In the opening verses of this chapter we are taught, clearly and
distinctly, that personal devotedness and personal holiness are fruits
which redeeming love produces in those who are the happy subjects
thereof. The dedication of the first-born and the feast of unleavened
bread are here set forth in their immediate connection with the
deliverance of the people out of the land of Egypt.--"'Sanctify unto
Me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children
of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is Mine.' And Moses said unto
the people, 'Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out
of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you
out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.'" And
again, "Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh
day shall be a feast unto the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten
seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee;
neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters."
Then we have the reason of both these significant observances laid
down.--"And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done
_because of that_ which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of
Egypt." And again, "It shall be, when thy son asketh thee in time to
come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength
of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the
Lord slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born
of man and the first-born of beast; _therefore_ I sacrifice to the
Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the first-born
of my children I redeem."
The more fully we enter, by the power of the Spirit of God, into the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus, the more decided will be our
separation, and the more whole-hearted will be our devotedness. The
effort to produce either the one or the other, until redemption is
known, will prove the most hopeless labor possible. All our doings
must be "because of that which the Lord hath done," and not in order
to get anything from Him. Efforts after life and peace prove that we
are, as yet, strangers to the power of the blood; whereas the pure
fruits of an experienced redemption are to the praise of Him who has
redeemed us. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them."
(Eph. ii. 8-10.) God has already prepared a path of good works for us
to walk in; and He, by grace, prepares us to walk therein. It is only
as saved that we can walk in such a path. Were it otherwise, we might
boast; but seeing that we ourselves are as much God's workmanship as
the path in which we walk, there is no room whatever for boasting.
True Christianity is but the manifestation of the life of Christ,
implanted in us by the operation of the Holy Ghost, in pursuance of
God's eternal counsels of sovereign grace; and all our doings previous
to the implantation of this life are but "dead works," from which we
need to have our consciences purged just as much as from "wicked
works." (Heb. ix. 14.) The term "dead works" comprehends all works
which men do with the direct object of getting life. If a man is
seeking for life, it is very evident that he has not yet gotten it. He
may be very sincere in seeking it, but his very sincerity only makes
it the more obvious that, as yet, he has not consciously reached it.
Hence, therefore, everything done in order to get life is a dead work,
inasmuch as it is done without life--the life of Christ, the only true
life, the only source from whence good works can flow. And, observe,
it is not a question of "wicked works;" no one would think of getting
life by such. No; you will find, on the contrary, that persons
continually have recourse to "dead works," in order to ease their
consciences, under the sense of "wicked works," whereas divine
revelation teaches us that the conscience needs to be purged from the
one as well as the other.
Again, as to righteousness, we read that "all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags." It is not said that all our wickednesses, merely, are
as filthy rags. This would at once be admitted. But the fact is, that
the very best fruit which we can produce, in the shape of
religiousness and righteousness, is represented, on the page of
eternal truth, as "dead works," and "filthy rags." Our very efforts
after life do but prove us to be dead, and our very efforts after
righteousness do but prove us to be enwrapped in filthy rags. It is
only as the actual possessors of eternal life and divine righteousness
that we can walk in the divinely prepared path of good works. Dead
works and filthy rags could never be suffered to appear in such a
path. None but "the redeemed of the Lord" can walk therein. It was as
a redeemed people that Israel kept the feast of unleavened bread, and
dedicated their first-born to Jehovah. The former of these observances
we have already considered; as to the latter, it contains a rich mine
of instruction.
The destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt to destroy all
the first-born; but Israel's first-born escaped through the death of a
divinely provided substitute. Accordingly, these latter appear before
us, in this chapter, as a living people, dedicated to God. Saved by
the blood of the lamb, they are privileged to consecrate their
ransomed life to Him who had ransomed it. Thus it was only as redeemed
that they possessed life. The grace of God alone had made them to
differ, and had given them the place of living men in His presence. In
their case, assuredly, there was no room for boasting; for, as to any
personal merit or worthiness, we learn from this chapter that they
were put on a level with an unclean and worthless thing.--"Every
firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt
not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck; and all the first-born
of man among thy children shalt thou redeem." (Ver. 13.) There were
two classes--the clean and the unclean, and man was classed with the
latter. The lamb was to answer for the unclean; and if the ass were
not redeemed, his neck was to be broken; so that an unredeemed man was
put upon a level with an unclean animal, and that, moreover, in a
condition than which nothing could be more worthless and unsightly.
What a humiliating picture of man in his natural condition! O, that
our poor proud hearts could enter more into it! Then should we rejoice
more unfeignedly in the happy privilege of being washed from our guilt
in the blood of the Lamb, and having all our personal vileness left
behind forever, in the tomb where our Surety lay buried.
