Under the Blood

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.

Some of you may be familiar with a growing movement in our community. They are known as Black Hebrew Israelites. The movement has grown from a few thousand in the 1980s to over a million strong, with tens of millions sympathetic to the beliefs.

The basic idea is that African Americans are the true descendants of the ancient Israelites. And there are some historical similarities. But there’s an important detail I want us to see as we walk through the Exodus story this morning.

The salvation of God in the Exodus was not an ethnic salvation. The judgment of God in Exodus was not an ethnic judgment. God did not save the ethnic Israelites and punish the evil Egyptians. In fact, Exodus 12 explicitly says that the people leaving Egypt were a mixed multitude. There were Egyptians and other ethnic groups among the Hebrews.

And that is because, from the very beginning, God’s heart was for the nations. His judgment was not against the Egyptians. It was against the Egyptian gods and the people who chose to continue worshipping those gods despite witnessing ten clear warning signs.

Most of us are probably familiar with the ten plagues, and that’s where we will be this morning, starting in Exodus 5. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh to deliver the Word of God. “Let my people go.” Pharaoh refuses and responds by making the Hebrews work even harder than before.

Moses and Aaron return to Pharaoh a second time in Exodus 7. We will begin reading in verse 8.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’”

10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.

A snake is an interesting choice, because in Egyptian culture, a snake was a symbol of royalty and divinity. Pharaoh actually had a cobra on his crown.

But in Hebrew culture, it meant chaos. We might immediately think back to the serpent in the garden of Eden, but this is actually a different Hebrew word. In other places, this word is translated as “sea monster”. The Greek Old Testament even calls it a dragon.

Aaron’s staff becomes a symbol of ancient power and chaos. It’s a direct challenge to the Egyptian gods and to Pharaoh himself. But Pharaoh is not swayed by it. His heart becomes hardened, and God begins sending the plagues.

God changes the water of the Nile River into blood. He sends frogs, gnats, and flies. He sends disease to kill the livestock. He sends disease among the people, followed by hail, locusts, and darkness.

God systematically sends chaos. The plagues themselves are like an undoing of creation.

It’s important to realize that the first 3 plagues affected everyone, not just the Egyptians. The Hebrews were exempt from the later plagues, but the river, the frogs, and the gnats affected everyone.

It’s also important to realize that each plague carried a warning and could have been avoided. God was extremely patient with these people. He insisted that both the Egyptians and the Hebrews be warned about the plagues.

I think these details are important because they prove that God is not at war with an ethnic group. He is at war with false gods and the people who worship them.

Just before the hailstorms in Exodus 9, God warned everyone (including the Egyptians) to get inside. Look at verse 20:

20 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,

21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

It’s very clear from the story that God is not making a distinction between Egyptians and Hebrews. He’s making a distinction between Egyptian gods and Himself. The opportunity to repent and believe was offered to everyone.

When the Hebrews finally leave Egypt at the end of Exodus 12, they were a mixed multitude, and many of the Egyptians who stayed behind showed favor to the Hebrews by giving away their own wealth.

But the most powerful evidence of God’s mercy is found in the final plague, which was also the most devastating.

God instructs every household to kill a lamb at twilight on a specific day and then He says this:

7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.

10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.

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.

Notice that God explicitly says He is executing judgment on the gods of Egypt, but He is providing a way to be saved from this judgment. The distinction is not between ethnic Hebrews and Egyptians, because any Hebrews that failed to do this would also fall under judgment.

In fact, God made a special provision for anyone who would keep the Passover regardless of their ethnicity. Look at verse 48:

48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”

In other words, it doesn’t matter who you are. It matters who you worship. Israel was never an ethnic group, but a God-fearing people. The promise God gave to Abraham is that he would bless the nations.

We should be wary of any teaching that contradicts this, and there have been many throughout history. Black Hebrew Israelites is the most recent example, but plenty of European Christians and Southern American Christians assumed they were being blessed by God because they were white.

And that is clearly not the heart of God. He makes His intentions clear in Revelation 7. John sees all the host of God’s people gathered for worship, and what did he see?

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Who is the Lamb they are worshiping? It’s Jesus, the true Passover Lamb!

Consider the Passover lamb in Exodus 12. It had to be a lamb without blemish, meaning that only a perfect substitute could cover the sins of the guilty.

It was selected on the tenth day and killed on the fourteenth day. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month during the week of Passover and He was crucified on the fourteenth day.

The lamb was killed in the late afternoon. So was Jesus.

Blood was placed on the doorposts and Jesus called Himself the doorway into God’s kingdom. It is by His shed blood we are saved.

None of the lamb’s bones were to be broken. Likewise, the centurions did not break the legs of Jesus, which was the Roman custom at the time.

The Hebrews ate the flesh of the lamb, just as Christians now feed on Christ at the Lord’s Supper.

The Hebrews were delivered from slavery by the sacrifice of the lamb, just as Christians are delivered from the slavery of sin and death by the sacrifice of Jesus.

Both Hebrews and foreigners could participate in the Passover if they received the sign of circumcision. And in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles are one people under the new covenant. We share one baptism, the covenant sign that replaced circumcision.

The Passover in Exodus 12 is not simply a historical event. It’s a living picture of God’s salvation for all nations through the blood of the Lamb. In Egypt, the dividing line wasn’t race, status, or background—it was the blood. And today, the dividing line is still the blood. Not whether you’re from a particular heritage, but whether you are under the blood of Jesus. Here are three things we can take away with us this morning.

First, we should reject every false gospel of ethnic superiority. God’s salvation is not earned by belonging to the “right group,” whether that’s an ethnic identity, a political tribe, or even a religious tradition. Any movement—ancient or modern—that makes salvation about bloodlines instead of the blood of Christ is preaching a false hope.

Second, we should remember God’s heart for the nations. From Genesis to Revelation, the Lord is gathering a people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. That means the person you least expect may one day stand next to you in glory, clothed in white robes because they, too, trusted the Lamb. We should live and speak in ways that welcome, not exclude, others from hearing the gospel.

Finally, we should recognize that this is not our home. The Hebrews ate the Passover meal with their sandals on their feet and their staffs in hand because God was about to deliver them. If you’re trusting in Jesus, your salvation is secure, but you’re also on a journey to a better country. We should live with a pilgrim mindset, with a loose grip on this world and our eyes fixed on the Lamb.

If you were in Egypt that night, the only safe place was behind the blood. It didn’t matter if you were Hebrew or Egyptian, rich or poor, slave or free. It only mattered if the blood was applied. And that is still true today. When God sees the blood of His Son on the doorposts of your heart, His judgment passes over you, and you are free.

Jesus is our promised land. Jesus is our hope.

So, the question is not “Do you come from the right group?” or “Have you done enough good?” The question is—are you safe under the blood of the Lamb?