Exodus 12:1-14: a reflection

1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2“This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. 3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; 4and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls. You shall make your count for the lamb according to what everyone can eat. 5Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening. 7They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it. 8They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. 9Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. 10You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. 11This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s Passover. 12For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD. You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.

As God prepares to bring judgment on Egypt, he gives Israel the Passover: each household is to take a lamb without defect, kill it, and put some of its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their houses. And God gives the promise attached to the blood: The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Where the blood of the lamb was applied, judgment passed over; the blood shielded those within.

Notice what the blood of the lamb did: it shielded the household from the judgment falling around them. The judgment came upon Egypt; but where the blood of the lamb marked the door, God passed over, and those within were spared. It was not the worthiness of those inside that saved them, but the blood of the lamb on the door; when God saw the blood, he passed over. The lamb died, and its blood, applied to the door, sheltered the people within from the judgment that fell outside. The blood of the lamb was their shield.

That Passover points forward to Christ, our Passover lamb, whose blood shields us from judgment. As the lamb was slain and its blood sheltered Israel from the judgment on Egypt, so Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain, and his blood shelters us from the judgment our sin deserves. It is not our own worthiness that saves us, but the blood of the Lamb, applied to us by faith; when God sees us covered by the blood of Christ, judgment passes over. Rest not in your own worthiness to escape the judgment your sin deserves, but in the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, which shields all who are covered by it. As the blood of the lamb on the door sheltered Israel from the judgment on Egypt, so the blood of Christ shelters you from the judgment of your sin; take refuge under it, trusting not your own worthiness but the blood of the Lamb, whom God provided as our Passover, that seeing his blood upon us, he might pass over us in judgment and spare us.

Lord, as you prepared to bring judgment on Egypt, you gave Israel the Passover: each household was to take a lamb without defect, kill it, and put some of its blood on the doorposts. And you gave the promise attached to the blood: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Where the blood of the lamb was applied, judgment passed over; the blood shielded those within. Show me what the blood of the lamb did: it shielded the household from the judgment falling around them. It was not the worthiness of those inside that saved them, but the blood of the lamb on the door; when you saw the blood, you passed over. The lamb died, and its blood sheltered the people within. That Passover points forward to Christ, my Passover lamb, whose blood shields me from judgment. As the lamb was slain and its blood sheltered Israel, so Christ, the Lamb of God, was slain, and his blood shelters me from the judgment my sin deserves. It is not my own worthiness that saves me, but the blood of the Lamb, applied to me by faith; when you see me covered by the blood of Christ, judgment passes over. Keep me from resting in my own worthiness to escape the judgment my sin deserves; help me rest in the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, which shields all who are covered by it. Help me take refuge under it, Lord, trusting not my own worthiness but the blood of the Lamb, whom you provided as our Passover. Thank you that, seeing his blood upon me, you pass over me and spare me.