“You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Mat 26:2
It’s no coincidence that Jesus died on the Passover.
The Passover was the annual feast held by the Jews to celebrate their deliverance from slavery. On the day when the angel of death came down among the people of Israel and the people of Egypt, God told the Jews to take a lamb and kill it. He instructed them to take the blood of that lamb and, with a brush, paint the blood on the door posts of their houses. When the angel of death saw the blood, he would pass over those houses and spare those that where inside. However, those whose doorposts were not stained with the blood where visited by the angel of death and suffered the death of their first born.
Even so, the angel of death still looks for the blood when he comes to visit us. He spares those that are marked by it.
You rebel, do you think that your goodness could ever be enough to spare you when the angel comes? You’ve hardened your heart against God, your righteousness is as filthy rags to Him. Why do you deceive yourself into thinking that if there was a heaven that you would be good enough to make it in? Your deception will only comfort you until death comes knocking. When you see face to face there will be no deception, and no more grace.
But that’s why Christ died for you. He loved you enough to become your passover lamb. When you symbolically apply the blood he shed to the doorposts of your heart, you are spared from death. This means that you accept the sacrifice He has provided for you. You deserve to die because of your evil deeds, but He died for you. He was God’s first born that was visited by death so you could have life.
But notice that is was never about how good or bad you are. God didn’t say that the angel of death would pass over those who where good enough. No,”when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the LORD will pass over your home. He will not permit the Destroyer to enter.” Ex 12:23. Righteous living is not a pre-requisite to salvation, but a post-requisite, and that not of yourself, but by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Look at the story of the wedding feast in Matthew 22. The king had invited the guest to the feast, for it was ready. But the guests refused. So the king said:
‘Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see!’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. Matthew 22:10
Do you see how the bible says that the banquet hall was filled with the GOOD and BAD alike? Why? Because you come to God just as you are. It’s not about being good or bad, its about accepting His invitation! But look what happens:
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 22:11-13
Did the king throw out the ‘bad’ ones and let the ‘good’ ones stay? No, the bible doesn’t say that. The one that was cast out was the one not wearing the wedding garment that was provided by the king.
Can you see how the story of the passover and this story are alike? The ones with the blood and the wedding garments are given life, whereas the bloodless, plain clothes were cast into outer darkness. Their goodness didn’t save them and their evil deeds didn’t prevent them. It was all about Christ’s gift.
I don’t know about you, but as for me, when the angel of death comes to visit I will be wearing my bloody wedding garment. It’s the blood that spilled from Christ as He died being my substitute, and it’s the wedding garment of the gift of Christ’s righteousness given unto me.
[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21
One day, I will be seated at the wedding feast! I will look to my left and my right and see others who have been purified. I will feast with the King of kings. Oh, what a glorious day it will be!
Don’t miss it by thinking you are good enough on your own, or by thinking that you are too bad for God to redeem. God doesn’t ask you if you are good enough. He asks you to accept His invitation. Amen!
Hal Chaffee 