For the LORD will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the LORD will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down. Exodus 12:23
Psalms 115-118 are songs traditionally sung at the Passover meal. Passover is the feast that commemorates Israel’s exodus from Egyptian slavery. For 400 years, their lives had been made very bitter by Egyptian oppression, and they groaned and cried out in distress to God. The time had come for God to show mercy on them and deliver them from their terrors and troubles.
On the first Passover, an unblemished lamb was slain, and its blood was sprinkled on the doorpost of every Hebrew home. At midnight, God made a distinction between the Hebrews and the Egyptians, and would not allow the destroyer, the angel of death, to enter any home marked with the blood of the lamb. Death was ordered by God to pass over the Hebrews.
Jesus celebrated Passover every year of His life of perfect obedience to God’s law. The last night of His life on earth was the Passover Feast, and He celebrated it with His disciples in the upper room. He knew He was on His way to the cross, and He spoke to them about a new covenant of His body and His blood. You see, just as the Israelites had cried out to God in their anguish and the torment of slavery, all of mankind has been crying out to God in the anguish of their mortality and slavery to sin. God heard the cries of mankind, so at just the right time, He sent His Son to reveal His mercy and deliver all who would believe from the terror of death.
Jesus faced the bitterness of death head-on, and even He cried out to God in the anguish and torment of taking our sins upon Himself. Death ensnared Him for a moment, but God saved and delivered Him to eternal life. And now, through His death and resurrection to eternal life, all who believe in Him are marked with the blood of the eternal unblemished Passover Lamb so that God can make a distinction between those who are marked by faith with the blood of the Lamb and those who are not. Moreover, Jesus tells us that everyone who believes in God who sent Him, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away their sins, has already passed over from death to eternal life. As we worship Him for what He has done for us, we are celebrating and commemorating the eternal Passover with the eternal Lamb of God.
Read Psalm 116 again with fresh perspective. Whatever you are facing today, even if your life has been made bitter by the circumstances you face, take heart and know that God hears your groans and your cries for help. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Your Passover Lamb has already faced your greatest enemies and conquered them. He will be faithful to give you the victory and lead you in triumphal procession each and every time.
Psalm 116 (New Living Translation)
I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.
Because he bends down to listen,
I will pray as long as I have breath! Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow.
Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!”
How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!
The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me.
Let my soul be at rest again,
for the Lord has been good to me. He has saved me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!
I believed in you, so I said,
“I am deeply troubled, Lord.”
In my anxiety I cried out to you, “These people are all liars!” What can I offer the Lord
for all he has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and praise the Lord’s name for saving me. I will keep my promises to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die.
O Lord, I am your servant;
yes, I am your servant, born into your household;
you have freed me from my chains.
I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people— in the house of the Lord in the heart of Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Scripture References: Exodus 11-14, John 5:24, Romans 5, John 1:29, Hebrews 12:2, 2Corinthians 4:18
Originally published as: "Passing Over - Psalm 116" - Reprinted from The Obedience of Faith Blog - Copyright © 2013 Wendy Bowen – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE