Passover Exodus 12:21–51 Numbers 28:16–25 Joshua 3:5–7, 5:2–6:1, 6:27 The Greater Exodus It must have been a sight to see the Hebrews walking out of Egypt. It had been a land they had known as home for many years, a land which had in the early years provided for their needs. The twelve families who had moved there so many years earlier had now become too many to number. Over time they had become a people mistrusted, despised and eventually enslaved. The slavery had caused them to cry out and the God of their fathers would hear and deliver. Now they were to set off on a journey, a journey that would take forty years of trials and testing. Some would pass the tests, most would not. This week’s readings are all about the Passover story and the exodus from Egypt. We read in Numbers how this event is to be commemorated year after year throughout all the generations of the family of God. We read about how Joshua led the people in observance of this wonderful event before they crossed into the Promised Land. As we continue to search the scriptures, we find many other references to this event which would be looking back not only to a physical deliverance from Egypt, but also forward to the fulfillment in the person of Yeshua. We also find an interesting verse about a future fulfillment in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23:1-8 speaks of a day in which false shepherds are scattering the flock of God's family. These shepherds are driving the family away from God and not taking care of them. It speaks of a time in which He will say, "Enough" and begin to bring His flock back together. He will then appoint good shepherds over His flock who will bring the family together, and take away their fear and their disgrace. The verse goes on to say that not one member of the family will be missing. He will bring them from every country to which He had previously scattered them. In that day there will be a Chief Shepherd. He will be a branch from the House of David. His name will be YHVH our Righteousness. I believe that person to be Yeshua, who will rule and reign from Jerusalem as King and Priest over the entire world. In that day Passover will still be observed as it is today, but with a new twist on the reason for its observance. In that day we will not look back so much to the exodus from Egypt, but will remember and celebrate the greater Exodus, the Exodus from the four corners of the earth. We will remember when His family was split into so many pieces, opinions and factions. We will remember how many who were part of this family called Israel had been duped into believing they were some kind of new thing HaShem had created in the first century after Messiah’s death and resurrection. There will no doubt be many funny stories told during those special Passover meals about how God had brought about this reunion of His family. We will no doubt recline together, Jews, Ephraim, Former Gentiles . . . , and share about our individual journeys out of our own Egypts and back to His fold. And at that large table the greatest of guests will sit at the head once again passing a piece of bread and drinking a cup of wine He said He would not drink again until we could all drink it together. I don’t know about you, but just the very thought of that day brings a tear to my eye and a longing in my heart. The feeling is so overwhelming that in the Passover celebrated this past week I feel a bit torn. I am torn between thanking Him for deliverance of our ancestors from Egypt, my own personal deliverance, and the ultimate Passover, which is yet to come. Take a moment to imagine our first Passover together with Him in Jerusalem. I wonder what His order of service will be. Today there are hundreds of ways of celebrating Passover, but in that day it will be His way. Will we ask the four questions and have His answer or in that day will there be new questions of even greater importance? What will it be like to sit with brothers and sisters all dwelling together in perfect unity for a change? I wonder if for the week of Unleavened Bread if He will serve matzo pizzas? For many of us today there is a great yearning for that day, a yearning that seems to build with each passing year. We do not know what this New Year holds for God's family, but we do know who holds the year. May we all join together this year in an echo of John on the Isle of Patmos when at the end of his vision recorded in Revelation he said, "Even so, come quickly Adonai Yeshua."