Plagues, Passover, & Promises

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and Christians around the globe will reflect on Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, a commemoration of Christ's betrayal, suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Christians will celebrate because our Savior paid the penalty for our sins and overcame death, hell, and the grave. Because of His perfect sacrifice, we have freedom, joy, and an eternal hope within us that this world cannot comprehend.

These are wonderful reasons to celebrate, and we should rejoice and be glad for all the Lord has done. Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and liturgical Protestants extend this celebration by fasting in the weeks preceding Christ's resurrection, a practice called Lent. But Lent has an interesting parallel that people rarely discuss as part of Holy Week.

We celebrate Christ's resurrection at the same time our Jewish friends celebrate Passover. That's why Jesus was entering Jerusalem. He was there to celebrate Passover with His disciples. Passover marked the beginning of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, but it also marked the end of the plagues. While the Israelites were in Egyptian slavery, God sent 10 plagues upon the Egyptians to prompt them to release His people. While scholars cannot say with certainty exactly how long these plagues lasted in Egypt, some estimate that the plagues would coincide with the six weeks of Lent. While we tend to associate spring with new life, both physically and spiritually, it is also the season of the Egyptian plagues.

The last of these plagues was the death of every firstborn in Egypt. The angel of death "passed over" those houses that had the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, and that is why the feast is called Passover. Passover certainly proclaims the resurrection, and I won't try to even scratch the surface of the parallels between these two events, many of which you know very well. But I would encourage you to meditate on Passover as the end of the plagues.

 In many ways, Egypt is a lot like sinful humanity, and the Israelites are a lot like Christians. When the Israelites lived among the Egyptians, they lived like the Egyptians in many ways. But after the Passover, when the blood of the lamb delivered them from death, they left their former lives behind and followed God toward the place He promised them. As they walked through the Red Sea, and literally saw those who had enslaved them drown in its depths, they passed from slavery to freedom, and eventually entered the Promised Land.

 For believers, the plagues ended with the fulfillment of Passover, when the Lamb of God shed His blood to cover their sins and deliver them from death. Not only does Passover represent an end to these plagues, but the beginning of a new life. Every Christian has an individual Passover moment, when they applied the blood of the Lamb to the doorposts of their heart, the plagues of sin and death ended, and their journey to the life God promised them began.

What does this have to do with the ChASM Project? Our communities are full of boys who are immersed in the plagues of life without Jesus. But just like God's plan for the Israelites was bigger than being Egypt's slaves, His plans for these boys are bigger than crime, poverty, and hopelessness. These young men are in desperate need of a Passover moment. They need an encounter with Jesus. They need to move from plagues, through the Passover, and into the promise. And we have the privilege of being part of that journey.

Would you take a moment to pray for the ChASM Project? Pray for the boys God is sending us, the teachers and staff who will be working with them, the resources we need to meet their immediate physical needs, and the co-laborers who will be joining forces with us to help accomplish all the Lord has set before us. Finally, pray about how you can help. Can you forward an email, give financially, volunteer your time, or help in another way? Ask the Lord, and help a ChASM boy pass over from plagues to promise.