CHRIST PASSOVERS YOU

for whe I se the bloude, I will passe ouer you, – Ex 12:13 (Tyndale Bible)

The English term “Passover” that has gone into common use today is a legacy of William Tyndale, the 16th century Biblical translator and reformer. He used it in his 1534 Bible translation as the English equivalent of the Hebrew “pasach”, which God used when He spoke to Moses about the event (Ex 12:13).

But interestingly, this restricts the broad scope of the meaning of the term. Because though pasach means “to pass, spring or skip over”, it also means “to  hesitate, to hover over, or to guard (i.e. protect)”.

This second meaning is made clear when we see how it is used in Isa 31:5: As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over (pasach) he will preserve it.

This understanding distinguishes the LORD from the marauding Death Angel that attacked Egypt that night. He hovered over His people to exempt them while Death took over the land.

The LORD didn’t stop ‘pasach’-ing His people after then, (as evident from Is 31:5); but what was a limited manifestation of His goodness in the Old Testament is a perfect, complete reality for us today.

Because “Christ our Passover” (1Co 5:7) hovers over us to deliver us when calamity strikes and destruction falls. Since we “dwell in the secret place of the Most High”, we shall abide under His shadow and covering. In the time of trouble, He shall hide us in His pavilion, and shall be a shelter and a strong tower from the enemy for us (Ps 91:1; 27:5; 61:4).

In this current climate of fear, uncertainty and terrorism; the LORD your Passover shall Hover Over you; He will defend your estate (all your property) and your family; and His Blood shall exempt you from harm in Jesus name.

A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.

There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. –  Ps 91:7-11.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

Greg Elkan

THE IMPLICATION AND APPLICATION OF THE BLOOD

For whosoever shall CALL upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Rom 10:13

When John the Baptist introduced Jesus to his disciples, he called Him “the Lamb of God, who takes away THE SIN OF THE WORLD,” (Jn 1:29). And the other John writes in his first letter that “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour OF THE WORLD,” (1Jn 4:14).

Indeed, previously, he had affirmed that Jesus was the propitiation “for the sins of the whole world,” (1Jn 2:2).

When Jesus died on the Cross, He took on Him the sin of all mankind: past, present and future. God, in His omniscient wisdom and infinite love, had made a provision for the eventual transgression of Adam (and thus, of all his descendants) by the slaying of the Lamb “from the foundation of the world” (1Pe 1:19-20; Rev 13:8).

The Cross is God’s answer to Man’s Sin, not Hell Fire. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved,” (Jn 3:17).

Unfortunately, this does not automatically mean EVERYBODY will go to Heaven. God will not force anyone to accept His gesture of love; it has to be accepted.

At the first Passover night, though the Israelites were all assured of exemption from death, they still had to apply the blood of the slain lamb. All of God’s promises to them would have been invalid if they had not taken that token step of faith in applying the blood on their doorpost.

It’s those who CALL on the name of the Lord that will be saved (Rom 10:13), and it’s those who BELIEVE that will not perish (Jn 3:16). This is why Paul enjoins us to take this Good news of reconciliation to the whole world (2Cor 5:18-21); telling them that God is not out to ‘get’ them, but that He has gone ALL OUT to save them – if they would only ‘apply the blood’ by accepting Jesus.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

WHOSOEVER

And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, – Ex 12:13

The fact that the firstborn son of every household in Egypt was going to die was not something hidden. Moses – who had become notorious by now in all of Egypt for his previous nine plagues – had declared it openly to the Pharaoh in his court.

Now, imagine with me this scenario on the declared evening of the plague: a snoopy Egyptian notices some hustle and bustle among the Israelite slaves and sneaks closer to observe them. He sees each household kill a lamb and smears the blood on their doorpost and concludes that it must have something to do with the coming death plague, (the Israelites had been miraculously spared from the previous plagues, Ex 10:23; 8:22; 9:4, 9:26). Now what would happen if this Egyptian decides to move his entire family that night into one of the Israeli houses covered in blood?

