Passover Us

this is an andy song which i conveys important truths, particularly for us covenant theologians. the continuity between old and new testaments - in short, between God's plan throughout the course of history - is so beautifully seen in the exodus, among many many other places. this song is from andy's christmas cd, behold the Lamb of God. andy does alot of fun things in the beginning of the cd with recapping OT history. it's a good one.

Passover Us
well, we all remember moses on the banks of the river;
he said, 'pharaoh, you've got to let my people go.
you don't want me to have to tell you this ten times over -
denial ain't just a river, you know.'

well, we all remember pharaoh, he just wouldn't do it.
so the plagues came upon egypt one by one.
his heart was hard and the other nine just couldn't move him,
so the last was the worst, the death of the firstborn sons.

o, but the Lord, He gave to moses a word for the people:
He said their firstborn sons would live to see another day.
'put the blood of the lamb on the doorway and death would pass right over.'
that night all the children of israel prayed.

they prayed, 'Lord, let Your judgment pass over us;
Lord, let Your love hover near.
don't let Your sweet mercy pass over us -
let this blood cover over us here.'

so the years went by and the people they whined and they wandered,
and only sacrifice atoned for the sins of the land.
so you see the priest, he placed upon the holy altar,
the body of a spotless lamb.

and he prayed, 'Lord, let Your judgment pass over us;
Lord, let Your love hover near.
don't let Your sweet mercy pass over us -
let this blood cover over us here.'
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the brilliance of this song is awesome. the overall conversational form of the lyrics reflects the tradition (biblically mandated, of course) of retelling the story of what God did. every year, like clockwork, the youngest child at the table would ask the oldest man at the table why this whole passover thing was being done, what it meant. "we all" would remember things in this conversational way.
obviously, the foreshadowing that the sacrifices provide to the sacrifice of Christ is extremely vivid. the blood on the lintels, the sacrificing to "atone for the sins of the land," - these things are given to God's people as a promise.
being washed in the Redeemer's blood means for us the end of sacrifices.
kevin (my campus minister) preached an fantastic sermon tonight. he talked about genesis 15, when God Almighty makes His covenant with abraham. God tells abraham that he needs to be faithful, obedient, and good, and God will be with him and his offspring forever. they go through the traditional covenant-/treaty-making ceremony, splitting animals apart, passing through the pieces, and swearing that if a party refuses to keep their side of the bargain, that same tearing apart shall happen to the unfaithful party. but God passed through the pieces for both of them - for Himself and for abraham. as kevin said tonight, the law was never intended by God for our salvation. justification by works - good luck with that. what is amazing - utterly amazing - is that God visits the curse, the being torn assunder, upon Himself.
amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!