The origin of Passover
Why Christians celebrate Easter
Hello beloved, may the Lord bless you for visiting Coping Words.
Today I’ll be sharing about the most important celebration for us Christians which is Easter.
I am not talking about the Easter bunny or having an extra long weekend from work. Those are all very good, especially the chocolate part, but I want us to understand why Easter is the foundation of Christianity.
Easter Sunday is a reminder that not only did our Savior die, but death could not hold Him down because there was no sin found in Him.
Disclaimer: I am not a Bible scholar, I am not a Pastor, and I don’t occupy any leadership position in my local church. I am just a Jesus lover who desires that everyone become BFFs with Him.
Since I am very passionate about the topic of Jesus, I have a lot to say about Him. Therefore, this blog post will be divided in three sections: Origin of Passover, the Antidote to death and Get some of that blood, it’s already paid for.
Origin of Passover
Easter weekend takes its origin from the Jewish celebration of Passover.
Passover night relates to the story of the final blow against Pharaoh who refused to free the Israelite; God’s people from Slavery.
How did the Israelite end up in Egypt?
Jacob, Abraham’s grand-son, lived in the land of Canaan with his very large family. It came to pass that there was a famine in the land and Jacob had heard, through merchants, that Egypt had not been affected yet. So he decided to send his sons to go buy goods there (Genesis 42: 1-5). Sometime after, the ten brothers came back with the news that not only was there plenty of food in Egypt, but Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son who was supposed to have been killed by a savage animal, was also in Egypt. Indeed, not only was Joseph alive, he was doing extremely well there. Having lived his life by God’s principles, the Lord was using him to save the nation of Egypt and the neighboring countries from a severe famine that was to last seven long years.
The bible says “when Jacob heard that Joseph was still alive; his heart stood still, was it possible that he’ll be able to see his favorite child before he died?.” So wanting to align his will to God’s, Jacob decided to seek God in fasting, praying and paying his tithes (back then tithes payments were made via animal sacrifices). “So Israel (Jacob) came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his Father. After the sacrifices, God spoke to him in a vision: ‘Jacob, Jacob!’ and he said, ‘here I am’, so He said, ‘I am the God of your father, do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, and I will bring your descendant back again. (Genesis 46:3-4)’’. So the entire nations of Israel moved to Egypt settling in the city of Goshen, there, they were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them (Exodus 1:7). As long as Joseph (then Prime Minister of Egypt) was alive, the children of Israel were well respected immigrants in the foreign land. Eventually, a new king who didn’t know Joseph came to power. He said to his people, “look, those immigrants are taking over; we must elaborate a plan to keep them from growing even more.” So the Egyptians made the Israelite their slaves (Exodus 1:8-10). But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelite multiplied and spread (Exodus 1:12).
Coping words:
Before moving his entire family to Egypt, Jacob sought the face of God, and God told him to move there. Then how come his descendants ended up in slavery?
A few hundred years before, God appeared to Jacob’s grand-father, Abraham, and said to him: ‘’for sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth’’ (Genesis 15:13).
‘’The wealth of sinners is laid up for the righteous’’ (Proverbs 13:22 b). In order for Israel to be a self-sufficient and strong nation, they needed money and lots of it. At that time, Egypt was one of the wealthiest countries on earth. No wisdom or council can stop God’s plans (Proverbs 21:30). In spite of the harsh treatments from their enemies, the Israelite grew and were ever fruitful because it was the will of God for them to be in Egypt.
There are two reasons why ‘’bad things’’ happened to the children of God.
Whoever is often rebuked but chose to reject the correction, will suddenly be destroyed without remedy (Proverbs 29:1). The first reason why we fall into temptation, is because we did something stupid (a transgression = to break a law or disregard a command,) by doing so, we opened the door to the enemy allowing him to wreak havoc in our life. Constant rejection of correction caused what the Bible calls iniquity. Iniquity is when we repeatedly commit the same sin in full awareness, disregarding God’s warning and constantly rejecting His call to repentance. God has zero tolerance for ‘iniquit-ers’. The best example is Judas Iscariot who, on account of his stubbornness and his addiction to money, lost his life. ‘’The son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the ones who betrays Him (Matthew 26:24)’’; he had many opportunity to repent, but he didn’t like being told what to do because it was his life, he wanted to make his own mistakes, so he can learn things on his own… There is no joy for the parent of a godless child (Proverbs 17:21).
