Devotional thoughts on Exodus 12:1-14

By Daryl Reed

When I was a teenager I saved my 3-year-old younger brother from drowning. Years later I did the same for my college roommate. Neither instance was dramatic. All I did was walk over to them and give them a hand. The water wasn’t deep. I take that back, for my little brother it was over his head. However, in the case of my 6-foot-7-inch friend and basketball teammate, he was learning the hard way that it’s difficult to stand in water while wearing diving flippers. They were afraid. But after they were saved, they celebrated. I still remember. 

Remember What God Did for Them

In an infinitely more serious way, the Passover was a celebration of salvation—a meal that recalled how God rescued his people. The stories told around the observant meal centered on how God delivered his people from the Egyptians, freeing them from hundreds of years of bondage and the vengeance of Pharaoh. It also marked how God saved his people from the angel of death that he sent to bring judgment upon houses that didn’t have the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. 

Remember What God Did for Us

It’s vital that we too remember how God comes to our rescue. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, with joyful celebration he expressed, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Paul similarly wrote to the Corinthian Christians, saying, “Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). And in the book of Revelation, John wrote the greatest celebration song ever sung:

“You are worthy to take the scroll 
and to open its seals, 
because you were slain, 
and with your blood you purchased for God persons
from every tribe and language and people and nation. 
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, 
and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9, 10).

Here’s the point: Where there is salvation, there is celebration! Are you singing, praising, and living a life of celebration? The next time you observe the Lord’s Supper—why not let your heart rejoice, for Jesus’ blood purchased you for God. 

Daryl Reed serves as lead minister of DC Regional Christian Church in the Washington, D.C. area. Previously he served more than 25 years in full-time ministry in churches in the Midwest and California.