"And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Yet will I bring one plague more upon
Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he
shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.'"
(Chap. xi. 1.) One more heavy blow must fall upon this hard-hearted
monarch and his land ere he will be compelled to let go the favored
objects of Jehovah's sovereign grace.
How utterly vain it is for man to harden and exalt himself against
God; for, truly, He can grind to powder the hardest heart, and bring
down to the dust the haughtiest spirit. "Those that walk in pride He
is able to abase." (Dan. iv. 37.) Man may fancy himself to be
something; he may lift up his head, in pomp and vainglory, as though
he were his own master. Vain man! how little he knows of his real
condition and character! He is but the tool of Satan, taken up and
used by him, in his malignant efforts to counteract the purposes of
God. The most splendid intellect, the most commanding genius, the most
indomitable energy, if not under the direct control of the Spirit of
God, are but so many instruments in Satan's hand to carry forward his
dark designs. No man is his own master; he is either governed by
Christ or governed by Satan. The king of Egypt might fancy himself to
be a free agent, yet he was but a tool in the hands of another. Satan
was behind the throne; and, as the result of Pharaoh's having set
himself to resist the purposes of God, he was judicially handed over
to the blinding and hardening influence of his self-chosen master.
This will explain to us an expression occurring very frequently
throughout the earlier chapters of this book,--"The Lord hardened
Pharaoh's heart." There is no need whatever for any one to seek to
avoid the full, plain sense of this most solemn statement. If man
resists the light of divine testimony, he is shut up to judicial
blindness and hardness of heart. God leaves him to himself, and then
Satan comes in and carries him headlong to perdition. There was
abundant light for Pharaoh, to show him the extravagant folly of his
course in seeking to detain those whom God had commanded him to let
go. But the real disposition of his heart was to act against God, and
therefore God left him to himself, and made him a monument for the
display of His glory "through all the earth." There is no difficulty
in this to any, save those whose desire is to argue against God--"to
rush upon the thick bosses of the shield of the Almighty"--to ruin
their own immortal souls.
God gives people, at times, according to the real bent of their
hearts' desire. "... because of this, God shall send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be
damned who believed not the truth, but _had pleasure in
unrighteousness_." (2 Thess. ii. 11, 12.) If men will not have the
truth when it is put before them, they shall assuredly have a lie. If
they will not have Christ, they shall have Satan; if they will not
have heaven, they shall have hell.[6] Will the infidel mind find fault
with this? Ere it does so, let it prove that all who are thus
judicially dealt with have fully answered their responsibilities. Let
it, for instance, prove, in Pharaoh's case, that he acted, in any
measure, up to the light he possessed. The same is to be proved in
every case. Unquestionably, the task of proving rests on those who are
disposed to quarrel with God's mode of dealing with the rejecters of
His truth. The simple-hearted child of God will justify Him, in view
of the most inscrutable dispensations; and even if he cannot meet and
satisfactorily solve the difficult questions of a sceptical mind, he
can rest perfectly satisfied with this word, "Shall not the Judge of
all the earth do right?" There is far more wisdom in this method of
settling an apparent difficulty, than in the most elaborate argument;
for it is perfectly certain that the heart which is in a condition to
"reply against God," will not be convinced by the arguments of man.
[6] There is a vast difference between the divine method of dealing
with the heathen (Rom. i.) and with the rejecters of the gospel. (2
Thess. i. ii.) In reference to the former, we read, "And even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate mind:" but with respect to the latter, the word is, "Because
they received not the love of _the truth_ that they might _be saved_,
... God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe _a
lie_; that they all might _be damned_." The heathen refuse the
testimony of creation, and are therefore left to themselves. The
rejecters of the gospel refuse the full blaze of light which shines
from the cross, and therefore "a strong delusion" will, ere long, be
sent from God upon them. This is deeply solemn for an age like this,
in the which there is so much light and so much profession.
However, it is God's prerogative to answer all the proud reasonings,
and bring down the lofty imaginations of the human mind. He can write
the sentence of death upon nature, in its fairest forms. "It is
appointed unto men once to die." This cannot be avoided. Man may seek
to hide his humiliation in various ways,--to cover his retreat through
the valley of death in the most heroic manner possible,--to call the
last humiliating stage of his career by the most honorable titles he
can devise,--to gild the bed of death with a false light,--to adorn
the funeral procession and the grave with the appearance of pomp,
pageantry, and glory,--to raise above the mouldering ashes a splendid
monument, on which are engraven the records of human shame,--all these
things he may do; but death is death after all, and he cannot keep it
off for a moment, or make it aught else than what it is, namely, "the
wages of sin."
The foregoing thoughts are suggested by the opening verse of chapter
xi--"One plague more!" Solemn word! It signed the death-warrant of
Egypt's first-born--"the chief of all their strength." "And Moses
said, 'Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the
midst of Egypt; and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die,
from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto
the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all
the first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout
all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be
like it any more.'" (Chap. xi. 4-6.) This was to be the final
plague--death in every house. "But against any of the children of
Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye
may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians
and Israel." It is the Lord alone who can "put a difference" between
those who are His and those who are not. It is not our province to say
to any one, "Stand by thyself; I am holier than thou:" this is the
language of a Pharisee. "But when God puts a difference," we are bound
to inquire what that difference is; and, in the case before us, we see
it to be a simple question of _life or death_. This is God's grand
"difference." He draws a line of demarkation, and on one side of this
line is "life," on the other "death." Many of Egypt's first-born might
have been as fair and attractive as those of Israel, and much more so;
but Israel had life and light, founded upon God's counsels of
redeeming love, established, as we shall see presently, by the blood
of the lamb. This was Israel's happy position; while, on the other
hand, throughout the length and breadth of the land of Egypt, from the
monarch on the throne to the menial behind the mill, nothing was to be
seen but death; nothing to be heard but the cry of bitter anguish,
elicited by the heavy stroke of Jehovah's rod. God can bring down the
haughty spirit of man. He can make the wrath of man to praise Him, and
restrain the remainder. "And all these thy servants shall come down
unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and
all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out." God
will accomplish His own ends. His schemes of mercy must be carried out
at all cost, and confusion of face must be the portion of all who
stand in the way. "O, give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for
His mercy endureth forever.... To Him that smote Egypt in their
first-born; for His mercy endureth forever: and brought out Israel
from among them; for His mercy endureth forever: with a strong hand
and with a stretched-out arm; for His mercy endureth forever." (Ps.
cxxxvi.)
