Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

salvation. We are to turn from sin to obedience. We are to be saved
by faith, not by works; yet our faith must be shown by our works.
We must appreciate and use the helps that God has provided, and we
must believe and obey all the divine requirements.
As Moses told Israel about God's plans for their deliverance,
"the people bowed their heads and worshiped." Many of the
Egyptians had been led to acknowledge the God of the Hebrews as
the only true God, and these now begged to find shelter in the homes
of Israel when the destroying angel would pass through the land.
They were welcomed gladly, and they pledged to serve God and go
forth from Egypt with His people.
The Israelites obeyed the directions God had given. Their
families were gathered, the Passover lamb killed, the flesh roasted
with fire, the unleavened bread and bitter herbs prepared. The father
and priest of the household sprinkled the blood on the doorpost. The
people ate the Passover lamb quickly and in silence. Fathers and
mothers clasped their loved firstborn in their arms, as they thought
of the fearful stroke that was to fall that night. The sign of blood--
the sign of a Savior's protection--was on their doors, and the
destroyer did not enter.
At midnight "there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a
house where there was not one dead." All the firstborn in the land,
"from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn
of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of
livestock," had been struck. The pride of every household had been
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