Understanding the Passover
So many times in the Old Testament, God gives us a “type and shadow” of the things to come in the
future. He gives us a metaphor and with this metaphor God loves to paint a picture with His Words. In this article I want to share a little on my favorite type and shadow in the Bible: The Passover from the book of Exodus.
Exodus 12:21; Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.
God is painting the picture and it an easy one to understand. When we go through the story and understand what these words mean spiritually, they give us a deeper meaning of our salvation.
Egypt/World System
First let us look at Egypt. Egypt is a picture of the “world” in which we are all born into. We are children of God yes, but after the fall of Adam and Eve, we are no longer born into “Eden” but into this fallen world. So after the fall of man at the garden, every man and woman born into this world are born spiritually dead. This is why Jesus said in John 3;3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” You might be alive physically but your spirit is dead and can not understand the things of God or enter into His Kingdom. When we are not born-again, our mind and thoughts are locked into this world view and system. We simply can not gasp spiritual truths.
Here is an example we all have heard; “I read the Bible but it is nothing but Greek to me!” The reason is: We need the help of the Holy Spirit to teach us the spiritual truths contained in the Word of God. Without God’s aid the Bible is reduced to a bunch of ancient stories written in an ancient culture. So we need to be born again (our spirit-man becoming alive) to understand the Biblical truths and principles God set in His Word.
Which lead us to the next point.
Living in Egypt Produces Slaves
For 430 years the Israelites lived in Egypt and Egypt made them slaves. Being born into this world produces the same results, sin becomes our slave-master. When we read of Israel suffering at the hands of slave-masters, this should be a wake-up call to all of us. This is an excellent example showing us how living in this world will treat us. Sin is a brutal task master!
Roman 6:17; But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
Unfortunately, many find pleasure in this world with its many sins. Because of this desire for pleasure many choose to stay in their sins. God will never force anyone to leave, remember God gives us our choice. As long as we desire this world with its manifold pleasures, they are ours. God gives them to us, including all the pains, problems and consequences that come along with sin.
Proverbs 10:2 A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes.
Good News
God did not intend for us to stay in the world system and be slaves for our entire lives. As He did for Israel, He does for us in this story.
“Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
The Lamb
Dip the blood
Exodus 12:22 dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.
If you look at the picture of the door, you will see that when the Israelites took the hysop branch, dipped it in the blood, struck the top of the door and then moved this bloody, dripping branch left to right they were looking at something very puzzling to them: “a picture of a bloody cross.” on their door. To them this was a mystery because the cross for crucifixion, was not made for thousands of years later by the Roman Empire. But for us today what a powerful picture this is.
The Results of the Blood
Nevertheless, when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
This is the great news of the gospel. Jesus sacrificed Himself for your sins and took all your punishment upon Himself! This happened so that when it is time for judgement, God will do the same as he did in this picture story. God’s judgement (the destroyer) will pass over you and you will not die. (eternally)
When your life is marked by the “blood of the lamb,” God’s judgement will never come upon you. It will pass over you. When Satan wants to drag your spirit to hell he will see that your spirit is reborn and the outer door of your heart is marked by the blood of Jesus. He then has to pass over you. He no longer has any claims on your life. You have been purchased and delivered from his power by Jesus Christ. Think about it, Jesus dying in our place is the best news there could ever be!
Remember, the Egyptians and the Israelites are the same, they are both members of this human race. So what was the different between the children of the world (Egyptians) and the children of God (Israel)? In reality nothing! But whoever applied the blood to their doorway was spared. I believe if an Egyptian heard this and did the same, in faith with the people of Israel, they would have received the same blessing from God. The judgement would have passed over them too.
I believe this would have gone the other way also. If an Israelite that night, decided this was foolish and did not apply the blood of the Lamb to the door post, he would have received the same judgement as the Egyptians did that night.
- Acknowledge you are a sinner, or if you are a religious person you may be trying to earn your way to heaven through traditions and the law.
- Repent (this simply means that your going one way and you notice you are going the wrong way! Turn Around! Your life is leading you straight to hell. Turn around and move toward God.
- Realize you can not save yourself! Only Jesus can save you and He already did 2000 years ago on the cross, He became that Lamb and shed his blood for you and I.
- Just like Israel, place (spiritually) the blood on the post of your heart. You do this by accepting this free gift and giving your life to Jesus. It simply is for the asking and God gives it.
- When you do this, God’s judgement will pass over you because Jesus already received that punishment at the cross. One final thing, this is not just a “get out of Hell free card”. Going to Heaven and missing Hell is a great benefit of being passed over from God’s judgement, but there is so, so much more!
- John 17:3 (NKJV) And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. So what is eternal life? We get to spend the rest of this life on earth and then the next in eternity getting to know God and Jesus Christ!
Written by Dennis Stauffer
Edited by Gary Green (Omega House)
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