A Sign to Remember
Opening Prayer
God, help me to appreciate the depth of meaning that sacrificial blood represents.
Read Exodus 12:1–13
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Reflect today on the symbolism of blood in Scripture which runs like a red thread beginning from Genesis 3:21.God gave his people precise instructions to prepare for their escape from Egypt. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see the significance of the signs and symbols. The male lamb “without defect” (5) looks forward to Jesus, who lived a sinless life and who became the once-for-all sacrifice for us. The blood covered the entrance to their homes just as Jesus’ blood covers over our sin; his death on the cross saves us from death—the consequence of our sin.
The meal was to be prepared and eaten in haste (11). Bread without yeast didn’t have to be left to rise. By dressing ready to go on a journey, they demonstrated their obedience and faith that God was going to set them free. Bitter herbs dipped in saltwater during the Passover meal still remind Jews of the bitterness and tears of life in captivity.
The death of the firstborn, the last of ten plagues, looked ahead to the death of God’s only Son, whose death sets humanity free. What is God setting you free from?
Apply
Have you allowed the blood of Christ to cover your sin? Take time now to allow Christ’s righteousness to permeate your life.
Closing prayer
Read John 3:16,17 and give thanks to God for his Son, Jesus.
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