When you meet people some have heavy hearts and many needs. The human face is made to conceal much of the emotions, feelings, and needs. But when the Lord gives discernment and revelation, it goes beyond the expression of the face: that which we put on because of human relationships.
When we assemble together with believers, we realize that as the people are gathered, there is that unvoiced cry coming up out of their heart, of hunger unto the Lord. They have such a need.
There is no way to make it known, but when we come to worship the Lord, there’s a great understanding the Lord has for us. He loves us and is ready to meet us.
God gave the gifts of the Spirit to those initially filled with the Spirit, which is part of the Pentecostal experience so the people can come and say, “Minister to me, meet my need”, and we do.
But don’t allow someone who is not sanctified, and has a walk with God lay hands on your head, because that is a sensitive area of reception, and they can transfer spirits to you that are not of God, because of your openness to them.
It is better to lay hands on a person’s shoulder, unless you are filled with the Spirit to overflowing.
There are things we have need of and can’t put into words, but we can look up to the Lord and know that He loves us and He is present to commune with us.
The greatest Passover Scripture we could use would be Revelation 3:20; Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Lord, we want you to drink that fruit of the vine anew with us, in the Kingdom, now. We want to commune, we want to worship. Something is burning in our hearts: that we should be like Israel of old; we should hear the call of the Spirit and as it echoes down in the depths of our spirit, we should stand with our loins girded, staff in our hand, sandals on our feet, chewing away at the last piece of the roasted lamb, our substitute, and we should say, “Yes, Lord, we have staff—will travel.
We’ll leave Egypt behind, to be the Israel of God: ready to march. Lord, show us the horizons beyond anything we have seen heretofore.
Let us view the grace and the blessings that we have not walked in. Let our hands labor in battle with enemies that we have never known. Let us go forward into a day that is yet to dawn. Let us pass through valleys and over mountains, unwearied because of Thy strength within us, and the power of Thy might. O God, be Thou an armor round about us. Let not our hearts falter, nor fear. O Holy Lamb, Thy blood is upon our hearts. We are ready to travel whithersoever Thou shall lead. We will follow Thee, Lord; we will open our hearts to walk with Thee in a day that the world has not seen before, in the day of the Lord that dawneth with clouds and is terrible to the inhabitants of the earth, but glorious to the children of God: the day of liberation.
O Holy Lamb of God, we feed upon Thy strength and take the immunities that Thou shall cause to rest upon our heads as helmets impregnable. We will walk with Thee in the day that you set before us.
O Lord, bless the pilgrim spirit within our hearts. Bless the yearning of our hearts that desires to leave the chains of Egypt behind with the crack of the whip of the taskmaster and the long days of sweat and agony. Let us walk with Thee, Lord, into freedom.
If it be the burning sands of a wilderness, if it be through thirst without water, if it be in the companion of murmurers that fall by our side—still let us not falter nor waver, O God. Let us travel on, as Thy pilgrims.
The day is upon us, O Lord; lead us forth and all that pertains to us. Let not one hoof be left behind in Egypt’s bondage, but let all that we have and all that we love and all that we possess go forth, O God, that we might worship Thee and make sacrifice unto Thee, whether it be in the desert place or in the land of Thy promise to us.
We gird ourselves with Thy strength. We take the staff in hand so that our feet shall not falter. We encourage ourselves in the Lord. We strengthen our hands and we strengthen our brethren and we say that before us is set a day unlimited.
Behind us is a day to be forgotten. And though we eat this Passover with bitter herbs in remembrance of the day that we passed through, yet our eye is looking beyond and our mouth waters for the land that flows with milk and honey. We embrace the day that is to come for Thy people: a day of joy and a day of gladness that comes in the name of the Lord.”
The Passover was a Feast that meant the inauguration of action. It started things that went into motion irrevocably and never stopped. It changed a nation of slaves into a nation of free people. A nation was born, literally, in a day.
The Passover opened the door to wars and battles; for after the children of Israel had passed over the Jordan River, they circumcised the males and kept the Passover and started to march around Jericho.
The Passover always initiated action: it brought forth the action of pilgrims to make their journey; the action of warriors to take the objective.
The Passover released people from the sense of condemnation and judgment that rested upon them from the oppressions around them, and set them into action.
We are not keeping the Old Testament Passover, but that which came out of Christ’s observance of the Passover with His disciples: the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. We are keeping it with a special significance: that from this day, from this hour, we’re on the march anew; from this day, from this hour, we’re moving in to possess and to conquer.
We know we are more prepared for it because of the deep heart searchings, because we have abandoned the leaven of malice and wickedness, and we are keeping the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Corinthians 5:8).
