Let’s play a game. What do you think the image below means? Is it an instruction to throw your baby‘s anchor over the back seat as you approach the shore? Is it a message that says if you drive your car into a river, use your baby as an anchor to pull yourself out? Maybe it says that the car seat doubles as a floatation device, like on an airplane. Enjoy your cruise, baby!

But seriously, what does this mean?

Today we are going to read about a very specific sign that led to life or death…much like the one above, which indicates that the car seat should be tethered over the back of the seat and anchored to a hook on the floor in a van.

In this passage, God is about to liberate the Hebrews from their forced slavery in Egypt. He gave Pharaoh multiple chances to let his people go and Pharaoh refused. So now God comes with a vengeance and prepares his people for their escape.

Exodus 12 

^1-10 God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat.

Take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it’s roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don’t leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

As the angel of death flew over the land, the families were protected by the blood that signified that this was Hebrew household. When the angel saw the blood smeared on the two doorposts and the lintel, it passed over that house and went on to the next one.

¹¹ “And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it’s the Passover to God.

As soon as this night was over, God would deliver them from Egypt. Hence the hurry. Don’t use yeast in the bread…there won’t be time for it to rise. Burn the leftovers because you won’t be here to eat them tomorrow. Wear your sandals to dinner and eat with one stick in your hand, because it’s about to get real and you might need to flee before dessert.

^12-13 “I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God.

Unflinchingly, God lays out his plan. The oppression and abuse of his people were about to end. Pharaoh would not get the last word.

The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

The life or death sign of the blood saved the Hebrews and condemned the godless Egyptians.

When Jesus came, he also marked us with his blood. We carry the sign of it in our baptisms and it guarantees that the angel of eternal death will never touch us. It will simply pass over us because we are marked with the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn it, but that the world through him might be saved. If you are marked with the sign of his love, go and tell others. If you are not, now is a good time to give your life to the One who can save you from eternal death.

Tether yourself to Jesus. Anchor yourself in his love and you will be saved.