The blood

DEVOTION

EXODUS

THE BLOOD

Ex 12:21-30

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 24 "Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' 27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'" Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

NIV

The Passover is at hand. Having received their instructions from Moses and Aaron regarding what they are to do with the knowledge of why, they obeyed completely. Who would not obey completely knowing the death angel of God would be roaming through the land looking for and killing every firstborn there was, both of animals and of men. The significance of the firstborn is enormous. From just the past men we have spent time with in Genesis we know it is the firstborn male who inherits all the wealth of the father. This plague struck right at the heart of every Egyptian father, none was left untouched. This term firstborn is what is used for Jesus.

Col 1:15-16

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

NIV

Jesus is also the firstborn of the dead.

Rev 1:5

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

NIV

As we have seen, it is when we sprinkle the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts of our heart, the death angel will Passover us. Jesus is the firstborn, he has inherited all the wealth of the Father. He is the ruler of all the kings of the earth. Without the shredding of the blood of the firstborn of God, we all would be dead forever, we all would be struck down. But praise God he sent his Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin so that we could repent as well as show us the truth of Jesus Christ, the firstborn of God. This truth that is shown to us about the death angel passing throughout the land of Egypt gives us the picture of the future of this earth. Someday the death angel will once again be sent. We see all sorts of death angels coming in the revelation given to John. Seven seals, seven plagues, seven bowls, seven judgments, seven trumpets, seven angels that bring death upon the earth in various forms. But for those of us with the blood sprinkled over the doorposts of our hearts will not be effected at all. Either we will have been already taken up or if we are still here, it matters not, for when those angels seen the blood of the Lamb they will pass by us, we will experience the Passover in the truest sense. This also carries the meaning that we must do this just as we have been commanded to do. We are to stay safe in our homes applying the blood. This means our hearts are our home. We need to keep our heart safe under the blood. It is our heart that defines who we are. This heart also implies our mind, or being. The Israelites were told to stay in their homes, to not leave them, to eat all of the Lamb with their sandals on and their staff in their hand, ready to leave when called to do so. We cannot stray from being under the blood. We cannot leave our safe place or allow our home, our heart and mind to be enticed into the world, the outside, the place where the death angel will destroy. Satan would tempt us to leave. He would present all sorts of reasons for us to reach out for whatever is our greatest temptation whether that be lust, greed, ambition, pride, impatience, self-reliance, or a host of others which would lead us from under the blood into the arena of the death angel. Let us stay within the doorpost, under the blood.