Passed Over

April 7, 2022|Faith | God's Faithfulness | Grace

Being “passed over” when teams were being formed in gym was never a good feeling.

Being rejected – “passed over” – for an opportunity to participate in a play or join others for a special activity was painful. Being “passed over” by the in-crowd was wounding.

As adults, we may have found ourselves “passed over” for a promotion or a job we wanted. Or perhaps we were ignored – “passed over” – by that guy we’d hope would notice us, and someday marry.

Been there.

But…I’ve learned that being “passed over” isn’t always a bad thing.

In the book of Exodus, we read about the Passover.

Over 3,000 years ago, the Lord “passed over” His beloved people, sparing the life of the first born in each household, setting the stage for their journey from enslavement in Egypt to freedom in Him.

It was a really good time to be “passed over.”

To be “passed-over” the family had to choose an unblemished, year-old male from their flock (sheep or goat), keep it for fourteen days and slaughter it (Ex 12:5-6). “They must take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts and the lintel of the houses” (Ex 12:7).

On that night, the Lord would “pass through the land of Egypt…and strike every firstborn male in the land …” (Ex 12:12) “…from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock” (Ex 12:29).

But if a home was marked with the blood of an unblemished lamb the Lord would pass over the dwelling, harming no one.

About a thousand years later the Lord provided an unblemished lamb – Jesus Christ – to become the Passover sacrifice for all who choose to accept Him as Lord. Our acceptance of His shed blood is the sign the Father looks for to “pass over” us without harm on the day of judgement.