Exodus 12:13

 ’The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

 

How bizarre the instructions that Moses gave to the Israelites!  They were to slay an unblemished male lamb and kill it at twilight.  Then they were to prepare its body for a unique, hastily eaten meal, and they were to paint its blood on the doorposts of their homes.  When the Lord came that night to execute judgment on the Egyptians, He would pass over (read, not strike) the families taking refuge in homes that had the lamb’s blood painted on the doorposts.  They were nourished for their coming journey out of slavery by the body of the lamb, and they were saved from the righteous judgment of God by the blood of that same lamb.

But given the great need of humanity for forgiveness of sin and restoration with God, perhaps Moses’ instructions were not so bizarre after all.  We’re not slaves in Egypt, but we’re slaves to sin.  God is righteous, and will therefore judge sin.  We need salvation; we need to passed over when the judgment of God visits.  We need a lamb.  Jesus is our Lamb.  We have been saved from the judgment of God for our sins by the sacrifice of His perfect, sinless blood on our behalf.  We have escaped judgment from God because God provided His own Son as our Lamb.  We gain strength for our journey through life, increasingly leaving behind the slavery of our sin, by continued fellowship with Him.  As the Israelites literally ate the body of the lamb for their strength, so we spiritually receive our Lord Jesus through the continued presence of His Spirit at work in our souls.  As they were delivered by the blood and body of an unblemished lamb, so we have been saved from judgment and given new life by the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.