Exodus 13:13 (KJV)
13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.
       Of all of God’s creatures, Man and the donkey are the only ones that needed redemption, according to the law of Moses. So in redemption the donkey plays the part of man. The donkey the type, man the anti-type. For the firstborn of the donkey, it was either redemption or death; same as the predicament of man. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, man has been doomed to die, under the curse of sin, and his only hope is redemption through the perfect Lamb of God; Jesus Christ.

     So imagine with me the position of the Jewish farmer, committed to keeping the law. So under the farmers care a baby donkey is born. Just a little skinny, wobbly runt, and he is the firstborn of his mother. The farmer has two options, either sacrifice a lamb for it, or kill it by breaking it’s neck. The farmer looks at the little runt and says; “I don’t see much potential in that animal, and trouble is, to keep it I have to sacrifice my only lamb. Not only that, but the lamb is perfect, adorable, and the family pet. Would be nice to keep the donkey, but it’s not worth the lamb.” So it’s pretty straight forward; he tells his servant to take the little runt out back and break his neck.

     Then I see God looking down at me, very much like that skinny wobbly runt of a donkey, and I hear him say;”I just don’t see much potential there, certainly none outside of redemption, trouble is, he’s not worth the Lamb”

     The donkey is by nature, stubborn, lazy and cantankerous; just like man!

People who only keep donkeys for pets may disagree because if you cater to their every whim they can be very congenial, but if you ask an unbroken donkey to do something it doesn’t wish to do his true nature is exposed; again, just like people! God chose the perfect creature to depict man in redemption. God could have said, when man rebelled as a race and took his own way,”I’ll just wipe him off the map and start over with someone better, as he threatened to Moses in the wilderness when he was disappointed with Israel, but wonder of wonders, God had mercy on you and I. He sacrificed heavens best Lamb, his only begotten son, so that we, sinful, unworthy humans, could be redeemed from destruction!

     Isaiah 53:6 (KJV)
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
     John 3:16 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

   

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