APRIL 21, 2022 Leviticus 19:17-18 You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. All of us know that to “love your […]
APRIL 19, 2022 Leviticus 19:11 You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. Before moving on in this chapter, I want to address one other point as it relates to honesty juxtaposed with lies and dealing […]
APRIL 18, 2022 Leviticus 19:11 You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. Today, let’s look at another aspect of what is meant by the instruction, “Do not steal or deal falsely” besides the obvious fact […]
APRIL 16, 2022 Leviticus 19:3-4 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God. As I mentioned in the previous devotion, holiness is not some abstract notion that escapes being defined but is manifest in our lives […]
APRIL 15, 2022 Leviticus 19:1-2 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’” Have you ever stopped and considered what it truly means to be holy? I know what I thought it meant growing up in church. It […]
APRIL 14, 2022 Leviticus 19:1-2 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’” Holiness is something the entire congregation of God’s people are responsible for — all are to be holy because our God is holy. This is […]
APRIL 13, 2022 Leviticus 18:30 Therefore, you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God. In the previous verses, the Bible makes it clear that the land of Israel cannot tolerate the type of activities described as being […]
APRIL 12, 2022 Leviticus 18:24-25 Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. The land that God brought Israel into was a land […]
APRIL 11, 2022 Leviticus 18:7 The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. Admittedly, there are some things in Scripture that make you go “Hmmm.” Some things Scripture addresses can be a bit embarrassing to read, much less discuss, in mixed company. Nevertheless, the Creator is well aware […]
Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. (Exodus 12:7)
Moses commanded the children of Israel to mark their homes with the blood of the Passover lambs. They were to dip hyssop into the blood and smear it on their doorposts. Although Passover was thereafter celebrated annually, the Israelite homes were never again smeared with blood from the Passover lambs. The smearing with blood was a one-time ritual. Every Passover thereafter, the blood of the Passover lambs was splashed on the altar in the Tabernacle/Temple as a remembrance of the plague of the firstborn and the blood on the doorposts of Israelite homes in Egypt.
Try to imagine the Passover in the Temple on the day the Master died. While His precious body hung dying on the cross, a short distance outside the city walls pilgrims were flooding the Temple courts, leading their lambs to slaughter. While His blood stained the stones beneath the cross, the priesthood of Israel was splashing basin after basin of Passover blood against the stones of the Temple altar. While the women wept at the foot of the cross, the Levites in the Temple courts were chanting the songs of the Hallel: Psalms 113-119. Once slaughtered, the lambs in the Temple were hung from iron hooks in crucifixion poses for skinning, and once skinned, they were bound by the hooves, hand and foot as it were, to wooden poles, to be carried from the Temple on the backs of the worshippers. Meanwhile, the Master hung in crucifixion pose from iron nails, bound hand and foot to a wooden pole.
Believers have traditionally interpreted the Passover blood on the doorway as a symbol of Messiah’s blood. Consider a few of the parallels. Messiah is called our Passover Lamb. He died at Passover time. Just as the death came upon Egypt to claim the firstborns, so too all mankind is given over to death. Just as those under the protection of the Passover lamb’s blood markings were protected from death, so too those who take refuge under the blood of Messiah are protected from condemnation. They are given eternal life and will overcome death in the resurrection.
What is more, Messiah’s blood marked the soil of Jerusalem, the city in which the Holy Temple is located. According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem and the Temple therein are called the “gateway to heaven.” It is as if Messiah’s blood was smeared upon the doorposts of heaven.
Shabbat Chol HaMoed of Passover Torah : Exodus 33:12-34:26 Haftarah : Ezekiel 37:1-14 Gospel : John 20