Passover 2020 will stand as the first year in history that multitudes of Christians around the world rally to observe the biblical feast. There is a collective sense that God is calling His global family to stand watch with Him (Exodus 12:42) on this biblical feast as we pass over to a new global era. We share a word below about how you might prepare.
Jewish people recount at Passover how each of the ten plagues of Egypt executed divine judgment against that nation’s false gods. YHVH’s shaking, toppling and judgment of those gods set the stage for Israel’s deliverance so she could be His own. (Exodus 12:12; 6:7) All was done for the sake of His glory and redemption of humankind.
Not unlike the plagues which struck the once proud and prosperous Egyptian empire, today’s coronavirus plague has struck at no less than ten foundations of modern civilization (and actually many more). To varying degrees, these foundations have been grievously infected and worshiped as false gods — even by some of us who are committed followers of Yeshua.
Today as I write, traditional Jews are searching their homes to remove and burn all leaven. It seems appropriate for us believers in Messiah to not just remove leaven from our homes, but to ask Holy Spirit to search our hearts and reveal any spiritual leaven within, that we might remove and burn it by the fire of His love.
Also at Passover, we traditionally recall how through the ten plagues and exodus, YHVH was exalted before all Egypt and much of the Middle East. That is why a great “mixed multitude” of Gentiles left Egypt, along with Israel, dedicated to her God. (Exodus 12:38) Likewise, as a result of today’s corona plague and tribulations that will inevitably follow, God is drawing a great, mixed multitude to Himself. He wants you and me prepared for a spiritual harvest that is ripening fast. For this we have long prayed!
In preparing for that harvest and for Passover, I have personally been convicted of ten forms of idolatry, listed below. Most–but not all–of these “idols” are associated with social structures or cultural norms that are not evil in and of themselves. Many actually have godly foundations. Yet each is being shaken severely by the current global plague. If you are convicted, as was I, that your own heart has been infected with any idolatry associated with these structures or norms, there is good news. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Then we need only ask and receive by faith a fresh infilling of Holy Spirit’s power to stand firm in grace, go and sin no more.
It has been said that what is taking place globally is ultimately about God removing all that hinders love. His heart is set on having yours–as well as the hearts of lost humankind. And that is of tremendous encouragement to us all!
Ten Toppling Idols
- Pride – Exalting oneself, one’s abilities or one’s ways; vanity; lovelessnesss toward God and others
“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning [Lucifer], son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, You who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly .. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the remote recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).” (Isaiah 14:12-16, Amp, italics mine)
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Matthew 22:37-39)
See also 2 Timothy 3:1-5, below.
- Mammon (money) – Financial security, provision, comfort; riches; “poverty spirit”
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
“You shall not steal…You shall not covet.” (Exodus 20:15, 17)
See also 2 Timothy 3:1-5, below.
- Health – Healing and prolonging of life based more on science than on trusting the Author of Life; hoarding
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body…But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.” (Matthew 6:25, 33)
- Education – Pursuing knowledge or personal gain through knowledge — at the expense of biblical truth
“There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be … always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:1-2, 7)
- Entertainment and Sports – Amusement to the point of escaping or denying reality; not objecting to immorality propagated in the arts; wrongly focusing on the human body; excessive competition
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father in not in him.” (1 John 2:15)
See also 2 Timothy 3:1-5, below, re lovers of pleasure.
- Family Relations – Dysfunction causing either generational separation or ungodly co-dependence; dishonor or unbiblical redefinition of marriage and family
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long…” (Exodus 20:12)
See also 2 Timothy 3:1-5, below.
- Human interface, politics and media – Seeking human praise at the expense of devotion to God; propagating lies rather than truth to obtain men’s praise
(This topic could be expanded to include government and all those in authority, but that would exceed the scope of this article.)
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10)
“You shall not give false testimony [slander] against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)
See also 2 Timothy 3:1-5, below.
- Work – Failure to observe the Sabbath; enslavement to work
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth…and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
“So the message of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest [after the Israelites were exiled], lying desolate until the seventy years were fulfilled, just as the prophet had said.” (2 Chronicles 36:21)
- Religion – False religions, but also “Church-ianity” that compromises biblical faith
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, italics mine) This denial of power concerns not just a lack of power gifts of the Spirit, but the power to live holy, Messiah-like lives.
- Covenants with death – Alignment with death through tacit acceptance of, or participating in, abortion and other forms of murder, including “murder in our hearts” according to Matthew 6:21-22
“The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s [innocent] blood is crying out to Me from the ground [for justice].” (Genesis 4:10, Amp)
“You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:13-14, the latter relating to abortion)
“You boast, ‘We have made a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement; when an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.’ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says…’I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line…Your covenant with death will be annulled…when the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it’.” (Isaiah 28:15-18)
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Satan and collective humankind are, at minimum, partly responsible for this plague. Nevertheless, may God continue to shake what can and should be shaken. May that which is good and cannot be shaken, remain. (Hebrews 12:27)
Meanwhile, may you worship the Lord this Passover with gladness, like Moses’ sister Miriam, who praised Him for His mighty deliverance: “I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted…The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation…The Lord is a warrior….Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power…Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders… the nations will hear and tremble…The Lord will reign forever and ever.” (Exodus 15:1-18)