I Will Pass Over You

Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household (Exodus 12:1-3).

Moses replied, “I will see your face again no more,” and warned Pharaoh that at midnight the firstborn ones would die.

God had earlier given Moses instructions for leaving Egypt, before unleashing His mightiest power which He had reserved for this purpose.

Deliverance from Egypt would involve three inextricably linked factors—the lamb slain, the blood applied and the death of the firstborn, as written in Exodus 12.

The Israelites must draw out a yearling male lamb without blemish on the tenth day of Abib and kill it on the fourteenth day. The blood must be struck on the side posts and the lintel of the door of the house, with a bunch of hyssop. And the Lord when He saw the blood would pass over the house sheltering those within, but smite the firstborn of all homes without the saving blood.

And so, that first “Passover” night, there was a terrible cry from the land of Egypt, for there was not one house, unsheltered by the blood, without one dead, of man and beast, including Pharaoh’s firstborn son, (see Exodus 12:29-30).

In desperation and despair, Pharaoh and the Egyptians begged the Israelites to leave, pressing on them raiment and jewelry, which they would soon use in the worship of God.

God, through Moses, delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery with a mighty arm.

Then 1,500 years later a second and greater Passover was accomplished at Calvary and this involved the whole world.

The same three factors were present:

1. The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, must die, His blood dealing with all sin from the beginning to the end of time;
2. His blood shed must be applied to the believer; and
3. the death of the Firstborn, the Lord Jesus Christ, delivers all who believe from the power of darkness translating them into His kingdom, (Colossians 1:13-20).

Christ our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7), has totally crushed Satan, the originator of sin, fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:15—the Antitype of the first Passover.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Day by Day: Bible Promises
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.