The Means of Faith

Heb. 11:28 "By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the first-born might not touch them."

In Exodus 12:12,13 we read, "For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--I am the LORD. And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you,and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."   
We see in this portion of scripture that there can be a time when the judgments of God are falling and He doesn't remove His people from society but protects them in the middle of it. That should encourage us not to worry so much when it seems that things are fallng apart around us. There is a sanctuary, a safe haven under the shadow of His wings for His children.  
      
Chapter 12 starts off saying, "Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron...." Moses got divine instructions directly from God. There was going to be judgment falling on the Egyptians but the Israelites could position themselves so that it passed over them and they would escape it. When I say "The Means..." in the title I am basically saying "How he did it". To avoid judgment there was going to have to be a price paid to satisfy God's justice. God is telling His people to let a substitute pay the price and as proof place his blood upon the doorposts. The Egyptians would have to bear the full weight of God's judgement.

Human means can only accomplish a human purpose. When we move in faith we use Divine means and we can be confident no matter how crazy or ridiculous it may seem to those around us. Moving in faith and trusting in God for the results many times requires that we act without knowing exactly "Why" God has said do it. In retrospect we can see it all clearly but for now many times we as 1 Cor. 13:12 says, "See in a mirror dimly..." Moses was doing all these things at God's direction. When we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit many times others won't understand why we are doing things the way we are. We just have to decide if we feel God "is" saying something to us and come to the point of knowing that we know, that we know. The Word is a "lamp onto our feet" (Ps. 119:105). Sometimes all we can discern is that next step and anything else has to be totally in faith.

1 Cor. 10:11 says that these things happened to them as examples.
I believe this is one of the clearest examples of the New Testament being in the Old Testament concealed. Let's look now at the OT in the NT revealed and see what we can glean for our faith in the here and now.

I think one of the most straight forward verses in the NT helps clarify this: "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life."  1 John 5:12   In John 17:3  we see what kind of life we are talking about, "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Knowing Jesus is eternal life. This isn't talking about the temporal, earthly life but the eternal life of God. We see the end result of what God has done in John 1:12 "But to as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ..." God want's to bring us into His family. He has to change our condition so that He can position us for His best.

God's people were saved from His righteous judgment falling in Egypt through a divine substitute receiving the wrath of God in their place. The world at large is destined to receive God's wrath but in His mercy He has provided a substitute whose blood we may put over the doorposts of our hearts. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21 When we 'by faith' receive what Jesus did as the reason we can come before God and are accepted by Him we live the type of the passover fullfilled in the here and now.

Heb. 2:14,15 says, "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." In this context the children of Israel were slaves and God delivered them by the blood of the lamb. In the same way we are delivered through the blood of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. It's been god's plan all along.

Some may say, "That's old news, I already knew that!" Well maybe we all need to take a second look at truth we have grown to take for granted. This is great news that has the potential to change our attitude daily if we meditate on it. There is 'eternal life', there also is 'eternal death'. Death doesn't annilate it only separates. Physical death separates our spirit and soul from our body. Eternal death separated us from God forever. We all are going to live forever, the only question is what state will be be in for eternity?
Death for a believer in Jesus Christ is a doorway to a better existence. That's what the Bible tells us and that's what I choose to believe.

Like Moses we can 'keep the passover' and apply the blood to the doorposts of our hearts. That changes our condition and by doing that we change our positon. We are now in a position to receive all that God has for us. (2 Pet. 1:3,4) The closer we walk with Him the further under the shadow of His wings we are. Applying the blood to the doorposts of our hearts.  If you have never done that please go back and look at the catagory "Evangelism" and check out "The Free Give-a-way". If you have already taken advantage of the blood  thank God and live like it. 

Food for thought,

Pastor Danny