"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the
first month of the year to you.'" (Chap. xii. 1, 2.) There is here a
very interesting change in the order of time. The common or civil year
was rolling on in its ordinary course, when Jehovah interrupted it in
reference to His people, and thus, in principle, taught them that they
were to begin a new era in company with Him; their previous history
was henceforth to be regarded as a blank. Redemption was to constitute
the first step in _real life_.
This teaches a plain truth. A man's life is really of no account until
he begins to walk with God, in the knowledge of full salvation and
settled peace, through the precious blood of the Lamb. Previous to
this, he is, in the judgment of God, and in the language of Scripture,
"dead in trespasses and sins;" "alienated from the life of God." His
whole history is a complete blank, even though, in man's account, it
may have been one uninterrupted scene of bustling activity. All that
which engages the attention of the man of this world--the honors, the
riches, the pleasures, the attractions of life, so called--all, when
examined in the light of the judgment of God, when weighed in the
balances of the sanctuary, must be accounted as a dismal blank, a
worthless void, utterly unworthy of a place in the records of the Holy
Ghost. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life." (John iii.
36.) Men speak of "seeing life" when they launch forth into society,
travel hither and thither, and see all that is to be seen; but they
forget that the only true, the only real, the only divine way to "see
life," is to "believe on the Son of God."
How little do men think of this! They imagine that "real life" is at
an end when a man becomes a Christian, in truth and reality, not
merely in name and outward profession; whereas God's Word teaches us
that it is only then we can see life and taste true happiness.--"He
that hath the Son, hath life." (1 John v. 12.) And, again, "Happy is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." (Ps. xxxii.
1.) We can get life and happiness _only_ in Christ. Apart from Him,
all is death and misery, in Heaven's judgment, whatever the outward
appearance may be. It is when the thick vail of unbelief is removed
from the heart, and we are enabled to behold, with the eye of faith,
the bleeding Lamb, bearing our heavy burden of guilt upon the cursed
tree, that we enter upon the path of life, and partake of the cup of
divine happiness,--a life which begins at the cross, and flows onward
into an eternity of glory,--a happiness which, each day, becomes
deeper and purer, more connected with God and founded on Christ, until
we reach its proper sphere, in the presence of God and the Lamb. To
seek life and happiness in any other way is vainer work by far than
seeking to make bricks without straw.
True, the enemy of souls spreads a gilding over this passing scene, in
order that men may imagine it to be all gold. He sets up many a
puppet-show to elicit the hollow laugh from a thoughtless multitude,
who will not remember that it is Satan who is in the box, and that his
object is to keep them from Christ, and drag them down into eternal
perdition. There is nothing real, nothing solid, nothing satisfying,
but in Christ. Outside of Him, "all is vanity and vexation of spirit."
In Him alone true and eternal joys are to be found; and we only begin
to live when we begin to live _in_, live _on_, live _with_, and live
_for_ Him. "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it
shall be the first month of the year to you." The time spent in the
brick-kilns and by the flesh-pots must be ignored. It is henceforth to
be of no account, save that the remembrance thereof should ever and
anon serve to quicken and deepen their sense of what divine grace had
accomplished on their behalf.
"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth
day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb according
to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house.... Your lamb shall
be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out
from the sheep or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Here we have the
redemption of the people founded upon the blood of the lamb, in
pursuance of God's eternal purpose. This imparts to it all its divine
stability. Redemption was no afterthought with God. Before the world
was, or Satan, or sin--before ever the voice of God was heard breaking
the silence of eternity, and calling worlds into existence, He had His
deep counsels of love; and these counsels could never find a
sufficiently solid basis in creation. All the blessings, the
privileges, and the dignities of creation were founded upon a
creature's obedience, and the moment that failed, all was gone. But
then, Satan's attempt to mar creation only opened the way for the
manifestation of God's deeper purposes of redemption.
This beautiful truth is typically presented to us in the circumstance
of the lamb's being "kept up" from the "tenth" to "the fourteenth
day." That this lamb pointed to Christ is unquestionable. 1 Cor. v. 7
settles the application of this interesting type beyond all
question,--"For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." We
have, in the first epistle of Peter, an allusion to the keeping up of
the lamb,--"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation,
received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily
was _foreordained before the foundation of the world_, but was
_manifest in these last times for you_." (Chap. i. 18-20.)
All God's purposes from everlasting had reference to Christ, and no
effort of the enemy could possibly interfere with those counsels; yea,
his efforts only tended to the display of the unfathomable wisdom and
immovable stability thereof. If the "Lamb without blemish and without
spot" was "foreordained before the foundation of the world," then,
assuredly, redemption must have been in the mind of God before the
foundation of the world. The blessed One had not to pause in order to
devise some plan to remedy the terrible evil which the enemy had
introduced into His fair creation. No; He had only to bring forth,
from the unexplored treasury of His precious counsels, the truth
concerning the spotless Lamb, who was foreordained from everlasting,
and to be "manifest in these last times for us."
