When I See the Blood
Nine plagues had fallen on Egypt, and Pharaoh still would not let Israel go. Then the LORD told Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more (Exodus 11:1). At midnight He would pass through the land and strike the firstborn in every house, from Pharaoh's palace to the dungeon.
But first God gave Israel a way to be spared, and He made it the start of a new calendar: This month shall be unto you the beginning of months (Exodus 12:2). On the tenth day each household was to take a lamb, a lamb for an house. It had to be without blemish, a male of the first year. They were to keep it until the fourteenth day and kill it in the evening (Exodus 12:3–6).
With a bunch of hyssop they were to strike its blood on the two side posts and the upper door post of the house. They were to roast the lamb whole, his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Nothing could be left until morning. And they were to eat it dressed for a journey: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover (Exodus 12:7–11).
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”EXODUS 12:12–13 · KJV
At midnight the judgment fell, for there was not a house where there was not one dead (Exodus 12:30), except in the houses under the blood. There the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in (Exodus 12:23).
God commanded Israel to keep the night forever: this day shall be unto you for a memorial (Exodus 12:14). When children asked, What mean ye by this service?, parents were to answer that it was the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt (Exodus 12:26–27). About fifteen centuries later, Jesus sat down with His disciples and said, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer (Luke 22:15).
The Exodus looks at Israel's whole deliverance from Egypt; this study looks at the lamb and the meal. Melchizedek traces the bread and wine, and the Day of Atonement has a study of its own.
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For Deeper Study
- Christ in the Passover: Why Is This Night Different?Amazon Ceil and Moishe RosenA short, readable guide to the Passover in Jesus' day and the modern Seder, by the founder of Jews for Jesus and his wife. Helpful for telling the commands of Exodus apart from later customs.
- The Feasts and Fasts of Israel: Their Historical and Prophetic SignificanceAmazon Arnold G. FruchtenbaumA thorough study of the feasts by a Messianic Jewish scholar who writes from a pretribulational, premillennial view and gives careful attention to Israel's future.
- The Feasts of the Lord: God's Prophetic Calendar from Calvary to the KingdomAmazon Kevin Howard and Marvin RosenthalAn illustrated walk through the seven feasts and their fulfillment in Christ. Rosenthal is known for the pre-wrath view of the rapture, which we do not share.
- The Study of the TypesAmazon Ada R. HabershonA classic 1898 introduction to the Old Testament types, including the Passover and the feasts.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Exodus
God's deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt is the great Old Testament pattern of redemption: God heard, came down, redeemed by blood and by power, and brought His people out to Himself.
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