tSoGS Exodus 11:1-12:42

The Passover.

The end. The beginning.

Exodus 11:1-12:42

We have come half way around the circle. Adam and Eve have fallen, Noah saved a remnant. Abraham and his line held firm to the faith until Israel's children are born. Four hundred thirty years of slavery. The Israelite Nation grows so large the Egyptians fear them.
Out of that Fear, Pharaoh tries to thin the Jews; he kills all the male children. It is unspeakable, but he is Pharaoh. He is the Law. The Jews weep for justice; they cry out for mercy.

A heartsick mother performs a desperate act. She puts an infant in a reed basket, places a blanket over him. She mutters a prayer through her tears and pushes him out into the water. Eighty years later that boy from the river walked into Pharaoh's palace and announced it was time for Gods people to go home.

What ensued was war with God. Pharaoh digs in and endures nine plagues, until we reach the final act. God has had enough, Listen to Gods final warning: “… a loud wail will rise throughout the land of Egypt, a wail like no one has heard before or will ever hear again…

But first he must save His own. And that brings us to Exodus 12, Passover.

Select an animal, He Said, with no defects - perfect.

"Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses…"

Each Jewish house was marked in the blood of an innocent that night, while the world came crashing down on the Egyptians. That morning, the Jews left Egypt, loaded with the wealth of their captors, following God into who know what (sound familiar?). They were headed for the Promised Land.

This story is a crucial story of the Jewish faith, and Passover remains the most important holiday for them. God gave them specific instructions to remember that day:

"Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. Then your children will ask, 'What does this ceremony mean?' And you will reply, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt.

The story is also pivotal in our understanding of the language and symbolism of the Death of Christ. The "Last Supper" was the Passover meal eaten to fulfill this command, it is where (by tradition) the youngest person in the room (probably John that night) would ask that question: "What does this mean?” Jesus (as the most senior) would have repeated the story of the Passover for them all. This happened at every Passover meal throughout Israel.

It is at that point, we believe, that he picked up a cup, and a loaf of bread and asked us all to remember the sacrifice he would make, as the next passover lamb. His blood, shed for the sins of the world, to set a whole nation free.

It was and is a new beginning, God has given us another peek at the story.

Things to think about.

We speak of Jesus as the Lamb of God, John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5: 7-8, 1 Peter 1: 18-25, Rev 5:6 & 12. How has reading this story in this light helped you understand who Jesus is?

Has God ever delivered you from the Egyptians? Do you make it a point to remember that event and share it with your children? Should you?