The Bloody Story

We had a mishap in our home yesterday. Without going into too much detail, because the story gets pretty gory pretty quickly, there was a good deal of blood, and it was coming fast -- fast enough that I briefly considered a 9-1-1 call, or at least a speed-record trip to the hospital half an hour away on a good day.

As minutes passed, it became apparent that the mishap was much less severe than what we'd thought, given the amount of blood, so a trip to the hospital wasn't necessary, and the day had a happy-ish (and Tylenol-eased) ending.

For precious seconds as the event played out, though, I'd pictured the worst case scenario: a 5:00-news story proclaiming a local disaster, loss of life, loss of limb. What is it about that bright red substance running through our bodies that carries so much essential importance?

Exodus 12:1-30 is a bloody story. It's got the bright red stuff in abundance. And that bright red stuff is the pivotal fulcrum. It's not only the axis on which the chapter balances, but it's the central plot point of the entire story from Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning of time to the end of it.

So let me just encapsulate that in a few well-chosen words. (Hyperventilates) :)

Nerd moment: As an author, I love a good bookend. It's where a story begins with an idea and ends with the same idea, but with a twist. Here, I truly appreciate the book-ending of the ten plagues. The first plague, the plague of blood, is where the life-water of the Egyptians -- flowing in the Nile -- turns undrinkable and red. It may have turned to actual blood, or it may have been red sediment that made the water look like blood. Either way, the symbolism is clear and present: what the Egyptians had depended on for life is replaced by what is life already. 

Leviticus 17:11 says: "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."

At the other end of the proverbial bookcase is the tenth plague -- the death of the firstborn -- the stoppage of the blood flowing in their veins. The last plague reaches inside the body of each oldest child in Egypt, from Pharaoh's son to the son of the handmaid at the mill and the prisoner in the cell, and stops its flow.

Outside... to inside. Unsustainable water... to unsustainable life. Flowing movement... to still stagnancy.

Anyway, nine plagues have come and gone. Pharaoh has hardened his heart after each one, refusing to let his slave force stage a walk-out. Now the tenth plague is coming. 

It's worth noting here: the Lord has sent the first nine plagues on the Egyptians, but has kept most of them out of Goshen, the land where the Israelites are living. This tenth plague is a humdinger, because it's going to cover both Egypt and Goshen, and no one -- Egyptian or Israelite -- will escape it, unless.

Thank the Lord for unlesses.

The angel of death will visit every household, palace, hut, shack, mansion -- no distinction -- unless the blood of an innocent lamb has been painted across the doorframe of that house. If the people in a house sacrifice an innocent lamb and use its blood to paint the door frame, the angel of death will pass over that house and leave its occupants alone.

The lamb becomes an atoning sacrifice for the people inside the house. 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.

That same night, once the bloodwork has been done, the doors painted, the Israelites eat their first Passover meal: bread without yeast. Mutton roasted over the fire. Bitter herbs. "This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover."

The Israelites are to be ready to step into their salvation. Their exodus out of slavery is about to happen. They're leaving their life of oppression, and they're walking into freedom from that yoke. How?

Through the blood of the lamb they sacrificed -- the blood that was given to make atonement for the life of every firstborn.

Flip over to John 1:29: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!'" Prophetic words: Jesus hadn't yet died when John made this proclamation.

But this is God's master plan already at work. Jesus -- the Lamb, the perfect, sinless, innocent Lamb who came for the purpose of shedding His own blood for the atonement of our sins. We hadn't a chance -- the angel of death stopped in every house, even the houses of His chosen nation... except the ones with the blood on the doorposts.

So I ask again: What is it about that bright red substance running through our bodies that carries so much essential importance?

The life of a creature is in its blood. The original bookend for this idea shows up in the very first blood shed in Genesis: "The Lord said [to Cain], 'What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground!" (Genesis 4:10)

Hebrews 10:19-22 packs so much significance to the other bookend on that proverbial bookcase. It wraps up the whole bloody story with five elements:

Blood: The blood of Jesus, the innocent, completely perfect Lamb of God -- that blood shed on the cross, covering the sins of the whole world, atoning for those sins, and making a way for us to have eternal life in heaven.

Priest: Jesus is the High Priest, the Holy One, the One who carries His sacrifice into the Holy of Holies before His Father and presents Himself as the Spokesperson for the people, the Mediator.

Curtain: At Jesus' death, the curtain that separates the outer and inner courts of the Temple in Jerusalem from the Holy of Holies -- the place where God sits between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant -- that curtain is heavy and thick and is ripped in two from top (far above the reach and power of mankind) to bottom, opening forever the way to the Father.

Sprinkling: The blood of Jesus cleanses our hearts, and makes us whiter than snow.

Water: We are washed clean by the living water -- the same living water that Jesus tells the Samaritan woman about, the same living water mentioned in Psalm 46:4 -- "a stream that makes glad the city of God," the same living water in the river of Revelation 22:1: "Then the angel showed me the river of the Water of Life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb..." 

I'm giving the writer of Hebrews a slow clap; in light of those five elements, this one sentence is pretty insanely phenomenal: "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

Whew!

I need a nap. 

I didn't even talk about Jesus, the Firstborn of all creation, and how that interconnects with the plague of death to the firstborn of every household of Egypt not covered by the atoning blood of an innocent lamb. I'll just let that settle for a bit as food for thought.

One thing more: I think it's pretty amazing that Jesus -- the perfect, sinless Lamb of God -- gave his body and blood on Passover Day. Exodus 12:17 says: "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread (the beginning of the Passover), because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt."

God has a calendar, and would you just look at that timing. "On this very day..."

Flip over to 1 Corinthians 5:7: "For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed." Sacrificed ON PASSOVER DAY.

That very day -- the day the innocent lambs gave their blood to save the people inside the houses -- that same day Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God gave His blood to save all the people of the world, one time, for all time. 

Never again do we have to fear slavery to sin; we are free. We are free!

The bloody story is the story of freedom. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus (blood, Priest, curtain, sprinkling, water) the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:1-2).

Hallelujah! Happy early Easter, y'all!