Emmaus Road Ministries

Exodus 12:21-24

“21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.

And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.  24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.”

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What was done on our behalf on that cross 2,000 years ago is so beautifully detailed in the feast of Passover. It shows us the basis on which we have a relationship with Our Lord JESUS.  As this season draws near, let’s take time out to meditate on this most important feast of the Jewish people which pointed to their awesome Messiah.

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Contrary to popular opinion, the Jewish faith is not an “religion” by definition; neither is worship of the Jewish Messiah that we call “Christianity.”

Faith in the Jewish Messiah is not merely “A” way to God: It is THE ONLY WAY.  More to the point, it is the exact OPPOSITE of “Religion,” because God instituted it. Studying the Feast of Passover will help us understand why this is so. 😍 After all, before there was a Christian church, there was the Jewish faith in the One True God. Without them, we would have nothing! (See Romans 11:25-28)

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For centuries, the Jewish people obediently observed the feasts God had instituted, Passover being one of the most important. They didn’t know that what they were doing was foreshadowing what Messiah Y’Shua would do in the distant future. They did, however, understand that it was a very important feast, that it was instituted by God, and must be carefully observed down to the smallest detail.

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The full understanding of this holiday remains a mystery to Jewish people who believe their Messiah has not come yet. Through this feast, though, God was lovingly trying to show them that He would one day send the TRUE LAMB of God to be the final sacrifice.
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When He came into this world and died on the cross, they didn’t recognize Him, expecting a conquering king who would restore the kingdom to them and defeat their oppressors. The Passover lamb they sacrificed every year was a pre-enactment, a foreshadowing of the actual event.

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Religion can be defined as “Man’s search for God.”  There are lots of different ones in the world, all comprised of people who are doing just that: Looking for God or trying to reach some form of perfection.  To the unbeliever, they all appear equally good. Their adherents believe that each one can lead a person to God and, ultimately, to heaven.

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The problem with them all is that you must rely on yourself and your performance which, predictably, falls far short. You stand to lose everything if you don’t measure up. Well that’s awful! 🤯 No human can do that.  What assurance do you have that you are doing enough or being good enough?  The answer is, “You have NONE.” 😟 That’s why every single human on the planet needs THE Savior!

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Wouldn’t you like to know for sure what will happen to you when you die? The one CRITICAL assurance that no religion offers is AN IRON-CLAD GUARANTEE OF SAFE PASSAGE OUT OF THIS WORLD.  Well, I have good news!  Such a guarantee does exist, and Y’SHUA IS THE ONLY ONE Who can offer it.  He opened the door for all of us!  

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Safe passage means perfect assurance that you’re going to heaven, not hell.  I know.  Nobody likes to talk about hell, including me. But believe me: Hell is an all-too-real place.  You don’t want to go there!  It is eternal torment with no get-out-of-jail-free pass.

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We know that because our wonderful Y’Shua, Who loves us so much, talked a whole lot about it because He doesn’t want us to go there.  Hell was created to be a place of eternal punishment for Lucifer and his band of fallen angels, not for man,

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The night before they were delivered from Egypt, they were instructed to put the blood of a lamb on the lintel and the doorposts of their homes.  When the Angel of Death passed through the land on that night and saw blood on the lintel and doorposts of any home, He would “Pass over” that house and spare the lives of everyone inside.

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Moses had warned Pharaoh that this was going to happen.  Sadly, not one Egyptian household had blood on their doorposts and, as God promised, EVERY first born of both human and animals died. 😔

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Did you know that the Children of Israel weren’t the only ones who escaped death?  It’s true. 😲 You see, by the time the 10th plague hit, the one where all the first-born died, many Egyptians had wised up.  The scripture below bears this out:

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Throughout the Law, the prophets, and the wisdom books are pictures of our Messiah represented in types and shadows. The New Testament, or haTorah haDashah, the Book Of Hebrews is full of revelations about these types as given to the writer of the book, presumably the Apostle Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees. They show us many wonderful things about our Messiah that are hidden throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The story of Passover is a prime example.  It is all about Messiah Y’Shua: Jesus! 💖

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Egypt is a depiction of the world. The blood on the doorposts is a foreshadowing, or “Type,” of His sacrifice on the Cross.  The message couldn’t be more clear:  No one….NO ONE…..is getting out of “Egypt” alive without the blood on the doorpost of their heart; and be assured: Once it is applied, it can NEVER be removed.  This is our IRON-CLAD GUARANTEE.

Why do we need a perfect sacrifice to offer God?  Because we all owe God a great debt because of our sin, the result of Adam’s fall. Since we could not pay it, He sent the Perfect Lamb of God to pay it for us! 💖 Actually, He OVERpaid it and gives it to us as a free gift. As the scriptures say,  “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

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ALL humans are tainted with sin. This is nothing that you or I have done: We are born with it because of the Fall.  Being stained with sin disqualifies us from being our own sacrifice.  We also cannot do enough good works, as if we were tipping some kind of heavenly scale in our favor. We are blemished, imperfect, and unqualified from birth.  No matter how hard we try, we can never measure up.

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The Bible says “ALL OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS is as filthy rags.”  So, if you try to offer yourself as your own sacrifice, God has to reject you because you are flawed.

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That is the biggest downfall of all the world’s religions and why we need a Savior. That’s why we need the Jewish Messiah! We should all be VERY grateful for the Jewish people.  (I refer you again to Romans 11:25-28) Without them, we would have nothing: No Messiah, no scriptures, no salvation, NOTHING. In short: We would all be doomed to hell. But God in His great mercy, chose that nation to bring salvation to the whole world.

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Just like any gift, you are free to either accept it or…..at  your own peril…..reject it.  This tells you that SALVATION is not universal or automatic.  If you reject the free gift He is offering, God is an awesome respecter of your free choice.  He will never force salvation on you.

Please understand, there are consequences accompanying whatever choice you make.  If you accept His free gift, you can NEVER die.  Your eternal life in heaven is assured.  But if you refuse it, you, who are already dead, WILL REMAIN SO FOREVER…..and suffer the eternal consequences. 😭

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What about these other religions?  Do any of their founders claim to have created the heavens and the earth?  NO. Only the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob records that He, and He alone, created the universe and all that is therein.  Looks like He’s the real ALMIGHTY ONE!

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Can any other founder provide an offering acceptable to the God of the Universe–You know, The One Who makes the rules–which can give you SAFE PASSAGE OUT OF THIS WORLD?  NO, NO, NO!  

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If you die without blood on the doorposts of your heart, YOU WILL BE TURNED AWAY to spend eternity in hell, from which there is NO REPRIEVE.  But fear not; Jesus’ priceless gift is offered freely to ALL without reservation.  Accepting it is so simple.  Just “metanóia: change your mind” about whatever it is you thought God required of you.

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