Time of Trouble Bible Study 7

In Bible Study 6 we noted the parallels between the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt (Exodus 7-10) and the seven last plagues destined to fall upon the entire world prior to the visible return of Jesus Christ (Revelation 16). The period of the seven last plagues is “the time of trouble, such as never was” predicted in Daniel 12:1. We know that this fearful time will strike shortly after the last crisis hits, after the mark of the beast is enforced (Revelation 13:15-17), and immediately after Heaven’s door of mercy finally closes (Revelation 22:11) just like it did in Noah’s day before the flood came (see Genesis 7:16; Matthew 24:37-39).

The focus of Bible Study 7 is the 10^th plague that fell upon the Egyptians and how that plague contains the key to our protection during the time of trouble.

After nine plagues had ravaged Egypt’s countryside and practically ruined his nation, amazingly, Pharaoh still stubbornly refused to let Israel go. The time for the 10^th plague had come. Read these verses prayerfully:

Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ² “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸ Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰ You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.¹¹ And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. ¹² ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. ¹³ Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:1-13, NKJV, emphasis added).

It was the crimson blood of slain lambs splattered upon their doorposts that protected the firstborn of Israel when the 10^th plague struck Egypt. “When I see the blood,” the Lord declared, “I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

The truth is that ever since Adam and Eve first listened to the snake in Eden (see Genesis 3:1-6), blood has been at the heart of the Great War between our Creator and Lucifer over the salvation of our souls. On the night of the 10 ^thplague, the blood was a sign of protection, and deliverance.

On the Day of Atonement, God also instructed His High Priests to enter the Most Holy Place of His Temple and to sprinkle warm blood on the mercy seat that sat on top of the ark containing the Ten Commandments (see Leviticus 16:14). In this case, blood above the law typified full cleansing from sin.

On His last night in Jerusalem before He died, Jesus Christ celebrated the Passover with His disciples. After distributing the juice of crushed grapes to the twelve, our Lord announced. “For this is my blood of the new covenantthat is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). He was the ultimate Passover!

The next day Jesus hung crucified on a hill called Calvary. As He hung dying, drop-by-drop, and stain-by-stain, His own blood soaked the splintery wood of a tree supporting His beaten body. The Bible alone can explains the mystery. Paul explained,

“…we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7, emphasis added).

The book of Revelation also identifies those who beat the devil. Don’t miss it:

And they [God’s people] overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (Revelation 12:11, emphasis added)

When you put all of these verses together, it becomes clear that salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ is Heaven’s battle cry in the Great War. And just like the “sign” of the blood protected the firstborn of Israel when the 10^th plague struck, even so will the blood of Jesus Christ protect God’s people when the seven last plagues decimate planet Earth.

But we must do our part too, just as the Israelites did on their last night in Egypt. In our next study (number 8), we will look at the meaning of eating the flesh of the lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, shoes on the feet, staff in the hand, and eating in haste (see Exodus 12:7-11) before “the Lord’s Passover.”

May God help each of us to respond right now to Jesus Christ’s love, to obey His voice, and to trust fully in the saving merits of His blood so that the final plagues will “pass over” us during the soon-coming “time of trouble.”