The Lamb Must Be Chosen!

Exodus 12:4-6  And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6  and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 

There is something deeply intentional in God’s instruction concerning the lamb. He does not tell Israel to take a lamb at the last moment — He commands them to choose it on the 10th day of Nisan, set it apart, and live with it until the 14th day. This was not random timing; it was divine design.

For four days, the lamb would be in the house. It would be seen, observed, and known. It would not remain distant — it would become familiar. The household would examine it, ensuring it was without blemish. But more than that, something deeper was happening: the lamb was becoming personal before it became sacrificial.

This is the Hebraic weight of the moment. God was not establishing a cold ritual — He was cultivating a relational reality. The lamb you offer must first be the lamb you have received. Redemption is not built on distance — it is built on encounter.

And all of these points lead us directly to Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ).

On the 10th of Nisan, He entered Jerusalem. In the days that followed, He was examined by religious leaders, questioned in the temple, and scrutinized publicly. Yet no fault was found in Him. Just as the lamb in Exodus was brought into the house and observed, so the true Lamb of God was brought before the people and revealed to be without blemish.

But there is another layer that carries profound prophetic significance. It was also on the 10th of Nisan that the children of Israel, under Joshua, crossed into the Promised Land (Joshua 4:19). On that very day, they entered into inheritance — and on that same day, they were commanded to choose the Passover lamb.

The connection is not accidental.

Entrance into promise is inseparably tied to the Lamb. You do not step into inheritance apart from sacrifice, and you do not walk in promise apart from redemption. The Lamb marks both your deliverance from Egypt and your entrance into destiny, revealing a powerful truth: the Lamb is not only the way out — He is the way in.

There is a real urgency in this hour, especially for those who already know the Lord. You may sense that God is bringing you into a new season — standing at the edge of promise, aware that something is shifting. But this moment is not just about stepping forward; it is about drawing nearer to the Lamb in a deeper, more intentional way. Israel did not enter the Promised Land apart from the Lamb — they chose the lamb on the very day they crossed over. In the same way, every new place God brings you into requires a fresh nearness, a renewed focus, a deeper surrender to Yeshua.

As we enter this Pesach (Passover) season, this is your invitation to step into that same intentional pattern—because just as God instructed Israel to choose the lamb ahead of time, He is calling you to draw near to Him in a real and deliberate way. As you do, what God has already done in your life won’t remain a distant memory—it will become stronger and more alive within you. You’ll begin to see more clearly who you are in Him, feel more grounded in your walk, and the path ahead will start to open with greater clarity. This nearness is what positions you to step into what He has for you in this season—leading you into your calling and your destiny—but it all begins the same way it did then: by choosing the Lamb fresh and new.

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.

How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.

[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]

The place we call home in Israel is in the rebuilt city of Arad, an ancient city rebuilt in 1962 near the historic site of Tel Arad. It was the first planned city in Israel.

Tel Arad was an ancient fortress that, according to archaeologists, has been destroyed and rebuilt at least ten times. The citadel was thought to have originally been built during the times of King David and Solomon. The Negev desert’s arid conditions have remarkably preserved the fortress’s archaeological layers, providing a continuous record of its history for hundreds of years.

Last week, I did a series of devotionals on the Dead Sea scrolls. As I’ve been pointing out the archaeological discoveries as well as their prophetic significance, I’ve saved the best for last! Recently discovered fragments of the Bible in the Dead Sea region containing two passages of Scripture are incredibly relevant. I spoke of the passage in Zechariah last week.

When we study a translation of a Scripture passage we often miss out on the nuances hidden in the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament). Often, it’s not that a word is mistranslated, but that rendering the meaning in one English word is difficult if not impossible.

When Moses sent out the 12 spies to report on the condition of the land of “milk and honey”, ten of the spies brought back a bad report. They focused on the giants, and the great obstacles in their way. They walked with eyes set on the physical realm and said within themselves, “We are but grasshoppers in the sight of these giants!

Living in Israel all these years, I often encounter amazing stories of God’s deliverance and grow increasingly fond of listening to the fascinating ways He shows His power. During our tour in England recently, we met a man whose family experienced a great miracle during WW1. He tells this incredible story…

In this world we will face all kinds of obstacles, trials and tribulations and we should be wary of any doctrines or teachings that say we shouldn’t have to face these things. Why? Because the Lord said we will have tribulations. So the encouragement He is giving is simply this: You’re going to face trials, but GOD is greater than any problem you will face in this world!

When the prophet Jonah entered Nineveh, he gave a message of hopelessness — in 40 days your city will be destroyed! He did not say, Nineveh will be destroyed “unless”, but emphatically prophesied destruction to the people of the city — seeming to say their situation was hopeless. Yet hearing this message …