Passover: Take the Blood
Feasts of Israel Part 5
“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13).
God did more than draw Israel out of bondage on Passover. He drew them into Himself by establishing a newer, deeper relationship with them through covenant.
Covenants are agreements which bind two parties together so tightly, they essentially become a single entity. Anything touching one member of the relationship automatically affects the other. The two rejoice, suffer and fight as one. Establishing a covenant with His people ensured that anyone coming after Israel would have to confront Israel’s God.
Of all covenants, the most powerful involved the spilling of blood. As the symbol of life itself,[1] blood spoke of a lifelong bond which could only be dissolved if one party proved unfaithful to it. The Old Testament process of “cutting covenant” involved splitting a sacrificial animal in half and allowing each piece to serve as proxy for one of the participants. The halves were laid side-by-side and, as they walked together between the bloody pieces, their two lives merged.
God Cuts Covenant
God chose a lamb to be the covenant animal for the ritual. But how was Israel going to walk through its pieces if they were also going to eat the sacrifice? “Take some of the blood,” God told them in Exodus 12:8, “and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of your houses.” Walking through their doors that night would be figuratively the same as passing through the bloody pieces of the lamb.
But how would God do the same? As it happens, the Hebrew for Passover is Pesach, a word that means to not only pass over but also to hover protectively.[2] As the destroyer prowled for unprotected firstborns, God would be hovering near the blood-spattered doors keeping him at bay. That night, God and man would be standing together in the midst of the ratifying blood of the covenant.
There was one little problem, however. God already knew Israel was going to prove unfaithful to the covenant. Their disobedience would threaten to cancel the entire arrangement. What God needed was a human being capable of keeping the covenant who could walk the pieces in their place.
The Perfect Man for the Job
The Son of God, who’d already been with the Father from the beginning, would enter the world as the Son of Man. Born of Mary, Jesus’ flesh and blood qualified Him to walk the pieces as a man. His divine nature assured His faithfulness to the covenant. Israel’s Messiah, however, wouldn’t be there for thousands of years, so how would any of this help them?
By God’s ability to transcend time.
God told Israel how to be saved and they believed Him. They brought forward their little lambs by faith while the Father looked forward through time to accept in its place the Lamb who was to come.
We, too, come into covenant relationship with God by faith—believing that Jesus really is the one who can save us from destruction. If the Holy Spirit has been hovering at the door of your heart, open it up. Let Jesus hide you behind His protective blood and make a home for you within His heart.
In Him, you can be marked for salvation. In Him, your relationship with the Father can be sure. In Him, you can be safe from the destroyer.
[1] Leviticus 17:11
[2] Kevin J. Conner, The Feasts of Israel (Portland: City Christian Publishing, 1980), 18. (See also: https://www.thetorah.com/article/why-passover-on-the-true-meaning-of-pesah)