| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Exodus Chapter
Twelve
Exodus 12
Chapter Contents
The beginning of the year changed
The passover
instituted. (1-20) The people instructed how to observe the passover. (21-28)
The death of the first-born of the Egyptians The Israelites urged to leave the
land of Egypt. (29-36) The Israelites' first journey to Succoth. (37-42)
Ordinance respecting the passover. (43-51)
Commentary on Exodus 12:1-20
(Read Exodus 12:1-20)
The Lord makes all things new to those whom he delivers
from the bondage of Satan
and takes to himself to be his people. The time when
he does this is to them the beginning of a new life. God appointed that
on the
night wherein they were to go out of Egypt
each family should kill a lamb
or
that two or three families
if small
should kill one lamb. This lamb was to be
eaten in the manner here directed
and the blood to be sprinkled on the
door-posts
to mark the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians.
The angel of the Lord
when destroying the first-born of the Egyptians
would
pass over the houses marked by the blood of the lamb: hence the name of this
holy feast or ordinance. The passover was to be kept every year
both as a
remembrance of Israel's preservation and deliverance out of Egypt
and as a
remarkable type of Christ. Their safety and deliverance were not a reward of
their own righteousness
but the gift of mercy. Of this they were reminded
and
by this ordinance they were taught
that all blessings came to them through the
shedding and sprinkling of blood. Observe
1. The paschal lamb was typical.
Christ is our passover
1 Corinthians 5:7. Christ is the Lamb of God
John 1:29; often in the Revelation he is called
the Lamb. It was to be in its prime; Christ offered up himself in the midst of
his days
not when a babe at Bethlehem. It was to be without blemish; the Lord
Jesus was a Lamb without spot: the judge who condemned Christ declared him
innocent. It was to be set apart four days before
denoting the marking out of
the Lord Jesus to be a Saviour
both in the purpose and in the promise. It was
to be slain
and roasted with fire
denoting the painful sufferings of the Lord
Jesus
even unto death
the death of the cross. The wrath of God is as fire
and
Christ was made a curse for us. Not a bone of it must be broken
which was
fulfilled in Christ
John 19:33
denoting the unbroken strength of
the Lord Jesus. 2. The sprinkling of the blood was typical. The blood of the
lamb must be sprinkled
denoting the applying of the merits of Christ's death
to our souls; we must receive the atonement
Romans 5:11. Faith is the bunch of hyssop
by
which we apply the promises
and the benefits of the blood of Christ laid up in
them
to ourselves. It was to be sprinkled on the door-posts
denoting the open
profession we are to make of faith in Christ. It was not to be sprinkled upon
the threshold; which cautions us to take heed of trampling under foot the blood
of the covenant. It is precious blood
and must be precious to us. The blood
thus sprinkled
was a means of preserving the Israelites from the destroying
angel
who had nothing to do where the blood was. The blood of Christ is the
believer's protection from the wrath of God
the curse of the law
and the
damnation of hell
Romans 8:1. 3. The solemn eating of the lamb was
typical of our gospel duty to Christ. The paschal lamb was not to be looked
upon only
but to be fed upon. So we must by faith make Christ our own; and we
must receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him
as from our food
see
John 6:53
55. It was all to be eaten; those who
by faith feed upon Christ
must feed upon a whole Christ; they must take Christ
and his yoke
Christ and his cross
as well as Christ and his crown. It was to
be eaten at once
not put by till morning. To-day Christ is offered
and is to
be accepted while it is called to-day
before we sleep the sleep of death. It
was to be eaten with bitter herbs
in remembrance of the bitterness of their
bondage in Egypt; we must feed upon Christ with sorrow and brokenness of heart
in remembrance of sin. Christ will be sweet to us
if sin be bitter. It was to
be eaten standing
with their staves in their hands
as being ready to depart.
When we feed upon Christ by faith
we must forsake the rule and the dominion of
sin; sit loose to the world
and every thing in it; forsake all for Christ
and
reckon it no bad bargain
Hebrews 13:13
14. 4. The feast of unleavened
bread was typical of the Christian life
1 Corinthians 5:7
8. Having received Christ
Jesus the Lord
we must continually delight ourselves in Christ Jesus. No
manner of work must be done
that is
no care admitted and indulged
which does
not agree with
or would lessen this holy joy. The Jews were very strict as to
the passover
so that no leaven should be found in their houses. It must be a
feast kept in charity
without the leaven of malice; and in sincerity
without
the leaven of hypocrisy. It was by an ordinance for ever; so long as we live we
must continue feeding upon Christ
rejoicing in him always
with thankful
mention of the great things he has done for us.
Commentary on Exodus 12:21-28
(Read Exodus 12:21-28)
That night
when the first-born were to be destroyed
no
Israelite must stir out of doors till called to march out of Egypt. Their
safety was owing to the blood of sprinkling. If they put themselves from under
the protection of that
it was at their peril. They must stay within
to wait
for the salvation of the Lord; it is good to do so. In after-times they should
carefully teach their children the meaning of this service. It is good for
children to ask about the things of God; they that ask for the way will find
it. The keeping of this solemnity every year was
1. To look backward
that
they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers.
Old mercies
to ourselves
or to our fathers
must not be forgotten
that God
may be praised
and our faith in him encouraged. 2. It was designed to look
forward
as an earnest of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness
of time. Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; his death was our life.
Commentary on Exodus 12:29-36
(Read Exodus 12:29-36)
The Egyptians had been for three days and nights kept in
anxiety and horror by the darkness; now their rest is broken by a far more
terrible calamity. The plague struck their first-born
the joy and hope of
their families. They had slain the Hebrews' children
now God slew theirs. It reached
from the throne to the dungeon: prince and peasant stand upon the same level
before God's judgments. The destroying angel entered every dwelling unmarked
with blood
as the messenger of woe. He did his dreadful errand
leaving not a
house in which there was not one dead. Imagine then the cry that rang through
the land of Egypt
the long
loud shriek of agony that burst from every
dwelling. It will be thus in that dreadful hour when the Son of man shall visit
sinners with the last judgment. God's sons
his first-born
were now released.
Men had better come to God's terms at first
for he will never come to theirs.
Now Pharaoh's pride is abased
and he yields. God's word will stand; we get
nothing by disputing
or delaying to submit. In this terror the Egyptians would
purchase the favour and the speedy departure of Israel. Thus the Lord took care
that their hard-earned wages should be paid
and the people provided for their
journey.
Commentary on Exodus 12:37-42
(Read Exodus 12:37-42)
The children of Israel set forward without delay. A mixed
multitude went with them. Some
perhaps
willing to leave their country
laid
waste by plagues; others
out of curiosity; perhaps a few out of love to them
and their religion. But there were always those among the Israelites who were
not Israelites. Thus there are still hypocrites in the church. This great event
was 430 years from the promise made to Abraham: see Galatians 3:17. So long the promise of a
settlement was unfulfilled. But though God's promises are not performed
quickly
they will be
in their season. This is that night of the Lord
that
remarkable night
to be celebrated in all generations. The great things God
does for his people
are to be not only a few days' wonder
but to be
remembered throughout all ages; especially the work of our redemption by
Christ. This first passover-night was a night of the Lord
much to be observed;
but the last passover-night
in which Christ was betrayed and in which the
first passover
with the rest of the Jewish ceremonies
was done away
was a
night of the Lord
much more to be observed. Then a yoke
heavier than that of
Egypt
was broken from off our necks
and a land
better than that of Canaan
set before us. It was a redemption to be celebrated in heaven
for ever and
ever.
