But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:7)

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)

The habitation of God is being constructed of people—the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Himself is the Cornerstone of the building (I Peter 2:6).

Every one of us has a sinful nature and commits sins of imagination, thought, word, and deed each day of his life. God is holy beyond all our ideas of holiness. His absolute perfection of purity and righteousness makes it impossible for God to be with us or work with us while we are committing sin.

God's solution to the problem of our sinning is the blood of Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God.

The blood of Christ works powerfully in the life of each believer. First, the blood covers us during the times that God executes judgment on sin.

God poured misery and destruction on the land of Egypt. When God determined to take the life of the oldest child of each family of the Egyptians, God instructed the Israelites to smear blood on their door posts.

While you are studying the plagues that came upon Egypt (Exodus, Chapters Seven through Twelve), notice that God made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The Israelites were the descendants of Abraham, who was the called of God. They were not struck by some of the plagues that preceded the Passover even though the blood of the lamb had not as yet been smeared on their doorposts. However, the males had been circumcised.

During the greatest plague of all, the slaying of the firstborn of man and beast, it was necessary that a blood-covering be placed over the Israelites. The wrath of God was so fierce and the judgment on the gods of Egypt so devastating that the Israelites would have been swept up in the execution of the sentence of death.

Life was being taken from the earth by the Lord God. The Divine vengeance was falling on the cursed demon worship of Egypt.

Divine holiness and righteousness were being renewed before the Face of God Almighty and the Israelites were in jeopardy of their own lives. It was necessary that the blood-sign be placed over the dwellings of the Israelites, anticipating in type the atonement made by the Lamb of God who was to be offered over a thousand years later on the cross of Calvary.

When God passes through our land today to strike the gods of lust, of violence, of covetousness, of murder, sorcery, self-indulgence, trust in secular knowledge and wisdom, lying, stealing, perversity, love of pleasure, we must claim the Passover blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as the blood-shield over our household.

To be continued.