ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Falaite Ma’asi 10, 2023

Safe Behind the Blood

Hao ‘i Hono ta‘ata‘a

EXODUS 12:13

"THE BLOOD SHALL BE A SIGN FOR YOU, ON THE HOUSES WHERE YOU ARE. AND WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU, AND NO PLAGUE WILL BEFALL YOU TO DESTROY YOU, WHEN I STRIKE THE LAND OF EGYPT."

‘EKISOTO 12:13

Pea ko e toto ko e faka‘ilonga ma‘amoutolu ‘i he ngaahi fale ‘oku mou ‘i ai; pea ka u ka mamata ki he toto te u lakai kimoutolu, pea ‘e ‘ikai tō kiate kimoutolu ‘a e tautea ke faka‘auha ‘i he‘eku fai ‘eku tā ‘i he fonua ko ‘Isipite.

God sent "the destroyer" (12:23) to kill the Egyptian firstborn. Seeing the blood on the Israelite doors, however, God pasach them. In other contexts, pasach means to become lame (2 Sam. 4:4) or to limp or dance around an altar (1 Kings 18:26). While usually translated as "pass over," we should probably imagine God leaping over the homes of the Israelites. However we envision it, the verb pasach generated the noun Pesach, which we usually call Passover. Whatever name we give it, one truth is certain: on that night, God's people were safe behind the blood.

And so are we, "for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7). When we are "baptized into his death" (Rom. 6:3), it is sprinkled on our hearts (Heb. 10:22) in a new and better covenant (cf. Exod. 24:8). "The life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11), and that life-giving blood of Jesus is on and in us. We are safe behind the blood of "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

O Lord, our shield, protect us by your blood, that we may pass from death to life.