2026.03.01.Sermon Notes. WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD Exodus 12.13–51
William Akehurst, HSWC
Key Words: Blood (Dam), Sign (’Oth), Memorial (Zikarôn), Leaven (Chametz), Passover (Pesach), Substitution, Covenant, Holiness, Obedience, Deliverance
Scriptures: Exodus 12:13-51, Romans 5:9, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, Romans 2:29, Colossians 2:11, John 19:36, Luke 22:14-23
WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD (Dam)
BIG IDEA:
The blood of the lamb is GOD’s appointed sign of substitution and protection; redemption by blood creates a remembering, holy, covenant people — and the power of the blood never diminishes.
INTRODUCTION
Exodus 12 is the theological summit of the Exodus narrative.
The plagues culminate.
Judgment is imminent.
Death is coming.
And then GOD declares:
“And the blood shall be to you for a sign upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you…” (Exodus 12:13)
That verse is the hinge of redemption.
Everything turns on the blood.
• Not effort.
• Not emotion.
• Not heritage.
When I see the blood.
I. THE BLOOD AS THE SIGN (12:13)
13 Now 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 the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Hebrew word for “sign” is ???? (’oth) — a visible covenant mark recognized by GOD.
It was: Objective, External, Public, Decisive/Critical
The blood on the door declared:
• A death has already occurred here.
• Judgment has already fallen here.
• Justice has already been satisfied here.
The blood did not remind GOD to be merciful.
It satisfied GOD’s justice.
Inside those homes may have been trembling parents and crying children.
But if the blood was on the door - they were safe.
Because security did not rest in their calmness.
It rested in the covenant sign.
This anticipates the Gospel:
“Being now justified by his blood…” Romans 5:9
Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
And:
“For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7
• 1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
The blood never needed reinforcement.
It was sufficient the moment it was applied.
And remember church; THE BLOOD NEVER LOSES ITS POWER.
The blood that covered that doorpost protected that house fully.
The blood of CHRIST fully satisfies divine justice.
• Not partially.
• Not temporarily.
• Not emotionally.
…FULLY.
II. REDEMPTION MUST BE REMEMBERED (12:14)
14 14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
A Perpetual Ordinance
“This day shall be unto you for a memorial…”
Passover was not a one-time event.
It was to be remembered throughout generations.
Redemption must be remembered.
GOD commands them to rehearse deliverance.
Why?
Because people forget grace.
Because forgetfulness leads to spiritual drift.
Redemption must be rehearsed.
Israel would celebrate Passover annually to remember:
• The night of judgment
• The mercy of GOD
• The power of the blood
Likewise, the LORD’s Supper (instituted in the Gospel of Luke 22) keeps the church remembering.
• Luke 22:14-20 Institution of the LORD’s Supper
Luke 22:19-20 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
• 1 Corinthians 11:24-26 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
We do not reapply the blood.
We remember the blood already applied.
Because the blood never loses its power.
III. REDEMPTION PRODUCES HOLINESS (12:15–20)
The Removal of Leaven
15-20 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. 17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”
For seven days they were to remove leaven from their homes.
Leaven (Hebrew: chametz) represents corruption and permeation.
In Scripture, leaven often symbolizes sin and false doctrine.
The apostle Paul uses this imagery:
“Purge out therefore the old leaven…”
Paul draws directly from this imagery:
“Purge out therefore the old leaven…” 1Corinthians 5:7-8
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Redemption is not only about forgiveness.
It is about purification.
You cannot celebrate deliverance while tolerating Egypt’s residue.
APPLICATION:
• What leaven remains?
• What patterns from Egypt linger in the heart? What compromise has been tolerated?
• What needs to be purged?
• Has redemption led to separation?
The blood justifies.
Holiness follows and flows from salvation.
The logic is clear:
You have been redeemed by blood.
Now remove corruption.
Grace saves.
Grace sanctifies.
You cannot celebrate Passover while nurturing Egypt’s leaven.
IV. REDEMPTION REQUIRES OBEDIENCE (12:21–28)
21-28 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 that you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Vs. 21. Moses repeats the instructions.
This repetition emphasizes personal responsibility.
The blood must be applied with hyssop.
Vs. 22 “And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.”
Hyssop was used to apply blood.
It was a humble plant.
Salvation does not require grandeur.
It requires obedience.
The blood had to be placed:
• On the lintel
• On the doorposts
And they were commanded:
22. “None of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.”
Protection was under the covering.
Outside the blood-marked house was judgment.
No one may go outside.
Vs. 24-27
24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 that you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD,
This is critical.
GOD commands:
“When your children shall say unto you, What do you mean by this service?”
Redemption must be explained to the next generation.
Passover was designed to provoke questions.
Parents were to answer:
“It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD…”
This is covenant teaching.
Faith must be taught.
Deliverance must be narrated.
APPLICATION:
• Are we telling our children what GOD has done?
• Are we explaining the cross?
• Are we preserving testimony?
A generation that forgets redemption will return to Egypt in heart.
The People Bowed and Worshipped (12:27–28)
27 that you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Vs. 27: “The people bowed and worshiped before the plague came.”
They trusted GOD’s word before seeing deliverance.