Commentary on Exodus 12:43-51
(Read Exodus 12:43-51)
In times to come
all the congregation of Israel must
keep the passover. All that share in God's mercies should join in thankful
praises for them. The New Testament passover
the Lord's supper
ought not to
be neglected by any. Strangers
if circumcised
might eat of the passover. Here
is an early indication of favour to the gentiles. This taught the Jews that
their being a nation favoured by God
entitled them to their privileges
not
their descent from Abraham. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us
1 Corinthians 5:7; his blood is the only ransom
for our souls; without the shedding of it there is no remission; without the
sprinkling of it there can be no salvation. Have we
by faith in him
sheltered
our souls from deserved vengeance under the protection of his atoning blood? Do
we keep close to him
constantly depending upon him? Do we so profess our faith
in the Redeemer
and our obligations to him
that all who pass by may know to
whom we belong? Do we stand prepared for his service
ready to walk in his
ways
and to separate ourselves from his enemies? These are questions of vast
importance to the soul; may the Lord direct our consciences honestly to answer
them.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Exodus》
Exodus 12
Verse 1
[1] And
the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt
saying
The Lord spake —
Had spoken
before the three days darkness. But the mention of it was put off
to this place
that the history of the plagues might not be interrupted.
Verse 2
[2] This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the
first month of the year to you.
This shall be to you the beginning of months — They had hitherto begun their year from the middle of September
but
hence-forward they were to begin it from the middle of March
at least in all
their ecclesiastical computations. We may suppose that while Moses was bringing
the ten plagues upon the Egyptians
he was directing the Israelites to prepare
for their departure at an hour's warning. Probably he had
by degrees
brought
them near together from their dispersions
for they are here called the
congregation of Israel; and to them
as a congregation
orders are here sent.
Verse 3
[3]
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 an house:
Take every man a lamb — In each of their families
or two or three families
if they were small
join for a lamb. The lamb was to be got ready four days before. and that
afternoon they went
they were to kill it
( Exodus 12:6
) as a sacrifice
not strictly
for
it was not offered upon the altar
but as a religious ceremony
acknowledging
God's goodness to them
not only in preserving them from
but in delivering
them by the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians. The lamb so slain they were to
eat roasted (we may suppose in its several quarters) with unleavened bread and
bitter herbs; they were to eat it in haste
Exodus 12:11
and to leave none of it until the
morning; for God would have them to depend upon him for their daily bread.
Before they eat the flesh of the lamb
they were to sprinkle the blood upon the
door-posts; by which their houses were to be distinguished from the houses of
the Egyptians
and so their first-born secured from the sword of the destroying
angel. Dreadful work was to be made this night in Egypt; all the first-born
both of man and beast were to be slain; and judgment executed upon the gods of
Egypt
Numbers 33:4. It is probable the idols which the
Egyptians worshipped were defaced
those of metal melted
those of wood
consumed
and those of stone broke to pieces. This was to be annually observed
as a feast of the Lord in their generations
to which the feast of unleavened
bread was annexed
during which
for seven days
they were to eat no bread but
what was unleavened
in remembrance of their being confined to such bread for
many days after they came out of Egypt
Exodus 12:14-20. There was much of the gospel in
this ordinance: (1.) The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our passover
1 Corinthians 5:7
and is the Lamb of God
John 1:29. 2. It was to be a male of the first
year; in its prime. Christ offered up himself in the midst of his days. It
notes the strength and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus
on whom our help was
laid. 3. It was to be without blemish
noting the purity of the Lord Jesus
a
lamb without spot
1 Peter 1:19. 4. It was to be set apart four
days before
noting the designation of the Lord Jesus to be a Saviour
both in
the purpose and in the promise. It is observable
that as Christ was crucified
at the passover
so he solemnly entered into Jerusalem four days before
the
very day that the paschal lamb was set apart. 5. It was to be slain and roasted
with fire
noting the exquisite sufferings of the Lord Jesus
even unto death
the death of the cross. 6. It was to be killed by the whole congregation
between the two evenings
that is
between three o'clock and six. Christ
suffered in the latter end of the world
Hebrews 9:26
by the hand of the Jews
the whole
multitude of them
Luke 23:18. 7. Not a bone of it must be broken
Exodus 12:46
which is expressly said to be
fulfilled in Christ
John 19:33
36. (2.) The sprinkling of the blood
was typical. 1st
It was not enough that the blood of the lamb was shed
but it
must be sprinkled
noting the application of the merits of Christ's death to
our souls; 2dly
It was to be sprinkled upon the door-posts
noting the open
profession we are to make of faith in Christ
and obedience to him. The mark of
the beast may be received in the forehead
or in the right hand
but the seal
of the lamb is always in the forehead
Revelation 7:3. 3dly
The blood thus sprinkled
was a means of the preservation of the Israelites from the destroying angel. If
the blood of Christ be sprinkled upon our consciences
it will be our protection
from the wrath of God
the curse of the law
and the damnation of hell. (3.)
The solemn eating of the lamb was typical of our gospel duty to Christ. 1st
The paschal lamb was killed not to be looked upon only
but to be fed upon; so
we must by faith make Christ ours
as we do that which we eat
and we must
receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him
as from our food
and have
delight in him
as we have in eating and drinking when we are hungry or
thirsty. 2dly
It was to be all eaten: those that
by faith
feed upon Christ
must feed upon a whole Christ. They must take Christ and his yoke
Christ and
his cross
as well as Christ and his crown. 3dly
It was to be eaten with
bitter herbs
in remembrance of the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt; we
must feed upon Christ with brokenness of heart
in remembrance of sin. 4thly
It was to be eaten in a departing posture Exodus 12:11
when we feed upon Christ by faith
we must sit loose to the world
and every thing in it. (4.) The feast of
unleavened bread was typical of the Christian life
1 Corinthians 5:7
8. Having received Christ
Jesus the Lord
1st. We must keep a feast
in holy joy
continually delighting
ourselves in Christ Jesus; If true believers have not a continual feast
it is
their own fault. 2dly
It must be a feast of unleavened bread
kept in charity
without the leaven of malice
and in sincerity
without the leaven of
hypocrisy. All the old leaven of sin must be put far from us
with the utmost
caution
if we would keep the feast of a holy life to the honour of Christ.
3dly
It was to be an ordinance forever. As long as we live we must continue
feeding upon Christ
and rejoicing in him always
with thankful mention of the
great things he has done for us.
Verse 9
[9] 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.
Raw —
Half roasted
but throughly drest.
Verse 10
[10] 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.
Ye shall burn with fire — To prevent the profane abuse of it.
Verse 11
[11] 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.
The Lord's passover — A
sign of his passing over you
when he destroyed the Egyptians.
Verse 16
[16] And
in the first day there shall be an holy convocation
and in the seventh day
there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in
them
save that which every man must eat
that only may be done of you.
An holy convocation — A
solemn day for the people to assemble together.
Verse 19
[19]
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.
A stranger — A
proselyte. Heathens were not concerned in the passover.
Verse 22
[22] And
ye shall take a bunch of hyssop
and dip it in the blood that is in the bason
and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the
bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
Out of the door of his house — Of that house
wherein he ate the passover: Until the morning - That is
till towards morning
when they would be called for to march out of Egypt. They
went out very early in the morning.
Verse 23
[23] For
the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood
upon the lintel
and on the two side posts
the LORD will pass over the door
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
The destroyer —
The destroying angel
whether this was a good or an evil angel
we have not
light to determine.
Verse 27
[27] That
ye shall say
It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover
who passed over the
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt
when he smote the Egyptians
and
delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
The people bowed the head and worshipped — They hereby signified their submission to this institution as a law
and
their thankfulness for it as a favour and privilege.
Verse 31
[31] And
he called for Moses and Aaron by night
and said
Rise up
and get you forth
from among my people
both ye and the children of Israel; and go
serve the
LORD
as ye have said.
Rise up
and get you forth — Pharaoh had told Moses he should see his face no more|
but now he sent
for him; those will seek God in their distress
who before had set him at
defiance. Such a fright he was now in that he gave orders by night for their
discharge
fearing lest if he delay'd
he himself should fall next. And that he
sent them out
not as men hated (as the Pagan historians have represented this
matter) but as men feared
is plain by his request to them.
Verse 32
[32] Also
take your flocks and your herds
as ye have said
and be gone; and bless me
also.
Bless me also —
Let me have your prayers
that I may not be plagued for what is past when you
are gone.
Verse 33
[33] And
the Egyptians were urgent upon the people
that they might send them out of the
land in haste; for they said
We be all dead men.
We be all dead men —
When death comes unto our houses
it is seasonable for us to think of our own
mortality.
