The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
Exodus 12:1-2
This wonderful chapter recounts the story of the Passover, the foundation and inspiration of Israel's religion. The two opening verses give us some indication of the fundamental importance it was to have in the life and experience of the people. It was to be the beginning of months for them, and the first month of the year - that is, it was to signify the beginning of everything for them. And it is significant that all down Israel's subsequent history the Passover was looked back on as that which brought them as a nation into covenant relationship with God. And God is spoken of as the God that brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. There is always a new beginning when God intervenes in the human situation. One is reminded of the opening words of Genesis, 'In the beginning God'. It was certainly a new thing that He did in Israel on this occasion. It is well for us to remember, in the illustration which the entire chapter gives of the work of redemption wrought in Christ, that our Christian history begins with the mighty work of God in redemption, and that our whole existence rests on something God has done for us that we could never do for ourselves, just as truly as Israel's did in old time. It is therefore an existence in grace, and auditioned at every point by grace. We shall see, when we come to the story of the giving of the law at Sinai, that this is again emphasised, in the summons to obedience of the commandments based on the fact that the people had been redeemed unto God. Every new beginning in spiritual life has its origin in the renewal of the consciousness of what God has done for us in Christ. Little wonder that Paul is so concerned in his epistles that we should know (Romans 6:3, 6, 9, 16) and understand (Ephesians 1:18; 3:18, 19) these things!