Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of LifeExemplo

The radical, unexpected nature of the biblical story is that the hope for the Israelites in Egypt and our hope today rest on the shoulders of a Lamb.

It is a major understatement when the Bible says that God’s ways aren’t like our ways and his thoughts aren’t like our thoughts (Isa. 55:8). No human being, no matter how brilliant, insightful, or experienced, would have been able to write the grand biblical story. The way God chooses to work and the instruments he chooses to use surprise us again and again. The apostle Paul expresses it this way: “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27–29). God intentionally does things in a way that defies human understanding, explanation, and credit-taking. He works in ways that cause us to step back and say, “Only God could have done this,” and in saying this, humbly run to him for the help that he alone is able to give.

Such is the story of the final emancipation of God’s chosen children from Egypt. Despite Pharaoh’s resistance in the face of the terror of the plagues, God would not grow weary, and he would not turn his back on those who were the object of his covenant promises. He would deliver. No one would stand in the way of the divine and holy will of the King of kings and Lord of lords, not even the most powerful ruler on earth. But the way the people would be freed could never have been anticipated by any Israelite. By God’s wise and holy plan, the Israelites would be saved from slaughter and emancipated from their bondage by the blood of a lamb. That blood, sprinkled on the doorpost of an Israelite house, meant that God would pass over that house. God chose a lowly but spotless lamb to provide both salvation from death and liberation to a new life for his covenant children (Ex. 12:3–7).

Our hope, too, rests on the shoulders of a Lamb. Jesus didn’t come as a conquering general, to throw down the kingdoms of men. No, he came to be a sacrificial Lamb. He, too, was a Lamb without blemish, who would be sacrificed for the salvation and liberation of all who believe in him. By the power of his shed blood, we are delivered from our bondage to sin and death and liberated to a new life of freedom as the children of God. We never could have written this story. We never would have anticipated that death would be the portal to life, that God would send a Lamb to do what kings, queens, and generals could never do. Now, that’s a radical story, but it’s very, very good news.

For further study and encouragement: Revelation 5:6–14