The Significance of Passover

​When a new year is about to take place, do you look to the past to see what has happened and then to the future to determine what you could accomplish?  I think the practice of setting informed goals helps us in being able to chart the course for our lives.  Perhaps this is what God was thinking when He established a yearly cycle for His people beginning with Nisan.  This first month was planned for the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery to the Egyptians and victory in taking the Promised Land where freedom would be theirs.
 
Presently, we are at the beginning of the month of Nisan.  If we look at the book of Exodus during this time period, we see how God was showing the Israelites His power by sending plagues and natural disasters upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians.  We can relate to some of those plagues.  East Africa and South Asia are battling billions of locusts that are destroying their crops and livelihoods.  And, of course, thousands have died around the world from Coronavirus.  The disease is taking its toll on our physical bodies, our economies and our way of living life.
 
When God was about to send the plague of the death of the firstborn throughout Egypt, He told His people to begin a new cycle of life.  Nisan was to be the first month of the year for them.  He told Moses the following:  "Tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household...The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.  Take care of them until the 14th day of the month, when all the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.  Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs… This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand.  Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover." (Exodus 12:3, 5-7, 11)
 
After the Isralites selected their lamb, slaughtered it on the 14th of Nisan and spread the blood on the door frames, they were to stay in their homes until morning.  They would be protected by the blood of the lamb.  The destroyer would pass over the doorways covered by the blood; the Lord would protect them.  After 430 years of bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel were set free to begin their journey to the Promised Land.  A Passover meal has been celebrated ever since this first one.  Jesus celebrated it with His disciples before His crucifixion.  Today Christians call this meal communion.
 
I would like to suggest that the quarantine that we are now experiencing may have the unexpected outcome of bringing us freedom from the bondages of our age.  God's people are meant to be different from the rest of the world.  This time alone is a time of rest where we can repent of our worldly lives, remember the Lord's deeds for all humankind, and look to Him, our Redeemer, to lead us on paths of righteousness and to a life filled with purpose.  When we accepted Jesus as our Lord, the blood of the Passover Lamb (Jesus) was placed over our hearts.  And Jesus demonstrated and admonished us to practice taking the meal called communion so that we remember Him.
 
My husband and I have come to understand how important our daily practice of taking communion is to our relationship with the Lord and for our protection and healing.  Daily we remember the Lord's benefits by declaring the beginning of Psalm 103.  "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."  Then we remember that Jesus is our Passover Lamb and that "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed."  (Isaiah 53:5)  The Lord wants to set us free from the bondage of this world and lead us into our promised lands.  Let's use this time of seclusion to draw closer to Him and watch as He leads us triumphantly out of bondage and into a life of victory and Kingdom authority.