Good morning family #blurt.
Welcome to the word for today.
In the margin of one of my older Bibles, I long ago wrote, “The world is dangerous; stay safely behind the blood.” I don’t know when I wrote these words, but they perfectly sum up our reading today. The final plague has finally been revealed to the people, and it comes with a heavy cost: the firstborn of all the land. I have often thought of this plague with a heavy heart. Both my parents were/are firstborn children. My husband was the firstborn, and both of my sons (because one is adopted) are both firstborn children. Without the blood, if I were in this story, I – the baby of my family – would be left very alone.
The world is dangerous; stay safely behind the blood. Thousands of years ago, families huddled together behind doorways that were painted in the blood of a sacrificial lamb. As the sound of wailing pierced and filled the night air, these huddled families had only one protection: the blood. Today, my family is growing and moving slowly farther away. Our oldest is 19 with his own home and friends. Our youngest son is 14 but growing up far too fast. He has a job and friends that often pull him out into the world. Only our little girl stays safely in my protective bubble, but one day she will venture out as well. Every day, my husband goes to work driving a semi that pulls three trailers in snow and ice. We may not be huddled behind a painted doorway, but the only safety I see for my family is still behind the blood of the lamb. I cannot keep them safe in every moment of every day. People will hurt them. They will walk through trials and temptations. They will be enticed by the world with no protection except the blood of the lamb. Thankfully, that is all that is needed. There is no protection greater than the blood.
For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13-14).
The blood of a goat or lamb protected the Israelites during the final plague, but we have a protection far more powerful than they. We, and our loved ones who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, have the blood of the Christ as our shield. The world is dangerous; stay behind the blood of the Lamb.
STAY CONNECTED WITH THE BLOOD