Exodus 12:11 This how you are to eat the meal – dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
The final plague, prior to the Exodus from Egypt, was the death of the first-born male of every household. As God delivered His people by the blood of innocent lambs, He established one of the deepest, foundational doctrines for Israel, and for the Church: the Passover – God’s salvation.
God turned that final act into salvation from death and deliverance from Egypt. For us, Egypt represents our enslavement to sin and snares of this world. The Passover was the power of ransomed deliverance. It was the image of Easter – the death, deliverance, and resurrection yet to come. Let’s consider the instructions for this holy feast that they continued to observe every year. As they ate, they were to be dressed to travel, sandals on their feet, staff in hand. It was to be eaten in haste. We can imagine the tension in the room as every eye is on the exit, ready to move. In every dining room and in every heart an expectancy and attentiveness. As they ate, the Holy Spirit was saying, “Deliverance is almost here. On your mark, get set, …”
How does this compare to your Easter Sunday? Will your heart be set in an attitude of attentiveness? Will you be sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation of movement? For most Christians, I would say – no. Life for a believer in many parts of the world is quite safe. We live in ease and prosperity. There is often a stagnation that settles on the lives of western Christians. There is no sense of urgency or any notion that we will get our marching orders in the next moment. We are not poised, ready to depart in all haste – listening for the word. In fact, many of us aren’t listening for anything. The Passover meal was not the peaceful Easter dinner with a nap in the afternoon. It was
eaten in haste – eyes on the door. As we prepare our hearts for the celebration of His Resurrection, may there be tension in the air as every ear is anticipating His command to leave this place of settled life and move out in His deliverance. “Eyes on the door, deliverance is near, and … GO!”