An Amazing Picture of Jesus and the Cross

About 1,500 years before Jesus came into the world and died on the cross for our sins, God gave us an amazing picture of Jesus and the cross.(Exodus 12:23) It came during the final plague on the Egyptians, which caused Pharaoh to send the Hebrews out of his country. The plague was the death of every firstborn child and animal in Egypt. The Bible tells us that there was not a single household that did not experience death. It took that to finally get Pharaoh to acknowledge that Moses' God was Lord of all.

Part of the plague was to make a difference between the Hebrews and the Egyptians.(Exodus 11:7) The Hebrews would not have any deaths if they would follow God's commands. They were to choose an unblemished male lamb for each family or two depending on the size of the family.(Exodus 12:5) Then, they would gather in their homes to eat the lamb. However, before they cooked the lamb they would kill it at twilight, and put some of the blood in a basin. They would dip a hyssop branch in the blood and put the blood on both door posts on the sides of the door opening and on the lintel or the top post of the door.(Exodus 12:22) Also, they were not to break any of the bones of the lamb in the process.(Exodus 12:46) Then, when the Lord saw the blood of the lamb, He would pass over that door, so that no one would die. Isn't that amazing?

Jesus came as the Unblemished Lamb of God, because He never sinned. He was put to death on a cross with a crown of thorns on His head and having both hands nailed to the cross bar. The blood of Jesus was shed in the same shape as on the doors of the Hebrew's homes. None of the bones of Jesus were broken, even though the soldiers were told to break His legs. They did not carry out their orders, since He was already dead. Then, Jesus told us in John 10:9 that He was the "door." He would let His sheep come to safety if they came through Him. All of this was perfectly pictured in the Passover 1,500 years before Jesus came, and God told them to keep the feast of the Passover every year as a memorial of what God did. It was also a picture of what He was going to do. What a picture of the love and power of God for all of us! I pray that you are covered by the blood of Christ, because you have trusted Him as Lord and Savior of your life.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Exodus 14-16.

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