The Difference

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                                                        The Difference

 The Children of Israel were in bondage.  They were slaves to the Egyptians.
They had no hope of saving themselves from the captivity of there oppressors.
They cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for freedom.  God heard
their cries.
 
 The Lord sent plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians in a display of power
never before witnessed.  The plagues, though terrible did not persuade the
enemy to release the children of Israel.
 
 Finally, the Lord told Moses, the leader of the children of Israel, this
month shall be the beginning of months for you.  On the tenth day of the
month, have every family pen up a lamb.  This lamb has to be a male and under
a year old and without blemish, no sores or strange spots.  You shall keep it
four days and in the evening of the fourteenth day kill it.  Catch the blood
and apply it to the doorposts of your house.  You must cook the lamb and eat
it, what you cannot eat you must burn in it's entirety.  Then be ready.
Exod 11:5-7
5	And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
6	And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as
there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.
7	But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue,
against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a
**difference** between the Egyptians and Israel.


 When I read this passage and the word "difference" I imagine a huge equation.
In this equation are two peoples, the children of Israel (on the top portion
of this equation) and the then a minus sign (-).  Then at the bottom I see the
Egyptians. 
                     C of Israel       
                    - Egyptians	
                     = ?    

 Many "differences" can be imagined, but the one that matters is the one that
the Lord made.  On that cool April evening, a few thousand years ago it was
the blood that was the difference.  In every single house that had the blood
applied there was rejoicing and a new found freedom.  In every house that did
not have the blood there was death. 
 
 In that day a furry animal was their "Passover Lamb" but today we have
available to us (mankind) the true Passover Lamb.  Do you have the blood
applied?  Is it on the doorpost of you heart?  Have you "put on Christ" our
Passover lamb?  (Gal.3:27) Have you been crucified and buried with him so you
can be raised from the dead and die no more like him?
 
  There has been a lot of talk about "other" Christians.  These "other"
Christians according to some include Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, etc.
Some say there is no difference.  Some say that because we may study the same
bible, listen to the same music, read the same books, that somehow makes us
the same.  "They" may be right to some degree, there may be some similarities,
but on that great and terrible day of the coming of the Lord, there will be a
difference.  It will be an enormous difference.  It will be the only
difference that matters.  When he passes through the land on that day, just
like in Egypt four thousand of years ago, he will be looking for the blood of
a spotless lamb.  Where there is no blood there will be weeping and wailing
and gnashing of teeth, but where he sees the blood, there will be life
everlasting.  Other similarities will inconsequential, other real or imagined
differences will be brought to naught. 

 In that day, there will not be multiple "realities of salvation."  It will
simply be, is there blood, or is there not blood?  The Blood of Jesus Christ
is the difference.
 
 Mike Reed