APRIL,
2000 "Easter/Passover"
Love Lesson
-(April, 2000)
This is the
month of two very important religious celebrations. The Jewish
people celebrate Passover. The Christian people celebrate Easter
or Resurrection Day. Even though rarely on the calendar are the
two days celebrated at the same, the actual events occurred on
one and the same day and in fact are the same event. Both are
a celebration of new life and freedom in the Lord. Following is
a very simple explanation of the spiritual issues that are involved
and how you might apply them to your own life.
Passover (the
story can be read in the book of Exodus, chapters 11 through 14)
is a sacred feast day which remembers the time when God's chosen
people, Israel, were released from their bondage in Egypt so that
they could go to the land of milk and honey that was promised
to them many years before. The only way their release was secured
was for a final plague to come upon the nation of Egypt - a death
angel that was sent to kill all of the first born children in
the land. The only thing that protected the children of the Israelites,
was the blood of the lamb they were instructed to apply to the
door posts of their homes. When the death angel saw the blood
of the lamb, their house was passed over and all who were hidden
inside were spared from destruction. God commanded that for all
generations, this was to be a day of remembrance celebrated by
a special feast that retold the events of their deliverance from
bondage as a people, by the Lord.
Easter, or
Resurrection Day (the story can be read in the gospel of Matthew
chapters 26 through 28), is the day of celebration for the Christian
church - the day commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ
as redeemer and deliverer from bondage for all those who believe
in Him. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth to pay the
penalty for sin.
We could not
pay the penalty for our own sin and thus deserved to die at the
hands of the death angel. For each person who lives it is appointed
for them to die once and then the judgment. But because of God's
great love for us and because of His desire to spend eternity
with Him, and because He has chosen us as a bride for His Son
who loves us, He made a way for that judgment - that death angel
- to pass over us.
Jesus came
as a the Passover lamb - the perfect lamb - and was slain on the
cross so that He could shed His blood for us. Instead of putting
the blood of a real lamb on the door posts of our houses, when
we believe in Him and receive His gift of love for us, He puts
His blood on the door posts of our hearts so that we are free
from the wages of sin, which is death. We are cleansed from our
sin by His blood and set free from the death angel if we have
His blood on the door posts of our hearts.
Because Jesus
was sinless, He could pay the price for our sin, which He did
by dying on the cross and being buried. But death and the grave
could not hold Him, so He arose on the third day to a new resurrected,
eternal body. We are then given His new life, life for all eternity.
The Amplified Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if
any person in [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new
creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral
and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and
new has come!" This resurrected life is a promise that we will
then enter the promised land, the land of milk and honey, the
land of the kingdom of Heaven, and dwell there with Him forever.
Now, referring
back to the story of Passover, I must mention that a very tragic
thing happened to the people that God set free from Pharaoh and
Egypt. God took them to the promised land, but they became afraid
and did not believe that God could take them in safely. Because
of their unbelief, all of the adults ended up dying in the wilderness.
The same thing can happen to us if we do not believe in the promises
of God. He has made a way for us because of His love. But it is
up to us to choose to believe Him and receive His work. If we
do not, then we too will be choosing to be separated from God
for all eternity. You see, we condemn ourselves by refusing to
let our trust rest in Christ.
What can you
do? What must you now do that you know the truth of the Bible?
You are obligated to make a choice. Choose this day whom you will
serve. Will you put away the things you have served in your land
of Egypt and choose to serve the living God who has paid the price
to free you from your bondage? Or will you choose to remain in
the wilderness, as the nation of Israel did? Can you say along
with Joshua in the Bible?(in Joshua, chapter 24 verses 14-15)
"As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Love, Patty
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