Today’s Reading:
Exodus 12:40-42
“It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations”. (v. 42)

It can be a wonderful experience to watch out the window for a loved one to come home; watch the day of graduation from the higher institution; watch for your friends to come over; watch with your phone as your little child or grandchild is trying to take her first awkward little steps; watch the day of resumption after receiving an employment letter for work or watch to see the end of an interesting football match. Whatever it is that you are watching for, watching can be wonderful. Passover was a night unlike any other of the Lord watching over his people. The whole Exodus was one example after another of God’s watchful care. We see it, in particular, in this passage. I want you to see evidence of God watching over His people. Then we will finish by briefly looking at their response and our response to God watching over us.
The victory over Egypt had been devastating and relentless. Ten plagues, one after another. Now, finally, 400 years of oppression came to an end. They were in Egypt for 430 years. They came during the famine with Jacob and his sons, when Joseph was in charge, and lived there for some years before a new Pharaoh came who enslaved them. But they have been wailing as slaves for a long time. The wailing that they did as slave people back in Exodus chapter three, is the same word used here for the cry of the Egyptians in verse 30. Almighty God has proven that their gods are nothing, and less than nothing. Their gods, as we have seen, had one central purpose - to provide life, fertility, good crops, rain, and safe passage after death. They were not gods and goddesses that can secure life. Now we see that their very purpose has been completely undermined. They were powerless whether it is a river, darkness, hail, or boils, let alone death itself in the 10th plague. These deities were the antithesis of being mighty to save. They were impotent to save.
After its announcement, the actual 10th plague is by far the worst. You have to imagine that the Egyptians heard something of this. They had been present for these other nine plagues and had seen what the God of the Hebrews was doing to their land and livelihood. Surely, they must have heard. Word must have gotten around to Pharaoh, to his men, and then throughout the Egyptian countryside that there was another plague coming and it was going to be the worst one. Perhaps, if they were within ear-shot of some of the Israelites there in Goshen (or around the country), they would see them doing a strange thing at night: all of the lambs being slaughtered, and blood being used to mark the doorposts. You wonder what the Egyptians must have thought.
From the palace to the pits, there was no escape from the judgment of God upon Egypt for 400 years of oppression, and judgment upon Pharaoh and his people for their slaughter of the innocents.” God is no respecter of persons. We hear a lot about equality and fairness. In God, we have One who is absolutely no respecter of persons. He will not give you an easy passage because you are one of the millionaires or billionaires, and He will not give you safe passage because you are the poorest of the poor. When it comes to the judgment of God, your privilege and position cannot save you, nor will God spare you because you were despised and destitute. Some of us, deep down, are prone to thinking one or the other. “Well, I am sort of an important person. I know I have not been perfect, but someday when I stand before God, I’ve sure done my best. I’ve tried really hard. I’ve been an important person in the community. I worked hard to get my degrees. I was very faithful in my job. I supported my family. I’ve been a rather impressive person.” It’s not enough! Then others are tempted to think, “Well, life has been just one unremitting sense of failure for me. I didn’t have the parents or the opportunities that other people had. I’ve been sick and ill. I’ve been impoverished. I’ve never had these other things. God’s going to cut me a great big break.” No. From the palace to the pits, the firstborn in every household was dead!
Surely you can see and I hope that you can feel the connection with your own life because there is an even more cataclysmic judgment coming. God will not be a respecter of persons. You will not pass through that night safe and secure because of anything in your bank account, the degrees hanging on your walls, or the number of difficult, sad circumstances in your life. It will not matter how high and mighty or how low and debased. You will not be safe without the blood. The Angel of the Lord passed through the camp of the Israelites. Only there did he find what he was looking for. He was not looking for people who were good enough to earn God’s favour. He was not looking for people who had tried very hard. He was looking for one thing: THE BLOOD. Not just the sign of blood itself, but what it represented: the faith to put your trust in a substitute. Anyone could smear something on their doors, but it took faith to hear what God had said, take him at his word, do as he commanded, and say, “My only hope to be spared from death this night is to have one die in my place and to have that substitute hang over my household.”
When the Angel of the Lord passes through the camp, will he find blood on the doorposts? When Christ returns, will he find what He is looking for - faith on the earth? Only faith in the blood will save you. God is no respecter of persons. We see his great mercy for his people: to watch over them by passing over them by providing a substitute for their sins; to judge the Egyptians and save the Israelites.
OLAJIDE OGUNFUWA
Prayer:
1. I cover myself and every member of my household with the Blood of Jesus Christ.
2. Every covenant of death and disappointment over my life and family is broken and destroyed by the blood of Jesus, in Jesus name.
3. After the order of the Israelites, Father Lord, care for and watch over me and all that concerns me, in Jesus name.
4. Father Lord, with Your power and rod of judgement, pass through our nation, Nigeria and judge the wicked, in Jesus name.
5. After the order of Moses and the Israelites, Father Lord, give our nation spiritual leaders to lead us out of slavery and impending judgment, in Jesus name.
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