The things that cause trouble in a church are malice and wickedness, and we are sweeping it out of our hearts and out of our lives forever, as we reach forth to the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, embracing what God has for us.
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household: and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man’s eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even. And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs shall they eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; it’s head with its legs and with the inwards thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
…And Pharaoh rose in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Take both your flock and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians.
…And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought forth out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared themselves any victuals. Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord, to be much observed of all the children of Israel through out their generations. Exodus 12:2–42.
These are the journeyings of the children of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month (Passover is the fourteenth day): on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born, whom the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth. Numbers 33:1–5. The Passover started the journeying and opened the door to many things.
This message is a survey and a review to our hearts—not just a doctrinal survey, but a review of what the Passover has actually become to us, what we have experienced in its observance. I want to speak to you about ten truths contained in the Passover, to remember and meditate upon. The Passover means a great deal to us, as it did to the children of Israel.
First, the Passover means to us, as it did to them, judgment upon the oppressors. This God did for the children of Israel: He judged their oppressors. I don’t believe any weapon formed against us will prosper, for the Word says, If God be for us, who can be against us? I believe with all my heart that the enemies of this move will be very great, but the Passover is living proof to me of God’s intention and purpose to bring judgment on all that oppress His people or would hinder them from doing His will. As we stand fast together, this one truth stands: the Passover is a judgment upon the oppressor; God is going to set His people free.
The second truth is: the Passover means to us as it did to Israel, immunity in the time of Crisis. We know that the change of ages is upon us.
We’ve come to a conjunction of dispensations, that convulsive time when one age is dying and another age is being born in the midst of travail, and we don’t know which way to turn, or where to flee.
There is a Scripture in the book of Amos telling about the time of judgment, when a man fled from a lion in the streets and ran into the house; he thought he was safe there, but when he leaned his hand against the wall a serpent bit him. How are we going to escape? Where will we find the immunity that God really has for us, under the precious blood. Always God’s people had certain immunity in the midst of crisis.
The third thing that the Passover teaches us anew, as it did Israel of old, is the great principle of transference which has been real to us in past months. The Israelites transferred their need and their guilt, in an hour of judgment, to an innocent lamb, and the blood of that lamb became a substitute.
The blood showed that judgment had already come. Death had already come to the house of the Israelites through the death of a lamb, one year old, a male without blemish. A lamb had already been substituted for all within that house—a lamb for a household.
The principle of substitution and transference holds the same truth for us today: The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6.
We have known the marvelous release of the remission of sins—all because Jesus Christ is our Lamb. Many of you have been ministered to by the laying on of hands and the prayers of the elders and ministries, and have received apostolic absolution and remission. God has worked a great ministry of substitution, and Jesus Christ made it real.
The fourth great related truth, that we have experienced as never before is the wonderful principle of identification.
Israel knew something about that, for they identified themselves with the Lamb. Have we identified ourselves fully with Christ?
It’s what God is bringing forth out of this wonderful ministry. The principle of identification is a key of deliverance; it’s the key of everything that we are going to hold fast in the days to come. When I am identified with Christ, it means that His experiences become my experiences. I see deliverance in that.
As long as I view myself as an individual, I have to win all my battles. But I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20.
When I see that, I become identified with Jesus. I don’t have to fight a battle because I am identified with Christ’s victory over Satan; I’m identified with all that Christ won for me.
We have been …blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. Ephesians 1:3. By being identified with Him, why should it any longer be necessary for us to strive to merit or attain things that are ours in Christ?
I doubt if any of us existing on the earth today know the power of that great truth. I am persuaded that if we knew that truth of identification, not just in theory or doctrine, but experimentally, we would put an end to ninety-nine percent of the strivings and struggles and battles we go through.
The Passover has brought to us, not a new truth, but one that needs a deeper understanding and far more extensive application: to be identified with Jesus, the Mighty Conqueror. We are more than conquerors through Him, and no other way—only through Him.
When a woman marries, who pays her bills? Her husband pays, because she has become identified with him, and he’s identified with her. She’s identified with his money too—half of it is hers. Her debts are identified with him and his wealth is identified with her.
What happens when you become one with Christ? Don’t you take on His name? Don’t you become an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ? Don’t you become one with the reproach that He suffers: that you suffer with Him and you reign with Him? Let’s enter in to a full identification; He identified Himself with us.
He makes it even a basis of judgment in the great end time. He gathers all the sheep and they say, “How come?” He tells them, “I was hungry, you fed me. I was in prison, you visited me. I was naked and you clothed me.”
