Pandemic Panic or Passover Peace?

What an ancient crisis has to say to us about the worst national disaster America has ever faced

Part 1 of 2 Parts

I am the LORD.
The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
No destructive plague will touch you…
This is a day you are to commemorate
for the generations to come.
(Exodus 12, emphasis added)

Like it happened ten separate times in ancient Egypt shortly before the Jewish exodus began, even so at this hour in the American story, an unforeseen plague has come upon our land.

And, what a deadly scourge it’s proving to be—not only in terms of the physical carnage wrought by the pandemic itself but also in terms of the stresses and threats it is placing on the capacity of the nation’s medical infrastructure, on the strength of our economic stability as well as on the endurance of the social fabric of our society.

America finds itself underprepared for this crisis. But unfortunately, all the experts tell us it has just begun—the worst is yet to come.

So how should Christians respond to this unnerving reality? How do we face down the panic we feel rising within us? Better yet, how can we triumph in the midst of terror?

I believe Exodus 12 has the answer. Bottom line, it tells us:

Be sure you “shelter in Christ” as you “shelter in place.”

But practically speaking, what does “shelter in Christ” really involve for believers at a time like this?

Great question. Let’s explore some answers together.

Faced with a deadly, burgeoning national pandemic—plus the panic it stirs in all of our hearts—many of us feel totally helpless. But we are not. We have a choice. Even while we “shelter in place” (with no end in sight), we can decide, at the same time, to “shelter in Christ.” Doing so can open up for us exceptional possibilities for thriving in the midst of such sobering challenges.

But what does this second kind of “sheltering” involve?

Go back and read the biblical Passover account in Exodus 12 mentioned at the top of this blog post. It may prove to be helpful.

To avoid wholesale destruction, the Israelites “sheltered in place” under the blood of a lamb. The story recounts how when God saw the blood of a lamb spread over a household—which today might mean over your household, or over the entire “household of faith” (1 Peter 4), and even possibly over the “household” of the American people—the plague of death retained its power no longer. Its claim of death had to “pass over” everyone sheltered by the sacrifice.

For all of us today, this becomes a matter of choosing to “shelter in Christ,” the one called in Scripture “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1).

Except that unlike the account in Exodus, the current 21st-century version of the “angel of death” has not come to visit our people for a single night—a “one and done” execution of the firstborn of every family.

Rather, this pestilence is projected to last for months, reaching into tens of millions of American homes and lives. We are being invaded by an entire army of invisible “minions of mortality”—billions of virus particles—to savage every facet of our lives and every corner of our country.

As a result, this past week, our president declared himself a “wartime president,” assuming wartime powers not exercised since World War II. That’s because America (along with many other nations) finds itself in a battle against a previously unknown enemy that has the capacity to destroy our very civilization if allowed to run its course.

Essentially, we have entered into an extended battle for the very soul and future of our nation.

However, this pandemic entails more than a medical emergency. Look deeper.

We’re engaged in a celestial conflict
coming at us from one of two directions.

Whether our most capable government leaders recognize it or not, a spiritual disruption of ominous proportions has come down upon our heads without warning.

This should not surprise us. Scripture is clear about the overarching reality of cosmic-level warfare that has been going on since sin entered into the world.

But take note: There are two possible sources of the combat. We need to understand which is responsible for the growing crisis we now find ourselves in.

On the one hand: This eruption may exhibit a massive intrusion into the visible world of the onslaught that Ephesians 6 tells us is going on all of the time in the invisible realms, when it says: “We wrestle not with flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

The Bible is clear that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5). And Jesus said, defining Satan’s strategy: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10).

For sure, the current crushing weight of chaos, fear, disruption, sickness and death seems to carry with it the “smell of sulfur.”

However, on the other hand: There might be a completely different explanation for our existential threat. It might be a judgment of God—a plague sent from the Throne. Why would I say that?

Don’t forget: The plagues that came upon Egypt were in response to Pharaoh’s “warfare” against the God of Israel, as the pompous ruler continued to harden his heart every time after he promised to set the Jews free. Similarly, his idolatrous people, who prospered so greatly on the backs of their Hebrew slaves, fell in line and fully supported their leader’s choices.

