Exodus 12:13 “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”
The Deliverance of Israel out of Egypt
When Jacob and his sons first went down to Egypt, they must have thought it a desirable country. They were given the best of the land (Gen 47). Years passed and then they discovered that what they had thought was desirable had turned into a “house of bondage.” Egypt in the Bible is a picture of the world. Proverbs 7 describes the world and tells us that “her house is the way of hell, going down to the chambers of death.” The children of Israel discovered their awful condition and they sighed and cried, and the Lord heard.
The first step on the way to obtaining salvation is for the individual to understand his condition as a sinner, lost and in danger of perishing for all eternity. The sinner that turns to God will find a God “ready to pardon,” a God who is able to deliver and save because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ when on the cross He died for sinners. Like the sinner today, the Israelites were powerless to deliver themselves. God looked on their misery and unveiled the plan of salvation. It was not by the works of the Law for the Law had not yet been given.
It is to be noticed that when God began to work, Pharaoh tightened his grip on the people. The devil will still fight to the end in order to hinder the sinner from obtaining salvation. We come to chapter 12 of Exodus and God is going to bring judgement upon the land. Every firstborn in the land of Egypt was going to die and that included the firstborn in every Jewish home. What could be done? How could the firstborn escape? God revealed the plan of salvation. A lamb was to be chosen. Not just any lamb, it was to be a lamb without blemish, absolutely perfect, for this lamb spoke of the Lamb of God. John the Baptist identified Jesus of Nazareth as the Lamb of God in John 1:29: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The lamb was to be kept until the 14th day and then killed. The blood was to be taken and applied to the side posts and upper door posts of the home. God had said; “When I see the blood, I will pass over you”. It was essential that the blood be applied to the door posts and the lintel of the house where the firstborn was. Knowing about the lamb and believing about the lamb was not sufficient. There had to be the application of the blood in order that the firstborn would be safe. The blood applied revealed their confidence and trust in what God had said.
The way of salvation has never changed. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” The sinner is in bondage and in danger of perishing but in Christ there is salvation and safety offered but there must be that personal faith in Christ in order to escape the judgement of God. Chapter 13 shows us that on being redeemed the children of Israel were to leave the service of Pharaoh and become the servants of God. They were not delivered out of Egypt to live as they liked; they were saved to serve.
