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PASSED OVER

You’re in the doctor’s office and the time is already 30 minutes past your appointment and the nurse says “The doctor will see you now,” to the person who had just come through the door and sat down. You have been passed over for someone again today. The same thing happened at the DMV earlier in the day as you waited to get your license renewed. You have been passed over again. Annoying, isn’t it? Even the stop lights are working against you today. You know that your line of traffic was passed over at least twice. No one likes to be passed over. We want our turn, don’t we?

Let’s think about Good Friday. Many consider the "holy week", as a time to reflect on the suffering of the perfect Lamb of God during the Easter observance. The word, "Passover", works well for me, because its meaning is clearly evident. We in the Christian faith do not use that word perhaps as often as we could because many think it is too Jewish. Passover simply means to be passed over. Let’s remember the story together. We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection because of what Jesus did one Passover long ago. Passover is significant to us because of our Lord’s crucifixionon Passover. What happened many, many years before that date signified what would happen when Jesus was sacrificed during the Holy Week of long ago.

PASSOVER STORY

  • Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt ,2 "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household.4 'Now if the household is too small for a lamb , then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.5 'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.6 'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.7 'Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.8 'They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.9 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.10 'And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.11 'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord's Passover.12 'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.13 'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live ; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Ex 12:1-13 (NASB)
You remember the story of the Hebrews and the Egyptians:
  • The story of Moses and Pharoah:
  • The plagues of lice and frogs:
  • The flies and boils: 
  • The blood and lightening:
  • The locusts and darkness:
  • The plague on the cattle and the firstborn?
Let my people go was the call from God and Moses. Finally the time had come for Israel to go. Remember the plague of the death of the firstborn? All the other plagues had been annoying and costly; but this plague hit home. The instructions given by Moses to the children of Israel were very clear if they wanted to be passed over by the angel of death. See Verse 12.
  • "The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13)

 		 The blood of a pure, firstborn lamb on the doorposts of a house was a sign for the angel of death to pass over that house, that family, on that fateful night many, many years ago. This image is of utmost importance to every person in every age and location, and we're especially reminded of this during the week before, as well as Easter Sunday. Remembering the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus from the dead is closely associated with an ancient story and observance called Passover.

PASSOVER

The details are all there in Exodus, but they take on even greater significance when we see that this important observance was the backdrop for the suffering of the perfect Lamb of God:
  • "Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people." (Luke 22:1-2).
As events unfolded, the blood of the perfect Lamb of God was shed as the means for "passover". The angel of death, hovering over wicked humanity, is divinely instructed to pass over those covered by the blood of this Lamb.

Is belief in benefits of that shed blood a part of your family and your home? May I suggest if it is not, then it should. It is difficult to accept the significance of the resurrection until and unless we accept the significance of the shed blood of Jesus: our Passover. Particularly notice that Passover involved families: Fathers, mothers, children, grandparents. The blood on the two door posts and the lintel of the door was protection to the Israelites even as the blood of God’s son brings protection to us and our children.
  • The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:41-42 (KJV)
We are those who will be "passed over" by the angel of death (He shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all thing that offend) because of the blood of the Lamb, and thus we will be privileged to share in the life of the age to come; even as we sample it in our lives today. Judgment and destruction is averted for the people of faith who have availed themselves of this precious blood. Rejoice this day in your soon coming deliverance.

Let me ask you this day, “Is the blood of the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God that John the Baptist recognized appropriately placed in your home and family?”
  • The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29 (NASB)
The story goes something like this:
  • The last supper: Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples;
  • Then Jesus’ sweat as drops of blood falling down to the ground;
  • Jesus was betrayed;
  • Peter denied knowing Jesus three times;
  • Pilate relinquishes Jesus to the multitude;
  • Jesus is crucified on a cross;
  • Passover becomes a reality;
  • Jesus is buried in the tomb of Joseph of Aramaethae;
  • Three days pass;
  • Then came the first day of the week.
Think of the Passover. Think about the blood on the door posts and on the lintel of the doors. Think about the blood of Christ being, by faith, applied to your heart and to the hearts of your family. Think about the reality of death and its surety to your grandparents, your parents, your husband, your wife and your children. It hovers over us as did the angel of death. Is belief in the benefits of that shed blood a part of your family and your home? May I suggest if it is not, then it should.

It is difficult to accept the significance of the resurrection until and unless we accept the significance of the shed blood of Jesus: Passover. Particularly notice that this involved families: Fathers, mothers, children, grandparents. The blood on the two door posts and the lintel of the door was protection to the Israelites even as the blood of God’s son brings protection to us and our children.