Thrust Statement: When God sees one washed in the blood of Christ, God no longer remembers his or her sins.

Scripture Reading: Exodus 12:1-3; Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:12-14

            As one reflects back upon the deliverance of the children of Israel, one cannot help but recall the words of God: “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). Fifteen hundred years later, one is confronted, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but rather with the blood of the Lamb of God, namely Jesus (John 1:36). Throughout the writings of the New Testament, one observes the authors establishing the validity of their ideas through the citation of Scriptures from the Old Testament.  One such example of this kind of reasoning is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In this epistle, he sets forth Deuteronomy 24:5 in order to demonstrate that one who shares the Word of God is worthy of financial support from the ones with whom he shares (1 Corinthians 9:6-12).^[1]

            Another Scripture that is cited frequently from the Old Testament is the now famous passage from Leviticus: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Leviticus 17:11).^[2] What does that mean?^[3] The blood in the sacrifice is sacred. Since “blood” is the symbol of life, it had to be treated with respect.  Almost every sacrifice included the sprinkling or smearing of blood on the altar or within the tabernacle. Moses calls attention to the substitution of life for life. Without the shedding of blood there can be no life for humanity. The blood sacrifice pointed toward the Lamb of God who shed His blood for the sins of the world:

He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ^13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ^14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, ^b so that we may serve the living God (Hebrews 9:12-14)!

Without the blood of Jesus there can be no eternal life for man; Jesus confirms the validity of Leviticus when He cries out:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” ^52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ^53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (John 6:51-53).

   This context appears to teach that faith is the means whereby one appropriates the flesh and blood of the Son of God.  It is through faith that one lays claim to God’s appointed sacrifice; namely, God’s crucified One.  Jesus is the source of life for the believer.  The shedding of blood in the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of the final sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus.  Again, the Hebrew writer says, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). The Old Testament foreshadowed the coming One’s sacrifice for the salvation of man.  For instance, the Scriptures declare: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship” (10:1).

            The real versus the shadow is clearly presented by the Holy Spirit.  An understanding of this concept will assist one in his or her apprehension of the “real thing”; namely, Jesus.   An awareness of the Old Testament shadows is indispensable to a proper sensitivity of redemption by the blood of Christ in the New Testament.  R. L. Kilpatrick, editor of Ensign, paints an excellent portrait in presenting the redemptive drama set forth on the stage of the Old Testament in types and shadows.   He says,

The OT is the stage upon which the redemptive drama is ‘per-formed.’  It is essential that the Christian system be seen against this kind of background.  The greatest lesson in the OT on the true meaning of Gospel is seen in the Exodus.  In fact, the Exodus is the very heart of the OT. “Exodus dominates the skyline of the OT history.  It towers over the consciousness of Israel for all time to come.  All future history is understood in light of that event.  The deliverance becomes the pattern for all future deliverances.”^[4]

             Again, he writes about a visible screen on which to portray spiritual images:

Just as Israel had her signs and seals that provided the framework for ‘remembering’ their redemption from Egyptian slavery, namely the Feast Days with all their trimmings—regulated by the ordinance.  In the Christian age it is still essential that we have a visible ‘screen’ on which to portray spiritual images. . . . When we sit down to eat we realize that he is our true ‘bread of life’ and our ‘living water.’^[5]

            As Kilpatrick points out, our visible screen is in the eating of bread and drinking of wine in the Lord’s Supper.  Every time believers eat the bread and drink the wine, they are reminded of their redemption through the poured out blood of Jesus. Paul writes:  “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (I Corinthians 11:26). Matthew also summarizes that eventful night in which our Lord broke bread with His disciples.  He captures this spiritual image when he writes:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” ^27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ^28 This is my blood of the ^b covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:26-28).

In this Last Supper, one witnesses the drama set forth on the screen of the Old Testament.  During this meal, Jesus acknowledges His death by referring to His blood being shed [KJV] (ejkcunnovmenon, ekcunnomenon, “poured out”). Also, Jesus interprets this act with the forgiveness of sins (eij" a[fesin aJmartiw'n, ei" afesin jjJamartiwn), a phrase which neither Luke nor Mark has.

This pouring out is reminiscent of the “sin offering” ritual in Leviticus (chapter 16). Five times in the fourth chapter of Leviticus, Moses repeats the same instruction: 

The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. The rest of the bull’s blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (Leviticus 4:7).

 

He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (4:18).

 

Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar (4:25).

 

Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar (4:30).

 

Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar (4:34).

