Scripture: Hebrews 11:28 (ESV)
"By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them."
Sometimes I get a little sad that we don’t know the old hymns that well. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe we should only sing old school hymns, or that modern worship music is somehow deficient. But there is something about the theological depth of the old hymn writers that I think we miss out on today.
One of these old hymns is There is a fountain filled with blood, written by William Cowper sometime in the 1700s that speaks of how Jesus’ blood, his sacrifices on the cross, washes sinners clean. In the hymn there is a line that goes: "The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away." Cowper is writing about the fact that the thief on the cross was washed by the same blood as we are, even though we live 2000 years later.
The remarkable thing is that it is that same blood that the Passover feast pointed to. Just like the hymn looks back to the cross, the Passover looks forward to the cross. The faith Moses displayed in preforming the Passover ritual is the same faith that saves people today. They both have their ultimate hope in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
Now for those unfamiliar, the Passover is a feast that commemorates Israel being saved out of Egypt. On the first Passover, God commanded the Israelites to sprinkle the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their homes. The blood was a sign that that the house should be “Passed Over” by God’s angel of death, or as Hebrews puts it the Destroyer of the firstborn. (As an aside, Marvel can learn a thing or two about awesome names from the Bible!). When the Destroyer came, and saw the blood, he left the house alone. If there was no blood there was no safety.
The Passover lamb was a forerunner for the ultimate sacrifice Jesus was going to be. He, the ultimate Lamb without blemish, shed his blood to cover his people. The same principle that saved the Israelites is at work in the Christian today. We are either saved by the blood of Jesus, or we are not. If there is no blood, there is no safety.
One important thing to note is who the Israelite and who the Christian is saved from. Because we sometimes get our theology from cartoons and TV, we often have the wrong idea. One of the places where this plays out is in our theology of who we are saved from. We mistakenly think that Satan is the ruler of Hell, and that when we are purchased with the blood of Christ, we are purchased from Satan. But that couldn’t be more wrong. Both in the case of the Israelites during the Passover, and with Jesus on the cross, we are being saved from God’s wrath. Salvation is not from Satan or Hell. Salvation is from God’s righteous wrath at our sin.
Who are you saved by? God the Son, who sheds his blood to cleanse us from sin.
Who are you saved from? God the Father, who sends the Son so that whoever believes will have eternal life.
Who are you saved through? God the Spirit, who works in the heart of the elect to bring about faith, according to the Father’s will.
Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for being our perfect Passover lamb. Thank you for shedding your blood so that we could be washed clean. Help us to live accordingly. Amen
Spiritual Challenge:
Today’s challenge is a little different. I am wondering how useful these challenges actually are to people. If you actually engage with the spiritual challenge please leave a comment and let me know.
Faith and Blood