Recently I’ve been reading through the book of Exodus during my daily quiet times. If you haven’t read Exodus before, or if you haven’t read it in a while, the book opens with the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, suffering as slaves in the land of Egypt. They cry out to God, and He hears them and sends a man named Moses to lead them out of their slavery. As the Egyptian Pharaoh persistently refuses to let Israel go, God unleashes terrible plagues upon the land. After the tenth plague, Pharaoh finally releases the Israelites, and they are able to escape to the wilderness. In the wilderness, God begins to instruct Israel on how they are to live as the people of God.

The most pivotal moment in the book is the tenth plague, which was the death of every firstborn in Egypt (Exodus 12). God was going to pass through Egypt to kill all the firstborns, but He warned His people ahead of time. Each household was to take a young male lamb without blemish and kill it to eat. They were also to take some of the lamb’s blood and spread it on the doorway of their homes. Whoever had the blood of a young, unblemished lamb on their doorway that night would be passed over by God and their firstborns would be spared (therefore, the event was called Passover). The Israelites were commanded to celebrate this event every year, and Jews still celebrate Passover to this day.

While this story clearly puts God’s sovereignty, providence, and omnipotence on display, the Passover story in Exodus teaches us something else that we cannot recognize until we look at the New Testament.