What about the goats? “We didn’t do anything wrong.” “You didn’t visit me, you didn’t feed Me, you didn’t clothe Me.” “Lord, how is all of this possible? When were you in prison, Jesus; when were You hungry, when were You naked?” He says, “Inasmuch as you did it, or did it not, to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
Do you see how Jesus identifies Himself with us? “He that receiveth you, receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me, receiveth the Father.” See how they were identified with each other?
If some of you Christians think it is all right for you to have malice and an unforgiving spirit to hurt one another, you are doing that against Jesus Christ. It isn’t what any individual does to you that enables you to retaliate; it’s the fact that Christ identifies Himself even with His weak, stumbling brothers and sisters in the Lord, and what you do to them, you’re doing to Jesus Christ. He’s that identified with them.
And what they do to you, they are doing to Jesus Christ too. Don’t ever forget that. How unworthy you are, how many mistakes you’ve made, or how you deserve the whip, it is nobody’s business to give it to you, because Christ has identified Himself with you.
Who are you to condemn another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or he falls. It is not your place to usurp the judgment seat over anyone. Christ has identified Himself with them and you are to show them love. It’s not your place to condemn. Oh, to be identified with the Lamb of God: in all of His wealth, in all of His victories and all that it is to mean to us.
The fifth truth that the Lamb of the Passover teaches us is the principle of appropriation. An appropriation means available money or provision.
When the paycheck comes, the money is divided according to the needs of the budget: grocery money, house or apartment payment money, insurance, gasoline, allowances, etc. Then the money can be appropriated for that specific purpose and that is what it is to be used for.
Can we understand the great riches of Christ that are laid up for us? They are ours, waiting for us to come and to appropriate. Appropriation is not synonymous with begging. When we appropriate we do not beg.
We take that which is set aside in the plan and provision of Jesus Christ for us. When you say, “Please Jesus, heal me,” you’re missing it, because God has provided it: By His stripes we were healed. It’s a provision—we have to learn how to appropriate it.
How do you appropriate?—like a little boy with his hand in the cookie jar—you just take it. When we appropriate, we just take the goodness of the Lord. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
The truth of appropriation was in the Passover. As far as we know there were no prayers said over the Passover. They roasted the lamb, and put on their walking shoes, girded themselves, took the staff in their hand, ate the lamb and appropriated the strength of it for the journey.
Sometimes you act like beggars, when you should be like children, rushing to the table, sitting down and saying, “Umm, I’m hungry,” as you reach for the food. God’s people ought to come to services, very reverent, very worshipful; but they ought to draw with a greater confidence from that never ceasing fountain of grace and mercy. He desires to give of His fullness to us so that we can minister to others. It’s already given to us. “We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.” It’s ours, “His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” Take it; don’t feel guilty, it’s ours.
The sixth wonderful truth the Passover teaches us is preparation for a new day. Every hour I find myself more mentally and spiritually prepared for something different, for something new.
I know it won’t be diametrically opposed to what the Lord has already given me, but it will be an extension and enlargement upon it, that it will seem like a whole new thing. And so I’m prepared for a new day. Are you ready for something more to happen?
The Passover teaches us a seventh great truth: our initiative for change.
If the children of Israel had neglected one instruction, if they had not had the vision, they would have perished in Egypt with the Egyptians. But they had this one thing in their mind: they were going to take the initiative.
They found the lamb and slaughtered it. They put the blood on the doorposts; they did everything they were told to do. They made every preparation and took every bit of initiative they needed to take for change.
Forty years later, after wandering in the wilderness and finally entering Canaan land, The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the produce of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow, after they had eaten of the produce of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and he said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as prince of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the prince of the Lord’s hosts said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:10–15.
After this came the fall of Jericho, they had crossed over the Jordan River; they had circumcised all the young men who had come up in the wilderness without the rite of circumcision. Now, what was the next step?
They kept the Passover with the grain of the land, and the next day the manna ceased. Then what did they eat, the old corn of the land.
That was Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. But they had to appropriate the pasture before they could get to a cow. It was a land of many vineyards, but a few giants were watching over those vineyards, and they were going to give them some trouble, until they overcame them. What started all of this? They kept the Passover. They thought it was all going to be blessing.
God has such a way of blessing you; such a way of loving you. How does He show you how much He loves you? Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Hebrews 12:6.
Are you a son? Show me your black and blue marks and I’ll believe you. Has God been blessing you? Then He’s been putting you through it. That’s why you’re growing. That’s why you’re rejoicing in the fullness of Christ, and getting ready for the next step.
What’s the next step? Sharpen your sword—you’re going after some Canaanites. Get ready to take the land, possess the promises, because all the manna stops today.
