More on the Exodus and what it points to beyond its wonders. The Angel of the Lord passed over Egypt and the firstborn of every Egyptian, both man and beast, died. Only those who had stayed behind doors that were marked with the blood of a lamb or goat were spared. An innocent one died so that God’s people (and those who gathered with them) would be spared, saved from sure death. God didn’t ask about the worthiness of the people in those marked homes. He saw the blood and passed over them. They had believed Him and had acted in simple obedience on His Word and did what He said…and He did what He said He would do.

The sacrificial system God set up for the Israelites would from then on point beyond itself to a coming Sacrifice that would take away the sin of the whole world for all time. God was going to give a Gift that had nothing to do with humanity’s worth. In fact, it would from that day forward define the worth God had placed on every human life. This Gift of God has been given, but it must be received to be entered into, and believing God is still the means of receiving that grace we could never deserve.

From the Passover on, when an Israelite was convicted in their heart that they had sinned against God’s way of living, they would choose a spotless lamb, without blemish or defect to be their substitute. God made it clear that “The soul that sins, shall die.” Sin always costs more that you thought you’d ever have to pay and takes you farther from goodness that you could have imagined. The wage that sin pays is death; separation from God and all that is good, wholesome and true.

This blameless lamb would be presented to the priest at the tabernacle or temple, and after it was seen to be spotless, the priest would declare, “Behold the lamb.” In Jesus’ day, under Solomon’s Portico, there was an elaborate system of ritual immersion baths, in Hebrew, mikveh. The Hebrew would give his lamb to the priest who would take the lamb into the temple compound. The Hebrew would then go down stairs, take off their soiled street-clothes, casting them from him as a picture of abandoning his sinful ways. He would full immerse himself in the mikveh, come out, dry himself and put on clean clothes; a picture of being made clean by God’s forgiveness.

The Hebrew would go up stairs into the temple compound, lay his hands on the lamb confessing his sin, the Levite’s blade would slay the lamb, its blood would be caught and sprinkled on the altar. The baptism was identification with a death he deserved that an innocent one was taking on his behalf. John the Baptizer pointed Jesus Christ out declaring, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus is that pure and spotless Lamb, fully human, yet without sin; blameless. John’s father was a priest. John was of the Hebrew priestly tribe. He identified God’s Gift for all who would believe in Him and what He would do.

The blood applied to the doorposts in Egypt, this incredible deliverance of God for all who would believe, pointed beyond itself to an event over a millennium in the future. What God would do on a Friday was infinitely more famous than what He did in Egypt. The Passover was a shadow. The Cross cast that shadow.