Verse 34
[34] And
the people took their dough before it was leavened
their kneadingtroughs being
bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
Their kneading-troughs — Or rather
their lumps of paste unleavened.
Verse 37
[37] And
the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth
about six hundred
thousand on foot that were men
beside children.
About six hundred thousand men — The word means strong and able men fit for wars
beside women and
children
which we cannot suppose to make less than twelve hundred thousand
more. What a vast increase was this to arise from seventy souls
in little more
than two hundred years.
Verse 38
[38] And
a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks
and herds
even very much
cattle.
And a mixed multitude went up with them — Some perhaps willing to leave their country
because it was laid waste
by the plagues. But probably the greatest part was but a rude unthinking mob
that followed they knew not why: It is likely
when they understood that the
children of Israel were to continue forty years in the wilderness
they quitted
them
and returned to Egypt again.
And flocks and herds
even very much cattle — This is taken notice of
because it was long ere Pharaoh would give them
leave to remove their effects
which were chiefly cattle.
Verse 39
[39] And
they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt
for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt
and could not
tarry
neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Thrust out — By
importunate entreaties.
Verse 40
[40] Now
the sojourning of the children of Israel
who dwelt in Egypt
was four hundred
and thirty years.
It was just four hundred and thirty years
from the promise made to Abraham (as the Apostle explains it
Galatians 3:17
) at his first coming into
Canaan
during all which time the Hebrews
were sojourners in a land that was
not theirs
either Canaan or Egypt. So long the promise God made to Abraham lay
dormant and unfulfilled
but now
it revived
and things began to work towards
the accomplishment of it. The first day of the march of Abraham's seed towards
Canaan was four hundred and thirty years (it should seem
to a day) from the
promise made to Abraham
Genesis 12:2. I will make of thee a great
nation.
Verse 42
[42] It
is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the
land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the
children of Israel in their generations.
This first passover night was a night of the
Lord
much to be observed; but the last passover night
in which Christ was
betrayed
was a night of the Lord
much more to be observed
when a yoke
heavier than that of Egypt was broke from off our necks
and a land better than
that of Canaan set before us. That was a temporal deliverance
to be celebrated
in their generations; this an eternal redemption to be celebrated world without
end.
Verse 45
[45] A
foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.
An hired servant —
Unless he submit to be circumcised.
Verse 47
[47] All
the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
All the congregation of Israel must keep it — Though it was observed in families apart
yet it is looked upon as the
act of the whole congregation. And so the new testament passover
the Lord's
supper
ought not to be neglected by any that are capable of celebrating it.
Verse 48
[48] And
when a stranger shall sojourn with thee
and will keep the passover to 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.
No stranger that was uncircumcised might eat
of it. Neither may any now approach the Lord's supper who have not first
submitted to baptism; nor shall any partake of the benefit of Christ's
sacrifice
who are not first circumcised in heart. Any stranger that was
circumcised might eat of the passover
even servants. Here is an indication of
favour to the poor Gentiles
that the stranger
if circumcised
stands upon the
same level with the home-born Israelite; one law for both. This was a
mortification to the Jews
and taught them that it was their dedication to God
not their descent from Abraham
that entitled them to their privileges.
──
John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Exodus》
12 Chapter 12
Verse 1-2
The beginning of months.
A new start
I. The idea of a
new start is naturally attractive to all of us. We are fatigued
we are
dissatisfied
and justly so
with the time past of our lives. We long for a
gift of amnesty and oblivion.
II. There are
senses in which this is impossible. The continuity of life cannot be broken.
There is a continuity
a unity
an identity
which annihilation only could
destroy.
III. “The beginning
of months” is made so by an exodus. Redemption is the groundwork of the new
life. If there is in any of us a real desire for change
we must plant our feet
firmly on redemption.
IV. When we get out
of Egypt
we must remember that there is still Sinai in front
with its
thunderings and voices. We have to be schooled by processes not joyous but
grievous. These processes cannot be hurried
they must take time. Here we must
expect everything that is changeful
and unresting
and unreposeful
within as
without. But He who has promised will perform. He who has redeemed will save.
He who took charge will also bring through. (Dean Vaughan.)
The first month of the year
I. The first month
of the year is a good time for religious contemplation and devotion. Then the
flight of time
the events of life
and the mortality of man
may all furnish
topics for reflection. Then especially should the Passover be celebrated
the
blood of Christ anew be sprinkled on the soul; and in this spirit of trust in
the Saviour should the year begin.
II. The first month
of the year is eventful in the history of individual and collective life. How
many souls
awakened by the circumstances of life
have been led to the Cross
at this solemn period? What we are then
we are likely to remain throughout the
year; we then get an impulse for good or evil which will affect our moral
character to the end. The first month is the keynote of the year’s moral life.
It is the rough sketch of the soul’s life for the year. We should therefore
seek to observe it unto the Lord.
III. The first month
of the year is important in its relation to the commercial prospects of men.
The new year may mark the advent of new energy
or it may witness the
continuance of the old indolence. Lessons:
1. That the ordering of months and of years is of God.
2. That the first month must remind us of the advent of the Saviour.
3. That the first month must be consecrated by true devotion.
4. That the Church must pay some attention to the calendar of the
Christian year.
5. That God usually by His ministers makes known His mind to His
Church. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The beginning of months
I want to bring to your mind this fact
that
just as the people
of Israel when God gave them the Passover had a complete shifting and changing
of all their dates
and began their year on quite a different day
so when God
gives to His people to eat the spiritual passover there takes place in their
chronology a very wonderful change. Saved men and women date from the dawn of
their true life; not from their first birthday
but from the day whereto they
were born again of the Spirit of God
and entered into the knowledge and enjoyment
of spiritual things.
I. First
then
let us describe this remarkable event
which was henceforth to stand at the
head of the Jewish year
and
indeed
at the commencement of all Israelitish
chronology.
1. This event was an act of salvation by blood. The law demands
death--“The soul that sinneth it shall die.” Christ
my Lord
has died in my
stead: as it is written
“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the
tree.” Such a sacrifice is more than even the most rigorous law could demand. “Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us.” “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law
being made a curse for us.” Therefore do we sit securely within doors
desiring no guard without to drive away the destroyer; for
when God sees the
blood of Jesus He will pass over us.
2. Secondly
that night they received refreshment from the lamb.
Being saved by its blood
the believing households sat down and fed upon the
lamb. It was a solemn feast
a meal of mingled hope and mystery. Do you
remember when first you fed upon Christ
when your hungry spirit enjoyed the
first morsel of that food of the soul? It was dainty fare
was it not?
3. The third event was the purification of their houses from leaven
for that was to go in a most important way side by side with the sprinkling of
the blood and the eating of the lamb. You cannot feed on Christ and at the same
time hold a lie in your right hand by vain confidence in yourself
or by love
of sin. Self and sin must go. This month is the beginning of months
the first
month of the year to us
when the Spirit of truth purges out the spirit of
falsehood.
4. A fourth point in the Passover is not to be forgotten. On the
Passover night there came
as the result of the former things
a wonderful
glorious
and mighty deliverance. “This month
” etc.
II. Now
secondly
I want to mention the varieties of its recurrence among us at this day.
1. The first recurrense is of course on the personal salvation of
each one of us. The whole of this chapter was transacted in your heart and mine
when first we knew the Lord.
2. But then it happens again in a certain sense when the man’s house
is saved. Remember
this was a family business. A family begins to live in the
highest sense when
as a family
without exception
it has all been redeemed
all sprinkled with the blood
all made to feed on Jesus
all purged from sin
and all set at liberty to go out of the domains of sin
bound for the kingdom.
3. Extend the thought--it was not only a family ordinance
but it was
for all the tribes of Israel. There were many families
but in every house the
passover was sacrificed. Would it not be a grand thing if you that employ large
numbers of men should ever be able to gather all together and hopefully say
“I
trust that all these understand the sprinkling of the blood
and all feed upon
Christ.”
III. And now I come
to show in what light this date is to be regarded
if it has occurred to us in
the senses I have mentioned. Primarily
if it has occurred in the first sense
to us personally: what about it then?
