We made it to Passover-woohoo! Over the last two weeks, I have tried to show some steps Israel had to take toward freedom or redemption. The first step was to recognize a need and ask for help. Israel cried out to God. Next, self-reflection was needed to expose how they were seeped in toxic shame and identified as enslaved people rather than as divine image-bearers. Next, we have the Passover lamb. A general understanding is that the Passover lamb took the Israelites’ place in death, but there is more to the story. The Passover lamb produces two things-light and cleansing blood.
Revelation 21:23: The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it Light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Revelation 12:11: They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death.
Light is God’s garment (Ps 104:2), and according to many traditions, the original humans were luminous, as they reflected God’s image. Genesis Rabbah 3:21 states:
In R. Meir’s Torah it was found written, “Garments of Light…refer to Adam’s garment, which were like a torch [shedding radiance], broad at the bottom and narrow at the top.
The Scriptures describe God’s word, instructions, and wisdom as light. Kurt Cobain said it right with his song, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.” We become sunbeams when we internalize His words or instructions and obey them. After receiving God’s instructions on Mt. Sinai, Moses’ face was radiant (Ex 34.29). Yeshua tells his disciples they will shine a light whenever they do “good works,” a general definition of a commandment (Mt 5.16). Adam and Chavah’s close communion with God as they internalized His words made them emit a primordial light.
God made humans out of two things: His Breath, or Holy Spirit, and Earth, which is also called flesh in the Bible. Adam and Adamah, or red earth, share the same Hebrew root of dalet and mem, pronounced as a dam, which translates as blood. Blood connects man to earth, and our spirit connects man to God. The Divine Spirit manifests as light.
Revelation 4:5: And out from the throne come flashes of lightning, rumblings, and clashes of thunder—and seven torches of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
Leviticus 17:11: For the life of the flesh (nefesh) is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
Therefore, two parts of our beings can go out of whack. The breach of our spirit stems from deceit. Being honest human beings is essential to reflecting God’s Spirit of truth. Honest with ourselves and others, communicating what is in our hearts without hypocrisy, and doing what we say we will are all ways of being truthful. Our nefesh or earthly nature can break depending on our reaction to sin or disobedience. Will we realize we have pierced a boundary in pride and return to a state of humility or will we strengthen our resolve and gird ourselves with stubborness?
Proverbs 15:4: A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,
But perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
God’s instructions regarding the Passover lamb allowed the Israelites to return to their original, shining existence. God could have had Moses and Aaron sacrifice a lamb for the entire nation. Instead, He required each individual and each family member to engage in the Passover lamb process because that is how He restored them to light. They had to obey His instructions.
The blood of the Passover Lamb cleansed them. The life of the nefesh is in the blood. An unblemished lamb would symbolize a pure nefesh, soul, or earthly nature. The Israelites placed the Passover lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their houses. Humans are a Tabernacle or house where the blood of the Lamb is placed symbolically on our hearts as the door to our house. The lamb’s blood cleansed the dwellings that housed the Light of God. A clean entryway in the house was necessary before the Light could fill it. A pure earth nature is necessary for our spirits to emanate truth and light. That means we need to sanctify our words, thoughts, desires and motivations in order to create space for the Divine Breath to shine. We are not trying to escape being human but rather be truly human by being truthful, humble, lovers of God and people.
In His death, Yeshua gave us His Spirit, the Spirit of truth, which restores us to our original purpose of being lighthouses. The totality of His human experience represented by His blood was pure. He loved the Holy One with his entire soul, as commanded in Deuteronomy 6:4. We need both a purified earthly nature and a renewed spirit to be truly human. Our earthly nature was never bad in itself, only when it is separated and working against our spirit can it become enslaving.
John 15:26: When the Helper comes—whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me.
John 1:29: The next day John seeth Yeshua coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
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