THE THEME OF THIS DEVOTION IS:
PASSOVER WAS AN EXPRESSION OF GRACE BY WAY OF THE COVERING OF THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB WHICH ALONE—APART FROM AND PRIOR TO THE COMMANDMENTS GIVEN AT SINAI—SAVED FROM THE WRATH OF GOD UPON THE PAGAN WORLD.
THE GIVING OF THE LAW AT SINAI WAS THE FLESHING OUT OF THAT GRACE IN TERMS OF THE FORM OF THE NATIONAL LIFE OF ISRAEL THAT WAS TO BE PRACTICED—PERFORMED JOYFULLY IN ALL THE SIGNIFICANT DETAILS OF KINGDOM LIFE. IN EFFECT, LAW—WHICH IS ACTUALLY PARTICULARIZED INSTRUCTION—BECOMES THE BODY OF THE SPIRIT OF PASSOVER—THE PRACTICAL EMBODIMENT OF THE GRACE GIVEN AT PASSOVER. IT IS THE NEW ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNANCE FOR THE GRACIOUSLY-REDEEMED PEOPLE OF GOD OUT FROM UNDER THE RULE OF THE CARNAL KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD.
AS A RESULT, NOT ONLY IS LAW THE BODY OF GRACE, BUT ALSO GRACE IS THE INNER LIFE, THE SPIRIT, OF LAW. FOR THIS REASON YESHUA AFFIRMED THE TORAH (Matthew 5:17-18) AND YET TAUGHT THE SPIRIT OF THE TORAH (the entire Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7). HE EXPLAINED THE INNER REALITIES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD BY HIS PARABLES AND HE DEMONSTRATED HOW THE TORAH IS TO BE LIVED FROM THE INWARD MOTIVATION OF DIVINE LOVE; HE DID THIS BY MEANS OF HIS EXEMPLARY LIFE.
WE ARE DISCIPLES OF YESHUA HA NOTZRI, HA MASHIACH, BEYN ELOHIM, THE TORAH OF GOD MADE FLESH. HE HIMSELF IS THE FULFILLING OF THE TORAH GIVEN TO MOSES AT SINAI.
The STONE edition of the TANAKH has a particularly cogent comment on Exodus 21:1:
“The juxtaposition of this Sidrah (dealing primarily with civil and tort law) with the Ten Commandments and the laws of the Altar provide a startling insight into Judaism. Religion is not limited to ritual and spirituality. To the contrary, all areas of life are intertwined and holiness derives from halachically correct business dealings no less than from piety in matters of ritual.”
Beyond this comment, as seen through the lens of the Torah of Messiah in the Sermon on the Mount, the whole of a human being becomes involved in the life of the follower of God—the spirit, the soul and the body. In effect, this whole devotion is the meaning of the SHEMA: “and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength (body).” (Deuteronomy 6:5) Yeshua properly took one’s love of God one step further by affirming the second great commandment from Leviticus 19:18, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
The whole Torah of God for man is Love: first for God, then for oneself redemptively, and then redemptively for one’s neighbor—the person who is near you in life.
Therefore, until one has cleansed his (or her) heart by personal application of the blood of the Passover Lamb to their inner being by obedience to the Gospel, that one is unprepared to carry out the life contained in the particular commandments of God. But when one is born again of the Spirit of God by grace through faith in the promises of God, then the commandments that are designed to produce the perfected life of mankind become not a burden but rather the normal outworking of the Spirit of God who dwells in our hearts by faith. (Habbakkuk 2:4; Hebrews 10:38-39)
This is what it means to sanctify God in the world.