1. Why the day in which we first knew the Saviour as the Paschal Lamb
should always be the most honourable day that has ever dawned upon us. Prize
the work of grace beyond all the treasures of Egypt.
2. This date is to be regarded as the beginning of life. Let your
conversion be the burial of the old existence
and as for that which follows
after
take care that you make it real life
worthy of the grace which has
quickened you.
3. Our life
beginning as it does at our spiritual passover
and at
our feeding upon Christ
we ought always to regard our conversion as a festival
and remember it with praise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The beginning of days
If you have no such spiritual new year’s day
now is a good time
to secure one. Says old Thomas Fuller: “Lord
I do discover a fallacy
whereby
I have long deceived myself
which is this: I have desired to begin my
amendment from my birthday
or from the first day of the year
or from some
eminent festival
that so my
repentance might bear some remarkable date. But when those days were come
I
have adjourned my amendment to some other time. Thus
whilst I could not agree
with myself when to start
I have almost lost the running of the race. I am
resolved thus to befool myself no longer. I see no day like to-day Grant
therefore
that to-day I may hear Thy voice. And if this day be remarkable in
itself for nothing else
give me to make it memorable in my soul; thereupon
by
Thy assistance
beginning the reformation of my life.” Let this day be the
beginning of months
the first month of the year to you. (H. C. Trumbull.)
The lessons of time
1. Time gives birth to actions.
2. God ordains that certain periods of life shall determine others (Luke 19:44).
3. There is an extension
of man’s trial. One chance more.
4. Procrastination ends destructively
Not only thief of time
but
also hardener of men’s hearts.
5. Time will end.
6. The issues of time will last for ever. (British Weekly.)
Turning over a new leaf
The time has come for turning over a new leaf. As the town clock
struck midnight of the last day of the old year divers and sundry resolutions
which had lain dormant a long time
waiting for the New Year to ring its
chimes
came forth into new life. They had long had an existence
these new
resolutions had
for in reality they are not new at all
but quite venerable;
for on the first of January of many a past year they have been brought to the
surface. And so the new leaf has been turned over
and on its virgin pages
these new resolutions have been written
and
alas! not inscribed for the first
time. Were they not written on the new leaf on the first of January
just a
year ago
and the New Year’s day before that
and can you not go back
and back
and back
till you come to your childhood and the time when you first began to
turn over a new leaf? These new leaves that we are always turning over--how
they accuse us! We write on the newly turned page that we will do many duties
which we have left undone--many duties in the home
the church--many duties to
our friends
our neighbours
duties to God and to ourselves; and how long is it before there
comes a little January gust and blows the leaf back again? and then all goes on
pretty much as before. The trouble with this matter of leaf-turning
of making
good resolutions only to break them
is twofold.
1. The effort is not made in good faith--it is more a whim than a
solemn purpose put into action
and so it is we have altogether too much regard
to times and seasons
and too little to the imperative demand of to-day.
Conscience is a court whose fiat is to be obeyed not on New Year’s day
or
Christmas
or on a birthday
but now--on the instant. A man who defers to
execute a right resolution till some particular day has arrived will be pretty
sure not to carry it out at all.
2. Then the second difficulty is that we rely too much upon our own
will and too little upon God’s help. No man can change his own nature or reform
himself. He can do much
if he but will
in the direction of carrying cut a
good resolution; but the real efficient reliance must be God. (Christian
Age.)
Verse 3-4
If the household be too little for the lamb.
Too little for the lamb
I. The text
reminds us of a primary privilege.
1. That each man of Israel ate the passover for himself; “every man
according to his eating.” So do we feed upon Jesus
each one as his appetite
capacity
and strength enable him to do.
2. But this same delicious fare should be enjoyed by all the
family--“a lamb for an house.”
Oh
that each of the parents and all the children and servants may be partakers
of Christ!
II. The text is
silent as to a certain contingency.
1. The lamb was never too little for the family; and assuredly the
Lord Jesus was never too little
even for the largest family
nor for the most sinful persons.
2. There is no reason to stint our prayers for fear we ask too much.
3. Nor to stay our labours because the Lord Jesus cannot give us
strength enough
or grace enough.
4. Nor to restrain our hopes of salvation for the whole family
because of some supposed narrowness in the purpose
provision
or willingness
of the Lord to bless.
III. The text
mentions a possibility
and provides for it.
1. One family is certainly too small a reward for Jesus--too little
for the Lamb.
2. One family is too little to render Him all the praise
worship
service
and love which He deserves.
3. One family is too little to do all the work of proclaiming the
Lamb of God
maintaining the truth
visiting the Church
winning the world. Therefore let us call in the neighbour
next unto our house.
IV. The whole
subject suggests thoughts upon neighbourly fellowship in the gospel.
1. It is good for individuals and families to grow out of
selfishness
and to seek the good of a wide circle.
2. It is a blessed thing when the centre of our society is “the
Lamb.”
3. Innumerable blessings already flow to us from the friendships
which have sprung out of our union in Jesus.
4. Our care for one another in Christ helps to realize the unity of
the one body
even as the common eating of the passover proclaimed and assisted
the solidarity of the people of Israel as one nation. This spiritual union is a
high privilege.
5. Thoroughly carried out
heaven will thus be foreshadowed upon
earth
for there love to Jesus and love to one another is found in every heart.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sharing religion with others
There are some things which can be shared with our neighbours
and
some which cannot
in the religious life. In securing the “means of grace” we
can go halves with our next-door neighbours; but not so in the great fact of
personal salvation. We can join with a neighbour in taking a pew in church
or
in getting a waggon to carry us to church
or in subscribing for a religious
paper--and paying for it too; but we can share no neighbour’s seat in heaven;
his team will never carry us there; the truths which benefit him from the
weekly paper do not
because of their gain to him
do us any good. And if our
nextdoor neighbour’s family is a household of faith
that doesn’t make ours so.
The members of his family may be saved and ours lost. Neighbourliness is
commanded and commended of God; but God doesn’t want you to leave your
salvation in the hands of your next-door neighbour. The blood above your
neighbour’s doorpost will not save your household from death. (H. C.
Trumbull.)
Verse 12
Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute Judgment.
The Lord God of gods
When
in Deuteronomy 10:17
Moses says
“The Lord
your God is God of gods
” and when
in Joshua 22:22
the people exclaim
“The
Lord God of gods
the Lord God of gods
He knoweth”--what do the words mean?
Are there other “gods” than Jehovah? It is likely this inquiry will come up in
the mind of almost any student of the Bible when he is reading the account of
the ten plagues. The question is hard to discuss; but two considerations can be
offered for help
and then we can reach the conclusion.
1. One is this: the entire record
unless a most elastic ingenuity of
exposition be employed
seems to say that the contests delineated in the
exciting chapters which record the deliverance from bondage and the
establishment of Israel was between supernatural powers
rather than between
ordinary human antagonists. Pharaoh accepted the gauntlet thrown down by Moses
as a defiance to his gods
and
with a courage worthy of a better cause
took
it up cheerfully in their name. So the conflict proceeds. The nations stand
silently and solemnly by while these tremendous antagonistic forces are
employed in the royal abodes
and are aroused only afterwards when the pressure
outside begins to be felt. The close of the narrative teaches us that they were
perfectly intelligent from the beginning in the conceptions they had of what
was going on. Pharaoh finally confesses openly the defeat of his gods when he
says humbly to Moses
“Go then
serve Jehovah; and bless me also!” And with a
like acknowledgment the Israelites ascribe all the glory of their deliverance
to God. They do not behave as if they owed even a decent gratitude to Moses or
Aaron.
2. We must put with this consideration a second: these so-called
“gods” of the Egyptians are spoken of constantly as if they were not mere dumb
idols
nor even mere ideal creations of human imagination; the language could
have hardly been stronger if it had meant to leave the impression that they
were living existences--beings possessed of life and intelligence and will and
some power (see Deuteronomy 32:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Psalms 66:4-5). For some mysterious
reason of His own
the sovereign Monarch of the universe has accepted an
antagonism between the powers of evil and the powers of good in this world; and
for nearly six thousand years Satan His creature has been waging battle openly
amid the sublime agencies of nature with Jesus Christ His Son. We feel as if we
must assume real antagonists when we read Moses’ own words in Numbers 33:4 : “The Egyptians buried all
their firstborn
which the Lord had smitten among them; upon their gods also
the Lord executed judgment.”