“After being tested by Him, I will come out as pure as gold”.
(Job 23:10)”.
The second reason why God allows bad things to happen to believers is because he wants to perfect our faith and use our testimony to bring unbelievers to him. In such case, one will go through fire, but the flames will not consume them. Because we learn better through hardship then through good times, each difficulty strengthens our stamina and give us understand of the ways of God. Not only that, our obedience to God must be tested. When money is coming in, of course we will pay our tithes and give offerings. But when our work hours are reduced and at the same time the car breaks down, will we still pay ten percent of our gross income to God? And no, He does not understand. A great example is Job, who famously said ‘’Though God slays me, yet I will hope in Him, I will continue to live by His standards (Job 13:15)”. And the second bests example is Peter. Jesus said to him’’ Simon Peter, Satan has asked me permission to squeeze you hard. He wants to use one of your many weaknesses against you. But don’t worry, since you have been faithful in serving me, I have fasted and prayed to God on your behalf, so that your faith should not fail. After you have repented and turned to me again, use your testimony to educate your brothers and sisters’’ (Luc 22:31-34).
Now fast forward to four hundred years later, while Moses was looking after his Father-in-law’s flock, he had a life changing encounter with God. The Lord appeared in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush and said to him: ‘’I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress. Yes I am aware of their sufferings. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt’’ (Exodus 3:1-10).
Coping words
At the time of this encounter, it has been forty years since Moses ran away from Egypt, by then he had become a shepherd. It’s while he was looking after the sheep, that God appeared to him. King Jesus is the good shepherd and we are the sheep of his pasture (Psalms 95:7; Psalms 100:3). To do ministry, is to look after the people of God in any capacity; by cleaning the church, ushering, children’ ministry etc. The goal is to faithfully serve His people via a ministry in the local church. Moses got a life changing revelation while he was doing ministry under pastor Jethro who was the Priest of Midian.
‘’I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress. Yes I am aware of their sufferings. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt’’ (Exodus 3:1-10). God continued saying ‘’I know the condition of the heart of the king of Egypt; he will not let my people go unless I forced him. I will perform all kinds of miracles among them.
Of course Moses refused to return in Egypt (Exodus 3:13).
‘’But Moses pleaded again: ‘’Lord, please! Send anyone else’’ (Exodus 4:13). I completely understand him; I probably would have said the same thing. After all, he had a pretty wife (Zipporah or Sephora, Jethro’s first born daughter), a well paid 9-5 job, a beautiful son Gershom (later on he will have a second one, Eliezer) and a mortgage to pay. Like many of us, Moses did not want to leave his comfort, however God’s ways are not our ways, He preserved Moses’ life for this very purpose, to free the children of Israel so they can serve Him.
The Lord said to him, “Don’t worry Moses, return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died” (Exodus 4:19). So it was after many hours of negotiations, trying to escape his calling, and after receiving his pastor’s blessings (Exodus 4:18), Moses finally agreed to meet with Aaron, his older brother and together they teamed up to free the people of God.
Upon arrival in Egypt, Moses summoned the elders of Israel, to tell them that a new chapter was about to start for them. They agreed to work with Moses and his brother. When the children of Israel heard that Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped (Exodus 4:31).
Coping words
Beloved, keep in mind that it’s never about you, your strength and abilities are for God and His people. On his way back to Egypt, Moses almost lost his life, but he had to go on because it’s a curse to make a decision to God than reconsider (Proverbs 20:25), he was the answer to the Israelite prayers.
Ministry is supposed to be challenging. But what you are doing in the house of God will cause someone to bow down and worship.
End of part one.
To read the second part of this blog post, click here.
Author: Naomie
Text edited by Chine (pronounced Chee-nay)
Sharing is caring, kindly distribute this devotion, and the Lord will bless you for it.
Thank you for clicking on the heart.
We welcome you respectful comments.
