The Bible says that prior to Moses delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian captivity there was great darkness in the land. Sound familiar? If we are all honest, it feels pretty dark these days. There is a virus that is killing many people and making others very sick, a massive recession that has caused many to lose their jobs, and a sense of hopelessness and fear that has gripped our nation. The worst part is, we don’t know when this will all be over!
I have good news, however, just because we live in this world doesn’t mean we have to participate in all of its realities. According to Galatians 1:4 Jesus has redeemed us from this present evil world. This means we aren’t subject to its conditions. This darkness can pass right over us and we can remain unharmed, the same way the death angel passed right over Israel during the first Passover!
The story of the death angel passing over the children of Israel is a perfect illustration of what God wants to do for us right now. God sent the death angel to kill all the first born in Egypt because Pharaoh wouldn’t release Israel from their captivity. Before we go further in the story, I do want to make an important point that God didn’t send the Corona Virus. To learn more, check out this article.
The death angel was similar to the Corona Virus in the fact that it didn’t discriminate. It came to kill all of the firstborn sons that lived in Egypt, whether they were Egyptian or Jewish. The only way the firstborn Jewish children were spared was if their parents killed a lamb and applied the blood of the lamb to the doorposts of their homes.
The Bible teaches that every Jewish family did this and all of their firstborn sons were passed over, while all of the first born Egyptian sons were killed. The death of the firstborn in Egypt led to an outpouring of anguish and caused Pharaoh to command the children of Israel be released. This was miraculous! What is even more miraculous is the physical healing that came upon Israel during the first Passover. Look at Psalm 105:
37 He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.
Approximately 3 million Jews left Egypt and none were feeble. That is almost to good to be true, except the gospel really is almost too good to be true news. Learn more here. The best part is, it wasn’t just the young or physically fit who were physically strong. It was the young, old, and in-between. God released a supernatural anointing during Passover that caused them all to be strong and healthy. How did this happen?
This happened through the Passover meal. During Passover, the Jews ate unleavened bread. Leaven was symbolic of sin. When the Jews ate unleavened bread it was symbolic of partaking of a body which had no sin. They also ate the entire lamb sacrifice. The lamb came inside them and in a sense they became one with that lamb. Both of these acts were foreshadowing a New Testament truth that occurs when we accept Jesus! We become one with Him. The Jews also applied the blood to the doorpost of their homes and death passed over. When we get saved, we apply the blood of Jesus to our lives ! Again, another foreshadowing of a New Testament reality.
Healing still happens today through the Passover meal we call communion. Jesus taught His disciples to take communion when they gathered to remind them of His sacrifice. He is our lamb who had His body broken and blood shed for us.
The benefits of His sacrifice include salvation from our sins and healing for our bodies. Isaiah 53:5 says that by his stripes (the 39 lashes with whip He took at Calvary) we are healed. The Hebrew word for healing in this verse is rapha which means physical healing. Many Christians don’t recognize that Jesus paid for physical healing just as much as He paid for spiritual healing so they don’t experience this part of salvation. Look at 1 Corinthians 11:29-30:
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
How do we eat and drink in an unworthy manner? We don’t discern the Lord’s body or what He did for us at Calvary. This means if we just take communion and don’t realize that Jesus died for us and paid a debt we couldn’t pay, we will die in our sins. We won’t be saved. We didn’t discern the Lord’s body.
It also means if we take communion and don’t realize He paid for our physical healing on the cross, we didn’t discern the Lord’s body. This is the reason Paul said many are weak and sick among you. They were taking the Passover meal called communion without the awareness of its benefits. They didn’t know to believe for their physical healing when they ate the bread and drank the wine so sickness didn’t pass over them.
Communion was never intended to be a ritual we do to check a box to please God. God instituted communion to remind us to look back at everything Jesus did for us on the cross. He wants to us to remember how we have been freed from the curses of sin and sickness so these things pass right over us! There is POWER IN PASSOVER!
I’d encourage you to take communion on a regular basis and remind yourself of what Jesus did for you at the cross. Take the bread which symbolizes the life of His body and bring it into yours! Drink the wine and remember it was the blood of the lamb that secured freedom, not your good works. I would also read these verses out of Isaiah 53 and discern the body of Jesus that paid for your healing:
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
If you would like to learn more about to eat your way to health, check out this message Paige Russell recently taught at Grace Life Church. Be blessed and walk in the diving health!
