Paint.
It covers whatever is beneath it, each brush stroke blotting out all that came before.
It covers nail holes and cracks in the walls, the scribbles of a toddler and the spills of a preschooler. It covers poorly chosen colors and other such mistakes. It even covers rust and mildew, evidences of time and neglect. Paint masks all imperfections.
Paint makes old things new again, clean again, perhaps even beautiful again.
Yet at that first Passover, the paint was hardly beautiful – fresh blood splashed red across door frames painted as a covering, a protection over what was to come.
The people of God believed, and so they painted, each household, the blood of an innocent lamb across their door frames. They splashed ugly smears of musky red in faith that Yahweh would keep his promise to them.
Then they waited…
… as death passed over them, leaving their firstborns untouched, an act of mercy.
And again over a thousand years later, only days after the Passover celebration, a one and only Son painted a cross red with his own blood, spilled it willingly for a world full of undeserving sinners.
The bloody mess of his tortured, nail-driven flesh was gruesome, but the promise, the promise was a thing of beauty beyond comprehension.
Once again mankind would be passed over because of the blood of the Lamb.
Once again, salvation would be freely offered to those who chose to believe the promise.
Now we who believe are painted righteous by faith, passed over, wiped clean.
All of the mistakes, ugliness, and scars that were ours before are blotted out by bold, beautiful strokes in the hand of a Master who loves us enough to give a one and only Son.
Romans 5:8-10
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Thus, the ugly red paint brings forth new life and along with it, joy and peace and beauty.
So those once black with sin
are now washed white as snow,
painted red
by the blood of the Lamb.
Jen 🙂
Do you understand the significance of the Passover? Jesus is our Passover Lamb!
*This post contains affiliate links. For more information about our use of affiliates, see the About page here.
~ You’ve just finished an excerpt from Being Confident of This: 30 Days to Discovering Your Identity in Christ. For more information about this new devotional from Jen Stults, click here!
I’m joining the brave and lovely Five Minute Friday writers again this week over at Lisa-Jo’s place. She chooses a word prompt and we all write fast and furiously for five(ish) minutes, no planning, no editing, no over-thinking. All are welcome, so come on over and join us!
I so love this! LOVE the verse on the red paint! PERFECT for this time of year!
Thanks for leaving me some encouragement!
Jen 🙂
Belief in a promise prompting faithful action. Wonderful encouragement – God makes all things beautiful! Visiting from Five Minute Friday.
Thanks for stopping by, Jamie!
Jen 🙂
That was lovely. Such a simple, beautiful, life-giving truth. Blessings to you.
Thank you, Leah! He makes all things beautiful.
Jen 🙂
Great post! How creative you were with today’s prompt! Happy Friday! Just stopping by from the FMF linkup!
It’s always nice to meet a fellow Jennifer. 🙂 So glad you stopped by today!
Jen 🙂
I absolutely love the parallels of the lambs sacrificed in Exodus, and the blood of The Lamb shed on the cross! I was just sharing this with my children a few weeks ago as we read through the Exodus account, a perfect preparation for Easter to come. Thank you for your words here!
Me, too, Rachael! The Bible is just rich with imagery and foreshadowing and all sorts of lovely literary techniques. I’m so glad to hear you’re sharing with your children how the OT relates to the NT!
Jen 🙂
Love this…”Now we who believe are painted righteous by faith, passed over, wiped clean. All of the mistakes, ugliness, and scars that were ours before are blotted out by bold, beautiful strokes in the hand of a Master who loves us enough to give a one and only Son.”
Amen. Such a trust to paint blood & believe death would pass over. May we trust Him when He says that we are passed over by His blood too.
Yes! Thanks for stopping by today.
Jen 🙂
We just started talking about the plagues in an elementary Sunday school class I teach, and I had that same thought – what faith it required to splash the blood across doorposts and just wait. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to encourage me!
Jen 🙂
Beautiful truth. “New life with joy, truth, and beauty.” Covered by the blood of the Lamb. Feeling very overwhelmed and blessed. Thank you!
I find those thoughts overwhelming, too, Deb – that He should choose us in the midst of our sin, to make us righteous! Thanks for stopping by and leaving some encouragement here.
Jen 🙂
Wow – this is fantastic! I’m never going to think of paint the same way again. Thank you.
I’m so glad to hear this spoke to you, Courtney! I don’t think I’ll see red paint the same, either. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and leave some encouragement here, too.
Jen 🙂
Wow this is powerful! I love the correlation you drew between the two analogies! I will definitely be using this to share this year for Easter!
Beautifully written! I love how you relate it, too, to the mistakes of children to young to yet choose their salvation, that’s a lovely touch. This brought to mind “Jesus Paid It All,” which is now playing in my head 🙂
This is beautiful! I am pinning this to my devotions board and sharing on my page.
Thank you, Cheri! I appreciate the encouragement more than you know.
Jen 🙂
Love the analogy. Thank you for the scriptures and reminder.
Thanks for stopping by, Starla! I stumbled across a bunch of comments that I never received notifications for, so I’m just now seeing it. I must have needed that encouragement today, haha.
Jen 🙂
His blood sacrificed – so we could have eternal life today
I am so grateful for the Passover Lamb that covered our sins!
I’m reminded of the hymn “When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass, over you”
Wonderful truth in your writing!
Oh wow, I just found this like years later. I actually remember writing for this one but this popped up in my Pinterest feed and as I was writing about something for Passover came over to check this out! Around this time I did a 31 Days series on the Holy Communion and included a blog post on Passover and I’m just updating it now with Pinterest graphics.
It never ceases to amaze me how God uses the written word over time. Sometimes He will bring to mind things I wrote years ago and teach me a lesson or encourage me all over again! 🙂