Death Has No Power Over You

Exodus 11-12

Well, finally!  Finally we read about firstborns who are the chosen ones!  They are chosen to die!  But, they are not the firstborn of Israel, they are the firstborn, of Egypt who are chosen to die so that Pharaoah will finally relent and let God's people go to worship Him.

The firstborn of Egypt die, while the firstborn of Israel are protected from death as the LORD passes over and does not send the destroyer into homes that are marked by the blood of the lamb.  Death has no power over those households.  They will live. 

Jesus is our passover lamb. (1 Cor 5:7) It is by his blood shed for you that you have been marked for life.  Death has no power over you. (Heb 2:14-15)  The angel of death will pass over you and you shall live even as the lamb of God, who is Jesus the Christ, lives.  (see also John 11:25, 26)

One of my favorite Holy Days is Maundy Thursday as we recall how it it by the blood of Christ, shed for us that sends the destroyer packing.  The destroyer passes over us because of the blood of the lamb that was shed for us on the cross.  I wonder if our children (and their parents) who are receiving their first Communion realize the importance of the body and blood given for them.  I know in their heads they know what it means.  They have been taught that.  But, do they really KNOW what it means?  Do we?

May God grant you faith in the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that was given and shed for you.  May you also have a greater understanding of what it means that even as he died for you, yet he lives, even now, for you.