Faith & The Blood of the Lamb
Hebrews 11:28 & Exodus 12:1-14
Main Idea: Faith trusts the blood & beholds the lamb as our only hope for salvation.
I. Faith & The Passover
Pharoah refuses to let God’s people go even after 9 devastating plagues & warnings from the Lord. God gives warning of a final, horrible plague: “every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die” (Ex. 11:5).
Exodus 4:22–23: Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
This haunting final plague is a reminder that sin is a serious offense before a holy & righteous God. Sin is not just something to “overlook” but is always associated with death itself, even from the Garden of Eden. Romans 6:23a: For the wages of sin is death…
For the Israelites, the Passover has massive significance from this moment forward; it becomes the paradigm for salvation in the Old Testament. It was so important that God instructs them to reorder their rendering of time itself around this event, allowing it to set the agenda (Ex. 12:1-2).
II. Faith & The Blood
Even though Israel is God’s chosen people, they are not exempt from the Destroyer & judgment. Judgment day will come for every single person (Heb. 9:27). There is no distinction between the “guilty” and the “innocent” ones; the only distinction is in the blood.
“The Israelites deserve the judgment of death just as much as the Egyptians. If this was simply a story of political liberation, then Israel would be the innocent victims. They wouldn’t need to fear judgment. But the truth is that they were sinners deserving of death. The Israelites had to daub the blood on the doorposts precisely because they were as guilty as the Egyptians... The blood is daubed around the doors not because God can’t tell who is inside the house, but because he can! He knows there are sinners inside” ~ Tim Chester
It was not Jewish blood that would save them from death, but only the blood of the lamb applied to their doorposts. The blood is:
Sacrificial: atonement is necessary to settle the debt of sin: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Heb 9:22b)
Substitutionary: applying the blood to the doorpost is an acknowledgement of sin & recognition that someone needed to die in my place
“The concept of substitution may be said to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone; God accepts penalties that belong to man alone.” ~ John Stott
In all of this, Passover & the blood are only a “sign” (Ex. 12:13) pointing forward to a greater reality: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). The “shadow” of Passover is ultimately seen in the “substance” of Jesus Christ.
III. Faith & The Lamb
The Israelites were instructed to keep this Passover meal as “a memorial day… a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever.” (Ex. 12:14) The coming of Christ and his own administration over the Passover meal at the Last Supper give us a continuing memorial today to participate in with faith.
The lamb is noticeably missing from the Last Supper with his disciples because Jesus is the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29). Jesus, the firstborn of the Father, perfect, spotless one, is the Lamb of God who was slain as a sacrifice and substitute in our place (1 Cor. 5:7).
1 Peter 1:18-19: “… knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
If we want to endure in faith today, we must look backward to the sacrificial and subtitutionary death of Jesus, while we simultaneously look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-10).
1 Corinthians 11:26: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