Christ was the Lamb--the clean, the spotless Lamb: we were unclean;
but (forever adored be His matchless name!) He took our position, and,
_on the cross_, was made sin, and treated as such. That which we
should have endured throughout the countless ages of eternity, He
endured for us on the tree. He bore _all_ that was due to us, there
and then, in order that we might enjoy what is due to Him, forever. He
got our desserts that we might get His. The clean took, for a time,
the place of the unclean, in order that the unclean might take forever
the place of the clean. Thus, whereas by nature we are represented by
the loathsome figure of an ass with his neck broken, by grace we are
represented by a risen and glorified Christ in heaven. Amazing
contrast! It lays man's glory in the dust, and magnifies the riches of
redeeming love. It silences man's empty boastings, and puts into his
mouth a hymn of praise to God and the Lamb, which shall swell
throughout the courts of heaven during the everlasting ages.[7]
[7] It is interesting to see that by nature we are ranked with an
unclean animal; by grace we are associated with Christ the spotless
Lamb. There can be nothing lower than the place which belongs to us by
nature: nothing higher than that which belongs to us by grace. Look,
for example, at an ass with his neck broken; there is what an
unredeemed man is worth. Look at "the precious blood of Christ;" there
is what a redeemed man is worth. "Unto you that believe is the
preciousness." That is, all who are washed in the blood partake of
Christ's preciousness. As He is "a living stone," they are "living
stones;" as He is "a precious stone," they are "precious stones." They
get life and preciousness all from Him and in Him. They are as He is.
Every stone in the edifice is precious, because purchased at no less a
price than "the blood of the Lamb." May the people of God know more
fully their place and privileges in Christ!
How forcibly is one here reminded of the apostle's memorable and
weighty words to the Romans, "Now if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over
Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He
liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should
obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." (Rom. vi.
8-14.) We are not only ransomed from the power of death and the grave,
but also united to Him who has ransomed us at the heavy cost of His
own precious life, that we might, in the energy of the Holy Ghost,
dedicate our new life, with all its powers, to His service, so that
His worthy name may be glorified in us according to the will of God
and our Father.
We are furnished, in the last few verses of Exodus xiii, with a
touching and beautiful example of the Lord's tender consideration of
His people's need. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are
dust." (Psalm ciii. 14.) When He redeemed Israel and took them into
relationship with Himself, He, in His unfathomed and infinite grace,
charged Himself with all their need and weakness. It mattered not what
they were or what they needed when I AM was with them, in all the
exhaustless treasures of that name. He had to conduct them from Egypt
to Canaan, and we here find Him occupying Himself in selecting a
suitable path for them.--"And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let
the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of
the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, 'Lest
peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to
Egypt;' but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness
of the Red Sea." (Ver. 17, 18.)
The Lord, in His condescending grace, so orders for His people that
they do not, at their first setting out, encounter heavy trials, which
might have the effect of discouraging their hearts and driving them
back. "The way of the wilderness" was a much more protracted route;
but God had deep and varied lessons to teach His people, which could
only be learnt in the desert. They were afterwards reminded of this
fact, in the following passage: "And thou shalt remember all the way
which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness,
to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart,
whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. And He humbled
thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee
know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment
waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty
years." (Deut. viii. 2-4.) Such precious lessons as these could never
have been learnt in "the way of the land of the Philistines." In that
way, they might have learnt what _war_ was, at an early stage of their
career; but "in the way of the wilderness," they learnt what _flesh_
was, in all its crookedness, unbelief, and rebellion. But I AM was
there, in all His patient grace, unerring wisdom, and infinite power.
None but Himself could have met the demand; none but He could endure
the opening up of the depths of a human heart. To have my heart
unlocked any where, save in the presence of infinite grace, would
plunge me in hopeless despair. The heart of man is but a little hell.
What boundless mercy, then, to be delivered from its terrible depths!
"Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee!"
"And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in
the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a
pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of
fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the
pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from
before the people." Jehovah not only selected a path for His people,
but He also came down to walk with them therein, and make Himself
known to them according to their need. He not only conducted them
safely outside the bounds of Egypt, but He also came down, as it were,
in His traveling chariot, to be their Companion through all the
vicissitudes of their wilderness journey. This was divine grace. They
were not merely delivered out of the furnace of Egypt and then allowed
to make the best of their way to Canaan--such was not God's manner
toward them. He knew that they had a toilsome and perilous journey
before them, through serpents and scorpions, snares and difficulties,
drought and barrenness; and He, blessed be His name forever, would not
suffer them to go alone. He would be the Companion of all their toils
and dangers; yea, "He went before them." He was "a guide, a glory, a
defense, to save from every fear." Alas! that they should ever have
grieved that blessed One by their hardness of heart. Had they only
walked humbly, contentedly, and confidingly with Him, their march
would have been a triumphant one from first to last. With Jehovah in
their forefront, no power could have interrupted their onward progress
from Egypt to Canaan. He would have carried them through and planted
them in the mountain of His inheritance, according to His promise, and
by the power of His right hand; nor should as much as a single
Canaanite have been allowed to remain therein to be a thorn in their
side. Thus will it be by and by, when Jehovah shall set His hand a
second time to deliver His people from under the power of all their
oppressors. May the Lord hasten the time!