The Passover is the most important of the Jewish festivals since it celebrates the central truth that undergirds the identity of God’s people. When the angel of death visited Egypt with a curse the Israelites were ‘passed over’. The thing that set them apart was not their moral character or spiritual state. Rather, it was the fact that they had the blood of the sacrificial lamb over the doors and windows of their homes. In every other way the Israelites were the same as the Egyptians and many of them would have dabbled in the idolatry of Egypt too. What set them apart was therefore nothing in themselves. It was the blood of the lamb that protected them. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus approaching him, he declared: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus is the lamb whose blood protects us. The difference between Christians and other people is primarily this: we have received God’s grace through Christ. Subsequently this must of course lead to a different kind of life. This was the case too with the Israelites; they were redeemed to live a different kind of life (that will become evident as we read on). But initially for them and us, the only distinguishing element, is the reception of God’s grace. This will also be the difference that matters when we stand before God on the day of judgement: Did we receive God’s grace? If you trust in Christ, God’s judgement will pass over you.
Offer your praise to God today and rest in his love.
Read Exodus 12:1-30
