Exodus 12 Devotional

Sheltered by a Lamb

“The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”Exodus 12:13 (BSB)

On the night of the Passover, each Israelite household kills a year-old male lamb without blemish and puts its blood on the doorframe (12:5-7). At midnight the LORD strikes down the firstborn of Egypt, and there is not a house without someone dead (12:29-30). It is a terrible night, and the text makes no attempt to soften it.

Israel's homes were not spared because the people inside were better than their neighbors. They were spared because of the blood. God had promised that when he saw it, he would pass over that house (12:13). Behind every marked door that night a lamb had died, and not one of its bones was to be broken (12:46). John points to that detail at the cross (John 19:36), and Paul names Christ as the true Passover lamb, already offered (1 Corinthians 5:7). God commanded the night to be remembered and explained to every child who asked (12:26-27). Because Jesus was sacrificed, your safety before God rests on his blood rather than on your record.

To think about: Where are you still trying to stand before God on your own record instead of on the blood of Christ?