Venerable Henry Adelegan
Text: “…and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you… And this day shall be unto you for a memorial…” Exodus 12:13-14
Considering the spiral nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments at state and federal levels had no option than to lockdown some states to curtail the spread of the existential virus. Lockdown means the confinement of prisoners to cell and it derives its meaning from two words: they are lock and down. ‘Lock’ means to be put in chains or to immobilise or to hinder from access while ‘down’ means to either be put on the ground or cast in the valley or grave or a place of no reckoning. The Bible is replete with examples of people that had encounter with a lockdown life. The good news however is that for children of God, the consequence of any cast down is a lift up (Psalm 30:5; Job 14:9) provided one can walk according to understanding (1 Chro. 12:32). Job was a man who experienced a life lockdown as he fellfrom grace to grass within minutes (Job 1:13-20). When the battle of his lockdown was severe and things were at their lowest ebb, he said ‘I know that my Redeemer lives’ (Job 19:25). In Job 22:29 also, he said when men are saying there is a cast down, we shall say there is a lifting up. Eventually, his lockdown heralded a lifting up as all his loss was restored in double fold (Job 42:10-16).
This lockdown scenario played out in biblical history many years ago when the Egyptians held the children of Israel down for 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41). As a result of King Pharaoh’s stubbornness and wickedness, cascading into his determination to hold on to power over the Israelites, God’s anger was ventilated on the Egyptians and they consequently passed through lots of hardship. From our text, God consequently announced to Moses that the angel of death was going to visit Egypt, but whatever doorpost the blood was seen, death would pass such a household over. True to God’s word, the following morning, there was weeping and wailing in the household of the Egyptians over the loss of their first born children, but the homes of the Israelites were spared because of the blood of the lamb on the lintel of their houses (Exodus 12:30). Besides what happened, God instructed Moses that the Passover must be a memorial.
It is illogical to assume that ‘ordinary blood’ can wade off the angel of death, but Paul told the Corinthians that “God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). The things that are seemingly useless with human beings are very useful tool in God’s hands. When Samson was to face the Phillistines, he used the ‘ordinary jawbone of an ass’ to slaughter thousands of men (Judges 15:15-17). When the Midianites and Amalekites that “lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude” waged war against Israel, God asked Jerubaal (also called Gideon) to deploy an “ordinary army of 300 men” as against 32,000 that volunteered to fight and with that insignificant army they triumphed over the huge army of the aggressors (Judges 7:1-12).
Also, with ‘ordinary songs and praises’ Judah destroyed the armies of the Ammonites, Edomites and Moabites (2 Chronicles 20). It was also an ‘ordinary stone’ in the hand of David that destroyed the intimidating Goliath (1 Samuel 17:49).
It is by same token that God holds the matter of blood very dearly. When Cain killed his brother, God told him “the blood of your brother is crying from the ground” (Genesis 4:9-10). In Leviticus 17:11, He explained it further that “the life of the flesh is in the blood”. This is the foundation of the Holy Communion which Jesus Christ gave to His disciples as a memorial that must be duly observed in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:19). The blood of Jesus Christ might look ordinary to unbelievers but the blood of the lamb that was slain has potency above the blood of bulls and goats for cleansing from sin, protection and deliverance from lockdown (Hebrews 9:13-15).
In the New testament, and on a day like this (Maundy Thursday), Jesus Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26:26-28) and He enjoined that the Holy Communion must be done in His remembrance (Luke 22:19). The Holy Communion, apart from having power to protect from the hands of angels of death that have pervaded the land, it also enlightens one’s eyes of understanding, provides insight and gives direction (Ephesians 1:18 cf Luke 24:30-35).
With the Holy Communion, God opens our inner eyes to see latent opportunities as He did when He opened the eyes of Hagar and she saw the well, and was consequently saved along with her son from death. Not only that, the Holy Communion opens the window for divine favour, grace and unmerited blessings ((cf Acts 2:46-47). Lastly, the Holy Communion facilitates long life, good health and showers of blessings.
To enable you get maximum advantage of the Holy Communion over any lockdown experience, it is important to first examine yourself (I Corinthians 11:27-28, 11:18, 21-22). Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:29-30 that people sleep, fall sick and die when the Communion isn’t well administered and taken. You must surrender your life to Jesus Christ and live a holy life henceforth. As a follow up to that, the Holy Communion must be taken reverently, not with disrespect to the poor and needy, and must not be taken with unbelief. As you rightly partake of the Holy Communion, may God protect your family from the devil’s onslaught, incapacitate powers of wickedness in our land, bless our dear country, deliver us from the consequences of the lockdown, move us forward, give us a new dawn of economic revival, make our land peaceful, give us improved infrastructure, release to us honest leaders and cause us to experience selflessness in high places and prosperity for all, in Jesus’ name
Prayer: Father, let the blood of Jesus deliver me from physical, economic and spiritual lockdown in the name of Jesus Christ.
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