The Blood, The Passover, The Covenant, and COVID-19.

    Exodus 12:23 "For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you."
     Imagine yourself facing the possibility that every first born in every home could die by dawn.  Over 3000 years ago, God's chosen people were faced with that reality when the Destroyer was to enter Egypt to accomplish his purpose.  Under God's instructions, Moses instructed the Israelites to take a unblemished lamb into their homes for 4 days and feed it, water it, and care for it.  At the end of the 4 days, they were to sacrifice that lamb, apply its blood around the door to their homes, and eat the remainder leaving nothing until morning.  It must have taken a lot of faith in God and Moses to do what was asked, but each family did in the hope that God would set them free from 400 years of bondage.
     That night the "Destroyer" entered the land taking the lives of the first born of every home that the door was not painted in lamb's blood.  Scripture records that when God saw the blood on those doors marked with blood He then stood over the door himself and prevented the "Destroyer" from entering their home.  It was the blood of that lamb that identified His chosen people from those who were not. Today we remember that day as the Passover or Pesach.  Scripture tells us that it was that act that broke the back of pharaoh and allowed Israel to be set free from Egypts bondage forever.  It also tells us that though they wandered through the desert there was not one feeble among them.
      During the Passover celebration, nearly Two-thousand years ago, an unblemished Lamb was driven to a place called Golgotha on Mount Moriah where he was placed on a cross, crucified, died and buried.  Romans 3:23-25 tells us, "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God."  Similarly, God provided the sacrificial Lamb in Jesus Christ such that those who chose to apply His blood to their lives, God sanctifies, God forgives, God delivers, God heals, and God stands over protecting them as his very own. Identified by the blood of His only Son.  This is the Covenant God has made with those who believe.
     Today we stand in the midst of an international pandemic that has the potential to take the lives of many around the world by the novel COVID-19 coronavirus.  People are frighted and huddled together much as God's Chosen were 3000 years ago during Passover.  This weekend, it is no coincidence that we are facing this modern day plague huddled in our homes as we celebrate the Passover, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Easter).  I believe, without a doubt, as we apply the blood of Christ to the doorposts of our lives and homes, this plague will not destroy us.
     Even in medicine, doctors are scrambling to find cures and means of overcoming this dreaded disease.  They are even using plasma from those who have overcome the illness and give it to those who are very ill to fight COVID-19.  Drugs are given through the blood and eventually vaccines will help the blood develop antibodies to protect against the illness.    
     Why am I not afraid of this illness? I am not afraid because there is forgiveness in the blood, there is protection in the blood, there is power in the blood, there is identity in the blood, and All Life is In the Blood!  God is not afraid of COVID-19.  Neither should we, if we are covered by His blood.  Psalm 91:10, There shall no evil befall thee, Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent."