Wednesday
Wednesday
The Passover
When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway.
Exodus 12:23
God gave clear instructions about the tenth and final plague. At about midnight he would pass through Egypt in judgment, and all the firstborn of all social classes would die.
But the Israelites would be spared if they killed an unblemished year-old lamb, one per household, and smeared some of its blood on the top and sides of their front doors. They must not go outside, for that night God would pass through Egypt, and when he saw the blood, he would pass over the house to protect it. This Passover festival was to be the beginning of the Israelites’ calendar year and was to be celebrated annually.
For Christians, Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God” concerning whom we proclaim, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival” (1 Cor. 5:7–8). We can learn several truths from the Passover story. Firstly, the Judge and the Savior are the same person. God who passed through Egypt to judge the firstborn also passed over Israelite homes to shelter them. We must never characterize the Father as Judge and the Son as Savior. It is one and the same God who through Jesus Christ saves us from his own judgment.
Secondly, salvation was (and is) by substitution. The only firstborn males who were spared were those in whose household a firstborn lamb had died instead. Thirdly, the lamb’s blood had to be sprinkled after it had been shed. There had to be an individual appropriation of the divine provision. God had to see the blood before he could save the family.
Fourthly, each family rescued by God was thereby purchased for God. Their whole life now belonged to him. So does ours. And consecration leads to celebration. The life of God’s redeemed people is a continuous feast, ritually expressed in the Eucharist, which is our Christian festival of thanksgiving.
For further reading: Revelation 5:6–14