Passover Doorframe and Angel of Death Ribbon Stick

Apr 16

The Passover lamb is arguably the most important Old Testament concept for your students to grasp in order for them to understand what Jesus did for us as the Lamb of God. His blood spread on the cross saved us from eternal death, just as the enslaved Israelites in Egypt spread the blood of a perfect lamb on their doorframes to save them from death as the tenth and final plague came upon the land in the form of the Angel of Death.

Creating the Doorframe

You can demonstrate this for your class by making a simple door frame. All it takes are a few cuts, and it just needs to be wide enough for a child's head to fit inside and long enough to be held up overhead. There are two theories on how the Israelites placed blood on their doorposts:

One theory is the smearing of blood all around the doorframe, which I did here with a brush and red paint.
The other suggests they dotted blood on the sides and top, not so coincidentally making the shape of a cross.

Making the doorframe for demonstration

This last method is useful in showing students how Jesus was the Lamb of God who shed His blood so that we can be saved from eternal death.

Preparing the Angel of Death Stick

The last thing you will need for your demonstration is what I call an angel of death stick. Simply take a dowel and glue one end of a ribbon strip to the top, allowing the rest of the ribbon to swing freely. Ask the boys in your class which ones are the firstborn sons. In other words, they can have older sisters, but he must be the oldest of all the boys amongst their siblings.

Creating the angel of death stick

Choose one firstborn male in your class to take the doorframe and hold it over his head. He is now covered with the blood. Ask another volunteer to be the angel of death, who will gently tap on the heads of the firstborn males in the class, symbolizing that they have died. But then, pass over the boy with the door frame!

Demonstrating the angel of death

Bringing the Lesson to Life

Make a wide arc over the doorframe with the ribbon wand, while the firstborn holds the doorframe over his head. This interactive experience will help the students visualize the significance of the Passover and how it foreshadows what Jesus did for us.

Final demonstration with the ribbon wand