by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
The story of the first Passover is familiar to most of us. In Exodus 12, Moses instructs the Israelites to take an unblemished male lamb, slaughter it, eat it as part of a ritual meal, and apply its blood to the doorposts and lintels of their houses.<\/p>\n
This strange ceremony had a vital purpose. God was going to send a destroying angel throughout the land of Egypt, and he would kill the firstborn of both men and animals in each house. The angel would pass over only the houses that were marked with blood.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/lamb-300x210.jpg\")
There are several elements to this story that are worth noting. The first is that the coming catastrophe would be universal. God did not single out the firstborn of the Egyptians for doom. Instead, unless some action was taken, every house would be visited by the destroyer.<\/p>\n
God did not intend for His people to face this destruction. However, He did not automatically spare them either. Instead, He gave them instructions that, if followed, would turn aside the destroyer. If the Israelites did not follow those instructions, their firstborn would perish along with those of the Egyptians.<\/p>\n
Following those instructions had no intrinsic merit. The destroyer did not approach the houses of the Israelites and say, “Wow! I am so impressed with the artistic application of that blood! I could never destroy the firstborn of such gifted people!” The blood was effective for only one reason — because God had decreed that it would be. Even though the Israelites had to act, they still were saved not by their actions, but by His mercy.<\/p>\n
All of these things are true of baptism under the covenant of Christ. We too are faced with universal catastrophe. On the day of judgment, the condemnation of God will not be limited only to Hitler and the other really, really bad people. Instead, every sinner will face it, and all of us have sinned. Unless we act, all of us are headed to the fires of hell.<\/p>\n
God desires not to destroy us but to save us. However, salvation does not come automatically. As He did for the Israelites, He has given us instructions that we must follow. The Scriptures teach that we are forgiven of our sins when we are immersed in water in the name of Jesus. Unless we are baptized, we will perish.<\/p>\n
Like the blood on the doorposts, baptism has no intrinsic merit. It is not a good work that convinces God that we deserve eternal life. Rather, baptism saves only because God has said that it saves. As with belief, repentance, and confession, it is one of the conditions that we must fulfill before God will extend His mercy. We are rescued not by magic water, but by a gracious Creator.<\/p>\n
We understand how foolish it would have been for the Israelites to refuse to apply the blood yet loudly proclaim their confidence that God would save them. Sadly, millions today make the same mistake with baptism, and if we follow their example, we will lose our souls.<\/p>\n
However, if we act in faith as the Israelites did, we too will be rescued by the mercy of God. How marvelous it is that He has provided so great a salvation for us, and how tragic it would be for any of us to reject it!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford The story of the first Passover is familiar to most of us. In Exodus 12, Moses instructs the Israelites to take an unblemished male lamb, slaughter it, eat it as part of a ritual meal, and apply its blood to the doorposts and lintels of their houses. This strange ceremony had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[52,638],"class_list":["post-53851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-passover"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45471,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-passover-paradigm-for-christs-death-and-gods-wrath\/","url_meta":{"origin":53851,"position":0},"title":"The Passover Paradigm for Christ\u2019s Death and God\u2019s Wrath","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer How can understanding the connection between Christ's death as the Lamb of God and the Passover event help us in understanding Christ's death as it relates to God's wrath? First, to see Christ's death connected to Passover is biblical: \"Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed\" (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-next-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":53851,"position":1},"title":"What About the Next Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Some people meet with the church on \"Easter Sunday\" and hardly ever anytime else. That is out of tradition, not out of thinking seriously about doing the will of God. Tradition has been in the family to at least go to church one time a year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13394,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-true-that-jesus-did-not-have-to-eat-the-passover-lamb-because-he-had-no-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":53851,"position":2},"title":"Isn’t it true that Jesus did not have to eat the Passover lamb because he had no sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently read your\u00a0article\u00a0\"Was Jesus a\u00a0Vegetarian?\". There is only a few things I would like to comment on. First thing, I eat fish and am not in any way involved with PETA. But Jesus would not have had to eat the Passover lamb, the lamb was killed as an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-churches-of-christ-observe-passover\/","url_meta":{"origin":53851,"position":3},"title":"Should Churches of Christ Observe Passover?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark W.White via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2013 The Jewish Passover usually comes around each year in our month of April. Those who are familiar with Old Testament history understand the significance of this holy day for the Jewish nation. God delivered the children of Israel from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88467,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-i-see-the-blood\/","url_meta":{"origin":53851,"position":4},"title":"When I See the Blood","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The Israelites were instructed to be ready to travel because God was going to do one last plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt that would break Pharaoh down and cause him to release the Israelites from the bondage he held them in. It is recorded in Exodus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52121,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-some-of-these-terms-related-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":53851,"position":5},"title":"Can you explain some of these terms related to the Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please explain the following biblical terms to me. I sometimes get confused by these. Feast of Passover Last supper Lord's supper Communion Unleavened bread Answer: Feast of the Passover This was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month (Leviticus 23:5). Preparation began on the tenth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}