Mensa Otabil - A New Agenda
- Watch
- Donate
Exodus 12:3 speaks to all the congregation of Israel, saying, «On the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.»
After 430 years, God issues new instructions to Moses about how the process of deliverance is going to take place, and Moses starts implementing a new agenda for God. There are a few things we learn from this passage. First, God says to Moses, «Speak these words to Israel.» God gives instructions to Moses just as He has been doing in the past to issue to Israel. Every new beginning includes new instructions. You cannot follow the same old instructions and get a new direction for your life, so God is giving new instructions. These are instructions He has never given them before. He has given them other instructions earlier, but this is a new set of instructions for this new phase of their lives. When God is about to do something new in your life or my life, He will give us the direction, the instructions, and the word to follow to get to the new place. Every new beginning comes with new instructions.
The second thing God says to Moses is, «Tell them every man shall take a lamb for himself.» This is a very important instruction because it foreshadows Jesus Christ; it foreshadows the Lamb of God who would later come to take away the sins of the world. The lamb they are providing here is taking away the sins of families, but the Lamb of God will take away the sins of the world. This foreshadows what God would do, but the important thing I want you to note is that every new beginning requires new sacrifices. They have to make a new sacrifice because you cannot just keep doing the same thing, not sacrificing anything, and living leisurely, and hoping that your life is going to change or that things are going to change.
When God demands something from us, we’re going to make sacrifices. If you get married and want your marriage to work, you have to sacrifice: sacrifice your time, sacrifice effort, sacrifice so that your marriage will work. If you grow and become a father, you make sacrifices; if you become a mother, you make sacrifices so your children will do well. Every new beginning requires sacrifices, and God is saying to Israel, «I’m about to do something new with you; you have to make a sacrifice. It’s going to cost you.»
Sacrifices are not cheap; sacrifices are costly. They cost us time, they cost us effort, they cost us some talent, but you have to give up something in order to get something better, and that’s what a sacrifice is all about. Thankfully, in the New Testament, the one who makes the sacrifice for our salvation is God Himself. God became man in the form of Jesus, and He paid the ultimate price, but for this testament, the people had to make the sacrifice.
The third thing God says is, «A lamb for a household.» This is not just an individual having something for himself; God wants to touch the whole family. God wants to touch the community. God wants to touch the nation. The amazing thing about God, as you read through the Bible, is that as much as He’s concerned with individuals and their salvation and well-being, He’s also concerned about the families and the communities. So every promise He has goes beyond the individual to his family, to his community, to his nation. God wants everybody to enjoy His goodness; He doesn’t just want it to be for one person while others are denied. So He says that the lamb shall be for a household. May the Lord help us in this new season to follow His instructions, make the right sacrifices, and bring other people into His blessing.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, Your instructions are the key to my promotion. I ask You, Lord, to take me to new levels. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»