There was no need for the blood of the Lamb in creation as it came
fresh from the hand of the Creator, exhibiting, in every stage and
every department of it, the beauteous impress of His hand--"the
infallible proofs" of "His eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. i.); but
when, "by one man," sin was introduced into the world, then came out
the higher, richer, fuller, deeper thought of redemption by the blood
of the Lamb. This glorious truth first broke through the thick clouds
which surrounded our first parents, as they retreated from the garden
of Eden; its glimmerings appear in the types and shadows of the Mosaic
economy; it burst upon the World in full brightness when "the
dayspring from on high" appeared in the Person of "God manifest in the
flesh;" and its rich and rare results will be realized when the
white-robed, palm-bearing multitude shall cluster round the throne of
God and the Lamb, and the whole creation shall rest beneath the
peaceful sceptre of the Son of David.
Now, the lamb taken on the tenth day, and kept up until the fourteenth
day, shows us Christ foreordained of God from eternity, but manifest
for us in time. God's eternal purpose in Christ becomes the foundation
of the believer's peace. Nothing short of this would do. We are
carried back far beyond creation, beyond the bounds of time, beyond
the entrance in of sin and everything that could possibly affect the
ground-work of our peace. The expression, "foreordained before the
foundation of the world," conducts us back into the unfathomed depths
of eternity, and shows us God forming His own counsels of redeeming
love, and basing them all upon the atoning blood of His own precious,
spotless Lamb. Christ was ever the primary thought in the divine mind;
and hence, the moment He began to speak or act, He took occasion to
shadow forth that One who occupied the highest place in His counsels
and affections; and, as we pass along the current of inspiration, we
find that every ceremony, every rite, every ordinance, and every
sacrifice pointed forward to "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world," and not one more strikingly than the passover. The
paschal lamb, with all the attendant circumstances, forms one of the
most profoundly interesting and deeply instructive types of Scripture.
In the interpretation of Exodus xii, we have to do with _one_ assembly
and _one_ sacrifice.--"The whole assembly of the congregation of
Israel shall kill _it_ in the evening." (Ver. 6.) It is not so much a
number of families with several lambs--a thing quite true in
itself--as one assembly and one lamb. Each house was but the local
expression of the whole assembly gathered round the lamb. The antitype
of this we have in the whole Church of God, gathered by the Holy
Ghost, in the name of Jesus, of which each separate assembly, wherever
convened, should be the local expression.
"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts
and on the upper door-post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and
unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of
it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head
with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof." (Ver. 7-9.) We have
to contemplate the paschal lamb in two aspects, namely, as the ground
of peace, and the centre of unity. The blood on the lintel secured
Israel's peace.--"When I see the blood, I will pass over you." (Ver.
13.) There was nothing more required in order to enjoy settled peace,
in reference to the destroying angel, than the application of the
blood of sprinkling. Death had to do its work in every house
throughout the land of Egypt. "It is appointed unto men once to die."
But God, in His great mercy, found an unblemished substitute for
Israel, on which the sentence of death was executed. Thus God's claims
and Israel's need were met by one and the same thing, namely, the
blood of the lamb. That blood outside proved that _all_ was perfectly,
because divinely, settled; and therefore perfect peace reigned within.
A shade of doubt in the bosom of an Israelite would have been a
dishonor offered to the divinely appointed ground of peace--the blood
of atonement.
True it is that each one within the blood-sprinkled door would
necessarily feel that were he to receive his due reward, the sword of
the destroyer should most assuredly find its object in him; but then
the lamb was treated in his stead. This was the solid foundation of
his peace. The judgment that was due to him fell upon a divinely
appointed victim; and believing this, he could feed in peace within. A
single doubt would have made Jehovah a liar; for He had said, "When
_I_ see the _blood_, I will pass over you." This was enough. It was no
question of personal worthiness. Self had nothing whatever to do in
the matter. All under the cover of the blood were safe. They were not
merely in a salvable state, they were _saved_. They were not hoping or
praying to be saved; they knew it as an assured fact, on the authority
of that Word which shall endure throughout all generations. Moreover,
they were not partly saved and partly exposed to judgment; they were
wholly saved. The blood of the lamb and the word of the Lord formed
the foundation of Israel's peace on that terrible night in which
Egypt's first-born were laid low. If a hair of an Israelite's head
could be touched, it would have proved Jehovah's word void, and the
blood of the lamb valueless.
It is most needful to be simple and clear as to what constitutes the
ground of a sinner's peace in the presence of God. So many things are
mixed up with the finished work of Christ, that souls are plunged into
darkness and uncertainty as to their acceptance. They do not see the
absolutely settled character of redemption through the blood of
Christ, in its application to themselves. They seem not to be aware
that full forgiveness of sin rests upon the simple fact that a full
atonement has been offered,--a fact attested, in the view of all
created intelligence, by the resurrection of the sinner's Surety from
the dead. They know that there is no other way of being saved but by
the blood of the cross (but the devils know this, yet it avails them
naught). What is so much needed is to know that _we are saved_. The
Israelite not merely knew that there was safety in the blood; he knew
that _he_ was _safe_. And why safe? Was it because of anything that he
had done, or felt, or thought? By no means; but because God had said,
"When I see the blood, I will pass over you." He rested upon God's
testimony: he believed what God said, because God said it: "he set to
his seal that God was true."
