Exodus 12:21-27: a reflection

21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover. 22You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. 25It shall happen when you have come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this service. 26It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’” The people bowed their heads and worshiped.

On the night of the exodus, God gives Israel the instructions for the first Passover. Each family is to kill a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts and lintel of the house; for when the LORD passes through to strike the Egyptians, he says, when he sees the blood, he will pass over that door, and the destroyer will not enter. The blood on the doorframe was the sign that marked out the houses to be spared; where the blood was, judgment passed over.

Notice what sheltered Israel that night: not their own goodness, but the blood of the lamb. It was not because they were better than the Egyptians that they were spared; it was because of the blood on their doorposts. Where the blood was, the destroyer passed over; the household was sheltered, not by anything in itself, but by the blood of the lamb that had died in its place. The blood was their refuge.

That Passover blood points forward to Christ, whom the New Testament calls our Passover Lamb. Just as Israel was sheltered from judgment by the blood of the lamb, so we are sheltered from judgment by the blood of Christ, who died in our place. We are not spared because of our own goodness, any more than Israel was; we take refuge under the blood of Christ, the Lamb who was sacrificed for us. When you consider your standing before God, do not rest in your own goodness, which cannot shelter you; take refuge under the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, as Israel took refuge under the blood on the doorposts. Where the blood of Christ is, judgment passes over; shelter yourself there, trusting not in yourself but in the Lamb who died for you. And tell the story to those who come after, as Israel was to tell their children.

Lord, on the night of the exodus, you had Israel put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, so that when you passed through to strike the Egyptians, you would see the blood and pass over; where the blood was, judgment passed over. Thank you that this points forward to Christ, our Passover Lamb, whose blood shelters us from judgment. Israel was spared not because of their own goodness, but because of the blood of the lamb that died in its place; and I am spared not because of my own goodness, but by the blood of Christ, who died in my place. When I consider my standing before you, keep me from resting in my own goodness, which cannot shelter me; help me take refuge under the blood of Christ, as Israel took refuge under the blood on the doorposts. Where the blood of Christ is, judgment passes over; help me shelter there, trusting not in myself but in the Lamb who died for me. And help me tell the story to those who come after, as Israel was to tell their children. Thank you for so great a shelter.