Rev. Don Campbell

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019

WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD [Exodus 10-12]

After the eighth plague of locusts, Pharaoh’s servants had said, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” (Ex 10:7). Pharaoh’s was not moved. After the tenth plague which was the death of the firstborn, the Egyptians were “urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, ‘We shall all be dead’’ (Ex 12:33).

It was not just that all their firstborn and the firstborn of their animals had died, but they were acutely aware of the fact that the Israelites had not suffered the same fate: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt”
(Ex 12:13).

Paul wrote, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7-8). The blood of our Passover lamb is sprinkled not on the doorposts of our houses, but the doorpost of our hearts (Heb 10:22).

Note two things: One, our lives should be free from the leaven of our old nature. Two, our lives should be occasions of festive celebration. Discipleship is not designed to wring all the joy out of life, but to bring us into the full enjoyment of it.

Here is how the writer of Hebrews describes this new life: “You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:22-24).

CONNECTIONS

1. The blood of our Passover Lamb, in contrast to the Passover lamb of Exodus 12:13 is not literal, but not literal does not mean not real. In the Lord’s supper, we do not literally eat the body or literally drink the blood of Christ. What do we—or should we—do each time we partake? (1 Cor 11:26).

2. What connection do you see between 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 and 1 Cor 5:8?