“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it (the lamb.) It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. 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.” Ex 12:7, 11b-13
Chapter 12 documents the last and final of the plagues upon Egypt, the death of the firstborns. God unleashes a violent, widespread plague that will finally move the stone-like heart of Pharaoh. It’s bitterly sad that this is what it took to finally move Pharaoh to the point that he would relent to Almighty God and release the Israelites; the death of every firstborn in the land. In that day, the Egyptians believed that all firstborns were required by the false god’s and therefore they were all dedicated to one of the false gods. So you see that by God taking the firstborn of all man and beast, He was striking the ultimate blow to all false Egyptian gods as well as to all those that worshipped them.
What impacts me greatly is how the 10th plague is described by God. The grief, the shock, the wailing. The plague brought a very pointed, specific death across the entire land and it was a moment in time that defies processing. Read some of God’s comments:
“There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.” 11:6
“And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.” Ex 12:30b
Death in every house caused cries of pain, agony, torment and anguish that filled the land. The hills and valleys of Egypt reverberated with wailing and weeping. In the deathly darkness of the night, death visited Egypt. In fact, we’re told right here in God’s Holy and true Word that there has never been a great cry like this before and it will never be matched. It’s impossible for us to fully understand the pain dealt on this one single night.
As a result of this great plague, Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and orders them to get out now, and of course they do. This will begin the Exodus of God’s people out of Egypt. They have entered into Egypt as one family, led by Joseph, and 430 years later they leave not as a family but as a nation, over one million strong. But if you’re unfamiliar with the story you might be asking, “but wait, did the Israelites lose a firstborn too?” This is where the blood comes in.
You see all sin requires a sacrifice. All the way back to Adam and Eve, sin requires a sacrifice of something innocent, it’s blood to be used as an offering to a Holy God from an unholy people. (Gen 3:21) The same rings true today as well, there must be a sacrifice to cover the blemish of sin. The 10th plague results in God providing one of the most beautiful and simple pictures of this, the Passover. God directed Moses to inform the people of the process they were to observe, giving a beautiful foreshadowing of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The people were to select a one year old unblemished lamb and slaughter it the night that the Lord designated. They were to take some of the blood of the lamb and spread it upon all the door frames that lead into their home. As God’s angel of death passed through the land that night to take the firstborns of Egypt, he would Passover the homes that had faith in the blood of the lamb. Folks, there are few more impactful scenes in all of God’s Word. Lives being spared simply because they believed in the power of the blood.
You know this brings up a great point that can’t be missed. The angel of death didn’t stop and knock and ask people how good they thought they were. He didn’t ask them if they had killed anybody or not. He didn’t ask them how many laws they had broken. He didn’t ask them what church they went to. He didn’t ask them if they were a pastor. He didn’t ask them if they were a movie star, a bank robber or the president of the United States. He didn’t ask them if they were rich or poor, white, brown or black, or had a college degree or not. You see God only looked at one thing that night, the precious blood of the Lamb. And folks, if you hear one thing today, hear this….it’s still the only thing that God looks at to determine eternal life or eternal death…do you have the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, marking your life?
But there’s also another important side note that I don’t want you to miss. The role of family in the Passover. You see, this was a family affair. The family chose the Lamb, they lived with it in their home for 14 days, they sacrificed it together, they roasted it together and they ate of it together. They applied the blood to the doorpost together and then they all stayed in the home together as God’s angel passed by. You see God didn’t orchestrate the Passover as a community affair or as city event or regional task. He orchestrated the Passover to family units. The importance of the family unit today cannot be stressed enough. In fact, if you want to destroy an entire society what do you attack first? Yep, the family. And I firmly believe that is the plan of satan today, to destroy societies by first breaking down the family unit.
We can clearly see this today, the family unit being under constant fire, starting with the most obvious, divorce. The family starts with a husband and wife and usually follows with children. Divorce breaks the family apart and as a result the family is splintered, hurt and weak. We have had numerous friends and family experience divorce and there is always a great toll taken. Upon the adults, upon the children, upon the relatives, upon friends. Just in the last 10 years we have seen the next and greatest attack upon the family, same sex marriage. God created man and woman to be just that, male and female, to reproduce. Same sex marriage is a prideful, ego driven statement that man will do whatever he wants regardless of God’s design, decree or command. Satan will do his best to attack the very foundation of our society, the family. And as the family dies, so does society and it’s values, its morals and it’s stability.
As the final plague draws to a close, we see the Israelites fleeing the land of Egypt, following the leadership of Moses. God will lead His people into the promised land but unfortunately, the Israelites just like us all today, are a stiff-necked, idolatrous people and will not be easily led. We’ll continue on tomorrow in Exodus chapter 13 as we see that Pharaoh has not fully given up on releasing the Israelites just yet. As Sherlock Holmes says, “the game is afoot.”
Blessings for your day as you seek to bless others.
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