Whew! Thanksgiving, what a hassle! Thanksgiving this year was fun, we had guests, a turkey and a ham, and afterwards we watched Miracle on 34th Street, a true classic. Anyway, you know the Jews (before Christ came) celebrated a very special holiday very similar to Thanksgiving, it was called The Passover.The Passover was a holiday reminding them of God's grace to the Israelites and the Egyptians in Exodus 12:1-30. Now you probably know this story, God told the Israelites and the Egyptians that that night at midnight the LORD would strike down every firstborn son in every house in Egypt. Israelite or Egyptian they would die. But he gave them grace, both the Israelites and the Egyptians, by giving them a chance to prevent this. All they had to do was slay a flawless male sheep and put the blood on the lentil and doorposts of their front door. What a lot of people don't see is the message that we get from this today that they wouldn't be able to understand then. Recap the whole story, and think... the blood of a lamb was the substitute for their death, just like Christ's blood was the substitute for our lives at the cross. But wait there's more, The Egyptians lived near the Nile River for it was their only source of water out there in the desert. Every year the Nile rose and flooded the shore, so, because of this the homes in that part of Egypt had basins in the doors so that when the water rose it would go into the basin instead of into the house. Now with that said listen to this. The LORD told them to put the blood of the lamb in the basin and to dip the brush (frayed reeds of some sort) in the basin and paint the lentil and doorposts. Take a look at just what they were doing:
Now if this picture isn't clear enough the black is the door and the red is the direction in which they lifted and moved the brush from lentil to doorposts. You see they were making the shape of a cross in the air. Even though they didn't know it they were representing Christ in everything they did. Through studying the Old Testament you will find many things like this. Next time you read from the Old Testament pay close attention, and you will find Christ everywhere you look!
