Christian thinking is filled with the things that are of men, not the things that are of God. Let us accept the fact that we are in deception concerning the true Nature of the Consuming Fire of Israel. God's love is so great as to be beyond our comprehension. The same is equally true of God's wrath!

If we are to understand both the protection and the destruction of Passover we must recognize that both come from the Lord, not from Satan. The authority to issue both the love and the judgment of God are being passed to the Church as the Church abides in Christ. The keys of the Kingdom of God are placed in the hands of the Church when the Church is filled with Christ and moving in the Spirit of God. When Christ is in us and breathes on us we have the authority to forgive sin and to retain sin. We have the authority to open and close the gates of the Kingdom to an individual. Such authority is not something to be desired but it has been assigned to the Church as the Church is ready to receive it. It is an awesome responsibility—terrible beyond all human comprehension.

Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:23)

The keys of Hell and death are in the possession of the Lord Jesus. They are not in the hands of Satan.

Each member of the Church begins his or her pilgrimage by receiving by faith the sprinkling of the blood of God's Lamb, Christ. The blood protects the individual and his family from the wrath of God when God brings judgment on the world.

In addition the family is to "eat the Lamb." By eating the Lamb we mean that the believers are to receive the Lord Jesus into their personality and begin to look to the Lord in every aspect of personality and behavior so that He may be formed in them.

The central message of the Passover is not the exodus from slavery in Egypt, because the Israelites quickly brought themselves into slavery to the demon-gods of Canaan. They went from one slavery to another that was worse. While they were in Egypt the Jews did not offer their children as burnt offerings to demon gods as they did when they were settled in Canaan.

Rather, the central message of the Passover is that God's Lamb, Christ, releases us from slavery to sin.

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [slave] of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:34-36)

The Christian Church has come as far as the spiritual realities symbolized by the Passover. Salvation by faith in the blood of the cross has been firmly, eternally established among the Christian people. The Passover blood is the beginning of our redemption.

To be continued.