First, we were given the Passover tradition of unleavened bread. Now we’re given a direction for when the Lord brings them into the Promised Land. They are told to set apart to the Lord all the firstborn males, whether human or animal.

The firstborn male child is not to be sacrificed but is to be consecrated, made holy, set apart to the Lord by redeeming it. A price has to be paid. This ritual is honoring God, remembering His strong arm delivering His people out of Egypt and saving them when the firstborn of all Egypt were killed. They had been passed over and it was a protection bought with blood.

In time, God would give His own firstborn son to be the sacrificial lamb, to redeem and buy back a people for Himself, to set them apart as holy, to make them His own. Again, we are told this also will be as a mark on their hands or their foreheads.

What is the mark?

The mark is the remembering, the believing, and the showing of those things by the obeying of the command.

Your head is your thoughts. Your hand is your actions.

When Jesus sent His only Son because He loved the world, it was so that whoever believed in Him would be saved. How do we show we believe?

We obey His word. If we don’t live by His word, then it shows we don’t believe it.

How are you marked for God?

You remember, trust, and obey.