WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD

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  (Exodus 12:13a)

The Passover was instituted for a memorial meal to remind Israel how God set them free from the bondage of Egypt.  The term came from the promise of God that the Death Angel would “pass over” the judgment of any house marked by the blood.  When Jesus gathered His disciples in the Upper Room mere hours before He was offered up as the Lamb of God, they met to commemorate the Passover.  With those elements, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper—the old covenant giving way to the new—as it would be fulfilled in Christ.  Paul said, “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”  (1 Cor.5:7b)

The Passover speaks to THE CONSEQUENCE OF OUR SIN (Ex.12:12-13).  Sin is the reason the lamb had to die—and why Jesus, the Lamb of God, did.  The justice of God demanded payment for sin—and that payment was death.  The Passover Lamb’s blood was shed, so that we might be spared.  Being a Jew did not exempt them from the need to apply the blood.  If they did not, they would have been judged.  Being an Egyptian did not exclude them from being spared.  Had they applied the blood, they would have lived.  Only the blood makes the difference!

The Passover also reminds us of THE COST OF OUR SALVATION (Ex.12:1-7).  The price of redemption from enslavement was the blood of a lamb.  That is what it cost for us to be redeemed—the blood of Christ, as of a Lamb (see 1 Pet.1:18-19).  God took the initiative in revealing the plan of salvation to Moses.  While it is true, they had to respond in faith and obedience, the act of deliverance was by the power and according to the plan of God.  God’s plan was ever to save us from sin by the Lamb of God.  Calvary was not an afterthought or just a response to our need.  Jesus is the Lamb “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Pet.1:20).

Furthermore, the Passover teaches about THE CONFESSION OF OUR SAVIOR (Ex.12:7,13).  This was a public matter—a visible sign.  It set apart those who were believers in testimony to all who witnessed the blood.  Likewise, those who have the blood applied to them today are to confess the Lamb of God (Rom.10:9-10).  It was an act of faith to trust the blood of a lamb to spare the firstborn from wrath, but they trusted the promise of God.  How much faith did they need?  Just enough to apply the blood!  Then, they would be like an army ready to move out in obedience with the Lord going before them.  The illustration should be plain for the Christian.  We are saved by faith in the blood of the Lamb.  It is not the amount of our faith, but the object of our faith that saves us.  Saving faith is expressed in a willingness to identify with and follow the Lamb of God.

Has the blood been applied to your life?