Firstborn

As we get ready to learn about the passover, I find myself looking at the circumstances through a familiar lens – that of firstborn.  I wonder how I would have looked at things if I were there as the firstborn of my parents.  I have to think that I would have paid very careful attention to every last detail… after all, it was my life on the line, right?

Mom, dad, are you sure that lamb is exactly one year old?  Is it in perfect health?  When was the last time you took it to the vet for a physical?  Is it the finest of the flock?  Did you choose it exactly four days ago?  How exact does that have to be?  What’s that on its side?  Is that a blemish?  Are you sure that’s the right size?  It can’t be too little or too big, you know.  I had a big lunch… I may not eat that much!

Wow!  The stress that I would have been under!  I’m glad for two things: first, that I wasn’t there.  I would have been a mess!  Second, that it was about the blood.  Yes, there was obedience involved.  No Israelite received automatic exemption based on race or morality.  But if they were obedient to what God told them, the blood is what saved them!  God saw the blood, not the house.  It made no difference if it was a big fancy house with a well manicured lawn or a run down shack with junk in the backyard.

Our salvation comes not from how we feel… either about ourselves or our circumstances.  It comes not from how good we are or what race we are.  It comes from the blood.  We have only to be obedient and apply the blood.