And, observe, my reader, it was not by his own thoughts, feelings, or
experiences, respecting the blood, that the Israelite rested. This
would have been a poor, sandy foundation to rest upon. His thoughts
and feelings might be deep or they might be shallow; but, deep or
shallow, they had nothing to do with the ground of his peace. It was
not said, When _you_ see the blood, and value it as you ought, I will
pass over you. This would have been sufficient to plunge him in dark
despair about himself, inasmuch as it was quite impossible that the
human mind could ever sufficiently appreciate the precious blood of
the lamb. What gave peace was the fact that Jehovah's eye rested upon
the blood, and that He knew its worth. This tranquilized the heart.
The blood was outside, and the Israelite inside, so that he could not
possibly see it; but God saw it, and that was quite enough.
The application of this to the question of a sinner's peace is very
plain. The Lord Jesus Christ having shed His precious blood, as a
perfect atonement for sin, has taken it into the presence of God, and
sprinkled it there; and God's testimony assures the believing sinner
that everything is settled on his behalf--settled not by his estimate
of the blood, but by the blood itself, which God estimates so highly,
that because of it, without a single jot or tittle added thereto, He
can righteously forgive all sin, and accept the sinner as perfectly
righteous in Christ. How can any one ever enjoy settled peace if his
peace depends upon his estimate of the blood? Impossible! The loftiest
estimate which the human mind can form of the blood must fall
infinitely short of its divine preciousness; and therefore, if our
peace were to depend upon our valuing it as we ought, we could no more
enjoy settled peace than if we were seeking it by "works of law."
There must either be a sufficient ground of peace in the blood
_alone_, or we can never have peace. To mix up our estimate with it,
is to upset the entire fabric of Christianity, just as effectually as
if we were to conduct the sinner to the foot of mount Sinai, and put
him under a covenant of works. Either Christ's atoning sacrifice is
sufficient or it is not. If it is sufficient, why those doubts and
fears? The words of our _lips_ profess that the work is finished; but
the doubts and fears of the _heart_ declare that it is not. Every one
who doubts his full and everlasting forgiveness, denies, so far as he
is concerned, the completeness of the sacrifice of Christ.
But there are very many who would shrink from the idea of deliberately
and avowedly calling in question the efficacy of the blood of Christ,
who, nevertheless, have not settled peace. Such persons profess to be
quite assured of the sufficiency of the blood, _if_ only _they_ were
sure of an interest therein--_if only_ they had the right kind of
faith. There are many precious souls in this unhappy condition. They
are occupied with their interest and their faith, instead of with
Christ's blood and God's word. In other words, they are looking in at
self, instead of out at Christ. This is not faith; and, as a
consequence, they have not peace. An Israelite within the
blood-stained lintel could teach such souls a most seasonable lesson.
He was not saved by his interest in, or his thoughts about, the blood,
but simply by the blood. No doubt he had a blessed interest in it, and
he would have his thoughts likewise; but then God did not say, When I
see your interest in the blood, I will pass over you. Oh, no! THE
BLOOD, in all its solitary dignity and divine efficacy, was set before
Israel; and had they attempted to place even a morsel of unleavened
bread beside the blood, as a ground of security, they would have made
Jehovah a liar, and denied the sufficiency of His remedy.
We are ever prone to look at something in or connected with ourselves
as necessary, in order to make up, with the blood of Christ, the
ground-work of our peace. There is a sad lack of clearness and
soundness on this vital point, as is evident from the doubts and fears
with which so many of the people of God are afflicted. We are apt to
regard the fruits of the Spirit _in_ us, rather than the work of
Christ _for_ us, as the foundation of peace. We shall see, presently,
the place which the work of the Holy Spirit occupies in Christianity;
but it is never set forth in Scripture as being that on which our
peace reposes. The Holy Ghost did not make peace, but Christ did. The
Holy Ghost is not said to be our peace, but Christ is. God did not
send preaching peace by the Holy Ghost, but by Jesus Christ. (Comp.
Acts x. 36; Eph. ii. 14, 17; Col. i. 20.) My reader cannot be too
simple in his apprehension of this important distinction. It is the
blood of Christ which gives peace, imparts perfect justification--divine
righteousness, purges the conscience, brings us into the holiest of
all, justifies God in receiving the believing sinner, and constitutes
our title to all the joys, the dignities, and the glories of heaven.
(See Rom. iii. 24-26; v. 9; Eph. ii. 13-18; Col. i. 20-22; Heb. ix.
14; x. 19; 1 Peter i. 19; ii. 24; 1 John i. 7; Rev. vii. 14-17.)
It will not, I fondly hope, be supposed that, in seeking to put "the
precious blood of Christ" in its divinely appointed place, I would
write a single line which might seem to detract from the value of the
Spirit's operations. God forbid. The Holy Ghost reveals Christ; makes
us to know, enjoy, and feed upon Christ; He bears witness to Christ;
He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. He is the
power of communion, the seal, the witness, the earnest, the unction.
In short, His blessed operations are absolutely essential. Without
Him, we can neither see, hear, know, feel, experience, enjoy, nor
exhibit aught of Christ. This is plain. The doctrine of the Spirit's
operations is clearly laid down in the Word, and is understood and
admitted by every true and rightly-instructed Christian.
Yet, notwithstanding all this, the work of the Spirit is not the
ground of peace; for, if it were, we could not have settled peace
until Christ's coming, inasmuch as the work of the Spirit, in the
Church, will not, properly speaking, be complete till then. He still
carries on His work in the believer. "He maketh intercession with
groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom. viii.) He labors to bring us
up to the predestinated standard, namely, perfect conformity, in all
things, to the image of "the Son." He is the sole Author of every
right desire, every holy aspiration, every pure affection, every
divine experience, every sound conviction; but, clearly, His work _in_
us will not be complete until we have left this present scene and
taken our place with Christ in the glory. Just as, in the case of
Abraham's servant, his work was not complete, in the matter of
Rebecca, until he had presented her to Isaac.
