How? By setting up a permanent dedication service. Every time a firstborn child or animal was born, the firstborn was to be dedicated to God.
3. Note the clear-cut declaration of God: “The firstborn...it is mine” (KJV); “The first offspring...belongs to me” (NIV).
The application to us is twofold:
1) We are to remember the day of God’s redemption, the day of our salvation. We are to remember the day God saved and delivered us from Egypt, from the world and its enslavement to sin and evil. How are we to remember the great day of deliverance? By dedicating our firstborn child to God. We are to take our firstborn child and give the child to God. We are to set the child apart to God, and by so doing set the precedent of giving all our children to God.
2) We are to give the first of everything to God, not only our children, but the first of all our possessions.
(13:3-10) Firstborn— Dedication— Children: follow these instructions in the dedication of the firstborn.
1. Remember God’s deliverance out of slavery and Egypt (Exodus 13:3). Remember that Egypt symbolizes the world. Therefore, this symbolizes our deliverance from the world and from being enslaved to the sin of the world.
2. Eat no leavened bread (Exodus 13:3). Remember that leaven symbolizes evil within the world. Therefore this symbolizes that we are to allow no evil within our lives. We are not to eat, digest, nor partake of any evil whatsoever.
3. Remember the very day and month of God’s great deliverance (Exodus 13:4). No believer should ever forget the great day of God’s deliverance, of his conversion. We should always remember the day that God redeemed and saved us.
4. Always keep this great dedication of deliverance once a year—even after God’s deliverance into the promised land (Exodus 13:5). Remember, the promised land symbolizes both heaven and a state of spiritual victory, peace, and rest. The point for us is clear: no matter how spiritually mature we become—no matter what state and experience of peace and rest we achieve in Christ—we should never forget our conversion experience. We should always remember the great day God delivered us from sin, the day He started us out on the great march toward the promised land of heaven.
5. Eat unleavened bread for seven days (Exodus 13:6). Remember that unleavened bread symbolizes righteousness. As we march to the promised land of heaven, it symbolizes the urgency of immediately beginning to live a righteous life. We must eat, digest, and partake only of righteousness; and we must be quick to do it.
6. Worship on the seventh day (Exodus 13:6). The picture for us is descriptive: as we walk about remembering the great deliverance of God, putting all evil out of our lives, and partaking only of righteousness, we are to set apart one day of every week for God, one day that is to be totally given over to worship and rest.
7. Obey a critical point—let no leavened bread nor leaven (yeast) be seen with you nor in your homes (Exodus 13:7). Note how strict the prohibition concerning leaven was and how often God stressed it throughout these chapters dealing with the Passover.
Þ A person was not to eat any leaven, none whatsoever.
Þ A person was not even to look upon leaven: no leaven whatsoever was to be seen.
Þ A person was not even to allow leaven in his house during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Jews became so conscientious about this that they took candles and searched the crevices and cracks of their homes and under and behind their furniture trying to make absolutely sure that there was no leaven in the house.
What a lesson for us in searching out the leaven of evil in our hearts and lives! We must search ever so diligently and make sure—absolutely sure—that there is no evil in our lives. When the light of God’s Word and Spirit discovers sin within us, we must confess it and cast it out. We must get all sin out of our lives and homes. We must not even look upon anything that causes sin.
8. Share your testimony of deliverance with your son (Exodus 13:8). We must tell our children what the LORD has done for us in His great deliverance from the world and its evil.
