When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Exodus 12:13
Carl was battling cancer and needed a double lung transplant. He asked God for new lungs but felt odd doing so. He confessed it’s a strange thing to pray, because “someone has to die so I might live.”
Carl’s dilemma highlights a basic truth of Scripture: God uses death to bring life. We see this in the story of the exodus. Born into slavery, the Israelites languished under the oppressive hands of the Egyptians. Pharaoh wouldn’t release his grip until God made it personal. Every eldest son would die unless the family killed a spotless lamb and slathered its blood across their doorposts (Exodus 12:6–7, 12–13).
Today, you and I have been born into the bondage of sin. Satan wouldn’t release his grip on us until God made it personal, sacrificing His perfect Son on the blood-spattered arms of the cross.
Jesus calls us to join Him there. Paul explained, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). When we put our faith in God’s spotless Lamb, we commit to daily dying with Him—dying to our sin so we might rise with Him to new life (Romans 6:4–5). We express this faith every time we say no to the shackles of sin and yes to the freedom of Christ. We’re never more alive than when we die with Jesus.
Read: Exodus 12:5-13 (NIV)
5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,v and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,w when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.x
7 Then they are to take some of the bloody and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
8 That same nightz they are to eat the meat roasteda over the fire, along with bitter herbs,b and bread made without yeast.c
9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.d
10 Do not leave any of it till morning;e 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;f it is the Lord’s Passover.g
12 “On that same night I will pass throughh Egypt and strike downi every firstbornj of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the godsk of Egypt. I am the Lord.l
13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass overm you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.n
INSIGHT
- Why is death the only path to life?
- How have you shown that you’ve received Jesus’ death on your behalf?
One of the wonders of Jesus’ crucifixion is that it happened on Israel’s national remembrance of Passover. In one eventful day, the stories of Moses and Jesus merged. From then on, the world had a new way of thinking about the mysterious language of killing and eating the Passover lamb. It was on this date on the ancient calendar of Israel that the God of creation judged the gods of Egypt by bringing to light their inability to protect anyone. It was on that first Passover that the God of gods used the sacrifice of a lamb and a sacred meal to show that He alone was the source of life and freedom. Yet it wasn’t until Jesus’ death that people would understand the connection between Him and the Passover lamb and what it meant to eat and drink from God’s own self-sacrifice.
PRAYER
Jesus, Your death brings me life. Help me die to sin today and live my life through You. In Your name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Exodus 12:5-13 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Genesis 36-38; Matthew 10:21-42