Not so the work of Christ _for_ us. That is absolutely and eternally
complete. He could say, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me
to do." (John xvii. 4.) And, again, "It is finished." (John xix. 30.)
The Holy Ghost cannot yet say He has finished His work. As the true
Vicar of Christ upon earth, He still labors amid the varied hostile
influences which surround the sphere of His operations. He works in
the hearts of the people of God to bring them up, practically and
experimentally, to the divinely appointed standard; but He never
teaches a soul to lean on His work for peace in the presence of God.
His office is to speak of Jesus. He does not speak of Himself. "He,"
says Christ, "shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you." (John
xvi. 13, 14.) If, then, it is only by the Spirit's teaching that any
one can understand the true ground of peace, and if the Spirit never
speaks of Himself, it is obvious that He can only present Christ's
work as the foundation on which the soul must rest forever; yea, it is
in virtue of that work that He takes up His abode and carries on His
marvelous operations in the believer. He is not our title, though He
reveals that title and enables us to understand and enjoy it.
Hence, therefore, the paschal lamb, as the ground of Israel's peace,
is a marked and beautiful type of Christ as the ground of the
believer's peace. There was nothing to be added to the blood on the
lintel; neither is there anything to be added to the blood on the
mercy-seat. The "unleavened bread" and "bitter herbs" were necessary,
but not as forming, either in whole or in part, the ground of peace.
They were for the inside of the house, and formed the characteristics
of the communion there; but THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB WAS THE FOUNDATION
OF EVERYTHING. It saved them from death, and introduced them into a
scene of life, light, and peace. It formed the link between God and
His redeemed people. As a people linked with God, on the ground of
accomplished redemption, it was their high privilege to meet certain
responsibilities; but these responsibilities did not form the link,
but merely flowed out of it.
And I would further remind my reader that the obedient _life_ of
Christ is not set forth in Scripture as the procuring cause of our
forgiveness. It was His death upon the cross that opened those
everlasting floodgates of love which else should have remained pent up
forever. If He had remained to this very hour, going through the
cities of Israel, "doing good," the vail of the temple would continue
unrent, to bar the worshiper's approach to God. It was His death that
rent that mysterious curtain "from top to bottom." It is "by _His
stripes_," not by His obedient life, that "we are healed;" and those
"stripes" He endured _on the cross_, and no where else. His own words,
during the progress of His blessed life, are quite sufficient to
settle this point.--"I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am
I straitened till it be accomplished." (Luke xii. 50.) To what does
this refer but to His death upon the cross, which was the
accomplishment of His baptism and the opening up of a righteous vent
through which His love might freely flow out to the guilty sons of
Adam? Again, He says, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone." (John xii. 24.) He was that precious "corn of
wheat;" and He should have remained forever "alone," even though
incarnate, had He not, by His death upon the accursed tree, removed
out of the way everything that could have hindered the union of His
people with Him in resurrection. "If it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit."
My reader cannot too carefully ponder this subject. It is one of
immense weight and importance. He has to remember two points in
reference to this entire question, namely, that there could be no
union with Christ, save in resurrection; and that Christ _only_
suffered for sins on the cross. We are not to suppose that incarnation
was, by any means, Christ taking us into union with Himself. This
could not be. How could sinful flesh be thus united? The body of sin
had to be destroyed by death. Sin had to be put away according to the
divine requirement; all the power of the enemy had to be abolished.
How was all this to be done? Only by the precious, spotless Lamb of
God submitting to the death of the cross. "It became Him, for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect _through
sufferings_." (Heb. ii. 10.) "Behold, I cast out devils, and I do
cures to-day and to-morrow, and _the third day I shall be perfected_."
(Luke xiii. 32.) The expressions "perfect" and "perfected" in the
above passages, do not refer to Christ in His own Person abstractedly,
for He was perfect from all eternity, as Son of God; and as to His
humanity, He was absolutely perfect likewise. But then, as "the
Captain of salvation"--as "bringing many sons unto glory"--as
"bringing forth much fruit"--as associating a redeemed people _with_
Himself,--He had to reach "the third day" in order to be "perfected."
He went down _alone_ into the "horrible pit, and miry clay;" but
directly He plants His "foot on the rock" of resurrection. He
associates with Himself the "many sons." (Psalm xl. 1-3.) He fought
the fight alone; but, as the mighty Conqueror, He scatters around Him,
in rich profusion, the spoils of victory, that we might gather them up
and enjoy them forever.
Moreover, we are not to regard the cross of Christ as a mere
circumstance in a life of sin-bearing. It was _the_ grand and only
scene of sin-bearing. "His own self bare our sins in His own body on
the tree." (1 Peter ii. 24.) He did not bear them any where else. He
did not bear them in the manger, nor in the wilderness, nor in the
garden; but ONLY "ON THE TREE." He never had aught to say to sin, save
on the cross; and there He bowed His head, and yielded up His precious
life, under the accumulated weight of His people's sins. Neither did
He ever suffer at the hand of God, save on the cross; and there
Jehovah hid His face from Him because He was "made sin." (2 Cor. v.)