3. Thus
then
we reach our conclusion at which all along we have been
aiming. Were Pharaoh’s gods real gods? How was Jehovah the “God of gods”? And
what does our text mean
“Against all the gods of Egypt will I execute
judgment”? We ask you to recapitulate in your own minds the delineation made
concerning the three cycles of miracles grouped around the three personages who
stood on a certain occasion on the Mount of Transfiguration
Jesus Christ
Moses
and Elijah
each the bringer of a dispensation of revealed truth for
men’s salvation
the law
the prophets
and the gospel. It is sufficient to
say
here at the start
that this same onset of demoniacal forces is disclosed
in each of these cases
and a recognition made of the fact that the old fight
with Satan was renewed
the old fight which began in the Garden of Eden.
Demoniacal possession is found in these same three cycles of time
and nowhere
else in the history of the Old Testament or the New. This
then
is what is
intended when we say that this was a contest between Immanuel and Satan
a
positive resumption of the war from the instant when “the seed of the woman”
began to bruise the serpent’s head. So
when we return to the story we are
studying
we are bold to say that this whole contest between Moses and
Menephtah was really the sublime and awful conflict between Immanuel and Satan
for the slavery
on the one side
for the salvation
on the other
of the race of
human souls whom the Almighty had originally made in His own image. Several
most welcome explanations
therefore
meet us just here.
1. One is concerning the abrupt cessation of performances
on the
part of Pharaoh’s magicians
when they exclaimed
“This is the finger of God.”
They knew that the resistance was virtually over. We may even imagine that
these people had sometimes been surprised already at what actually seemed their
own power. Then there is a second explanation furnished by this disclosure.
2. We know now why this history has such an evangelical spirit
attributed to it when references are made in the New Testament. Read over
again
in the light of such an understanding of God’s true purpose
the story
which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives concerning Moses’ choice
in his early career; see how singular is the motive ascribed to him: He took
his stand as a believer in Jehovah Jesus as his Redeemer--“By faith Moses
”
etc. The New Testament writer identifies the two dispensations as the same.
Israel was the Church
Jehovah was Jesus; so Moses became a Christian.
3. In the same way the allusions made to the incidents of the later
history become intelligible. You recall the terrible trouble from the fiery
serpents; put with that now the exhortation of the apostle Paul: “Neither let
us tempt Christ
as some of them also tempted
and were destroyed of serpents.”
He here says that Christ was the one who was tempted in that murmuring; it was
Christ who was leading Israel through the wilderness. There never has been but
one Church
but one Leader of God’s elect
but one Redeemer
but one way in
which to be saved. (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
Past redemption point
On the bank of the Niagara River
where the rapids begin to swell
and swirl most desperately
preparatory to their final plunge
is a sign-board
which bears a most startling legend. “Past Redemption Point
” it reads. To read
it even when one feels the soil firm beneath his feet sends a shiver of horror
through one’s soul as he looks off upon the turbulent water and realizes the
full significance of the sign. The one who gets into those boiling rapids and
passes that point
cannot retrace his way
cannot pull to shore
cannot be
rescued by friends. Past redemption point! How many men despise the warnings
God sends
and pass the last stage at which they could arrest their evil way
and too late they find they have passed redemption point!
Verse 13
I will pass over you.
The Passover
Our interest in the Passover
as in most of the other institutions
of the Levitical economy
consists in its relationship to higher institutions
and to a more hallowed provision; it consists in the prefiguration by them of
our Surety and Saviour
who is at once the Surety and Saviour of universal man. There are three
points in the analogy to be considered.
I. We
like the
children of israel aforetime
are in circumstances of sorrow.
1. They were in bondage. We also have been brought under bondage to
sin
and our yoke is harder than theirs
for ours is heart-slavery
the iron has entered into our
soul.
2. The Israelites were in circumstances of peril. The Lord was about
to execute in their sight His strange work of judgment. The transgressions of
our race
the sins which we commit
expose us to consequences far more
imminent
and far more terrible.
II. For us
as for
the Children of Israel of old
there is a remedy provided. The great doctrine
of Atonement is here brought before us. By the blood of Jesus
seen by Divine
justice sprinkled upon our hearts
wrath is warded off from us
and everlasting
salvation is secured. The Cross is the meeting-place of God’s mercy for the
sinner.
III. As there is
such a remedy there can be no other. For us as for them there is but one way of
escape. “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved.” (W. M. Punshon
D. D.)
The blood of the Lamb
The blood of the slain lamb a type of that shed on Calvary.
1. The blood of salvation;
2. Of substitution;
3. Of sprinkling (useless unless applied);
4. Of separation. (D. Macmillan.)
Man’s deliverance
I. This method of
deliverance involved a sacrifice of innocent life.
II. This method of
deliverance transcended human invention.
III. This method of
deliverance proved completely efficient.
IV. This method of
deliverance for its application required practical trust in God.
V. This method of
deliverance formed a memorable era in the history of the Jews. (Homilist.)
The Passover
I. The Passover
celebrates a deliverance wrought in fulfilment of a Divine pledge. The baseness
of man does not make void the righteousness of God.
II. The Passover
festival was the beginning of a new and noble national life. It was the
initiatory rite of a peculiar people. An eminent historian
with no theological
interest
has compared it to the great feast at the beginning of the French
revolution
which was to inaugurate the new age of fraternity. The suggestion
is profound and pertinent. It was a national feast. It was to be a perpetual
witness to them that the Highest had seen the affliction of His people
and had
come down to deliver them; that He had established an intercourse with them
which was to endure from age to age. Its full meaning was not
and could not
then be taken in; but they did know that it was the bond of a sacred union
between the redeemed nation and Him who had redeemed it; that it was the sign
of their acceptance of Him as Ruler and King instead of the Egyptian prince.
During our own Civil War
when it had become evident on both sides that it was
to be a life-and-death struggle
a proclamation
called the Emancipation
Proclamation
was issued by the President
setting free some three or four
millions of slaves. That proclamation had no immediate effect whatever upon the
actual character of those whom it most concerned. It made them neither better
nor worse. A quarter-century has passed away
and multitudes of them are still
unchanged. They remain degraded
superstitious
ignorant; and yet you can say
to them what you could not say to their fathers. They are free men. The
Passover feast has been eaten. A life of liberty
with all its obligations and
opportunities
is upon them; upon them whether they will or no; upon them for
better or worse.
III. The Jewish
festival has become a Christian sacrament. The paschal lamb was not only to be
sacrificed; it was also to be eaten. Thus we are to keep the feast; thus we are
to show a continuous participation in His sacrificial life and death. Crucified
and risen with Him
we perpetuate the sacrifice in ourselves. (E. B. Mason
D. D.)
The paschal lamb
I. The paschal
lamb itself. A beautiful type of the Lord Jesus--the perfect
spotless Saviour.
II. Its connection
with
and application to
Israel.
1. A substitute (see Matthew 20:28). Christ suffered that we
might live with Him and in Him.
2. Blood to be applied
as well as shed. Exercise of faith.
3. Flesh to be eaten. Christ the daily food of the believer’s soul.
III. The manner in
which Israel was to eat of it.
1. With bitter herbs: repentance. When we feed on the Lamb of God
we
must not forget what we have been
and what we are. We must remember our
sins--worldliness
contentedness without God
impatience
and murmurings.
2. With unleavened bread (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
3. With loins girded. Travellers--pilgrims and strangers on earth.
Look on scenes and occupations of world as on those which belong to wilderness
not home. At end of journey stands a continuing city
the heavenly Jerusalem.
March on. (G. Wagner.)
