Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

God’s plan to Protect

Exodus 12v13 “When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”  (NIV)

Probably the most significant event in the Old Testament is The Exodus. It took place around 1400BC, but had been anticipated since Abraham, and was subsequently celebrated as the great marker of God’s people Israel. It was an event with two sides: firstly, the side of judgment on the people of Egypt, and secondly the side of deliverance of the people of Israel.

Egypt was under the judgment of God, because they had mistreated the Israelites, they were refusing to let Israel go to worship the LORD, and they were depending on the “gods of Egypt” (12v12). By Exodus 12, they had suffered nine plagues. Now the LORD declared through Moses the tenth and final plague: “Every firstborn son in Egypt will die … But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” In fact, this would be the event which would propel Israel out of Egypt.

However, the Israelites had to individually do something to make the protection effective: and God told them through Moses what that was. They must kill a lamb, put some of the blood on their doorframes, and then cook and quickly eat the lamb. “Eat in haste, it is the LORD’s Passover.” On that same night, God would come and strike down the firstborn as he had said, but when he saw the blood on the doorposts, he would “Passover” and not harm any in that household.

The event is important to us as Christians because:

  • Jesus’ death occurred at the Passover time, emphasising the clear link. Jesus and his disciples conducted the Passover remembrance at the “Last Supper”.
  • It symbolises for us what is coming. As in the days of Moses, God has declared a coming judgment on all the “gods” of this world, and on the people entangled with them. Jesus has not stopped a final judgment, rather he reinforced the prophecies of the coming day.
  • It symbolises what we need to do now. Jesus is described as “our Passover lamb” (1 Corinthians 5v7). Why? Because, as in the days of Moses, where the blood of Jesus has been (metaphorically / spiritually) sprinkled on us, then God’s final judgment will “Passover” us, and we will be released into the eternal kingdom of freedom. The time to apply the blood is now, before it is too late.

Let’s give thanks to God: he has chosen to protect us from the coming judgment as we apply the blood of Jesus.

With love and blessing,

Roland