At the time of the Passover, the Israelites were to kill the lamb, and then they were to take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood (Ex. 12:7,22). Further, God said, “The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). God was going to pass through the land as a judge, and the only thing that could save the soul from God’s judgment was the sprinkled blood. But there is another point that is often missed — the hyssop must be used. It was to be dipped in the blood, and in this case the Israelite had to use it himself. If we are going to get any of the value of the blood of the lamb, we must use the hyssop as well. The typical meaning is this, that the soul in the sense of absolute good-for-nothingness avails itself of the death of Christ. We may believe that Christ died and rose and that He finished the work of atonement, but we may not appropriate the value of His death to ourselves. When we get down in self-judgment, brokenness, and repentance before God, I believe then our souls use that bunch of hyssop. We flee, as sinners of the deepest dye, to Christ. The judgment due to us has fallen upon God’s dear Son, and the Lord passes over us in righteousness. The blood upon the lintel keeps God as a judge out. He cannot judge twice — first the lamb, and then the firstborn. Peace with Him is the result. Peace with God does not rest upon our feelings. It is the atoning blood of the Lamb, God’s own Lamb, before God’s eye, that is the basis of our peace. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” It is not when we see the blood; it is God who sees it.
Possibly we say, I do not think I appreciate the blood of Christ sufficiently. Surely we do not, but God does, and He says, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” We must understand this, that the basis of the peace of our souls with God is that shed and sprinkled blood (Ex. 12:8).
W. T. P. Wolston, adapted