The Israelites were in a special covenantal relationship with God because of promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When the death angel passed through the city to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians, the blood on the Israelites’ door posts was a sign to the angel to spare the firstborns of the Israelites inside. In the Passover story, God gave Moses instructions requiring each Israelite family to mark their door posts with the blood of an unblemished lamb to spare them from the tenth plague. The exodus takes place after God has poured out nine plagues on the pagan nation of Egypt. Then there’s Passover, which commemorates the story of the Israelites’ departure from ancient Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Christians recognize Jesus as the lamb slain from the foundations of the earth who takes away the sins of the world (Revelation 13:8). Afterward, He would be resurrected on the third day. The Prophet Isaiah forecast the coming of a Messiah who would be persecuted and would die for the sins of mankind. During Easter, Christians celebrate Jesus’s resurrection and victory over death in fulfillment of Isaiah 53: 1-6. The global shutdown straddles two Holy Days, one observed by Jews and one by Christians. The Significance of the Passover and Easter Season The slowdown of the world gives us the perfect opportunity to assess our lives and discover what we believe about the creator and His purpose for our lives. What we are experiencing with the current pandemic is not business as usual. A thief catches the homeowner by surprise. Jesus will sneak up on us as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2). When Jesus returns, we will be conducting business as usual. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24: 36-29). “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. The global shutdown strikes me as a divine warning, because it does not exactly line up perfectly with what Jesus says men and women will be doing when He returns. Worldometer’s 2 percent death rate for coronavirus is a drop in the bucket compared with the fatality rate of SARS (10%) and MERS (34%). Consider that the world has 7.9 billion people. We have had far more serious pandemics happen without the world ceasing its activities (SARS and H1N1). The unusal cessation of human activites in the world’s busiest cities cannot be explained by the facts surrounding the current global pandemic. Christians believe a sovereign God is fully aware of everything that takes place in the universe, including global pandemics (Colossians 1: 16-17). It contains guidelines about how humans should live their lives, and it offers a record of God’s dealings with nations and prophecies for the future. The Bible offers an account of God’s dealings with mankind throughout the centuries. Now is a good time to discuss the possible spiritual significance for Christians. They weren’t describing life during the current global coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down some of the busiest cities in the world such as New York, Los Angeles, London and Moscow. When Bill and Gloria Gaither penned the words for “The King Is Coming,” they were warning of Jesus Christ’s imminent return.
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