“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.” – Exodus 12:2
What is he talking about?
Passover.
The Israelites, in Egypt, in slavery, some 5000 years ago, were being told of the second greatest redemption in all of history. At it’s preparation the instruction from God was that their whole calendar would change. It would begin their year afresh and they would celebrate with a feast. Nothing had happened yet. The Passover was to come (where the angel of the LORD would pass over the houses covered by the blood of the lamb). But the blood of the lamb couldn’t be there unless they prepared the feast. The terrifying events to come were foreshadowed by the feasting involved in bringing people together.
Not to drag this through history and make a terribly obvious observation; Christmas isn’t dissimilar to it. The Christmas story has created a preparation feast for us, that even though the terrible and awesome act that Jesus (the lamb whose blood was shed) did on the cross was to come, we would celebrate all that will happen.
The change in calendar won’t go unnoticed; though the Israelites were told to start their year, the birth of Jesus restarted our year count to 0(ish). The great parallel between the two only further shows how Jesus is the true lamb of God whose blood was shed for the salvation of God’s people.
Toby
