Redemption

 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.'
Exodus 13:15 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/exo.13.15.ESV

We might think of stubbornness as a childish and somewhat amusing state of being, but God takes it deadly seriously. Pharoah stubbornly refused to let the children of Israel go. God's response was to strike down the firstborn of Egypt.

Note that God wasn't being racist when he killed the firstborn of Egypt, and saved Israel. The means of salvation wasn't ethnicity but the shedding of blood. If Egyptians had sacrificed lambs as prescribed by God, they would have been saved too.

Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. Clearly, lambs blood can't really save us. Yet it is a picture of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for us.

Jesus was the firstborn of the virgin Mary. Yet God crushed Him for our sakes, so that we can be redeemed. Thankfully, that wasn't the end of the story: His own life was redeemed from the tomb.

'Dear Father God, thank You for sending Your Son to give His life for our redemption, may we trust in Him, in whose name we pray, amen'

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