Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the chapter before us continues to present ritual truth, along much the same lines as the previous chapter. This is a way of thinking, and a way of communicating truth, in which we have little experience. Even the very word "rite" or "ritual" conveys to us the impression of hackneyed, stale, going-through-the-motions religion. Ritual is, in the contemporary Protestant/broad evangelical mind, something that Roman Catholics do, and which is vaguely unbiblical and even un-Christian. But I want you to drop those preconceptions and look carefully at the text with me. The literal meaning of Exodus 13 is not all about breaking the neck of donkeys and getting rid of leaven for seven days. The literal meaning is spelled out by Moses, through structure, diction, summary, and more — and it is this: Rightly used, the rites of unleavened bread and firstborn redemption are means of making Israel holy by teaching it to remember how God delivered His people from Egypt and brought them into the Promised Land. In other words, though we do not celebrate this feast or consecrate our firstborn as Ancient Israel did, we are still a people holy to the Lord, and we still express and engender that holiness in the once-for-all rite of baptism and the oft-repeated rite of feasting on unleavened bread. And so we need to learn that these rites were not about going through the motions; they signified the holiness of God's people and served as reminders of all that God had done for His people in bringing them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. And they still do.
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Caleb Nelson
Holiness 101 Exodus: Who Is the LORD? Harvest Reformed...
Caleb Nelson grew up in Ft. Collins, CO. Born into a Christian home, where he eventually became the eldest of 11 children, he has been a lifelong Presbyterian. He professed faith at the age of six, and was homeschooled through high school. He then attended Patrick Henry College...
