By Ansley Zecckine
Published on February 13, 2008
When thinking about the Easter season, many thoughts come to mind. From eggs, bunnies, chocolates, and feasts, to the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Passover, and Pentecost, our culture has accepted a wide variety of beliefs into its array.
Easter was originally founded as Passover, a Jewish festival, and we get our information about it from Exodus 12, the second book of the Bible, which from a history standpoint, took place a very long time ago.
Moses had already told Pharaoh to let his people, the Israelite slaves, go, and he had still not consented, even after witnessing the nine plagues God had already sent to the Egyptians. Unfortunately for Pharaoh, Moses had one more warning to give, and it dealt with the death of the firstborns.
God’s plan was to strike dead every firstborn in all of Egypt, man and beast alike; the only exception was to be the Israelites. The Lord gave Moses’ people a set of commands to be followed so that the tenth plague would not kill their own firstborns. One such command is that there should be a lamb for each household, and that they should “take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.”
That same night, the Lord carried out his plan, striking down all the firstborns throughout the land of Egypt; however, when he saw the lamb’s blood upon the doorposts and the lintel of each house belonging to the Israelites, he “passed over” them, not allowing the destroyer to come in to their homes and do them harm.
After this happened, Pharaoh said to Moses, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also,” and so they left Egypt, being free.
Moving forward in time hundreds of years, we find that Jesus Christ becomes the sacrificial lamb for us, and that God commands that we place his blood upon the doorposts and lintel of our hearts.
What happened in Egypt was a result of the judgment of God. Unfortunately for many, another judgment is on its way, but this judgment takes place when we die and stand before God. If the Lord sees the blood of Jesus covering our hearts, then he will not allow the destroyer to consume us, because we belong to him, but if the blood of the Lamb has not been applied to our hearts, we haven’t a hope.
For now, hope is still attainable; however, we need to trust the one that has said, “I know the plans I have for you,’ says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”