His blood, spread on the doorposts of their hearts

After the final plague in Egypt, the Lord told Moses and Aaron to tell the people of Israel that on the tenth day of the month, every man was to take a lamb, without blemish, and keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when all of Israel would kill these lambs at twilight.

They were to take some of the blood and put it on their two doorposts and their lintel.  They were to eat the lamb along with unleavened bread, and they were to be ready to leave.  For that night, the LORD was going to pass through all of Egypt and judge it for refusing to let His people go and for worshiping its false gods.  He would strike down every firstborn, whether human or animal.  The blood that was on the Israelite’s doorposts and lintels would be a sign that would prompt the LORD to pass over that household and spare it from His wrath.

Why do you suppose that the blood was necessary?  God is, after all, omniscient, all-knowing.  It’s not as if the blood informed Him that His people were in those houses.  No, the blood was a foreshadow.  The lamb was pointing forward to the Savior.

Hundreds of years later, on Passover, Jesus would gather His disciples, and He would give them bread, symbolizing His body, and wine, symbolizing His blood, and symbolically, they would feast on Him, their unblemished Lamb, the perfect and ultimate sacrifice.  And it would be His blood, spread on the doorposts of their hearts, that would prompt God to pass over them when He would pour out His righteous wrath on sin.

Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  He declares that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Trust in Him, and let His blood plead for you.  Let His blood wash you clean.