Passover is a special time of year for many in the church and the nation of Israel. We join with those that celebrate during this special season. Although many of us have been hidden away by God for a time of preparation, we can still unite in spirit. With each other and with Jesus we commemorate what God has done for us.
Many years ago our family went to a meeting in a church. God had been slowly weaning us from organized religion and this was one of the very last experiences we had inside a church building while living in Sherwood Park. In the middle of the service, God gave me a revelation of Passover. That revelation has been an important foundation to our family ever since.
In this revelation, God showed me that Passover, which was the last celebration before the Hebrews started their wilderness journey, was comprised of two key elements. The first was blood; and the other was water. The blood of the lamb that was sacrificed and placed on the doorposts of the Hebrew homes marked them as set apart. The angel of death would pass over them during that terrible night when God slew the Egyptian’s first born. After that, the Hebrews were led by God to the Red Sea where they passed through the waters by His hand.
After the people of Israel had sojourned in the wilderness for 40 years, they were finally ready to be led into the Promised Land. Once again, at the season of Passover, we see the two elements of blood and water. The people passed through the waters of the river Jordan to reach the Promised Land; and all the males in the camp were circumcised at Gilgal, east of Jericho, on the other side. While there, they celebrated their first modest Passover in their new home. Not long after, they were commanded to take the town of Jericho after God brought down the walls. No one was to be spared; except Rahab and her family. Once again there was the shedding of blood at Passover.
Many years later, Jesus was born in the Promised Land. He showed us with His life the importance of sacrifice, maturity, and complete obedience to the heavenly Father. When His time on earth was done, He willingly accepted our ‘self’ nature onto Himself as He died on the cross at Passover. As the Heavenly Lamb was hanging there for all to see, giving His life for our ‘self’ so we could return to the Father, a soldier pierced His side with a spear. What poured out was blood and water. Once again the elements of Passover were present.
When God showed me this many years ago, I thought about the death that happens at Passover. It is a great and heavy price that is paid for the freedom of others. But as God unveiled these themes to me, He revealed something else I did not expect. An image of a woman giving birth. In a birth there is new life coming forth; and with that child are two other elements; blood and water. The child, who has been nurtured and sustained by the mother’s body for over 9 months, now has to separate and become free. The child comes forth with the blood and water from the mother that sustained it in the womb. This process of separation represents a death of something old, the time in the womb; and the birth of something new.
So each time we celebrate Passover we see the blood and the water. It’s not just about death but about birth. God birthed a new people that left Egypt and started a journey with Him through the wilderness. God again brought His people through blood and water as He brought them from the death of the wilderness into new life in the Promised Land. Then Jesus’ death brought us from death, because of our self-nature, and into the birth of a new life with His own blood and water. God has used this powerful imagery, at this time of year, to compel us to see what He is doing. Instead of just death, we also need to see the new life; the resurrection.
In 2007 our family had our last Passover with others in Sherwood Park. It was a bittersweet time. We knew we would be leaving our home forever; but God was calling us to a new life. In 2011 after so many years of hardship and deprivation, our family splurged for a final Passover celebration in the little blue house. Even though we knew that it meant many hungrier days would follow. Not long after, we lost everything as God thrust us into our own wilderness wanderings. Passover once again showed us the end of one stage of our lives; and the birth of a new one.
This Passover we will once again celebrate what God has done in bringing His people from death to life. Our family can enter into what He has done for Israel, because we have experienced that process first-hand. As we remember what He has done in the seasons past, let us not miss what He has planned for the future. This is a feast to remember His death; but do not forget that it is also about resurrection, birth and new life. God does not bring death as an end; but instead a foundation for a new beginning. A new start. As you listen and wait on Him during this time, remember what He has done; and watch for that new life. Passover is the season when He births something new.
Resurrection may not look like what we expect. No person is allowed to see a child fully until it is born. We too do not know what God will birth into our lives until it appears. One thing we do know, however, is that God is faithful to birth new life when it is time. Even though you may see nothing but death around you, as you wait on Him, know that He is about to bring about resurrection. Death is never separate from birth. Blood and water. This Passover may you experience the birth of the new as you pass through the death of the old.
Blessings,
Homer and Wanda