The Death Angel made no distinction; indeed the exemption of the Israelites from the 10^th plague had nothing to do with their ethnicity or heritage, it was The Blood. If an Israelite had no blood on his doorpost that night, he would have lost his firstborn son; conversely, if an Egyptian household stayed in a blood-smeared house, they would have been spared as well.

The Bible didn’t say the Angel asked questions of the ethnicity and nationality of the inhabitants of each household; all that influenced its decision was the Blood – or the absence thereof. 

This principle, which is a precursor to the Cross, is what salvation by faith is all about, because God is not a respecter of persons (Act 10:34; Rom 2:11).

“There is neither Greek nor Jew”, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” (Col 3:11)

Jesus is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, (1Jn 2:2). And the most popular verse in the Bible says that “WHOSOEVER believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. (Jn 3:16)

There’s no strange formula or ritual needed for salvation; it is a “WHOSOEVER” provision: “For WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Rom 10:13

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

DOUBLE JEOPARDY AND DOUBLE DEATHS

“...nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” – U.S. Const. amend V. 

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree. – Gal 3:13

When the Death Angel went through the land of Egypt on the night of the first Passover, he brought death to EVERY household in the land. From house to house, this Foul Sprite moved and snuffed the life out of at least one person in each home.

But here’s the interesting thing, whenever he came to the house of an Israelite, he’d see blood smeared on the doorpost. This signified to him that “There Has Already Been a Death in This House, move along; entering this house even after you see the blood would cause double jeopardy”.

The term “double jeopardy” is a legal provision in the common law of most countries (and even enshrined in the U.S. constitution), that forbids a person from being tried for the same crime twice.

When we look at scripture, we see that this is a principle that has its foundation in the Divine Justice system of Calvary.

The whole point of the Cross is judgment! The Cross was not about “exemplary sacrifice”, “symbolic obedience”, or any of such watered-down infernal doctrines we hear today.

At the Cross, Jesus took on Him the punishment and judgment for our transgressions (2Co5:21; 1Pe3:18). This is the basis of the Believer’s “boldness in the day of judgment” (1Jn 4:17) and our unashamedness at His Coming (1Jn 2:28).

On the Day of Judgment, those who have hidden themselves under the Blood of “Christ our Passover” (1Co 5:7) will be spared from “the Second Death” (Rev 21:8) – because there has already been a death there.

AMEN.More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THINKING AGAIN ABOUT THE BLOOD

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. – Rom 5:9

Of the several feasts/festivals that the Jews were required to keep in the Old Testament, three are most important: the Passover, the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles. Of these three, the Passover is Chief.

The Passover is a dramatic re-enactment/commemoration of the great deliverance of the Israelites from the brutality and enslavement of their Egyptian former hosts. Their men and women were forced to hard labour and their newborn sons were ordered by the Pharaoh to be killed (Ex 1).

This grim picture forms the backdrop to the Passover. In a series of dramatic plagues, Moses – God’s prophet – warned the Egyptian Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. But since he stubbornly refused, even after 9 calamities, God unleashed the BIG ONE: the killing of EVERY firstborn son in the land of Egypt in one night (Exo 12:12).

Only those who obeyed the divine instruction of smearing the blood of a lamb on their doorposts were spared of this calamity.

 “Now all these things” Paul says, “happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.” (1Co 10:11)

As the book of Hebrews points out, all of these are types and shadows of deeper spiritual realities. In the New Testament, John the Baptist calls Jesus “the lamb of God” and Paul refers to Jesus as “our Passover”, (Jn 1:29;1Co 5:7). The slavery in Egypt is typical of the bondage of sin that every human being shares in; and the Death Angel represents the certain and just judgment for sin that we all deserve.

When all analysis of the Passover has been done, it all boils to one thing: The BLOOD. The LORD says, “When I see the blood, I will Pass Over you”, (Ex 12:13)

If you haven’t done so lately, take a moment to ponder on the life-saving, judgment-shielding Blood of Christ.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN