The establishment of God’s Royal Grant covenant with Abraham began with a vision in which God stated, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (Genesis 15:1). The shield that God referred to was a small one that was used by a soldier in hand to hand combat (H4043). A buckler was usually made from the scaly hide of a crocodile in order to protect the fighter from jabs and strikes from his enemy, but it could also be used as an offensive weapon to directly attack an opponent by punching with either its flat face or its rim. God’s description of himself as Abraham’s shield was meant to convey the idea of a personal protector that could keep him from physical harm. God told Abraham, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Genesis 15:7). God’s unconditional divine promise to give Abraham the land of Canaan involved driving out the previous tenants and possessing it in their place (H3423). In order to do that, the Israelites had to go through a process of suffering that was intended to deliver them from their dependence on material resources. Genesis 15:12-14 states:

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”

After Moses killed an Egyptian and hid his body in the sand, he fled to Midian and lived as a shepherd for 40 years. Exodus 2:23-25 tells us that, “During those days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel — and God knew.”

God’s awareness of the situation in Egypt had to do with the fact that he was watching over and protecting the children of Israel even though they were living in a foreign land. God appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush (Exodus 3:2) “And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6). The flame of fire out of the midst of the bush was a type of preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ (note on Exodus 23:20-23). Moses’ encounter with the Savior of the World caused him to not just be afraid, but to stand in awe of the person who had the ability to rescue God’s people from slavery in Egypt. The LORD told Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:7-10).

God used signs and wonders to get Pharaoh to give up his control over the Israelites, but Pharaoh’s hardened heart caused him to change his mind each time he agreed to let God’s people go. The tenth and final plague that the LORD caused was intended to permanently sever all ties between the Israelites and the Egyptians. “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely” (Exodus 11:1). The Hebrew word kalah (kaw-law’) can have both positive and negative connotations (H3617). It is likely that the driving away completely that the LORD was referring to was the right to ownership that Pharaoh thought he had of his Hebrew slaves. Numerous times, Pharaoh was commanded to let the people of Israel go so that the could “serve the LORD their God” (Exodus 10:7). The Hebrew word that is translated serve, ‘abad (aw-bad’) has to do with slavery (H5647). Exodus 13:3 indicates that God redeemed the people Israel from slavery. In other words, God purchased the Israelites from Pharaoh so that they could serve him instead.

The way that God redeemed the people of Israel was through the substitutionary death of a lamb which served as a blood sacrifice to pay the price for their redemption. God described his process of redemption this way:

“Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it…In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 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 no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

God’s protection of the children of Israel had to do with a distinction he made between his people and the Egyptians. He said, “About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (Exodus 11:4-7).

God’s redemption of Israel was based on the covenant he made with Abraham and his divine pledge that Abraham’s descendants would be his chosen people (Genesis 17). John the Baptist’s introduction of Jesus indicated that there was a greater significance to the blood that Jesus shed on the cross than the lamb that was killed for the Lord’s Passover. John proclaimed of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). “John was saying that Jesus would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sin of the world. There was first a sacrifice for the individual (Genesis 4); then for a family at passover (Exodus 12); and then for the nation on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16); now it is broadened so that Christ is a sacrifice for the entire world” (note on John 1:29, KJSB). Jesus mentioned his atonement for sin in a conversation he had with his disciples about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).

Jesus put himself in the category of a slave to show that he was taking on himself the lowest position a person could have in order to accomplish his mission of saving the world. The Greek word that is translated ransom, lutron (loo’-tron) stands for a redemption price. In the Old Testament ransom “is always used to signify ‘equivalence.’ Thus it is used of the ‘ransom’ for a life, e.g., Exodus 21:30, of the redemption price of a slave” (G3083). Titus, a convert of the Apostle Paul, indicated that Jesus redeemed us in order to make us a people for his own possession. Titus 2:11-14 states, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

The night before Jesus was crucified, he celebrated the Passover with his disciples. During what is now referred to as the Lord’s Supper, Jesus talked about his blood being shed for the forgiveness of sins and also mentioned the new covenant that was being instituted through his death. Matthew’s gospel states:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

The Greek word that Jesus used that is translated body, soma (so’-mah) is derived from the word sozo (sode’-zo) which means “to save, i.e. deliver or protect” (G4982). Sozo is used of the material and temporal deliverance from danger, suffering, etc. and “of the spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul talked about God’s plan of salvation and said that believers are made holy and blameless through Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross (Ephesians 1:4). Paul said, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:7-10). Paul indicated that God’s plan of salvation involved the uniting of all things in Christ. The Greek word that is translated united, oikonomia (oy-kon-om-ee’ah) is where the English word economy comes from. Oikonomia has to do with the administration of a household or estate (G3622) and refers to the arrangement God made for Jesus to fulfill both the Old and New Testament requirements for redemption of sins.

The intersection of the Jewish Passover celebration and the Lord’s Supper, which took place on the night of Jesus’ death, symbolically integrated the old and new covenants because the single focus of attention was the shedding of Jesus’ blood which fulfilled both covenants. The mystery that Paul briefly mentioned in Ephesians 1:9 and then, further explained in Ephesians 3:6 was “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” In other words, John’s declaration that Jesus was “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” was meant to be taken literally. Jesus took upon himself the sin of the entire human race (G2889) and made it possible for everyone that believes in him to have eternal life (Matthew 25:46). Similar to the annual celebration of the Passover, Paul reminded Christians that the Lord’s Supper was to celebrated on a regular basis. Paul stated:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Paul’s emphasis of celebrating the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of him was meant to focus the believer’s attention on the purpose of Jesus’ death, to pay the penalty for our sins. The Greek word anamnesis (an-am’-nay-sis) is not just an external bringing to remembrance but an awakening of the mind; a heart-felt conviction (G364) somewhat like an instant replay that is able to recapture the moment when we first gave our hearts to the Lord.

Psalm 91 is “a glowing testimony to the security of those who trust in God” (note on Psalm 91, KJSB) and reminds believers of the protection their salvation provides. It may have been written by one of the Israelites that celebrated the first Passover and was delivered from the plague of death that killed all the firstborn in Egypt. Satan quoted from this psalm when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:6). Psalm 91:9-16 states:

Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
    the Most High, who is my refuge —
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

When we make the Lord our dwelling place we are essentially moving in with him; we are making his home ours. That is how we receive God’s protection, by being under his roof so to speak, a member of his household. God said, “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name” (Psalm 91:14). The phrase holds fast in love means to “cling to” (H2836) and may refer to the act of making love. The last sentence of Psalm 91, “With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation” (v. 16) seems to suggest that salvation is a process that takes place throughout one’s lifetime. You might say that we aren’t saved as if it happens in a single moment, but continually being saved by God until our life is over. That might be why Jesus instructed his disciples to “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25) with regards to celebrating the Lord’s Supper. It is through the mental process of searching our hearts for unconfessed sin and reminding ourselves of our need for forgiveness that we experience God’s salvation on a daily basis and and are protected from the consequences of our sins.