The Passover
(A Good Friday Sermon):--
I. I ask you to
observe the provision which God made in the passover for the safety of his
people. The dykes of Holland
which shut out the roaring ocean from the fertile
fields
and the levees of the Mississippi guiding a mighty river in its course
have more than once been cut. But he who thus enchains the fierce spirit of the
flood is apt to find himself in the pathway of its devastation. So can no man
cut through the great principles of right and truth without opening sluice ways
of destruction for himself. Reckless injustice
cruel oppression
will sooner
or later overthrow the very man who has thus wronged his fellow. And nations
may equally beware of breaching the barriers of Divine judgment. The water will
find out the hiding-place of a guilty people. France reaps to-day the ripening
harvest of her martyred Albigenses and her bloody St. Bartholomew. The stroke
had fallen with relentless impartiality “from the firstborn of Pharaoh
who sat
on his throne
to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon.” There was no
distinction in the common and overwhelming calamity. So intertwined were Egypt
and Israel. The slave was dependent upon his master
as the vine is upon the
oak; but that very dependence only the more entirely involved the one in the
calamity of the other. When death was on the wing of the pestilence
no power
short of a miracle could separate the child of Jacob from the firstborn of
Egypt. But a miracle did God work
a miracle so peculiar in its character that
not one of all Israel’s thousands died with the sons of the oppressor. But
their deliverance was duo to no foresight of their own. The soldier who cuts
his way out of the encircling hosts of the enemy
the pilot who safely threads
the mazes of the dangerous channel
the statesman who foils the blows and
parries the thrusts of his country’s enemies on the battle-field of diplomatic
controversy
can each point to the skill and prudence with which his web of
plans was woven
and glory in his success. But when Israel was saved from the
destruction of Egypt’s firstborn
no one of all their mighty host could say
“I
saw the danger
and by my wisdom provided deliverance.” The whole method of
safety for God’s people was one that originated with God Himself. No man would
ever have thought of it
or
if he had
would have had any confidence in its
success. It is a lamb slain
through which the Lord would guam each household
of Israel from Egyptian condemnation. In one word
it was a sacrifice that
alone could stand between the firstborn and the destroyer. Oh
when the Lamb is
slain
when the sacrifice is made
when the Son of God hangs bleeding on the
Cross
wilt thou wait till the shadowy wing of the death-angel darkens thy
door
dreaming that thou hast some better way than God’s to save thy soul from
righteous condemnation?
II. What was the
Israelite to do to avail himself of the sacrifice which God had thus provided?
Perched on a grey crag
like the nest where the eagle rears her young
Quebec
looked down in proud security upon the St. Lawrence flowing to the sea. With
muffled oars and bated breath
beneath the mantle of midnight
an English army
floated with the ebb ti de down the stream
and lay hidden at the base of the
frowning heights. Inaccessible as the fortress seemed
a path had been
discovered. A way there unquestionably was by which the precipice could be
scaled. But to avail themselves of that approach
to make use of their
discovery
was a task so perilous
a venture so begirt with difficulty and
danger
that none but heroes ever would have tried. So did God reveal to the
Israelite a path by which he could save his household from the dread visitation
of the angel of death. The sacrifice was slain. The paschal lamb lay bleeding
its life away. But how was the Hebrew householder to use the sacrifice? Here
was the road to safety
but was it not some mighty effort
some gigantic
labour
some costly addition to the sacrifice which would make it defence in
the mysterious visitation of the fast-approaching night? How through this
pathway could the heights of security be gained? In one word
when God had done
His share in the provision of the offering
what was man to do to apply its
protection to himself? There
is a Divine answer to that question: “Ye shall take a bunch of hyssop
and dip
it into the blood that is in the basin
and strike the lintel and the two side-posts
with the blood; and the blood shall be for a token upon the houses where ye
are
and when I see the blood I will pass over you
and the plague shall not be
upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.” And this is all l No
mighty struggles to make the sacrifice more costly. No pompous rites to render
it more acceptable. Nothing in the world but sprinkling a few drops of the
blood upon the doorway of the dwelling. And even that was no work; it was
simply an acceptance of God’s work. It was precisely equivalent to saying
“I
cannot devise any way of defence to ward off the dread visitation from ray
dwelling: but I trust God’s way.” Oh ye who are waiting on the brink of
decision for Christ
I pray you hear this precious truth! I tell you
if you
only knew what a glorious thing it is that a lost sinner can be saved just by
accepting Jesus
you would not leave this church till His precious blood upon
your soul bore witness to your salvation. Twenty years ago a venturesome
whale-ship
driven from her course
found a deserted brig drifting among the
ice-floes of the polar sea. Deserted by her crew
her rudder guided by no human
hand
she had sailed
like the ship of the “Ancient Mariner
” into that silent
sea. Her gallant discoverers brought their prize through untold perils into
port. But the tidings spread that the staunch ship
which for well nigh two
years had sailed among the frozen horrors of the northern seas
without a
living soul within her open sides
was one of an English fleet that the British Government
had sent to rescue the heroic Franklin. Then it was that our country did a
beautiful
as well as noble act. Our government fitted up the vessel in every
minutest detail. From stem to stern her old aspect was restored. On the deck
in her cabin
not an article was lacking to render her complete. And then
with
grateful courtesy
the costly gift was sent across the ocean and given back
a
freewill offering to the Government of England. The glory of the deed belonged
to America alone. No British seaman had helped to save her. Not a farthing of
English money had aided in her restoration. Even in her voyage across the
Atlantic
the crew that manned
the officers that commanded
her were of our
own country’s navy. For England there remained nothing to do. She could only
accept the salvation of her vessel as a free and generous gift. Oh type of
God’s work for man; image of the simplicity of man’s accepting faith! Brother
your soul has long been like a ship abandoned to the seas. God’s mercy alone has
kept it so long afloat. Drifting amidst icebergs
tossed on a heaving sea
it
is a miracle of Providence that it has not sunk beneath the depths. And now God
would save it. He would rescue it from danger. He would restore its long-lost
peace
its heavenly hope
its shattered purity
and give it back to you
redeemed and for ever saved. But God will do it all. He will not give His glory
to another. He will not let you add one solitary item to redeeming love
or pay
one farthing for the blessings of salvation. There is absolutely nothing for
you to do hut to accept the gift. And this is faith. Oh take Him at His word! (Bp.
Cheney.)
The blood
I. First
then
the blood itself. In the case of the Israelites it was the blood of the paschal
lamb. In our case it is the blood of the Lamb of God
which taketh away the
sins of the world.
1. The blood of which I have solemnly to speak is
first of all
the blood of a
Divinely appointed victim. This indeed is one of the underlying ground-works of
the Christian’s hope. We can rely upon Jesus Christ’s acceptance by His Father
because His Father ordained Him to be our Saviour from before the foundation of
the world.
2. Christ Jesus
too
like the lamb
was not only a divinely
appointed victim
but He was spotless. Had there been one sin in Christ
He had
not been capable of being our Saviour; but He was without spot or
blemish--without original sin
without any practical transgression.
3. But some will say
“Whence has the blood of Christ such power to
save?” My reply is
not only because God appointed that blood
and because it
was the blood of an innocent and spotless being
but because Christ Himself was
God.
4. Once more; the blood of which we speak to-day
is blood once shed
for many for the remission of sin. The paschal lamb was killed every year; but
now Christ hath appeared to take away’ sin by the offering up of Himself
and
there is now no more mention of sin
for Christ once for all hath put away sin
by the offering of Himself. He is a complete Saviour
full of grace for an
empty sinner.
5. And yet I must add one more thought
and then leave this point.
The blood of Jesus Christ is blood that hath been accepted.
II. The efficacy of
this blood. “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”
1. The blood of Christ hath such a Divine power to save
that nothing
but it can ever save the soul.
2. This blood is not simply the only thing that can save
but it must
save alone. Put anything with the blood of Christ
and you are lost; trust to
anything else with this
and you perish.
3. Yet again we may say of the blood of Christ
it is all-sufficient.
There is no case which the blood of Christ cannot meet; there is no sin which
it cannot wash away.
4. The blood of Christ saves surely. If we have that blood upon us we
must be saved
or else we are to suppose a God unfaithful and a God unkind; in
fact
a God transformed from everything that is God-like into everything that
is base.
5. And yet again
he that hath this blood sprinkled upon him is saved
completely. Not the hair of the head of an Israelite was disturbed by the
destroying angel. They were completely saved
so he that believeth in the blood
is saved from all things.