9. Make the dedication a sign—a visible and strong testimony—of what God has done for you (Exodus 13:9). Note that a person’s whole body—his hands, eyes, and mouth—was to be totally given over to keep God’s law. God had done a marvelous thing for the believer among the Israelites: He had delivered them with His mighty hand. Therefore, they were to commit their total being to God. F.B. Huey says this:
“Other peoples often had a mark branded or tattooed on the hand or another part of the body with the name or symbol of the deity they worshipped and whose protection they enjoined to ward off evil spirits. Sometimes they wore a sacred badge or jeweled ornament on the forehead as a symbol of devotion to their god. For the Israelites the Passover with its Feast of Unleavened Bread, not tattoos or other external symbols, would serve as their identification with their deity.” 45
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says this:
“The Jewish practice of writing Exodus 13:1-16 out on two of the four strips of parchment (along with Deut. 6:4-9 and 11;13-21 on the other two) and placing them in two cubical leather boxes (tepillin; cf. ‘phylacteries,’ Matthew 23:5) that were strapped on to the forehead and left arm seems to have originated in the Babylonian captivity. These were worn especially at daily morning prayers. This, was however, to exchange the intended inner reality for an external ritualism. The word was to activate their lips, hearts, and hands, not to be trapped in a box.” 46
10. Keep the dedication at the appointed time year by year (Exodus 13:10). The Dedication of the Firstborn, of the believer’s children to God, was to be faithfully celebrated.
Three very important lessons are seen in the instructions governing the Dedication of the Firstborn.
1) We must dedicate our firstborn child to God. By giving our firstborn child to God, we will set the precedent and pattern of dedicating all our children to the LORD.
2) We must take the leaven of evil and put it out of our lives and homes. And we must be strict about the matter, ever so diligent in searching out any evil and casting it out (repenting).
3) We must eat only unleavened bread, that is eat and digest only righteousness, only the life of Christ: only the purity, goodness, and righteousness of His being.
(13:11-16) Dedication— Firstborn— Children: honor God when He delivers you into Canaan. Remember, Canaan symbolizes the promised land of heaven and of salvation, victory, peace, and rest. The Israelites were to honor God by doing three very important things.
1. The firstborn was to be dedicated to God (Exodus 13:12). The firstborn was to be offered up to God as a sacrifice. Why? To remind the Israelites that God was the source of their lives...
· the only living and true God.
· the Redeemer, their only Savior and Deliverer, the One who had delivered them from the slavery of Egypt and given them the promised land.
2. There were to be two exceptions to the sacrificing and slaying of the firstborn, that of donkeys and of man (Exodus 13:12).
Þ Donkeys were to be redeemed with a lamb. A lamb was to be sacrificed instead of a donkey. This was either because a donkey was considered an unclean animal or because it was useful for work (cp. Exodus 34:20; Numbers 18:15). Whatever the reason, a lamb was to be substituted for a donkey. Note this fact as well: God meant that the Dedication of the Firstborn was to be observed by everyone. If a person began to slip back from observing the offering of the firstborn to God, then the legal authorities were to take the donkey and break its neck. The donkey was the LORD’s not the man’s; therefore no man was to refuse to redeem his donkey.
Þ The firstborn son of a family was redeemed with five shekels (Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20). This passage does not give the amount; the five shekels is spelled out later (Numbers 18:16).
F.B. Huey makes an important point that needs to be noted by all generations of men:
“The firstborn male of animals was to be sacrificed to the Lord, but the firstborn son was to be redeemed (Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20). This provision is an important reminder that human sacrifice was never sanctioned by God (Deut. 18:10; Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 20:2-5), though the Israelites themselves gave their children as sacrifice, as did their pagan neighbors (cf. 2 Kings 3:27; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Kings 17:31; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6; Ezekiel 16:20, 21). The prophets constantly spoke out against this abhorrent practice (cf. Isaiah 57:4-5; Jeremiah 7:30-34; Jeremiah 19:4-9; Jeremiah 44:6-10; Ezekiel 16:20).” 47
3. Parents were to share the great dedication with their children (Exodus 13:14-16).
a. Parents were to share that the LORD Himself—His mighty hand—had delivered them from Egypt, from the land of slavery.
b. Parents were to share God’s judgment upon Egypt (Exodus 13:15). It was the LORD Himself who had struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, both men and animals.
c. Parents were to share that their children belonged to the LORD—the children’s life, hands, and eyes—all belonged to the LORD (Exodus 13:16). The parents and the children all belonged to the LORD because the LORD had delivered His people by His mighty hand out of Egypt.
John the Baptist could thus identify and introduce our Lord as Israel’s Messiah by the words, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
The Passover meal was very naturally transformed into the Eucharist, the Lord’s Table. Thus, in the gospel accounts, we find the death of our Savior corresponding with the sacrifice of the Passover sacrificial lambs and the Passover meal (cf. Luke 22:1‑23). Paul clearly identified the Lord Jesus as the Passover lamb: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). One can see that the first Passover, along with each subsequent annual remembrance of Passover, was an event of great significance, one which was to be celebrated from that time on.
