“O God, please deliver us from our suffering!”
When the Israelites were living miserable lives with hard labor under oppression as slaves in Egypt, they cried out to God every day. Then God sent them a prophet named Moses to set them free from slavery. Moses conveyed God’s command, “Let My people go,” to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, but Pharaoh did not listen.
From then on, unprecedented dreadful plagues poured down upon Egypt. Water was changed into blood; frogs, gnats and flies covered the entire land; a terrible plague killed livestock; festering boils broke out on men and animals; hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth; locusts covered the face of the ground and devoured everything growing in the fields; and total darkness covered all Egypt. In spite of all those terrible plagues, Pharaoh did not change his mind and hardened his heart every time. Finally, the last plague to destroy all the firstborn of both men and animals came upon Egypt.
“Slaughter a lamb at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month, and put the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the house and eat the meat roasted over fire. If some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is the LORD’s Passover. The blood will be a sign and I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike down every firstborn in Egypt. This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.”
In obedience to God’s words, the Israelites celebrated the Passover at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month in the sacred calendar. That night, the whole land of Egypt was thrown into utter confusion. All of a sudden, every firstborn son, who was to carry on their family line, lost their lives. From the palace of Pharaoh to the house of a salve girl, all the firstborn were killed, and during the night there was loud wailing throughout Egypt. However, the plague did not come upon any of the Israelites. Witnessing the amazing power of God, Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go as Moses had requested.
The Passover is expressed as “逾越節” in Chinese characters, “(Pesach)” in Hebrew and “πασχα (Pascha)” in Greek. They all have the same meaning—“plagues pass over.” Even after the Exodus, those who kept the Passover received God’s protection from disasters (2 Chronicles 30; 2 Ki 19:30-35).
2,000 years ago, Jesus came as the reality of the Passover lamb, and on the Passover He commanded His disciples to eat bread and drink wine, representing His flesh and blood. Thus, Jesus established the Passover of the new covenant, through which we can become one body with Jesus, receive eternal life and be saved from disasters (1 Co 5:7; Jn 6:53; Lk 22:7-20).