DO YOU REMEMBER?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Abib, He brought you out of Egypt by night. Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste - so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.”

“You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. For six days, eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day, hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.”

Deuteronomy 16:1-8

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Chapter 16 of the Book of Deuteronomy opens with words on the Passover and as we have seen elsewhere in this book so far, Moses is simply taking God’s earlier instructions and reminding Israel of them as they are about to enter the Promised Land.

Now, you might wonder why Moses had to go to such lengths in resurrecting commands from the Lord and bringing them back to the forefront for God’s people. The reasoning is clear when we keep in mind that this group of Israelites was a completely new generation, one that wasn’t in Egypt when the Lord’s deliverance from enslavement happened or on the forty day exodus to Canaan that followed. They weren’t at Mount Sinai when the Ten Commandments and others important directives were issued by God nor were they in the company of those who blew the first chance to enter the Promised Land, those who died off in the desert wilderness after God sent them back into it for forty years as punishment for their disobedience. Now, this newly minted cohort of Israelites was ready to succeed where their ancestors had failed, ready to now cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord had promised Abraham approximately 470 years before.  

And so this was why it was of such great importance for Moses to invest so much time reminding this generation of Israelites of what God expected from them.

When we look at the prescribed observance of Passover, we see where it was a matter of remembrance, remembrance of the oppression and affliction that Israel had suffered at the hands of Pharaoh and Egypt, and how God had delivered them from that suffering, rescuing them because He valued them as His chosen people while fulfilling the covenant He had made with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8).

Going back to our scripture passage for today, we see where Israel was to “observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the Lord…because in the month of Abib He (God) brought (them) out of Egypt by night”. They weren’t to “sacrifice the Passover in (just) any town the Lord your God (gave them) except in the place He (chose) as a dwelling for His Name”. And once there, the Israelites were “sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of (their) departure from Egypt.”

After this point, the Passover tradition continued, albeit sporadically through the Old Testament before reaching a pinnacle in the New Testament with Jesus, the One who was the final Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb of God who came and took away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

The day before His crucifixion, Jesus would share His final Passover meal on earth and of interest, the disciples came to their Master and asked where they should make preparations.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to make preparations for You to eat the Passover?”

He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with My disciples at your house.’”

So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. Matthew 26:17-19

This modeled the following from our verses for today in Deuteronomy:

“You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt.”

After the disciples had made Passover preparations as Jesus asked, we find Him sharing the meal with His disciples, an event known today as the Last Supper or Lord’s Supper. Thankfully, the scriptures capture what happened there:

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:14-20

Going back to the looming Israelite release from Egyptian captivity, it was the blood of the slain, unblemished lamb that had been brushed on the doorframes of Israel at Passover which led to Israel being spared from the death penalty that fell on Egypt’s first born. Then later, it was the blood of God’s first born Son, Jesus, that would spare all mankind from the death penalty of sin and offer the opportunity of deliverance into eternal life for all who would simply believe in Jesus as their Savior.

In other words, the blood of Jesus washes away the sin of His disciples who that they experience the miraculous experience of death passing over them as they are ushered into a new, eternal life with the God and Christ, the Ones who made it all possible.

Today, we find Christian churches being obedient to the Lord’s call to remember Him by partaking of the bread and cup whether they refer to the sacrament as the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, or the Eucharist. And as the bread is consumed and the wine or juice drank, Christian believers are reminded of Jesus and the willing, selfless sacrifice He experienced in order to save them. Indeed, through this observance, believers are able to remain rooted in their Savior and remember the suffering and sacrifice He went through, the great price that was paid for their pardon and redemption.

But we need to ask ourselves, “Should the formal rite of this special meal prescribed by Jesus be the only time we should remember all He has done to bring us the sure hope of salvation?

I think we would agree that the answer is certainly not, and yet the affairs of life can serve to distract and draw our attention away from the cross. To prevent that from happening, here are some things that all Christians should institute into their daily spiritual routines:

First, they need to read from the gospels daily and it doesn’t matter which of the four. We just need to make sure we are reading about the life and ministry of Jesus without ceasing. After all, as Christians we are to be Christ-like and we’ll never know how to live as Jesus did if we don’t know how that looks.

In the gospels, we see Jesus deal with nearly every situation or circumstance we will go through in life and through Him, we learn how to best deal with those situations and circumstances when they occur.

Further, the more we know about Him and the more we get to know of Him, then the more we will be in relationship with Him because Jesus isn’t dead by any means. We serve a living Savior who longs to have a personal relationship with us.

And this leads me to the second way we can remember Jesus daily…through prayer.

When we read the Gospels, we quickly see that prayer was central to Jesus and His life. Yes, He invested a lot of time in service to His people but He also took time out to personally communicate with His Father, the Father who is ours as well, the Father who us in Heaven as we say at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer which is the prayer Jesus taught us to pray (Matthew 6:9-13).

Today, God and His Son Jesus who sits at His right hand still awaits our prayers today, yearning for a personal relationship with each and every person they worked to save. It’s through this prayer and conversation that we have the blessed opportunity to thank them for all they have done, the least we can do given the great depth of suffering and loss that came with bringing us salvation. Our daily conversations with our Lord serves to show our deep, heartfelt gratitude for Him while letting Him know that we will always remember and appreciate all He has done, all He is doing, and all He is yet to do.

Friends, let’s not let a day go by where we fail to thank our God and Jesus for loving us enough that they were willing to do whatever it took to save us from the penalty of Hell while blessing us with the gift of Heaven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com