The above train of thought, and the various passages of Scripture
referred to, may perhaps enable my reader to enter more fully into the
divine power of the words, "_When I see the blood_, I will pass over
you." The lamb needed to be without blemish, no doubt, for what else
could meet the holy eye of Jehovah? But had the blood not been shed,
there could have been no passing over, for "without shedding of blood
is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) This subject will, the Lord
permitting, come more fully and appropriately before us in the types
of Leviticus. It demands the prayerful attention of every one who
loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
We shall now consider the second aspect of the passover, as the centre
round which the assembly was gathered, in peaceful, holy, happy
fellowship. Israel saved by the blood was one thing, and Israel
feeding on the lamb was quite another. They were saved _only_ by the
blood; but the object round which they were gathered was, manifestly,
the roasted lamb. This is not, by any means, a distinction without a
difference. The blood of the lamb forms the foundation both of our
connection with God, and our connection with one another. It is as
those who are washed in that blood, that we are introduced to God and
to one another. Apart from the perfect atonement of Christ, there
could obviously be no fellowship either with God or His assembly.
Still we must remember that it is to a living Christ in heaven that
believers are gathered by the Holy Ghost. It is with a living Head we
are connected--to "a living stone" we have come. He is our centre.
Having found peace through His blood, we own Him as our grand
gathering-point and connecting link.--"Where two or three are gathered
together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. xviii.
20.) The Holy Ghost is the only Gatherer; Christ Himself is the only
object to which we are gathered; and our assembly, when thus convened,
is to be characterized by holiness, so that the Lord our God may dwell
among us. The Holy Ghost can only gather to Christ. He cannot gather
to a system, a name, a doctrine, or an ordinance. He gathers to a
Person, and that Person is a glorified Christ in heaven. This must
stamp a peculiar character on God's assembly. Men may associate on any
ground, round any centre, or for any object they please; but when the
Holy Ghost associates, it is on the ground of accomplished redemption,
around the Person of Christ, in order to form a holy dwelling-place
for God. (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19; Eph. ii. 21, 22; 1 Pet. ii. 4,
5.)
We shall now look in detail at the principles brought before us in the
paschal feast. The assembly of Israel, as under the cover of the
blood, was to be ordered by Jehovah in a manner worthy of Himself. In
the matter of safety from judgment, as we have already seen, nothing
was needed but the blood; but in the fellowship which flowed out of
this safety, other things were needed which could not be neglected
with impunity.
And first, then, we read, "They shall eat the flesh in that night,
roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they
shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but
roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance
thereof." (Ver. 8, 9.) The lamb round which the congregation was
assembled, and on which it feasted, was a roasted lamb--a lamb which
had undergone the action of fire. In this we see "Christ our passover"
presenting Himself to the action of the fire of divine holiness and
judgment which found in Him a perfect material. He could say, "Thou
hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast
tried me and shalt find nothing: I am purposed that my mouth shall not
transgress." (Psalm xvii. 3.) All in Him was perfect. The fire tried
Him, and there was no dross. "His head with his legs and with the
purtenance thereof." That is to say, the seat of His understanding,
His outward walk, with all that pertained thereto--all was submitted
to the action of the fire, and all was entirely perfect. The process
of roasting was therefore deeply significant, as is every circumstance
in the ordinances of God. Nothing should be passed over, because all
is pregnant with meaning.
"Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water." Had it been eaten
thus, there would have been no expression of the great truth which it
was the divine purpose to shadow forth; namely, that our paschal Lamb
was to endure, on the cross, the fire of Jehovah's righteous wrath,--a
truth of infinite preciousness to the soul. We are not merely under
the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, but we feed, by faith, upon the
Person of the Lamb. Many of us come short here. We are apt to rest
satisfied with being saved by what Christ has done for us, without
cultivating holy communion with Himself. His loving heart could never
be satisfied with this. He has brought us nigh to Himself, that we
might enjoy Him, that we might feed on Him, and delight in Him. He
presents Himself to us as the One who has endured, to the uttermost,
the intense fire of the wrath of God, that He may, in this wondrous
character, be the food of our ransomed souls.
But how was this lamb to be eaten? "With unleavened bread and bitter
herbs." Leaven is invariably used, throughout Scripture, as
emblematical of evil. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament is
it ever used to set forth anything pure, holy, or good. Thus, in this
chapter, "the feast of unleavened bread" is the type of that practical
separation from evil which is the proper result of being washed from
our sins in the blood of the Lamb, and the proper accompaniment of
communion with His sufferings. Naught but unleavened bread could at
all comport with a roasted lamb. A single particle of that which was
the marked type of evil, would have destroyed the moral character of
the entire ordinance. How could we connect any species of evil with
our fellowship with a suffering Christ? Impossible. All who enter, by
the power of the Holy Ghost, into the meaning of the cross will
assuredly, by the same power, put away leaven from all their borders.
"For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: _therefore_ let us
keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
(1 Cor. v. 7, 8.) The feast spoken of in this passage is that which,
in the life and conduct of the Church, corresponds with the feast of
unleavened bread. This latter lasted "seven days;" and the Church
collectively, and the believer individually, are called to walk in
practical holiness, during the seven days, or entire period, of their
course here below; and this, moreover, as the direct result of being
washed in the blood, and having communion with the sufferings of
Christ.
The Israelite did not put away leaven in order to be saved, but
because he was saved; and if he failed to put away leaven, it did not
raise the question of security through the blood, but simply of
fellowship with the assembly. "Seven days shall there be no leaven
found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened,
even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel,
whether he be a stranger, or born in the land." (Ver. 19.) The cutting
off of an Israelite from the congregation answers precisely to the
suspension of a Christian's fellowship, if he be indulging in that
which is contrary to the holiness of the divine presence. God cannot
tolerate evil. A single unholy thought will interrupt the soul's
communion; and until the soil contracted by any such thought is got
rid of by confession, founded on the advocacy of Christ, the communion
cannot possibly be restored. (See 1 John i. 5-10.) The true-hearted
Christian rejoices in this. He can ever "give thanks at the
remembrance of God's holiness." He would not, if he could, lower the
standard a single hair's breadth. It is his exceeding joy to walk in
company with One who will not go on, for a moment, with a single jot
or tittle of "leaven."
