“And יהוה shall pass on to smite the Mitsrites, and shall see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and יהוה shall pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And you shall guard this word as a law for you and your sons, forever. And it shall be, when you come to the land which יהוה gives you, as He promised, that you shall guard this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ then you shall say, ‘It is the Pĕsaḥ slaughtering of יהוה, who passed over the houses of the children of Yisra’ĕl in Mitsrayim when He smote the Mitsrites and delivered our households.’ And the people bowed their heads and did obeisance.
Exodus 12: 23-27
This Passover season I’ve read the Exodus story so many times. I keep feeling like there’s something else there pulling me in for a closer look. Then today I realized this is the first time I have gone through this season after having lost a child. Perhaps I understand the feelings our people went through a little more. Because we have been grafted in, I can join Ruth in what she said to Naomi. I can tell my children the story once again with a sense of belonging. I can hold on to the promises He made back then, knowing He does not change and I can trust in Him.
Now if the first-fruit is set-apart, the lump is also. And if the root is set-apart, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, have been grafted in among them, and came to share the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. And if you boast, remember: you do not bear the root, but the root bears you!
Romans 11:16-18
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you, or to go back from following after you. For wherever you go, I go; and wherever you stop over, I stop over. Your people is my people, and your Elohim is my Elohim.
Ruth 1:16
Sometimes I picture myself in the middle of the action when the family was preparing by getting the lamb, slaying it, preparing it and just waiting. Not certain of the whirlwind they found themselves in. Excited for deliverance and yet wondering what the future would look like. Ready to leave behind the shackles they were so accustomed to, expecting freedom to bring joy and well-being. Perhaps still a little scared during that last plague until they heard the cries outside while staring into their firstborn’s eyes. I don’t see how they could have slept.
Fast forward to Yahusha’s time and I wonder how similar the disciples must have felt. The only thing is they did have to endure the agony of seeing the Son of Elohim die, not understanding why or how. It just didn’t make sense. Why didn’t death Passover Him? How can this be after all they had witnessed? It couldn’t be real. Where was the deliverance? Where were the miracles? How could they have understood the prophets and His very words to the point of knowing victory was coming? Where was their faith then?
I remember after I was told my daughter was dead in my womb, I prayed so hard that He would bring her back to life. That I would go to the doctor and they would tell me the technician made a great mistake and she would be perfectly fine. I would get to speak of the miracle Yahuah had done in my life.
And then I had a dream. She was alive and very chubby and well grown little baby in my husbands arms. Yet I knew it wasn’t my husband holding her. Something in me knew it was Yahusha. And I understood. And I accepted. I chose to hold on to the belief that there is more than this life and He had shown it to me personally. And like Paul said it would, the shield of faith helped me to quench the fiery arrows of the enemy, allowing my walk to remain in Him.
above all, having taken up the shield of belief with which you shall have power to quench all the burning arrows of the wicked one.
Ephesians 6:16
So this Passover, I’m overwhelmingly thankful that during this time of unleavened bread, when the leaven that represents sin is removed from our temples, we also have first fruits. Yahusha defeated the consequence of sin and that means that our lives have intense meaning now and after the passage called death. We who know this truth get to live like we believe it. We get all the promises of the Father, the kind of promises that only a good Father makes. We get the shalom irrespective of life circumstances. We get the Ruach to guide us and reveal to us the depth and height of the love of Yahuah in His Word. We get intimate connection through thick and thin with the One who cared enough to die for us even though He was undeserving of that death.
Thank you Yahuah for passing over us. Thank you for your loving instruction (Torah) and Ruach. Thank you Yahusha for your sacrifice.
Thank you Elohim for life in every sense of the word.
יהושע therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. Whoever enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to slaughter, and to destroy. I have come that they might possess life, and that they might possess it beyond measure. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. But the hireling, and not being a shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. Now the hireling flees because he is a hireling and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. And I know Mine, and Mine know Me, even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold – I have to bring them as well, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one shepherd. Because of this the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, in order to receive it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 10:7-18
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