Recently, I sat down in the early morning to enjoy a cup of coffee and my newspaper. The headline of the Jerusalem Post read 'Swarm of Locusts Crosses Sinai Border into Israel'. I leaped out of my chair, grabbed my camera gear, jumped in my car and raced towards the Egyptian border. Within three hours locusts were bouncing off my windshield!
The estimated swarm of 120 million had been devastating Egypt for several days, but Israel was ready for them with pesticide-loaded planes and helicopters. So, while I didn't get to see them in their full force, it was yet another experience in Israel that brought the pages of the Bible to life! I will never forget seeing these locusts carried in on the wind, eating everything in their path.
One of my professors called and asked me to bring back a sample, so I rolled down my car windows for a few minutes and watched it fill up with locusts. We are still finding stray locusts in the nooks and crannies of our car - much to my wife's dismay!
Tonight begins the celebration of Passover in Israel. Jewish families are sitting down to their tables, partaking of their Seder meal, and recounting the Exodus story and the plagues that overtook Egypt so many thousands of years ago.
'Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.' Exodus 10:14
Some of those plagues affected the Israelites, but from many they were protected. Ultimately, God saved His people by the applied blood of the sacrificed lamb, and then He led them out of bondage into freedom. He gives the same salvation and freedom today…through the blood of His Son, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world to save us from death and give us life and freedom!
From Israel, grace and peace to you…through the blood of the Lamb.
Blessings, Joel
For more about the ministry of Joel Kramer, please visit Sourceflix (off-site link)