Now, that won’t be true of some of the babes; these progressive experiences are different. Many a person has come into a deliverance and a release, and their sustenance will be on a higher level; their victories and rewards will be far greater.
What do we have to do in a wilderness? Not much, for there are not many battles. The battle is always one of faith, appropriating the provision of Jesus Christ for your next level of growth in the Lord.
When the Lord says, “March,” you march. When He says, “Stop,” you stop. But you’d better keep your mouth shut, because there is one thing that God doesn’t put up with in a wilderness—that is murmuring.
Just don’t murmur when you’re thirsty, but trust God and He will give you something to drink, right out of the rock.
What is the difference between the wilderness and Canaan? No one ever staked out a claim in the wilderness. The children of Israel were never interested in dividing up the wilderness between the twelve tribes, who wanted that pile of rocks, all the vipers and serpents?
A wilderness is something that is to be passed through and endured and used to bring about a measure of maturity. But when you come to the land of Canaan, there are responsibilities.
When you walk in the land of Canaan, the devil says it’s his and God says it’s yours, and you have to decide who is right—the devil or God.
If God is right, then you go forth, and wherever you put the sole of your foot will be yours. Sometimes it’s hard to get your foot on the ground though. People won’t let you get near enough; there are too many giants ready to shove you away. Do you see why you will have to fight?
The eighth Passover principle deals with a time to stir your stumps. That means: shifting your roots, moving them to another place. You may say, “I’m pretty well established.” Yes, but it’s time to look for another environment with more conflict, and also more reward and fulfillment.
We’re going to position ourselves in the territory, in the land where all the promises can be fulfilled. The promises cannot be fulfilled in the wilderness, but they can be fulfilled in Canaan.
The Kingdom is coming and we want to be on the spiritual level where it can happen. The Lord will be moving with signs, wonders, and exploits. We want to be right there in that territory.
God is leading His people into a certain spiritual position where inwardly they are being prepared. Their hearts are repentant and humble; they are filled with faith; they are anointed of God. They are on the site where it will happen.
That is the key, that is the secret. The Israelites came into the land of Canaan and partook of the Passover, because the next day they were going to start marching around Jericho—and it would come down. They would go on and on until thirty-two mighty nations had come down.
The ninth point deals with preparing ourselves for a new residence. That is the reason the Lord is leading you to clean house. There are some people who never throw anything away. Tucked away in drawers you might find the menu of the first time they went out to dinner, or one of their old shirts. But those shirts won’t fit any more, they gained a little more weight of glory in their spirit and they’ve changed the menu at the restaurant.
What are we to do now? Lay aside every weight and the sins that so easily beset us, and prepare for the new residence.
We look around after we’ve moved in at some of the old furniture and we feel ashamed of it. That nice old comfortable chair—you could read and sleep in that chair, but when you bring it into the new residence it doesn’t belong.
We are getting ready for a new residence. We are getting ready to live in a land of promise. We are not going to think, look, or be the same.
We are preparing to live in a new environment. We are not going to live under the restrictions we have now. The conflict may be greater but the restrictions will be non-existent.
The restrictions are on in the wilderness and they are off in Canaan. But the conflict is on in Canaan, and we battle by faith to possess all of the good things of the Lord.
Our tenth point that the Feast of Passover teaches us is “Via con Dios”— it means go with God, in Spanish. Whatever we are doing, we are going with God, and prepared to move on.
“What will other people say?” It doesn’t matter what people say. “What’s going to happen?” It doesn’t matter what’s going to happen. “How will it turn out?” I don’t know.
“I want a written agreement from the Lord first, so I’ll know how it’s going to turn out before I get too involved. I want it all worked out. I want to know what it is going to lead to.” This is a walk of faith, and we go from faith to faith. Faith comes by hearing a word from God, and we have to live by that word and then the Lord will give us another.
When Abraham heard the call, “Go to the land that I will show you”; he obeyed. Hebrews eleven tells us that he didn’t know where he was going, but he knew God was with him. He was going with God.
That’s what Israel did: followed the pillar of fire, followed the cloud; whether it moved rapidly or slowly, they just kept up with it. That’s all we have to do now—just travel with the cloud, follow His presence.
We don’t know what He has for us, but it will happen rapidly. Events are being accelerated; one after another they are taking place. You may feel that you’re not making any progress, but it’s because things seem to have such promise of rapidity, yet you are not seeing the manifestation so you may tend to get discouraged. But they are actually happening very rapidly.
We are at the beginning of walking in the reality that has come to us in the Lord. We are as pilgrims, and there is a need to love each other in the way, because we are going to go with God.
First comes the unity of spirit and then the unity of faith, where we all hear God’ voice and believe the same way.