Thus, the plagues of Egypt represented a whole other kind of “spiritual warfare.” Jehovah himself, called in Scripture “the God of heaven’s armies,” laid siege to the entire nation to shake it to its core with one plague after another so that his eternal, redemptive purposes (initially for Israel but eventually for all the earth) might prevail and keep moving forward.

But God did not judge only pagan nations. There were times he had to bring severe discipline upon his covenant people.

This was King David’s experience many generations later. To his chagrin, he found himself and his people in mortal conflict, not with the Edomites or Canaanites, but with the living God—as Jehovah allowed Israel’s enemies to keep defeating the unrepentant nation over and over.

Grasping this unique insight, David wrote the appeal of Psalm 60. Might his words in any sense apply to the current dilemma we’re experiencing here in America? See what you think.

O God, you have rejected us and broken our defenses.
You have become angry and deserted us.
Lord, restore us again to your favor.

 

You have caused this nation to tremble in fear.
You have torn it apart.
Lord, heal it now, for it is shaken to its depths…

 

But you have given us a banner to rally to!
All who love truth will rally to it.
Then you can deliver your beloved people.

Notice, David claims, “You have given us a banner to rally to!” What is that all about?

In the midst of David’s national crisis—when God exercised defiant opposition toward his own people because they had fallen away from him—there was only one strategic move to make: “rally to the banner.” King David and his people had only one option: to flee and take refuge under the sovereign mercy, forgiveness, and restoring power found in the Lord God of nations. Only then would freedom from all of the threats around them be secured and their enemies be permanently defeated.

We could say that in the thick of battle, they “sheltered in place” under Heaven’s banner, making it their singular hope for deliverance, reclamation, and new beginnings.

Is it not time for us to do the same thing—NOW?

But, here’s what’s really fascinating to me: David was implementing the identical strategy employed in the days of the Exodus as the way for suffering Hebrews to find liberation from their enemy.

Review the events of the night of the Passover. Recall how the Israelites obeyed the word of the Lord by slaughtering an innocent, vulnerable, little lamb and then spreading its blood over the doorposts of their homes to ward off the angel of death. They took refuge under that blood. For them, that crimson doorframe was the “banner” to which they rallied. It was a crimson banner. And in responding to God in this unusual way, they were delivered from the judgment of the Lord.

To apply this to our generation, we must be clear that in the midst of an unprecedented plague bearing down on us, God calls us to refocus like never before on celebrating the eternal Passover that’s already been provided for us by the world’s Redeemer.

God has a plan for a Lamb and a Lamb for his plan.

The final solution for healing the scourge upon our land right now necessitates the same ultimate strategy: God’s plan that requires a Lamb.

Even if we aren’t able to determine for the moment with certainty which kind of spiritual warfare explains the global catastrophe confronting us, we know that in either case, our great hope remains the same: God’s plan that requires a Lamb.

Or to say it another way: We must “rally to Jesus’ crimson banner.” We must “shelter in Christ” only.

IF this pathogen is being exploited by the forces of darkness in an attempt to further destroy nations and creation, and above all to disrupt the spread of the gospel of Christ among earth’s peoples, then it’s time to shelter in Christ, to rally to his crimson banner, to celebrate our eternal Passover in Jesus. God’s plan requires a Lamb.

IF, on the other hand, this sobering upheaval of our lives is God’s wake-up call to our nation, summoning us to come to our senses, to see our country’s spiritual and moral peril—even still, God’s plan requires a Lamb.

Therefore, as never before, this is the hour for all of us to flee to Christ. It’s time for us to shelter in him, to rally to his crimson banner, to celebrate the eternal Passover he offers us.

It’s time for the peace of Jesus’ Passover to replace all forms of pandemic panic.

But there’s much more to sheltering than just being covered with the Lamb’s sacrifice. When anyone clearly sees the full picture of where they are hiding when abiding in Christ, then they will want “sheltering” to become their whole way of life—long after routines in America get back to “normal.”

Let me show you why and how.

NOTE: This concludes Part 1 of “Pandemic Panic or Passover Peace?” Part 2 comes out on Friday. The end of this blog post will flood you with even more hope in Christ—in whom is the only certain hope any of us has right now. Be watching for it.

About the Author

Over the past 40 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ-awakening movements. Order his widely read books at DavidBryantBooks.com. Enjoy his regular CHRIST TODAY podcast.