Blessed be God, we know that nothing can ever snap asunder the link
which binds the true believer to Him. We are "saved in the Lord," not
with a temporary or conditional, but "with an everlasting salvation."
But then salvation and communion are not the same thing. Many are
saved who do not know it; and many, also, who do not enjoy it. It is
quite impossible that I can enjoy a blood-stained lintel if I have
leavened borders. This is an axiom in the divine life. May it be
written on our hearts! Practical holiness, though not the basis of our
_salvation_, is intimately connected with our _enjoyment_ thereof. An
Israelite was not saved by unleavened bread, but by the blood; and yet
leaven would have cut him off from communion. And as to the Christian,
he is not saved by his practical holiness, but by the blood; but if he
indulges in evil, in thought, word, or deed, he will have no true
enjoyment of salvation, and no true communion with the Person of the
Lamb.
This, I cannot doubt, is the secret of much of the spiritual
barrenness and lack of settled peace which one finds amongst the
children of God. They are not cultivating holiness; they are not
keeping "the feast of unleavened bread." The blood is on the lintel,
but the leaven within their borders keeps them from enjoying the
security which the blood provides. The allowance of evil destroys our
fellowship, though it does not break the link which binds our souls
eternally to God. Those who belong to God's assembly must be holy.
They have not only been delivered from the guilt and consequences of
sin, but also from the practice of it, the power of it, and the love
of it. The very fact of being delivered by the blood of the paschal
lamb, rendered Israel responsible to put away leaven from all their
quarters. They could not say, in the frightful language of the
antinomian, Now that we are delivered, we may conduct ourselves as we
please. By no means. If they were saved _by grace_, they were saved
_to holiness_. The soul that can take occasion, from the freedom of
divine grace and the completeness of the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus, to "continue in sin," proves very distinctly that he
understands neither the one nor the other.
Grace not only saves the soul with an everlasting salvation, but also
imparts a nature which delights in everything that belongs to God,
because it is divine. We are made partakers of the divine nature,
which cannot sin, because it is born of God. To walk in the energy of
this nature is, in reality, to "keep" the feast of unleavened bread.
There is no "old leaven" nor "leaven of malice and wickedness" in the
new nature, because it is of God, and God is holy, and "God is love."
Hence it is evident that we do not put away evil from us in order to
better our old nature, which is irremediable; nor yet to obtain the
new nature, but because we have it. We have life, and, in the power of
that life, we put away evil. It is only when we are delivered from the
guilt of sin that we can understand or exhibit the true power of
holiness. To attempt it in any other way is hopeless labor. The feast
of unleavened bread can only be kept beneath the perfect shelter of
the blood.
We may perceive equal significancy and moral propriety in that which
was to accompany the unleavened bread, namely, the "bitter herbs." We
cannot enjoy communion with the sufferings of Christ without
remembering what it was which rendered those sufferings needful, and
this remembrance must necessarily produce a chastened and subdued tone
of spirit, which is aptly expressed by the bitter herbs in the paschal
feast. If the roasted lamb expressed Christ's endurance of the wrath
of God in His own Person, on the cross, the bitter herbs express the
believer's recognition of the truth that He "suffered _for us_." "The
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are
healed." (Isaiah liii. 5.) It is well, owing to the excessive levity
of our hearts, to understand the deep meaning of the bitter herbs. Who
can read such psalms as the sixth, twenty-second, thirty-eighth,
sixty-ninth, eighty-eighth, and one hundred and ninth, and not enter,
in some measure, into the meaning of the unleavened bread with bitter
herbs? Practical holiness of life, with deep subduedness of soul, must
flow from real communion with Christ's sufferings; for it is quite
impossible that moral evil and levity of spirit can exist in view of
those sufferings.
But, it may be asked, is there not a deep joy for the soul in the
consciousness that Christ has borne our sins; that He has fully
drained, on our behalf, the cup of God's righteous wrath?
Unquestionably. This is the solid foundation of all our joy. But can
we ever forget that it was for "_our sins_" He suffered? Can we ever
lose sight of the soul-subduing truth that the blessed Lamb of God
bowed His head beneath the weight of our transgressions? Surely not.
We must eat our lamb with bitter herbs, which, be it remembered, do
not set forth the tears of a worthless and shallow sentimentality, but
the deep and real experiences of a soul that enters, with spiritual
intelligence and power, into the meaning and into the practical effect
of the cross.
In contemplating the cross, we find in it that which cancels all our
guilt. This imparts sweet peace and joy. But we find in it also the
complete setting aside of nature--the crucifixion of "the flesh"--the
death of "the old man." (See Rom. vi. 6; Gal. ii. 20; vi. 14; Col. ii.
11.) This, in its practical results, will involve much that is
"bitter" to nature. It will call for self-denial--the mortification of
our members which are on the earth (Col. iii. 5.)--the reckoning of
self to be dead indeed unto sin (Rom. vi.). All these things may seem
terrible to look at; but when one gets inside the blood-stained
door-post, he thinks quite differently. The very herbs which to an
Egyptian's taste would no doubt have seemed so bitter, formed an
integral part of Israel's redemption _feast_. Those who are redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb, who know the joy of fellowship with Him,
esteem it a "feast" to put away evil and to keep nature in the place
of death.
"And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that
which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire."
