The Passover, Exodus 10-12

Here come the remaining four plagues...

Hail: against the sky goddess Nut (mother of the sun god Ra)
Locusts: against Seth, the god of storms and disaster
Darkness: against the sun god, Ra
Firstborn: against Pharoah himself, revered as the greatest of all Egyptian gods

I was intrigued by the description of the "shifting wind" in regard to the plague of locusts. The Lord caused the wind to blow the locusts in, and caused that same wind to blow the locusts out. He is in control of the shifting of the wind...in control over whether a tornado or hurricane hits land or doesn't. In control of the shifting of the earth's plates that cause earthquakes and tidal waves. Certainly far more of these natural disasters miss us than hit us, but when they do hit, we can be sure God intended it as such. Some like to think that God could never authorize such destruction and suffering, but if we get our eyes off of this life, (which is hard because it is all we know), we can see the uses for suffering in the big picture of eternity. Did you know that it is estimated that roughly half of the US adult population attended church the Sunday following the 911 terrorist attacks? Suffering draws us closer to God, and it is a price worth paying if it results in an eternity in Heaven. Remember that God's purpose in orchestrating the ten plagues was that His people "would know that I am the Lord". In the big picture, with Israel being the line through which the Savior of the world would come and the Old Testament traditions be handed down, it was imperative that they KNOW that God was who He said He was. In an unmistakable way through these miraculous signs, God "proved" Himself to the Israelites and caused them to put their trust in Him.

Up until the last plague, Pharoah allowed his pride (remember he was revered as the greatest of all gods and probably didn't take kindly to being bossed around by Moses' God), to cloud his judgement. But after the plague that killed the firstborns, he is eager to be rid of the Israelites. He seethes with rage as he commands Moses to leave, but says "bless me as you leave". It is clear that Pharoah knew that he was dealing with God Almighty.

The most important part of this entire reading was the description of the Passover. The Old Testament, in its' entirety, points to Jesus. Sometimes the prophetic references are obscure. The parallels between Jesus and the Passover are not at all unclear. The Israelites are instructed to choose a lamb with no defects (think Lamb of God who was without sin), sacrifice it on an altar, (think crucifixion), and cover themselves in the blood figuratively, by smearing it on the doorframes of their houses, (think of figuratively taking in the blood of Jesus in the rite of Communion). And then God would "pass over" the houses on which he found the blood of the sacrifice, such that "this plague of death will not touch you". The obvious correlation is that when we identify ourselves with the blood of The Lamb, when we have in essence covered ourselves with his blood as our hope for salvation, we do not experience eternal death. It is no coincidence that Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration. This was a well-orchestrated plan, but in place thousands of years before Jesus walked this earth.

About Melissa Gibbs:

 Melissa is the mother of four boys and the wife of her junior high sweetheart, JD.  He is the President of Joe Gibbs Racing and the son of NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs.  JD and Melissa have been married 16 years and are actively involved with Young Life, Motor Racing Outreach, their church, and other ministries.  Their youngest son Taylor is nearing completion of a 3 year treatment protocol for leukemia, which has been a powerful faith walk for their family.  Since his diagnosis, Melissa has been called upon to share their family's testimony with many local churches.

 Visit Melissa at http://chronologicalbiblein2010.blogspot.com/