There are a few instances in the Bible where God makes a powerful statement about My People as distinct from Not My People by personally permitting “the destroyer” (an angel whose job is killing) to do his thing. The Passover is one.
Exodus 12: 21 “Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.’”
The Lord and His destroyer went through Egypt at midnight. Only My People (who obeyed the Word of the Lord and stayed inside) were spared. They were not spared by half measures, location changes, or philanthropic good works, but only by trusting and obeying the full Word of God.
Questions for further thought:
There’s a pattern. Read Ezekiel 9. Who were those whom the six destroyers/executioners permitted to strike? Who were those sealed to be spared? Who did the sealing?
Ezekiel 9:1 Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. 4 And the LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”
5 But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity, and do not spare. 6 “Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.
7 And He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city.
8 Then it came about as they were striking and I alone was left, that I fell on my face and cried out saying, “Alas, Lord God! Art Thou destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Thy wrath on Jerusalem?”
9 Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!’ 10 “But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor shall I spare, but I shall bring their conduct upon their heads.”
11 Then behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case reported, saying, “I have done just as Thou hast commanded me.” (Ezekiel 9:1-11)
We will revisit this passage again in our study. For now, look: Jerusalem. The house of Israel and Judah. Are these not all Jews?
Who is the man clothed in linen with the writing case?
In the Passover, if God’s instructions were not followed completely regarding the blood or staying inside, what was the destroyer permitted to do? Would their heritage have mattered?