Exodus 12:1 – And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,

Exodus 12:2 – This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Exodus 12:3 – Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

Hello readers, we have just stepped into a new year and I do hope it is a good year for you. And I’ve got many blogs I would like to do, but I would like to begin this year with this one, which I believe will be a blessing to all of us if we can get a hold of it.

In the Bible, in Exodus 12, we see God giving Israel a new start, a new beginning. In this new year, do you want a new start? Do you want a new beginning? In this chapter, the passover lamb sacrifice was ordained by God to Moses, and that was the basis of a new beginning for Israel “this month shall be unto you the beginning of months”.

If you want a new start that you hope a new year may bring, well the only truly new beginning is the beginning God gives you freely based on the sacrifice of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The turning of the clock at midnight cannot do what the blood of the Lamb of God can do and will do for you. You want a truly new year? You need Christ, our passover. He is your new year, he is your new beginning.

Maybe in this new year you are looking for a new beginning, you’re after a brighter future and better outcomes, and there’s some stuff you want to put behind you… but as in years past, all that optimism, hope and determination seems to always give way to the same old story of years gone by. That had been the case for Israel. Year after year the story was the same… slaves in Egypt.

The Hebrews had suffered under Pharaoh’s dominion, and maybe you’ve spent a lot of your life serving the devil, and he’s impoverished your life greatly over the years. You’re just a used up, spent and spat out wreck perhaps. How long are you going to let Satan steal what he has no right to in your life? How many years? How many of God’s promises? Will you let Satan deprive you of God’s new start for you?

Every salvation story is a new start. Did you know that? Because a new man is born in you, born of God… a man, a creation of God that will live forever. That’s a new start! Salvation is a new start because of a new birth… and that new birth is based on believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some good news, some gospel news had arrived in Egypt. Deliverance had come with the arrival of God’s word, spoken by Moses to Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.” You either serve Pharaoh or God, there is no third option. How has the devil worked out for you so far?

Pharaoh didn’t want to let them go, but the passover was what would break his hold, blood would break his hold on the people of Israel. A new clock would start for Israel with the commandment of God and the preparation of the passover. It was the  offering of an innocent, spotless, pure lamb to God that was the basis of this new beginning they would have. They put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, and the angel passed over that night, satisfied with the blood.

What a glorious picture this is of the marvelous deliverance of the believer through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ from Satan and this world. Passover night completely broke Pharaoh’s hold on these people, and gave way to the dawning of a new day, a new month, a new year, a new life, a new purpose, a new direction a new journey… Israel had their new beginning.

There were a lot of Hebrews who wanted to put the past behind them, as you could well imagine. They wanted to put the slavery, the bondage, the affliction, the servitude and toil behind them. They wanted to put the cruelty of Pharaoh and his oppression in Egypt behind them. And now they could, because of God’s deliverance. God had made a way for a new beginning for them.

So this passover lamb sacrifice is a glorious picture of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. The only truly new start, the only new beginning is found in him… who is the beginning. Anything less than Christ is more of the same old, perhaps with a paintjob or some wallpaper over old cracks to try and tell a new story which isn’t truly new. But new leaves wither and resolutions to do better and be better always inevitably fade. The only thing that makes you right with God and gives you a new start is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Hebrews entire new year and calendar and life would be based on the passover lamb. That’s where your new beginning starts. The blood of Christ must be applied to your heart by faith. You must trust and obey the word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So often we try building a new beginning, but we are willing to eat the lamb and put his blood on our doorposts. We want a new beginning without sacrifice… but there is no new beginning without Christ our sacrifice. You see, they would offer sacrifices to please God and be accepted by God… but nothing we are or can do will ever please God or cause him to accept us. Because we are all sinners. The only acceptance we can have with God is based on the person and work of his Son.

Do you want a new start? Do you seek a new beginning? Do you want to leave a life of captivity to sin and death and this world of lies and darkness and Satan behind? It all starts at the cross of Christ. He is our passover, he is the basis for our new start, and the breaking of a new day and the rising of a new dawn in our hearts and lives.

You can have that new start, but it takes the blood of Christ. It takes trusting in the word of God and obeying him. Maybe the bitter herbs are what put you off. It’s a bit bitter being told you are a sinner, it’s a bit bitter hearing that if you do not believe on Jesus Christ, you will go to hell. But it’s the truth.

Jesus Christ is your new start. That same creative power of Genesis 1 can create a new life in you. Light can shine where there was darkness. He can make the change that you, no matter how hard you’ve tried and what you’ve tried, have been unable to bring about heretofore. Begin this new year with Christ our passover, and that will be your new year, and the start of a truly new life, a journey out of Egypt to God’s promised land for your life.

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