Wednesday 7th
Hebrews 11:17-28
NIV (v28) – ‘By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.’
ESV (v28) – ‘By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.’
Our text today is a reference back to the night before the people of Israel were going to start their Exodus from Egypt. Owing to the stubbornness and hardness of the heart of the Pharaoh, God had sent plagues of various sorts until finally he was going to send the angel of death, to destroy the first born of both the families and the livestock of the people of Egypt. But in doing so, God was going to provide a means of protection from the destroyer of the firstborn for the people of Israel. We read in Exodus 12:3-13 what the people of Israel were to do, to sum it up they were to take a lamb or a goat without blemish and to kill it, and then to apply some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and lintels of the house where they were living and then when the destroyer of the firstborn came to destroy God made this wonderful promise, ‘And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt.’ (v13)
What a wonderful provision and what incredible protection. The provision of blood and the protection from the wrath or the punishment of God. We know that what happened back then is a wonderful picture of the provision that God has made in providing our eternal redemption, and with the redemption comes our own protection from the wrath of God. But a Lamb was needed who just like the lamb in the Exodus story needed to be without blemish, and the Lamb was provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, he became our Passover Lamb, he was slain, his blood was shed and as we come to him by faith we are washed in his blood, his blood is applied over our lives and it brings us eternal protection from the wrath of God.
The message of the Cross cannot be spoken of without the blood, for the shedding of perfect blood was essential to obtain a perfect and an eternal redemption. Perfect blood was necessary because it would be incorruptible, and the Scripture is very clear that the Lord Jesus Christ knew no sin, he lived perfectly in obedience to his Father’s will to be able to be offered up as the perfect sacrifice for our sin, the only sin he knew was our sin, yours and mine as he took it upon himself to bear the punishment for it. And because his blood was perfect blood, incorruptible, it is still just as powerful and still just as effective washing clean every individual who comes by faith to the Cross.
We will end this devotion with some Scriptures that remind us of the effectiveness of the Lamb who took our place, may we rejoice in our hearts that we have been delivered from our bondage, our Egypt, and the oppression of the devil because of the effectiveness of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 1:29 ‘The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’
John 19:4 ‘Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”’
Hebrews 9:22 ‘Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.’
John 3:14–15 ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’
2 Corinthians 5:21 ‘For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’
1 Corinthians 5:7b ‘For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.’
Hebrews 9:11–14 ‘But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.’
Revelation 5:9–10, 12 ‘And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” . . . Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!”’