(Ver. 10.) In this command, we are taught that the communion of the
congregation was in no wise to be separated from the sacrifice on
which that communion was founded. The heart must ever cherish the
vivid remembrance that all true fellowship is inseparably connected
with accomplished redemption. To think of having communion _with God_
on any other ground is to imagine that He could have fellowship with
our evil, and to think of fellowship _with man_ on any other ground is
but to form an unholy club, from which nothing could issue but
confusion and iniquity. In a word, all must be founded upon, and
inseparably linked with, the blood. This is the simple meaning of
eating the paschal lamb the same night on which the blood was shed.
The fellowship must not be separated from its foundation.
What a beauteous picture, then, we have in the blood-sheltered
assembly of Israel, feeding peacefully on the roasted lamb, with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs! No fear of judgment, no fear of the
wrath of Jehovah, no fear of the terrible hurricane of righteous
vengeance which was sweeping vehemently over the land of Egypt, at the
midnight hour. All was profound peace within the blood-stained lintel.
They had no need to fear anything from without; and nothing within
could trouble them, save leaven, which would have proved a death-blow
to all their peace and blessedness. What a picture for the Church!
What a picture for the Christian! May we gaze upon it with an
enlightened eye and a teachable spirit!
However, we are not yet done with this most instructive ordinance. We
have been looking at Israel's _position_, and Israel's _food_, let us
now look at Israel's _habit_.
"And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your
feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is
the Lord's passover." (Ver. 11.) They were to eat it as a people
prepared to leave behind them the land of death and darkness, wrath
and judgment, to move onward toward the land of promise--their
destined inheritance. The blood which had preserved them from the fate
of Egypt's first-born was also the foundation of their deliverance
from Egypt's bondage; and they were now to set out and walk with God
toward the land that flowed with milk and honey. True, they had not
yet crossed the Red Sea,--they had not yet gone the "three days'
journey;" still they were, in principle, a redeemed people, a
separated people, a pilgrim people, an expectant people, a dependent
people; and their entire habit was to be in keeping with their present
position and future destiny. The girded loins bespoke intense
separation from all around them, together with a readiness to serve.
The shod feet declared their preparedness to leave that scene; while
the staff was the expressive emblem of a pilgrim people, in the
attitude of leaning on something outside themselves. Precious
characteristics! Would that they were more exhibited by every member
of God's redeemed family.
Beloved Christian reader, let us "meditate on these things." We have
tasted, through grace, the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus;
as such, it is our privilege to feed upon His adorable Person and
delight ourselves in His "unsearchable riches;" to have fellowship in
His sufferings, and be made conformable to His death. Oh! let us,
therefore, be seen with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the
girded loins, the shoes and staff. In a word, let us be marked as a
holy people, a crucified people, a watchful and diligent people,--a
people manifestly "on our way to God"--on our way to glory--"bound for
the kingdom." May God grant us to enter into the depth and power of
all these things, so that they may not be mere theories in our
intellects--mere principles of scriptural knowledge and
interpretation, but living, divine realities, known by experience, and
exhibited in the life, to the glory of God.
We shall close this section by glancing, for a moment, at verses
43-49. Here we are taught that while it was the place and privilege of
every true Israelite to eat the passover, yet no uncircumcised
stranger should participate therein.--"There shall no stranger eat
thereof ... all the congregation of Israel shall keep it."
Circumcision was necessary ere the passover could be eaten. In other
words, the sentence of death must be written upon nature ere we can
intelligently feed upon Christ, either as the ground of peace or the
centre of unity. Circumcision has its antitype in the cross. The male
alone was circumcised; the female was represented in the male. So, in
the cross, Christ represented His Church, and hence the Church is
crucified with Christ; nevertheless she lives by the life of Christ,
known and exhibited on earth, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
"And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the
passover unto the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let
him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the
land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." "They that are
in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. viii. 8.)
The ordinance of circumcision formed the grand boundary line between
the Israel of God and all the nations that were upon the face of the
earth; and the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ forms the boundary
between the Church and the world. It matters not, in the smallest
degree, what advantages of person or position a man possessed, he
could have no part with Israel until he submitted to that
flesh-cutting operation. A circumcised beggar was nearer to God than
an uncircumcised king. So, also, now, there can be no participation in
the joys of God's redeemed, save by the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ; and that cross sweeps away all pretensions, levels all
distinctions, and unites all in one holy congregation of blood-washed
worshipers. The cross forms a boundary so lofty, and a defense so
impenetrable, that not a single atom of earth or of nature can cross
over or pass through to mingle itself with "the new creation." "_All_
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself." (2 Cor. v. 18.)
But not only was Israel's _separation_ from all strangers strictly
maintained, in the institution of the passover; Israel's _unity_ was
also as clearly enforced. "_In one house_ shall it be eaten: thou
shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house:
neither shall ye break a bone thereof." (Ver. 46.) Here is as fair and
beauteous a type as we could have of the "one body and one Spirit."
The Church of God is _one_. God sees it as such, maintains it as such,
and will manifest it as such, in the view of angels, men, and devils,
notwithstanding all that has been done to interfere with that hallowed
unity. Blessed be God, the unity of His Church is as much in His
keeping as is her justification, acceptance, and eternal security. "He
keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken." (Ps. xxxiv. 20.)
And again, "A bone of Him shall not be broken." (John xix. 36.)
Despite the rudeness and hard-heartedness of Rome's soldiery, and
despite all the hostile influences which have been set to work, from
age to age, the body of Christ is _one_ and its divine unity can never
be broken. "THERE IS ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT;" and that, moreover,
down here on this very earth. Happy are they who have got faith to
recognize this precious truth, and faithfulness to carry it out, in
these last days, notwithstanding the almost insuperable difficulties
which attend upon their profession and their practice. I believe God
will own and honor such.
The Lord deliver us from that spirit of unbelief which would lead us
to judge by the sight of our eyes, instead of by the light of His
changeless Word.