Blood

"Blood" is a word that brings different kinds of thoughts to us and I would be right in saying most of those thoughts are frightening. Blood is the lifeline of our veins and when someone is bleeding and losing blood their lives are slowly dying. Some faint at the sight of blood, while others may get sick at their stomach.

Exodus 12 is where the Lord institutes the Passover. As you know, the Lord requires His people to kill a lamb without blemish and take the blood and "put it on the lintel of the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it"(v.7). The reason is that He intends to kill the first born of every living creature to bring judgment on the Egyptians. The blood over the doorposts of the Israelite houses will be a sign that He will not destroy them while He is striking the land of Egypt. In other words, the blood of that lamb saves them.

In 1 Peter 1: 18, 19 we find these words, "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." This passage refers to the Exodus 12 passage.

Regardless of what you thought of the movie "The Passion", it did a terrific job depicting the horror, pain, agony and bloodiness of Jesus' crucifixion. It is easy to gloss over Jesus' death on the cross and it's details. Thinking about the "blood" gives us a better picture of what had to happen for us to be forgiven and saved by God's grace. Just as the Lord passed over the doorposts, He passes over us in judgment because what He sees is the "blood" of Christ, shed and placed upon us for redemption.

Take some time today to give praise to our Lord for His plan of salvation through the shedding of the blood of the precious, spotless lamb which He provided for us - His Son.