III. The one
condition. “What
” says one
“do you preach a conditional salvation?” Yes
I
do
there is the one condition. “Where I seethe blood I will pass over you.”
What a blessed condition! it does not say
when you see the blood
but
when I see it. Thine eye of faith may be so dim
that thou canst not see the
blood of Christ. Ay
but God’s eye is not dim; He can see it
yea
He must see
it; for Christ in heaven is always presenting His blood before His Father’s
face.
IV. And now
lastly
what is the lesson? The lesson of the text is to the Christian this:
Christian
take care that thou dost always remember
that nothing but the blood
of Christ can save thee. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The sacred love-token
I. “The blood
shall be to you for a token”--A distinguishing token. A bloodless gospel is a
lifeless gospel.
1. Our sin deserves death.
2. We believe in substitution. Christ died
“ the just for the
unjust.”
3. We believe that we died in Jesus.
4. Believing this
we next come to the conclusion that we are safe.
II. The blood was
an assuring token.
1. The token of suffering.
2. Death.
III. A most
significant token.
1. Redemption.
2. The Lord’s property.
3. Acceptance.
4. Perfect safety.
IV. A love-token.
1. Ancient love.
2. Intense love.
3. Mighty love.
4. Wise all-seeing love.
5. Unlimited love.
V. A recognition
token.
1. The man who has this token is known to the angels as one of the
heirs of salvation to whom they minister.
2. The devil also knows that mark
and
as soon as he sees it
he
begins to assail the man who bears it
seeking in all sorts of ways to destroy
him.
3. This blood-mark is known among the saints themselves
and has a
wonderful power for creating and fostering mutual love.
4. Best of all
the Lord knows this token too. A Primitive Methodist
brother
when he was in a meeting where a friend could not pray
cried out
“Plead the blood
brother!” and the advice was wise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The institution of the Passover
I. The
circumstances under which the Passover was instituted.
1. It was instituted under perilous circumstances.
2. It was instituted under exceptional circumstances.
3. It was instituted under painful circumstances. And so the Cross of
Christ was instituted under circumstances morally dangerous
morally
exceptional
and morally painful
but under circumstances which rendered it
most welcome to the true Israel.
II. The proceedings
by which the Passover was characterised.
1. A lamb was slain in the houses of the Israelites.
2. The blood of the Lamb thus slain was sprinkled on the upper
door-post of the houses of the Israelites.
3. The slain lamb was eaten by the Israelites in an attitude of pilgrimage
and haste. And so the soul must appropriate Christ; it must cultivate an
attitude of moral haste
and it must be mindful of its pilgrim condition
if it
is to be saved by Him.
III. The results by
which the Passover was followed.
1. After the celebration of the Passover the Israelites were safe.
2. They were free.
3. They were joyous.
Lessons:
1. That every household should have an interest in the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world.
2. That to experience the saving benefit of Christ’s death the soul
must personally receive Him.
3. That Christ as dying is the only hope of the soul.
4. That Christ died for all. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
The Passover illustrative of atoning work of Christ
I. In the victim
it provides (John 1:29).
II. In the
sacrifice it requires. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
III. In the duty it
enjoins (Exodus 12:7). The blood of Christ is the
only protection of the soul
and must be sprinkled as well as shed (Romans 5:11). The soul must make a
personal appropriation of Christ. To know Christ will profit little. We must
feast on Him by
faith.
IV. In the spirit
it demands (Exodus 12:22). The bunch of hyssop
signifies faith and humility. David said
“Wash me with hyssop
and I shall be
clean” (Psalms 51:7). Hyssop is a lowly herb
growing in rocky places. In the reception of Christ the soul must be humble.
1. The paschal lamb was also to be eaten with unleavened bread and
with bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8). Here we have shadowed forth
the need of repentance and sincerity. And if the soul is to receive Christ
it
must be with a contrite heart and with a deep sense of demerit.
2. The paschal lamb was to be eaten in the attitude of haste (Exodus 12:11). The loins must be girded
the feet must be shod
the hands must hold the staff. The redeemed soul must
sit loose to earthly things. The good are pilgrims in the world; they must be
ready to go to Canaan.
V. In the peril it
averts. (Exodus 12:13). An emblem of the dangers
averted from men by a believing interest in the atonement of Jesus Christ. They
are delivered from the power of the second death. They escape the stroke of the
destroying angel. Their safety is welcome and happy.
VI. In the extent
it contemplates. By a proper observance of the Passover all Israel would be
preserved from the blow of the destroying angel
not one soul excepted. And so
by application to the atonement of Jesus Christ the whole world may receive an
eternal salvation
from the awful penalties of sin. Lessons:
1. That Christ crucified is the only hope of moral safety.
2. That Christ appropriated is the only refuge of the soul.
3. That Christ must be received by repentance and faith. (J. S.
Exell
M. A.)
The blood-marked house
The grand central truth of all the objective truths here is
shadowed forth in that blood of the spotless lamb shed and sprinkled on the
door-posts. It has a deep
mysterious meaning
and finds its interpretation in
the history of Calvary and the Cross
far onward yet
even fifteen hundred
years
in the history. The blood-marked house is but representative of every
soul tenement on earth
the dweller in which--made alive to the impending doom
by the voice that cries from Sinai
“Whosoever sinneth
him will I blot out
from My book
” and by the voice crying from the depths within--hath fled from
under the dark thundercloud of wrath
to Him who was lifted up on the Cross.
This blood is not only the central idea of this
but of all the revelations of
God. The whole gospel
is
in fact
summed up just here--“When I see the blood
I will pass over.” Blood! blood! this is the one cry of the gospel--the Alpha
and the Omega of the gospel. All hope of the Divine favour--all strength to
resist and conquer sin--all power of a holy life comes from this blood. Is man
redeemed? It is because “we have redemption through His blood.” Are any
ransomed from sin? “Not by corruptible ransom of silver and gold” are they
purchased
“but by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot.” Are
these justified? “Being justified by His blood.” Are these cleansed and made
holy? “His blood cleanseth from all sin.” Are they
as strangers and wanderers
from God
restored? “Ye who sometimes were afar off are now made nigh by the
blood of Christ.” Have they access to the Father’s presence in prayer? It is
because the High Priest “hath gone before” sprinkling the blood. Are they
arrayed in spotless robes to appear at the court of the Great King? “They have
washed
etc.
in the blood of the Lamb.” Are sinners cast off at last to
eternal death? It is because “they have trampled under foot the blood of the
Son of God.” Thus in the gospel revelation
all mercy
compassion
and grace of
God have their ground in that blood. All conviction of sin
all holy desire in
the soul
as well as all hope and trust in the Holy Ghost
come from that
blood. (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
Christ our Passover
Let us for once use the story as an illustration of evangelical
faith as an instrument in attaining salvation under the gospel. In its analysis
we are all agreed that saving faith has three elements--knowledge
assent
and
trust. Now
we study these in turn.
I. In the first
place
the security of the Children of Israel on that awful night lay partly in
the intelligent knowledge they possessed of the prescribed means of escape from
the destroying angel. Four things were taught them--
1. It was not the announcement of Moses which made this blood of a
slain lamb the sign of deliverance from the plague
but the appointment of God
Himself. The essential truth taught here is
that the crucifixion of Christ had
no inherent value in itself which could atone for sin; it was the covenant of
redemption that gave it its value.
2. It was not the shedding of the lamb’s blood which should avail to
save them
but the sprinkling of it on the door. Every soul must accept the
atonement on God’s terms.
3. It was not consciousness of security within
but evidence of
obedience without
which would settle the fact of deliverance in every
instance. It ought to be a help to sinners to know that God does not go over
the past life of those who come to Him
as if on inquisition after their
iniquities great or small
when once they plead the merits of His Son as their
Redeemer. The vilest become clean in His sight when Christ is wholly accepted.
The angel of Divine justice looks only upon the marks which show obedience and
substitution.
4. It was reserved to God Himself to judge of the evidence of true
and believing surrender to His commands. “When I see the blood
I will pass
over you.”
II. These four
things were taught to the people on that remembered night
and constituted
their necessary intelligence; from this it is easy to pass on and inquire after
the second element of saving faith
assent
illustrated here in the story.