EGYPT—BLOOD—PASSOVER--FIRSTBORN

            Forgiveness and redemption are always associated with blood.  To illustrate this truth about blood, one needs to reflect on the event that spared the firstborn among the Israelites but destroyed the firstborn among the Egyptians.   Moses details the instruction about blood for the preservation of the firstborn among the Israelites.  Prior to the Exodus, God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians for their refusal to allow the Israelites to leave.  The tenth plague is the plague in which the children of Israel were instructed to kill a lamb and place the blood upon the two doorposts and upon the lintel.  God said, “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs” (Exodus 12:7).

            Thus, when the angel of God passed throughout the land of Egypt, the houses with the token of blood would be spared.  The destroying angel would pass over the blood-smeared houses.  The blood is what saved them.  God instructed Moses to say:  “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [are]. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy [you] when I strike the land of Egypt” (12:13).  One can hardly read these penetrating words from God without reflecting upon Jesus as the Passover Lamb sacrificed on Calvary. Surely Paul must have had this in mind when he wrote: “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Firstborn in Egypt and Goshen

            That sign or token was to be the blood of the lamb.  Those that did not have this token upon their doorposts and lintel would suffer the loss of  “the firstborn.”   The houses that were covered with the lamb’s blood were spared this loss.  This redemption was not simply brought about through the exercise of God’s power, but in accord with the righteous character of God.  Some firstborn were destroyed, while others were spared.  What determined their condemnation or redemption?  The absence of the blood brought death, but the presence of the blood brought life. Today, the absence of the blood of Christ brings death, but the presence of the blood of Christ brings life. Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God?

Firstborn in Heaven

            No wonder the Hebrew writer speaks of the Christian community as the ekklesia of the “firstborn” (12:23). The firstborn of the Israelites were redeemed with the blood of the Passover lamb; the firstborn of Christ are redeemed with the blood of the Lamb of God.  The blood of Jesus is that which redeems.  John, in writing the Book of Revelation begins with a reference to Christ as “firstborn from the dead” and to His “blood”. Listen as he writes to the seven churches of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits ^a before his throne, ^5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ^6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen (Revelation 1:4-6).

            As observed above, the author of Hebrews captures the beauty and wonder of it all, when he writes:

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ^23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, ^24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:22-24).

            The NIV and the KJV both render the Greek word prwtotovkwn (prwtotokwn, “firstborn ones”) in the singular—“the church of the firstborn,” but the Greek text should be translated as “the church of the firstborn ones.” Christians enjoy the rights of firstborn sons because of their union with Christ who is the firstborn. Is it any wonder that John records the praises offered by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders as appropriate to express the greatness of what God accomplishes for believers through the shed blood of Christ.  The words of God concerning the firstborn in Israel—“When I see the blood I will pass over you”—are as true now as they were when God spoke these words to Moses.  Do you see a parallel between the then and the now with the blood?  When God sees one covered by the blood of Christ, then God says again, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”

            With the blood of God’s Lamb—Jesus the Messiah—God covers the “firstborn ones,” He passes over their sins just as he passed over the sins of the firstborn ones in Goshen.  Through the blood there is life, not death; on the other hand, for those not covered by the blood, judgment thunders loud and clear. For those covered by the blood of the Lamb, they are justified, sanctified, washed, and redeemed (1 Corinthians 6:11).   Earth and heaven ring out praise for such grace, for such mercy, for such love.  These wonders not only fill the earth, but also the heavenly realm.  John takes his readers into the heavens to behold the praises by heaven and earth in gratitude for the blood of Christ. Listen to John as he paints a picture in glowing terms of the joy in heaven and earth concerning the One who redeemed the sins of fallen humanity through His blood:

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped (Revelation 5:6-14).

CONCLUSIONS

            The blood of Christ purchased men and women for God from every nation upon earth. Today, as in heaven, God’s people still sings songs about the blood of Christ. One favorite hymn among God’s people today is: “There Is Power in the Blood.” As one reflects upon Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, one can never forget the events leading up to the Passover. Prior to the Passover, one reads about the angel of God that destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt that were not covered by the blood.  The Israelites were instructed to kill a lamb and to smear the blood upon the sides and tops of the doorframes. Then one reads one of the most famous sayings from God in all of the Old Testament: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

            Today, Christians are freed from God’s wrath through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God offered by God for the sins of humanity. God provided and offered the sacrifice—Jesus. Do you praise God for redemption made available through His shed blood? What does the blood of Christ mean to you? Are you conscious that through the blood of Christ there is life, not death? If you do not avail yourself of Christ’s blood, the judgment of God against you rings loud and clear—damnation. Do you stand in awe of such grace, such mercy, and such love? Do you want God to pass over your sins? If so, one can only find forgiveness through the precious blood of Christ.