People who are wise respond to God and try to understand the purpose for the hard time they encounter. Know that in our spiritual journey, God is honing us so that we will become increasingly better. But pride can ruin everything for us. Pharaoh’s resistance is pride at its clearest demonstration. It was a contest of the will between God and his. Pharaoh would not yield to God, so one final blow was set up. It was to be the deadliest of all the plagues. Its objective was clearly shown in Exodus 12:12. God said, “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments - I am the Lord.” God would not share His glory with the false gods and goddesses of Egypt and in every plague, He revealed Himself as the only true and living God worthy of worship.
In these first thirteen verses in Exodus 12, we see the institution of the Passover Feast by God. It tells us that like the Egyptians, the children of Israel were also under a death sentence. In all the earlier plagues, God specifically made a distinction between them and the Egyptians. In Goshen, where the children of Israel were located, none of the plagues touched them. But for this one, they were also equally susceptible to death as the Egyptians. The same angel of death that would come upon the Egyptians could also visit any home of the Israelites, had God not made a provision for them to escape the impending devastation. The destroyer to be sent would take all the firstborn of the land, Egyptian or otherwise. This teaches us a lesson on sin and salvation. It tells us about the universality of sin. It is so pervasive, and with it comes the sentence of death. The Israelites who watched the effect of the first nine plagues could be tempted to think that they would be immune to God’s final judgment upon the Egyptians. They would be dead wrong to entertain that thought. For the truth remains that like the Egyptians, they were just as unrighteous before God, but for His grace. The harsh reality is that Jews or Gentiles, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
This episode also teaches us about the grace of God. He had provided a way of escape for His people who dare to trust Him. This episode shows us the true way to salvation. The provision of the Passover lamb was a way of escape from the angel of death. God, very specifically, gave them instruction on how to escape this angel of death. The animal for sacrifice must be perfect and unblemished. It points to Christ our perfect unblemished sacrifice. It had to do with the blood of the lamb that would be smeared on the doorpost and lintel of each house to the visitation of the destroyer. It speaks of the blood of Christ that redeems us from the curse of death. Their salvation was paid for by the blood of a lamb but ours was paid for by the blood of Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Beloved, we are not our own, we were bought with a price. God has purchased us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
There are more that could be gleaned from this Passover Feast. It would take a whole volume to write about. Suffice to say that with this historic event, the Passover Feast was instituted. It is an event to be commemorated yearly by the Israelites to remind them of all that they had gone through, and how God had delivered them with His mighty hand. We shall conclude our thoughts with verse 13. It says, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” It is all about the blood and it points forward to the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. As the children of Israel trusted in the blood of the Passover lamb, we must trust in the precious blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. It’s His blood that cleanses us and takes away our sins. It’s true that our sin may be crimson red but through Christ’s blood they shall be washed and made white as snow. As Peter has said in his letter that we “…were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).” What a glorious privilege!
No comments:
Post a Comment