The Passover and the plague of the firstborn had several purposes with regard to the Egyptians.
(1) The Passover and the plague of the firstborn was a defeat of Egypt’s gods: “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt; I am the Lord” (Exod. 12:12). As the tenth and final plague, the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt conclusively proved that the “gods” of Egypt were powerless, non‑existent, while the God of Israel was all‑powerful.
(2) The Passover and the plague of the firstborn served as the final blow, which compelled the Egyptians to let the Israelites go (Exod. 3:20; 6:1; 11:1; 12:31‑32). After the death of the firstborn of Egypt, the Egyptians did not want to be reminded of their grief by seeing the Israelites. Thus, this final plague brought the Egyptians to the point where they virtually compelled the Israelites to leave. This plague accomplished precisely what God intended, and what Moses had been asking for all along.
(3) The plague of the firstborn was an appropriate punishment of Egyptians for their oppression of Israel (Gen. 15:14; Exod. 1 and 2; 7:14ff.). God had told Abraham that the oppressive nation (which we now know to be Egypt) which would enslave Israel would be punished (Gen. 15:14). The plague of the firstborn was exceedingly appropriate since the Egyptians were seeking to kill all of the male babies born to the Israelites (cf. Exod. 1:22).
(4) The Passover and the plague of the firstborn was an act of grace, as well as an act of judgment. I believe that there is grace to be seen in this final plague (as in the rest), not only toward the Israelites, but also toward the Egyptians. The plagues revealed the powerlessness of the gods of Egypt, and the power of the God of Israel. The plagues pointed out the sin of the Egyptians and their need to repent and believe in the God of Israel. While the account is not written to underscore the conversion of Egyptians (the thrust of the account is on the judgment of Egypt, especially her gods), I think that there is ample evidence to suggest that some of the Egyptians were converted to true faith in the God of Israel.
In the first place, most of the plagues were preceded by an announcement and a warning. Each succeeding plague was further proof of God’s existence and power, and gave greater substance to the warnings which followed. All of the Egyptians came to respect Moses (11:3), and some took heed to his warnings (9:13‑21). Provision was also made for non‑Israelites to partake of the Passover, if they were circumcised (acknowledging their faith in the Abrahamic Covenant, cf. Exod. 12:48‑49; Gen. 17:9‑14). Since there were many non‑Israelites who left Egypt with Israel (Exod. 12:38), it is likely that a number were converted and physically spared from death through the process of the plagues and the provision of the Passover.
(5) The Passover and the plague of the firstborn was an occasion for God to manifest His great power: “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exod. 9:16). Like it or not, God is the Creator of the universe (in general) and of man (in particular). As man’s Creator, God is absolutely justified in dealing with His creation as He sees fit (cf. Romans 9). When the sinfulness of man is added to his creatureliness, God’s wrath is even more clearly seen to be right.
The Passover and the final plague also had great meaning and significance for the Israelites.
(1) The Passover and the tenth plague served as a judgment on the gods of Egypt, whom the Israelites had worshipped in Egypt (cf. Josh. 24:14). Because the Israelites had also worshipped the gods of Egypt, the judgment of these gods caused God’s people to turn from their false worship, at least for the moment. Ridding them of their false worship entirely was a much more long‑term operation, but this was at least a beginning.
(2) The Passover was for Israel a manifestation of God’s power. One of the most commonly repeated phrases employed in conjunction with the Passover is “with a mighty hand” (Exod. 13:3, 9, 14, 16; cf. 15:6, 12; 16:3). The power of God was made manifest by the Passover and the plagues.
