A lamb for every house

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“Every householder should take a lamb, a lamb for each house; […] And when the Lord sees the blood […], he will […] pass over the door without letting the destroyer enter your houses” (Exodus 12:3, 23).

It has often been pointed out that none of the sacrifices described in the Old Testament gives such a clear and precious revelation of the person and work of our Lord as the Passover sacrifice. However, many have overlooked the fact that the institution of the Passover meal was not intended for the salvation of individuals, but for the salvation of entire families. It was not about individuals, but about the families in the homes of God's people.

Why else would it say, “A lamb for each house?” (v. 3) or, “Take lambs for your families?” (v. 21)? Or, when it speaks of the blood with which the house was to be sprinkled, it is explained as follows: “And when your children ask you, ‘What is this service you are performing?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who spared the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses’” (vv. 26-27). Among the Egyptians, it was the firstborn in each house who, so to speak, died for the house , just as among the people of Israel it was the firstborn who was saved from the approaching danger and sanctified to God by the blood of the lamb.

God wants to save the whole family

The fundamental principle of the Passover sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood—"I do not deal with you individually, as each of you alone, but I deal with you as families"—teaches us how God redeems His people. "Just as I chose and blessed you as the seed of your father Abraham, so I still bless every household through the believing father who, at My command, anoints the doorposts with blood. The Lamb and His blood consecrate the dwellings and family relationships of My people." Thus, God places the destiny and security of the entire household in the hands of the father.

Christ, our Paschal Lamb, was slain for us. We so enjoy exploring, down to the smallest detail, how all the exemplary signs of Easter were fulfilled in Him. Is it then possible that even one promise from God's Word has not been fulfilled? No, the symbol of the Passover lamb has proven true in this respect as well.

Or is that Old Testament sacrificial meal supposed to be superior to the New Testament one, and the blood that served there to save the house intended here only for the individual member and not also for sprinkling the whole house? Then the Christian father would have to envy the Jew who, when he looked at the blood on his doorposts, enjoyed the privilege of knowing that he had acted not only for himself, but for his entire household when he sprinkled the blood.

And shouldn't Christian parents have the same right, in firm and secure faith, to claim the blood for their children as well? God forbid! Christ, the Lamb of God, is still "a lamb for every house!" Even now, the door of the house may be anointed with His blood, so that the corrupter may not enter. In the new covenant and concerning the precious blood of Christ, the same fundamental truth still applies: It is the right and duty of the believing father to accept the blood for his entire household in faith. His faith has a divine guarantee and will be rewarded with divine blessing.

From now on, I will strive to live by this faith and learn to fully understand its privileges. If I remember the precious blood and seek to be in the close fellowship with God that the blood grants me, then I may boldly claim its purifying power for my household, just as I do for myself. Day after day, the sin of my household brings defilement and blemishment, and justly, even my own sin , though forgotten, could be afflicted in its consequences upon my children. According to the claim that faith makes upon the blood, so too will be the magnitude and fullness of its effect. In a natural way, I perpetuate sin and death: through me, they are also the inheritance of my children; but thank God that as a father I may also bequeath the grace and blessing of redemption.

Christ's blood protects the family

Not only my own soul, but also my house can be sprinkled with blood daily. Every time I enter my house, or even think that Satan might enter, I may see the door, viewed in divine light, sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb. Parents and children stand together under the protection and shelter of the blood. The Lord sustains us.

Among the people of Israel, parents had to renew the sprinkling annually, but the blood of the Lamb was shed once and for all. My task is to sanctify my house to the Lord every day, that is, to surrender it with the firm confidence that the blood saves me and my children. In this faith, I can confidently expect that the miraculous redemption through the blood will also exert its full and powerful effect, until our entire domestic life, with all its relationships, is sanctified, our house becomes the Lord's complete possession, and every child confesses with full awareness: "I, too, am one of His redeemed."

To this end, I must also pay close attention to how God commands children to be taught these things (see verses 13, 14, 26). God's saving grace chastises us (cf. Titus 2:11), that is, it instructs and educates us. What has been promised to the child in redemption must also become his own through free and personal appropriation. This is not possible, however, if he knows nothing of it. The children had to be taught that they belonged to the redeemed people, indeed, that they belonged to the redeeming God himself. The father had to act not only as a priest and, in a certain sense, as a mediator, but also as a teacher and prophet. Just as he had acted for the child in sprinkling the blood, so he now had to act in God's place in the instruction he gave the child. Grant me grace and wisdom to teach my children in the spirit of faith about what the blood of God has done for them, so that they may come to know and love the God who accepted them even before they knew Him!

Obedience and sprinkling

One thing, however, deserves special attention. The devout Israelite not only had to anoint the doorposts with blood every year, thus testifying that he and his household could only stand before God through this blood, but he also had to write the words of God's law on these blood-sprinkled doorposts (cf. Deuteronomy 6:7-9). These words were to be seen by his children every time they went out and every time they came in, impressing upon them that liberation from Egypt's yoke and curse was a gift given in exchange for their service to God. God's will is not only that we trust in Him, but also that we obey Him. "For obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:2) we have been chosen; the blood-sprinkled doorposts and the words written upon them remind me that " faith and obedience, freedom and service" are united in one for our salvation.

Out of joy for this great redemption, I now want to raise and teach my children only to know, love, and keep the commandments of their God. Day after day, through faith and prayer, through teaching and conduct, I will seek to show them the blessing of a faith that freely and completely accepts all that God gives and surrenders all that He requires.

“A lamb for every house!” I must ask God’s Holy Spirit to reveal to me all the truths connected with this one blessed word. First, a father, himself redeemed by the blood; then his children, who through him and with him share in the sprinkling of the blood; the father who, year after year, as a servant of God, sprinkles the house anew and, as God’s witness and ambassador, tells the children about the precious blood and about the God it reveals; then the blood-sprinkled doorposts inscribed with the words of God’s law. So wonderfully has God provided for everything in order to make His people His own. He has thereby made the family a cornerstone of the kingdom.

claim Christ's blood

Gracious Lord Jesus, Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Son of God, whose blood cleanses from all sin. In humble faith, I cling to the blood as a right, for myself and for my children. Let my own experience of its ever-purifying power grow and increase each day, and let me, through Your Holy Spirit, fully understand that I should and may claim it as a right for my household as well.

O dear Savior, let Your blood work so powerfully in me that my faith accepts it with full certainty as a present blessing for each of my children, and let us be secured from perdition under the protection of Your blood.

O gracious God, who made the wonderful decree of the Lamb for every house, I entrust myself to You anew as a servant of Your covenant. Use me, my God, to save my children from destruction and to raise them for You alone! I desire not only to see the doorposts sprinkled with the Blood, but also inscribed with Your law. I desire that my children grow up solely for Your service. Just as You, through the Holy Spirit, have chosen us for obedience and for being sprinkled with the Blood, so too shall faith in the Blood and submission to Your will be like the two doorposts between which we go in and out daily. So be it, Lord! Amen.

Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917)

From Family Life in Christo