Many people are offended by Christians belief in God’s judgment. They think Christians believe that they are the “good guys” and everyone else are the “bad guys” who will be judged. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The story of God’s rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt teaches truth about God’s judgment. You may remember the story. Joseph rescues his father Jacob, his brothers and their families from a famine, providing them refuge in Egypt. They dwell in Egypt for four hundred years, multiply greatly, and, eventually, are forced into slave labor to the Egyptians. But God sends a deliverer, Moses, to set his people free. Through Moses, God sends plagues on the Egyptians. After each plague, Pharoah hardens his heart. He does not let God’s people go. God tells Moses that the tenth plague will break Pharoah’s will and bring glory to Him. “I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast” (Exodus 12:12). In ancient culture, the firstborn represented the family. By executing judgment on the firstborn, God declares every family under his judgment due to sin. But God gives a way for his people to be delivered from their deserved judgment. Each household is to offer a one-year-old male lamb without blemish, slaughter it, and sprinkle its blood on the doorposts. “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your homes to strike you” (12:23).
You see, none of us are exempt from God’s judgment. Christians don’t believe they are good guys and everyone else are bad guys. We believe that all are bad, sinful, deserving of God’s righteous judgment. But we also believe that there was one who was upright. The Passover lamb is a pointer to the ultimate Lamb of God who was slain to cover our sins, Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus took on our sin and bore the judgment we deserved. By faith in Christ, his blood covers us from God’s judgment. Do you and your family trust in the blood of Christ or do you have another plan to escape the judgment of a holy God who someday will call every family to account?
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