Recently my attention was drawn to the significance of hyssop in the Bible. The first mention of it is in Exodus 12:22 when the Lord instructed Moses how to prepare for the Passover. He said: “You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.”

The blood was from the Passover lamb that God had instructed the Hebrews to slaughter and eat before they left Egypt. God was going to send the Angel of Death that night over Egypt to kill all the first-born. When the Angel of Death saw the applied blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintels of the Hebrew homes, he would pass over that house and not kill the firstborn–thus the name Passover.

We see Hyssop again in Psalm 51:7. “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” So Hyssop was also used in cleansing from sin.

In John 19:29-30 we see the account of Jesus on the cross. “A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

That phrase “it is finished” means “paid in full.” Jesus is our Passover Lamb who paid the full price required to free us from the penalty of our sin which is death.

Jesus did his part. Now we must do our part which is to receive His sacrifice made for us. Will you?

 

My newest book, The Road Home, an account of my husband’s lung cancer and God’s faithfulness to widows, is now available in paperback and eReader on Amazon.com. Hard Times in the Heartland and all my books books are available here.