Wed.’s Devo - Redemption for the First Born

Read Ex. 34:1-35:9, Matt. 27:15-31, Ps. 33:12-22, Pr. 9:1-6 Moses goes back on the mountain with a new set of stones for God to write his laws on. This time God was going to show himself to Moses. I can’t imagine Moses’ fear and anticipation. When God came down in his cloud He proclaimed His name and described His character. After seeing how angry and powerful God was against the Egyptians, it must have been a wonderful surprise to hear Him describe Himself as merciful, gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. He went on to tell them that he was a jealous God and warned them against the deception of their enemies. Again, He went through the feasts He wanted them to keep as a picture of what was coming. In Matthew, we are reading the fulfillment of Passover. In the Old Testament they put blood on the sides of their door posts and at the top of the lintel. This blood saved their first born from death. In today’s reading we see that Barabbas represented the first born that was saved because Jesus’ took his place. Barabbas represents us also. We are born ‘first’ of the flesh, and second of the spirit so the ‘first born’ represents our pre-Christ days. We are all ‘first borns’ - but when we are ‘redeemed’ we are safe. That is why Ex. 34:20 says to redeem all your firstborn sons. We deserved to die for our sins, but Jesus took our sin upon Him and died for us. Lord, may your unfailing love rest upon us, as we put our hope in you. Thank you for redeeming us.