Year of the Bible: Part Three of Twelve Sample

Remember the Passover

After hardening his heart and not releasing God's people from slavery, Pharaoh and all of Egypt witnessed the power and authority of God. When Pharaoh saw death taking the first-born male from every family and livestock and was powerless to stop it, he had no other choice but to submit to God's authority and will.

God's people, however, suffered no such loss because they obeyed God's instructions to shed the blood of an unblemished lamb and spread the blood over the doorposts of their homes. Romans 6:23 tells us that the payment for sin is death. God delivered His people from death by the shed blood of a lamb. As death made its way through the community, God caused it to "pass over" the dwellings covered by this blood.

This event was important to the Israelites in a few key ways. The Israelites became a sovereign nation and rediscovered that their God created everything. He was more powerful than the gods of Egypt, with whom they had become very familiar during the last 400 years, and He delivered His people from slavery into freedom to serve Him.

The results of this first Passover are astonishing. Even more impressive is how Passover foreshadows an eternal reality we receive in Christ. Jesus' blood covers our hearts and is the payment required for our sin. God loves us, forgives us, and the punishment for our sin passes over us and can no longer touch us. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, He said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) Jesus is the Lamb of God who overcomes sin and death for us!

In Christ, you are free from the power of sin and eternal death. You are free from "Egypt" [which represents captivity to sin] that bound you, and you are no longer a slave to the culture of sin. Moses taught the Israelites to remember Passover's events and share them with their families and future generations. Likewise, Jesus taught his disciples during Passover (Luke 22) to remember Him and what his blood and body represent. Let's celebrate and share these truths with all those we love until the whole world knows the love of God demonstrated in Jesus!

Question: Have you ever considered how much faith the Israelites needed to trust God's plan of saving them in this way? Is the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, on the doorpost of your heart by faith?

Prayer focus: If this truth is new to you, ask the Lord to be your Savior and welcome Him into your heart. Take some time to thank God for the mighty work Jesus did for you and for God's desire to provide a way of deliverance out of bondage and into freedom.

Go Deeper: Truly, there is power in the blood of Jesus, and its power to save is activated in our lives through faith. Trust is faith in action. Trust [or the lack of it] is how we demonstrate our true beliefs. When we trust [read rest] in the work of Christ, we show we believe the truth of what his blood represents for all who believe.