“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
(Exodus 12:13 KJV)
This scripture is from the time of the Exodus when Moses led the enslaved Hebrew people out of Egypt. God told Moses to tell the Hebrew people to sacrifice a Lamb or Goat, without blemish.
“And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
(Exodus 12:6-7 KJV)
What was the reason or purpose for this? God continues,
“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord‘s passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
(Exodus 12: 11-13 KJV)
If you think about this for a moment, why did God have to see the blood of the door posts to pass over them? As God, He knew full well where all the Hebrews were located to pass over them, right? Again, this Scripture gives us the answer to this when it states, “Now the blood shall be a sign for ‘you’. Notice it was not a sign for God to know where the Hebrews were located! It was a sign for YOU, is what it says. That is by doing this and placing the blood on the doors as instructed they showed that they have faith and believe that God will save them. How? By pure FAITH! It was a declaration by those that believed in God to any of the Hebrews (and Egyptians) that did not believe in God at that time.
Remember, the Hebrews were enslaved to hard labor in Egypt for 400 years! That is a long time. Do you think that some of the millions of Hebrews in Egypt gave up on God’s promise to free them? It may well be that some of the Hebrews did not believe in God anymore. So the blood on the doors was a sign for all the Hebrews (YOU), those that by faith believe God is going to save them and pass them over for the judgement of God. Any Hebrew or Egyptian household with a first born that did not place the blood as told, surely had their first born die. Those Hebrews that did not believe may have repented after this happened and as such were saved and freed, the hard way; that is they first seen the judgment of God and many who did not place the blood on the doors, may have turned to God as well.
If this is the case, which does seem reasonable, it may be a foreshadowing of our times in that God, through Christians witnessing about salvation, are telling all of the unrepentant sinners to accept the gift of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ and be saved from the coming judgements of God. Yet many will not believe and will go through the Great Tribulation period in the future where they will see for themselves the result of our sins. Many of who will then turn back to God for salvation.
The Bible does indicate that during the Tribulation period on Earth that the most people in history will turn to God and accept salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is like doubting Thomas who did not believe that Christ was risen until he could see and touch Him. And when he seen and touched the risen Lord, THEN he truly believed.
The Hebrews were told by God, through Moses, to place some blood of the sacrifice on the top of the door, and to each side of the door. If you have not figured that out yet, that make the cross in blood. The animal sacrifice of a Lamb or Goat without blemish is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, (referred to many times in the Bible as the Lamb of God) the only innocent and sinless human being (without blemish) sacrificed in blood on the cross for our sins. The act of doing what was told and actually placing that blood on the outside of their doors was an act of belief and faith in God that they would be saved from the death judgement that was coming to all the first born of Egypt because of Pharaoh’s refusal to let God’s enslaved people go free.
Notice that God did not tell them to go do good deeds and thus be saved. No, it is God alone that would save them. And when you realize that the Lord and God of the Old Testament was Jesus Christ incarnate, (John 5:46) (that is Christ prior to His human birth) this is even more significant!
In the same way, it is the belief and faith a Christian has in Jesus Christ on the cross taking the punishment for our sins, even though He was innocent and sinless, that covers us from the Wrath to come on all the unrepentant. Either the wrath at the Great Tribulation period in our near future (here is an overview article on what the Tribulation period is from gotquestions.org), or saving us from the everlasting punishment of the wicked and unbelieving at the Great White Throne Judgement after the 1000 years of peace on Earth with Christ ruling.
Side Note: The Great White Throne Judgement is where all the unrepentant and what the Bible calls ‘The Wicked’, will be judged according to their works and will be cast into a place the Bible calls the Lake Of Fire which was prepared for Satan and the fallen angels in everlasting punishment. (Revelation 20:11-15)
The point of this article is that it was their faith in God alone that saved them at the Exodus and it is by faith alone, without works that a person’s sins are completely forgiven. When God looks at a repentant sinner, one who accepted God’s free gift of forgiveness through Christ’s Act of Atonement, He does not see the sins. Instead He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. Did you know that when you became a believer in Christ that you became the righteousness of God in Him? Some Christians are shocked and even upset when I tell them this but it is very Scriptural. Believers are the righteousness of God in Christ! (whether they like it or feel it or not).
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.“ (2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV)
“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34 KJV)
“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” (Psalms 103:11-13 KJV)
Jesus became the final, once and for all, true Passover for all humankind. The sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world for all who believe (John 1:29).
Do you need to have the door posts of your life brushed with the blood of Christ to forgive your sins and avoid being part of the judgement of God Almighty?
We ALL do!
