Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 21: The Passover Lamb

Hello everyone!

Today I read Exodus 10-12.

In the reading, Pharaoh refuses to let God's people go three more times.

The complete list of plagues:

1. Water to Blood
2. Frogs
3. Gnats
4. Flies
5. Death of Livestock
6. Boils
7. Hail
8. Locusts
9. Complete Darkness
10. Death of Firstborn

I did a short post on the plagues before, when I first had to study them in order to teach my Sunday school class.

So, despite all that he has seen, Pharaoh's heart remains hardened, and he won't release the Israelites.

So, God sends the 10th plague. He charges all the Israelites to kill a spotless lamb and spread its blood over their doorposts, and leave nothing for the morning. Whatever is not eaten must be burned in the fire. They are also instructed to eat only unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

And then when God saw the blood on their houses, He would know to spare them from the final plague.

And thus we have the First Passover, when God passed over the Israelites. We also have the first Passover Lamb.

The other Lamb I am thinking of, of course, is Jesus. He is called the Lamb of God for a reason.

He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and His blood covers us so that we can have freedom from sin's bondage. Though His sacrifice happened later, though is blood was shed many years after the First Passover, because He was with God from the beginning, Jesus is actually the Original Passover Lamb.

Because God spared the Israelites from the last plague, and brought them out of slavery in Egypt, they were instructed to continue to observe the Passover supper forever.

One other thing I found interesting in this reading was that God gave the Israelites favor with their neighbors so that when they asked them for gold and silver, as God had instructed, they got it all.

An the Bible says "...Thus they plundered the Egyptians (12:36).

Now, when I think of the word plundered, I imagine something incredibly violent, possibly with pirates, and including looting.

But the Israelites plundered the Egyptians without hurting them at all. Rather, it was a peaceful plunder.

And to me, that is just amazing.

How many times has this happened to you, and you never recognized it for what it was?

When we serve Him and keep His commandments, God will bless us and give us favor even with our enemies.

That doesn't mean our blessings will always be monetary. But how many times have you come out of a situation feeling like you got everything you had wanted from it and more?

Maybe you had a meeting at work and it went better than you'd expected.

Maybe you got a promotion that didn't come with a pay raise, but had better hours.

Maybe you were having an issue with someone and it worked out in your favor, even better than you'd imagined.

God wants our obedience.

And when we give it to Him, He can better take care of us and our situations.

All we need to do is ask.

Even the Enemy cannot stand against us when God stands with us.

Nothing can keep you in slavery when God has already set you free.

I hope you will join me tomorrow when I read Exodus 13-15. We will get to see the Israelites finally escape from Egypt.