(3) The Passover and the plague of the firstborn was proof of God’s possession of Israel. When Moses spoke to Pharaoh about the Israelites, he said, “Let My son go, that he may serve Me” (Exod. 4:23). The fact that God claimed to possess the firstborn, so that they needed to be redeemed (13:1‑2; 11‑16), evidenced God’s ownership. When God freed the Israelites, He did so so that they may become His servants. As we shall show later, the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai was based upon the events of the exodus (cf. Deut. 5:6ff.). The firstborn of Israel thus belonged to God as a result of the Passover, and all of Israel as a result of the exodus. Israel was God’s possession. All of the commandments and requirements which God placed upon the Israelites was predicated upon the fact that they were a people who belonged to Him.
(4) The Passover was another evidence of the grace of God in the lives of His people. The firstborn of Israel were not spared because they were more worthy or more righteous than the Egyptians. Like the Egyptians, the Israelites were sinners, fully deserving of divine wrath. Had Israel been worthy, there would have been no need of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, with its blood applied to the door frame. The firstborn of Israel were spared due to the grace of God alone. God’s provision of a means of escape was based upon His grace, not Israel’s merits.
There is no clearer example of salvation by grace in the Old Testament than the Passover which we have just studied. Every person in Egypt, whether an Israelite or an Egyptian, was worthy of God’s divine judgment. The reason why men find the judgment of God in the smiting of the firstborn so difficult to justify is that they do not grasp the seriousness of their own sin. I happened to overhear a small portion of a television program the other day, where a young woman asked, “Do I have to suffer the rest of my life for one little indiscretion?” Whatever her “indiscretion” was, I would imagine it would better be labeled “sin.” So the answer to her question should be, “For as much as one sin, God is just in condemning you, not only for time, but for all eternity.” The reason why we have so much difficulty with the subject of judgment is that we fail to comprehend the immensity of our sin. The striking of the firstborn of Egypt should cause us to rethink the matter of sin.
Our attitude toward sin is very much shaped by our own perspectives and experiences. Drunks are people we can laugh at, until they get behind the wheel and kill one of our loved ones. Sex offenders are people who simply have a different sexual orientation or preferences, until they molest someone close to us. So, too, idolatrous worship doesn’t seem very serious, until we view this evil from God’s perspective. Ignoring God does not seem so serious, until we understand the importance of trusting and obeying Him.
Once we have come to grips with the seriousness of sin, we need to focus on the solution. Just as the firstborn were worthy of divine judgment, and in danger of it, God’s solution must be believed and acted upon. The divinely provided protection from the death angel was the sacrifice of a lamb, with its blood applied to the door frame. All those who remained within the house which had blood applied to its door frame were spared.
Just as the firstborn in Egypt were in danger of being smitten by the death angel, so men, women, and children are in danger of living out eternity in Hell, enduring the eternal wrath of God (cf. Rev. 20:11‑15). The solution to the problem is, once again, a Lamb, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, on whom our sins were laid. He died for our sins; He bore the wrath of God, so that men could escape from the coming wrath of God, and could participate in His promised blessings (Isa. 53). It is my prayer that you will, even at this moment, accept the salvation which God offers to you through the sacrifice of His Son, who has been raised from the dead and who will return to the earth to execute judgment on all those who have rejected His sacrifice (cf. 2 Thes. 1). The offer of salvation is before you.
The New Testament teaches a number of practical applications of the Passover for contemporary Christians. Let me outline some of them briefly.
(1) Because Christ is our Passover Lamb, we are God’s possession. The firstborn of Israel had to be redeemed because God had spared them, and thus they belonged to Him. While only some of those Israelites who were in Egypt were firstborn, and thus in need of being redeemed, all of us who have trusted in Christ belong to Him. Every child of God belongs to God, and must live in the light of belonging to Him. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19‑20). “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Cor. 7:23).
Since the firstborn of the Israelites belonged to God, they had to sacrifice them (in the case of an animal, except for the donkey, 13:13), or (in the case of a son) to offer a sacrifice to redeem them. Because God has spared us from His wrath by His mercy, we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1).
Because Christians have been redeemed by the Lamb of God, they do not belong to themselves, and they must therefore live out their lives as a living sacrifice to God. I fear that all too many presentations of the gospel do not inform people that when they come to faith in Christ, they cease to own themselves, and that they become Christ’s possession. In fact, all men belong to God by virtue of creation, and all Christians belong (doubly) to God by virtue of redemption. We cannot live our lives independently, autonomously, as Christians, but we must live them out as those who have been bought with a price and as those who belong to God. Just as God’s claims on the Israelites were spelled out in the Law, given a little later on in Israel’s history, so God’s claims on our lives as believers are given to us in the Scriptures. Let us heed His commandments well, for we belong to Him.
(2) Because Christ is our Passover lamb, we must live our lives in purity, in holy living. In the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, we read, “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:6‑8).
In the context of this chapter in First Corinthians, Paul has been speaking of a Christian who was living with the wife of his father (5:1). The Corinthians had not done anything to remedy the situation, and even seemed to be proud of their liberality in this matter (5:2). Paul told them he had already acted (5:3‑4), and that they should do likewise, by putting this man out of the assembly.
The principle on which Paul based his instruction was that of the relationship between the sacrifice of the Passover lamb and the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The sacrifice of the Passover lamb set in motion the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Since Christ is our Passover lamb, and He has already been sacrificed, the Corinthians should begin the Feast of Unleavened Bread, looking for any sign of leaven (a symbol of sin) and putting it far away from them (5:7‑8). Thus the fact that Christ is our Passover lamb necessitates maintaining purity in our lives, and in the church as well.
(3) The Passover teaches us the important role played by religious ceremony (liturgy, if you prefer) in the Christian’s experience. By the annual observance of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, God not only reminded His people of His mighty deeds in the past, but also taught them concerning the future. The institution of the Lord’s Table (“communion”) serves the same purposes. The observance of the Lord’s Table reminds the Christian of the salvation which our Lord accomplished by His death, burial, and resurrection (cf. Lu. 22:14‑22; 1 Cor. 11:17‑34). Unfortunately, Christians have come to take the remembrance of our Lord lightly, and do it infrequently, often as a kind of footnote to some other service. Let us learn to value and to practice those times of remembrance and anticipation which God has established and commanded us to do.
Just as the Passover celebrations (including the redemption of the firstborn and the Feast of Unleavened Bread) provided an opportunity to instruct the children concerning God’s work in the past and its bearing on the present, so the Lord’s table and baptism provide us with teaching opportunities which we dare not neglect.
(4) The Passover (Passion) of our Lord is a pattern for Christians regarding suffering. While it is true that the Egyptians suffered for their sins in the plague of the firstborn (and the other plagues too), we ought not overlook the suffering of the Israelites during the 400 years of oppression, and even during the days which immediately preceded the exodus. Some Christians believe that suffering is not to be a part of the experience of one who trusts in the Lord and is obedient to Him. This is entirely untrue. Ultimately, it was not those many Passover lambs which spared the Israelite firstborn from death, it was the suffering and death of the Lamb of God, who died for all who would believe. The Passover necessitated the suffering of the Son of God. The degree to which He suffered can only be estimated in the light of the holiness of God and the dread which our Lord experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane when He anticipated the cross.
In the first epistle of Peter, the apostle informs Christians who are suffering that the passion, the suffering of the Lord Jesus, the Passover lamb, was a pattern for the suffering of all the saints (cf. 1 Pet. 2:16‑24). The Lord Jesus, as the Passover lamb, is the pattern for Christian suffering, and the way it should be dealt with.
Paul also speaks of our suffering in “Passover” terms. In the 8th chapter of his epistle to the Romans, Paul writes of the victory which the Christian can have in suffering (8:31‑35). He then quotes this passage from Psalm 44 to show that we, like Christ, are called to suffer as “sheep”: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Rom. 8:36).
In the context of Psalm 44, from which this citation was taken, we learn that those saints who suffered as described above were those who were faithful to God, not those who were disobedient. The Passover lamb is therefore a pattern for the saints, showing us that innocent suffering is often a part of God’s will for the righteous, and that through the suffering of the saints, God’s purposes may be accomplished.
Let no one seek to suffer in this way, but let no one dare to suggest that suffering in the life of the saint is inappropriate, the result of either sin or unbelief. The suffering of the Passover lamb is the pattern for the saints to follow when they suffer.
Last time updated:
Tuesday April 18, 2006 08:52 AM
