Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
This verse reminds me of a song we used to sing growing up in Church, “When I, see the blood, when I, see the blood, when I, see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you”.
Exodus 12 wraps up the great plagues God sent against Pharoah and against Egypt. Each plague had been designed to come against one or more gods or goddesses whose likenesses, blessing or curse was represented by a plague. Now the final judgement against the land of Egypt was about to fall. When we come to verse 13 above, God is instructing Moses that the commands to the people of Israel were not merely for this night only, but were to be observed as a memorial feast down through the generations. To this day, observant Jews around the world hold Passover. But this feast has meaning not only for the Jews, but for the Christian as well.
This feast is filled with symbolism that points to Christ and His work on the Cross of Calvary. Christ referred to Himself as the Lamb of God, and John the Baptist called Him the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Just like the lamb who was to be without blemish from the flocks of Israel, Christ was without blemish as He walked this earth over 2000 years ago. Just as the lamb was to be killed and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts of the family home, Christ said that His blood would be shed for the remission of sins, sparing the soul from eternal separation from God known as the second death. God told Moses that in the years to come, Israelites were to remove all leaven, or yeast from their homes for a period of seven days. Passover would have bread yes, but it would be unleavened, or flat bread as we call it today. Christ taught His disciples that leaven represented sin, and that Christ was come to remove sin from each person’s life.
In a similar manner, we are to remove what we know to be sinful from our own homes and lives. We show God that we mean that sinner’s prayer by how we choose to live our daily lives. If we choose to allow known sinful influences, things, temptations, and behaviours in our homes, hearts and minds, we did not truly mean that prayer and have no interest in living how God would ask us to live. So the Israelites had to remove all leaven from their homes for seven days during the feast of Passover.
Did you know the preparation for this feast is what gave way to the concept of “Spring Cleaning”? A good, observant Jewish lady of the house would not want anyone in her home to be “cut off” as God says to Moses in Exodus 12, so she would begin an entire month before Passover, going through her home from top to bottom cleaning, dusting, sorting, organizing, and removing anything that was unnecessary, too small, broken beyond repair, etcetera, to be sure that no yeast was present anywhere in her home. By the time she was done, the place was fully cleaned out and cleaned up. She could now rest during Passover knowing she and her family where not disqualified from the family of Israel.
Our own lives need cleaning up from time to time as well. Sometimes we are quite capable of doing it ourselves. It’s just a matter of making right choices from food to clothing to entertainment to social interaction. Other times however, we need Christ Himself to walk through the rooms of our hearts and clean them out for us. This can be a scary thing, but if we let God do it, we find ourselves cleaner for the trouble, and better able to serve in the capacities God puts before us.
The concept of sprinkling blood on the doorposts of one’s home would stretch from there to the Tabernacle ordinances as the blood of the yearly sacrifice would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. The writer of Hebrews refers to this behaviour in the following passage:
Hebrews 10:14-20 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Do you keep Passover every Spring? Have you delved into what each piece of symbolism means to your faith as a believer in Jesus Christ? We celebrate a small version of Passover in our home every year. My kids are grown now, so some of the childhood practices are no longer in play, but we have some Scriptures we read, meanings we draw out, and parallels to Christ’s sacrifice for our sins that we go over every year. Paul encouraged the believers to “keep the feasts”, and for the most part, Christendom has not done that. This is one feast I chose to implement in our home because it has important meaning today just as it did when God first ordained it to Moses.
Is your heart sprinkled with the Blood of Christ? Have you been spared eternal separation from God? Have you been bought with a price? If not, find a pastor in the city where you live, and ask them what these questions mean. Ask for a Bible and read the Gospel of John. Life on the world stage is getting increasingly troubling, and if you are not right with God and a catastrophe take you out, life on the other side of death’s door could be far worse than it ever was here on earth. Choose eternal life and relationship with Jesus Christ. Your eternity depends on it!
