Passover and our Easter Peace

Today marks the beginning the eight days of Passover. Passover commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. This Sunday we celebrate Easter. This year more than any other the significance of Passover and the Peace and Promises represented by Easter means more to me than ever before.

Lets take a brief look at the original Passover as well and one other corresponding Old Testament story.

Exodus 12:23

23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel [above the entry way] and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow [a]the destroyer to come into your houses to slay you.

Of particular interest is what God used in delivering His people from the destroyer. He had each family stay in their homes.  Each family was instructed to paint over their doors with the blood of a sacrificed lamb.

Of course today Christians know that this was symbolic of the blood of Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:7b

For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.

In Egypt there were plagues, people were instructed to stay in doors as families and apply the blood as a sign for their protection. Sounds all too familiar…

Then in the book of Joshua we read the story of Rahab. She hides the spies and in return asks for protection. She is instructed to bring her entire family into her house and tie a scarlet cord in the window and in doing so they would be spared when the Israelites attacked.

Joshua 2:18

you tie this [a]cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and bring into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household [so that they will be safe].

Both stories symbolized what God would ultimately provide for our protection and deliverance.

God made a covenant with us in blood. In ancient times a blood covenant could not be broken. There is a great teaching on blood covenant but for this brief devotional just know that in tribal nations if a strong tribe lives by the side of a weaker tribe, and there is danger of the weaker tribe being destroyed, the weaker tribe will seek to “cut the Covenant” with the stronger tribe that they may be preserved. This covenant or contract was sealed with the exchange of blood and could not be broken even by future generations.

God made a blood covenant with Abraham. The old Blood Covenant was the basis on which the New Covenant was founded. Now Jesus is our high priest, mediator, intercessor and advocate.  We are in covenant with Him.

Our blood is mingled with His. We are his brothers and sisters. We now have the same Father and the inheritance of Christ. He has promised to protect us, to provide for us.

This is a time in our nation and our world that we need to remember our blood covenant.

Entering in and remaining behind that blood covered door showed that the Israelites received by faith, all that the lamb’s shed blood meant and accomplished. As believers you are safe and protected by the blood of the lamb as well. Through Christ we have salvation. In the Greek that word is Sozo, which means to be made whole, healed, restored to health and delivered, preserved from danger or destruction, to rescue.

What an appropriate time to remember our blood covenant and its protection.

Then this same week, the week everyone in the news is considering the most dreadful for Covid 19 and our nation we celebrate Easter and the resurrection, God’s triumph over death. I read this week that Jesus said “Peace to you” only after the resurrection. That is what Messiah said to His disciples when he greeted them. It’s the only time recorded of His saying those words. It was the first thing he spoke when He appeared to them after rising from the dead. It was only after Jesus died on the cross and rose that peace could be given. The word Christ used in Hebrew was Shalom. Shalom be upon you.

Shalom means safety, rest, prosperity, wholeness, welfare, completion, fullness, soundness…even well being. Jonathan Cann states that you could take it this way:” May you be blessed with safety, with rest, with prosperity, which wholeness, with completion, with fullness, with soundness, with well-being…and with peace. His peace was given on Easter. Our role is to receive it and all that it means by faith in the one who died and rose again. It is by His blood and His promise of protection and peace that we remember and celebrate this week.

As a spiritual and symbolic act you may want to stand at your front doors and ask that the Blood that Jesus shed on the cross be applied in the spirit realm over your home and family.

I also suggest that this week you consider taking communion, if not daily then on Good Friday.

Blessings and Peace to you all in Jesus Name!