Happy to be passed over.

Following on from last week's Blog Post - ''Spotless'' - which centered around the Day of Atonement, this week we cover another significant event in the Hebrew calendar -  the Feast of Passover

The Feast of the Passover commemorated the birth of the nation Israel and her deliverance from the land of Egypt.

In Egypt at the time of Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh subjected God's people to a life of slavery and immense hardship to support his own power and Egypt's economic benefit.  Consequently he would not comply with God's wishes ''to let His people go''. 

So one by one, God sent ten plagues to ridicule the Egyptian gods and, at the same time, encourage Pharaoh to set at liberty His chosen people.  Even after nine terrible plagues had brought suffering and hardship for citizens of Egypt stubborn 'old' Pharaoh still would not free God's people; so God instituted the tenth and most dreadful plague.

In antiquity all the plans and dreams of a family were bound up in the first born son. This tenth plague would spell the ultimate disaster for all those effected by it as it would wipe out in an instant all the first born sons in the land of Egypt. 

But before God enacted this terrible event he needed to put a difference -a distinction - between the people of Egypt and Israel.  He did this through what we now know as the ritual of the Passover. 

As with the Day of Atonement, the ritual of the Passover involved the sacrifice of animals and the sprinkling of the victim's blood.

Exodus 12: 1a, 3, 5a, 6, & 7;  ''And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, Speak ye unto the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house:   Your lamb shall be without blemish [perfect], a male of the first year: And ye shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of  the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.  And they shall take the blood , and strike it on two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it.'' 

God went on to further explain the significance of the blood in sparing Israel's first born and protecting His people from the effects of this terrible event:

Exodus 12: 12, 13 & 14;  ''For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.  And the blood shall be to you a token[sign] upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.''

The symbolism that Christ is our Passover lamb is familiar in the New Testament:

1 Corinthians 5: 7;  ''Purge [Clean out] therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:''

Before his death, which as we know was at the same time as the Jews were celebrating the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem, Jesus warned his apostles of the fate about to befall him; but assured them that he would not leave them alone or comfortless:

John 14 : 16, 17 18, 19 & 20:   ''And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter [Helper], that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; who the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless [orphans]: I will come to you.  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

After his 'Passover' sacrifice and following his victory over death on the cross Jesus once more assured his apostles that even though he was about to leave them and return to his Father he would not leave them without help:

Acts 1: 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9;   ''And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye heard of me.  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.  But ye shall receive power, after [when] that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.''

And sure enough, at Pentecost, just as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit came to his apostles:

Acts 2: 1, 2 & 4;  ''And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord [purpose] in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting.  And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.''

The Book of Ephesians explains that due to the shedding of the blood of Jesus at Passover and his glorious victory over death he has been able to send us the Holy Spirit so he can dwell within us - just as he said he would in John 14 (above):

Ephesians 1: 13 & 14;  ''In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit.  That [Spirit] is the guarantee of the our inheritance [the first fruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and  our acquiring [complete] possession of it - to the praise of His glory.''

The infilling of the long promised Holy Spirit also leaves a stamp, a mark - that is a ''seal'' - which sets the believer apart - not just for God's protection from death in this world  - but also for an everlasting personal relationship with God in the next.  

Why is this important?  Well, one day, just as happened when God released His plagues to punish Pharaoh in Egypt, God will release his final dreadful, violent and rapid punishment upon the earth:

Revelations 16: 1 & 2;  ''And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of wrath upon the earth.  And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome [loathsome] and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.''

For those who choose not to follow God, and have the mark of the beast, they will face a most dreadful future.

But, Revelations 22 points out that those who are Spirit filled will have a distinguishing mark on or in, their foreheads.  It is this mark that sets apart  - or puts a difference - between those people who are Gods' and those who are not! 

 Revelations 22: 3, 4 & 5;  ''And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:  And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in [on] their foreheads.  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle [lamp] , neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign for ever and ever.

It means that in the Final Punishment those Spirit filled people of God will be recognized - his name shall be in their foreheads - and will be passed over by God's forces doling out His wrath and destruction upon this earth.  So we will be spared, just like those Israelites in Egypt who had the blood of the Passover lamb on their door posts, and can live and serve God from everlasting to everlasting.

And where shall we dwell with God and Jesus for ever and ever?  The answer is given in Revelations:

Revelations 21: 1, 2 & 3;  ''And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.'' 

The only way we can enter into God's presence in the new Jerusalem - the tabernacle of God now with men - is due to the cleansing blood of Jesus. 

Last week we learnt that the Epistle to the Hebrews interprets the ritual of the Day of Atonement as a prototype of the atoning work of Jesus. 

Hebrews chapters 9 & 10 contrasts the perfection of Jesus's sacrifice with the inadequacy of the Old Testament rituals.  Jesus himself is termed  'our great high priest', and his blood shed at Calvary, in the sense of his atoning work, mirrors the blood of bulls and goats.  However, unlike the Old Testament priesthood , the sinless Jesus did not have to make a sacrifice for any sins of his own.

Hebrews 9: 11 &12;  ''But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building [creation];  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood entered in once into the holy place [Most Holy Place], having obtained eternal redemption for us.''

These two verses present the essentials in operating the New Covenant: a superior sanctuary and an infinitely superior sacrifice.  Jesus has opened the inner sanctuary (Most Holy Place) of the heavenly tabernacle - what a contrast to the closed sanctuary of the earthly version.  As the earthly high priest used the blood of bulls and goats to cleanse the holy of holies, Jesus the eternal high priest, entered heaven to purify it by ''his own blood''.

From last week's post we learnt that the Old Testament  tabernacle was designed, in part, to teach Israel that sin hindered access to the presence of God.  Only the high priest, and he only once a year, could enter the holy of holies:

Hebrews 9:7;  ''But into the second [Most Holy Place] went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people''.

Hebrews 9: 24;  ''For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures [copies] of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.''

Jesus, however, has entered heaven itself, the new Jerusalem - the true holy of holies - where he lives to make intercession for his people. The believer need not stand afar off, as did the Israelite of old, but now, through Jesus, may approach the very throne of grace.  Through his own blood Jesus effected eternal redemption for his people.