Devotional -

Protected by the Blood on the Door ( 1 April )

About this Devotional
On the tenth day of this month each man must choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household . . . Then, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the whole community of Israel will kill the animals. The people are to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten . . . On that night I will go through the land of Egypt, killing every first-born male, both human and animal, and punishing all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood on the doorposts will be a sign to mark the houses in which you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you and will not harm you when I punish the Egyptians. You must celebrate this day as a religious festival to remind you of what I, the Lord, have done. Celebrate it for all time to come.
Exodus 12:3, 6-7, 12-14

On the eve of the exodus from Egypt, the nation must have been tense. God is great and does wonders, and it was clear that he was preparing to do some far-reaching thing in Egypt. There was expectation and awe. Then God told the people to slaughter a lamb and smear its blood on the entrances to their dwellings. In the middle of the night the angel passed and killed every firstborn in every Egyptian home where there was no blood on the door. Pharaoh and all the Egyptians were faced with a national tragedy, and they sent the Israelites out of their land.

Imagine yourself as a slave in Egypt on that night. Following the plagues on Egypt and the other events, God commands you to slaughter a lamb and smear the blood on the door of your dwelling. You may not understand what it all means, but you bring the family inside that blood-stained door. In the middle of the night there is loud and fearful wailing, and you learn that all of your neighbors have lost their firstborn child. What do you understand from this? In a very tangible way you understand that the blood of the sacrifice protects you and atones for you against God's death penalty. This understanding will be engraved deep inside you and will be remembered for many generations.

How much do we understand what God does in our lives? Do we grasp that the blood of the sacrifice atones for us and rescues us from God's anger? We have indeed been saved with a great salvation, and it is all thanks to the blood of the lamb! Thanks be to God who rescues us from death by the blood of Jesus, the eternal lamb!

- 1 APRIL -