Before deliverance came, they worshipped.
That is faith.
Faith preceded sight.
Obedience preceded experience.
They had not yet seen the plague.
They had not yet left Egypt.
But they bowed in faith.
True faith acts on GOD’s word before the outcome is visible.
And that kind of faith rests in the sufficiency of the blood.
V. JUDGMENT FALLS — THE BLOOD STANDS (12:29–36)
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
29-36 29 And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
The Exodus
31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”
33 And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
At midnight, it happened. Death swept Egypt.
Every Egyptian household experienced loss. From Pharaoh to prisoner.
No Egyptian house escaped. No exceptions.
The cry was great.
This reveals a sobering truth:
Judgment is impartial.
Sin always brings death. Sin’s wages are death.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But in Israel’s houses where blood marked the door:
There was no death, Life remained.
The destroyer did not negotiate.
He did not inspect morality.
He looked for one thing:
THE BLOOD.
And where the blood was present, judgment passed over.
That night proved:
• The blood was powerful.
• And its power did not fade with the passing hours.
The night of greatest darkness became the dawn of freedom.
The same event that brought judgment to Egypt brought deliverance to Israel.
The cross does the same.
VI. REDEMPTION LEADS TO DEPARTURE (12:37–42)
37-42 37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It is a night of solemn observance to the LORD for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
After 430 years:
“They went out.”
Israel leaves Egypt as a redeemed people.
Not as slaves.
But as a delivered nation.
Redemption leads to movement.
They leave with:
• Egyptian wealth
• Divine protection
• Covenant promise
GOD fulfilled HIS promise exactly.
Redemption is not theoretical.
It moves you.
You cannot remain in Egypt under the blood.
Salvation initiates pilgrimage.
“It came to pass… that all the hosts of the LORD went out…” (Exodus 12:41)
GOD does not save us to remain in Egypt.
Redemption fulfills promise.
GOD never forgets HIS covenant.
HE saves us to walk toward promise.
VII. COVENANT IDENTITY DEFINED (12:43–49)
Passover Regulations (Gen. 17:9–14; Ex. 12:1–13)
43-49 43 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. 44 But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. 45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. 46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. 49 One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
Now we reach the often-overlooked conclusion.
GOD defines who may eat the Passover.
Participation assumes belonging.
Vs 43. “No foreigner/stranger shall eat thereof.”
This is not ethnic exclusion.
It is covenant identity.
A foreigner could join — but through circumcision.
Circumcision marked covenant identity. It was the sign of belonging.
The New Testament clarifies:
“Circumcision is that of the heart…” Romans 2:29
• Romans 2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
And:
“In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands…” Colossians 2:11
• Colossians 2:11 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
Redemption is inclusive — but not casual.
It transforms identity.
One law applied to all (12:49).
“There is neither Jew nor Greek… for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This anticipates:
Grace unifies under one covenant.
Grace unites.
Redemption creates covenant identity.
Participation assumes belonging.
Salvation is free.
But it is never casual.
VIII. THE LORD BROUGHT THEM OUT (12:50–51)
50-51 50 Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 51 And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.
The chapter ends emphatically:
“The LORD did bring the children of Israel out…”
Redemption is GOD’s work.
He provided the lamb.
He required the blood.
He executed the judgment.
He accomplished the deliverance.
And the blood that marked that night remained effective.
It did not weaken by morning.
It did not fade by sunrise.
It stood as the sign of accomplished substitution.
CHRIST THE FULFILLMENT
The Passover lamb pointed forward to CHRIST.
• Without blemish
• Slain at Passover
• The Blood Applied
• No bone broken (fulfilled in the crucifixion; see Gospel of John 19:36)
John 19:36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.”
• Deliverance through death.
The Passover meal anticipated a greater table.
On Passover night, JESUS instituted the Lord’s Supper (recorded in the 22).
The Lamb became the Host.
The shadow became substance.
The Passover was a shadow.
The Cross is the reality.
The lamb in Egypt saved from physical death.
CHRIST saves from eternal death.
The cross is the ultimate Passover.
And church - the blood of CHRIST never loses its power.
Not over time.
Not through trial.
Not because of your weakness.
It remains:
• Sufficient
• Effective
• Covenantally binding
• Justice-satisfying
“When I see the blood…”
That declaration still stands.
REFLECT AND APPLICATION
• Are you under the blood?
• Are you trusting emotion or objective atonement?
• Have you removed the leaven?
• Are you walking out of Egypt?
• Are you living as one marked by covenant identity?
CONCLUSION
Exodus 12:13–51 teaches:
The blood saves.
The blood distinguishes.
The blood satisfies justice.
Redemption must be remembered.
Holiness must follow.
Identity must be transformed.
And the blood — once applied — never loses its power.
PRAYER
FATHER, thank YOU for the Lamb.
Thank YOU for the blood that satisfies justice and secures mercy.
Keep us under the covering of CHRIST.
Purge the leaven from our hearts.
Make us a remembering, holy, covenant people.
In JESUS’ Name, Amen.
HYMNS
240 Love Lifted Me
189 There Is Power in the Blood
267 Nothing But the Blood
219 When I See the Blood
59 Jesus Paid It All