1. See how such a conception rebukes a feeling of indifference in the
heart of any sinner.
2. See how this history rebukes a captious spirit making petulant
objection to the sovereignty of God.
3. See how this incident rebukes the mistake of trying to be a
Christian out of sight. No one is
wise in attempting to obey God in secret
when it is written down
plainly that part of the command is that we obey Him in public. So the
Scripture says. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
4. See how this history rebukes all delay in the duty of obeying God.
What if the Israelites one after another put off the preparation of the lamb
for the Passover? What good was there in waiting? How strange it would have
been for any one to say
“I want more conviction
” or for any one to plead
“I
am not really so badly off as this assumes”; or for one to say
“My neighbours
are so inconsistent that I cannot endure them” 1 If a duty is to be done
why
does not each man do his duty now? This is what is meant by assent as an
element of saving faith.
III. There remains
only the third element of faith mentioned in the beginning--trust. Think of
that family just the half-hour before midnight. The lamb lies there; the basin
with its bunch of hyssop stained in it is close beside; the doorway is wet with
the blood. They have done all their duty just as God bade them; that was all
they could do. Now they wait; that waiting is trust--the trust we are talking
about. It is the feeling within one’s heart which says
“Thus I have tried to
do honestly all that the Lord asked at my hands; He told me to bend my will
make my prayer
take my Saviour
and after that leave all the rest to Him;
there now I stand and wait.” (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
The Egyptian and the Israelite
I. In the history
of the Exodus
Egypt and Israel
the opposed nationalities
represent two
different estates of the human life--the earthly and the spiritual. These opposite
estates are presented in eternal contrast throughout the pages of Holy Writ. In
the Revelation of St. John the Divine the mystical Babylon represents that
earthly
perishable
debased life which is here represented by Egypt; and the
everlasting destiny of the spiritual life is represented by the New Jerusalem.
The same antithesis is expressed by St. Paul in the fifteenth chapter of his
First Epistle to the Corinthians. The apostle contrasts the earthly and the
spiritual in the forms of the personal human life
out of which the national
and the civil life have their origin: “There is a natural body
and there is a
spiritual body.” So also in his Epistle to the Ephesians
the opposed states of
life typified by Egypt and Israel
Babylon and New Jerusalem
derived from the
first Adam and the Second Adam
are contrasted in the words
“That ye put off
concerning the former conversation the old man
which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put
on the new man
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
The history of the Exodus does not merely narrate facts that occurred in a
bygone
distant age. It is also an ever-contemporary history of the struggle of
human life going on in every age. The slavery
oppression
debasement
and
misery of Israel in Egypt represent to us the bondage
the discontent
and
unrest of the human spirit enchained
degraded
and debased by the forces of
the carnal and worldly life. The lusts and the passions that goad the human being
into the debasing works of vice are task-masters that afflict with sore
burdens. Man’s eternal inability to find rest and blessedness in the slavery of
the sensual and worldly life
is expressed in the words
“The Children of
Israel sighed by reason of the bondage
and they cried
and their cry came up
unto God
by reason of their bondage.” The march out of the Egyptian bondage
towards the confines of the land flowing with milk and honey
in order to stand
before the Lord in “the mountain of His inheritance
” is the great historical
parable
composed in the providence of God to represent the progress of the
human soul out of the sensual life into the spiritual--out of the low life of
the earthly level into the communion of the most high life of God. The Divine
voice of the Eternal Love
speaking through the Church
is for ever summoning
man to travel towards the land of nobleness and freedom: “When Israel was a
child then I loved him
and called My son out of Egypt.” The means which God
employed to relax the grasp of the tyrant
are the same which He still employs
from age to age. The human soul
enslaved by the overmastering forces of the
flesh and the world
cannot escape from its bondage without the aid of a power
from above. How does God aid the soul to break its chains? He sends trials
sorrows
sicknesses
disappointments. The plagues are not sent in vain. In the
hour of each visitation the tyrant grasp of the flesh and of the world upon the
spiritual will is weakened
and the claims of spiritual truth are acknowledged.
Old habits are not broken by a single chastening. This passage describes
with
exact spiritual accuracy
the nature of the final visitation that carries
conviction to the oft-hardened
unyielding soul. What
then
are the leading
features of the visitation as here set before us? The manifestation of God’s
presence; the gloom of a night unlit
save by the flashes of the angelic sword;
the slaughter of Egypt’s best and choicest lives: the exposure of the vanity
and weakness of Egypt’s creature gods. The all-pervading presence of God was
now to be realized in the Egyptian kingdom
according to the words
“I will
pass through the land of Egypt.” These words express the truth that God was
about to compel those who had been living “without God in the world” to realize
the power and majesty of His presence. The godless man
living through long
years under the government of hard
tyrannical
untrained self-will
ignores
the presence of God: “The wicked
through the pride of his countenance
will not
seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.” When man has lived long
without God in the world
lived the sensual
worldly life of Egypt
what power
can enable him to realize the presence of the Invisible Lord
and to recognize
in the passing hours the form of His Majesty? Nothing less than some
overpowering shock that shakes to its very foundations the fabric of his
life-habits
and convulses all the recesses of his being. Such a convulsion is
here represented in the words
“I will pass through the land of Egypt this
night.” The times in which God reveals the terrors of His presence to the
sensual
worldly natures
are times of darkness. To the children of Egypt the
countenance of God comes in the night of trouble
sickness
and dissolution. In
the bright day of health
activity
and wealth
the Egyptian soul realizes not
the nearness of God. This night is for ever falling upon the land of Egypt. The
prospects of the sensual worldly life are for ever subject to the coming of the
darkness. There is not a household in all the land of Egypt that does not
sooner or later
feel the growing darkness of the night of trial settling upon
it. But another element in the power of the visitation that carries conviction
is the destruction of “the firstborn.” In Holy Writ this expression has a
secondary and wider significance. It is used to denote all that is foremost in
value and strength. Hence the destruction of all the firstborn of Egypt
represents the eternal truth
that the choicest and strongest existences of the
earthly and natural life are doomed to change and dissolution. The day of
visitation is also a day in which the powerlessness of the Egyptian gods is
demonstrated: “Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.” The men
of the world and the men of the flesh exalt some of the creatures into the
throne that should be occupied by God. Thus does God for ever work out the
emancipation of chosen souls. If the natural life were for ever undarkened by
affliction; unchastened by bereavement; unrebuked by the overthrow of its
idols
then the human spirit would never escape out of the tyrannous bondage of
sensuality and gross worldliness
never rise into the mountain of God’s
inheritance.
II. The Israelite
lives are saved from the power of the destroyer. In the hour when the plagues
oppressed the life of Egypt
Israel was delivered from the destroying power of
the visitation: “I will pass over you
and the plague shall not be upon you to
destroy you.” Although placed in the midst of the same objective circumstances
Israel and Egypt realized different effects from them. The land in which both
sojourned was the same land; but for one people it was a land overrun by the
plague of darkness at the very hour when the other people walked in the light.
This miracle
accomplished historically in the contrasted destinies of the two
typical nations
is repeated spiritually in the experience of all the souls
that bear in themselves the two different types of human character
the earthly
image of Egypt and the spiritual image of Israel. The land of our sojourning is
still subject to the plague of darkness. For instance
the great mystery of
human suffering is a problem which casts abroad a “darkness which may be felt.”
Why do pain
want
and agony exist? To the sensual and worldly man the question
is one for which no answer is to be feared. As the darkness of Egypt is for
ever recurring
so also is the light of Israel. The very same trials which are
inexplicably gloomy to the unspiritual man
are intelligible in their purpose
and full of light to the Christian soul. To the question
What is the purpose
of suffering? he is taught to answer
that pains and agonies are means of
spiritual discipline for perfecting strength and beauty of character. The
Eternal Light of the world was shining in the Divine-human soul of Jesus
Christ
at the very hour when He voluntarily passed under the visitation of the
power of darkness
as the
Captain of our salvation
to be made perfect by suffering. So for the members
of His Body
the souls united to Him
the promise is fulfilled: “ He that
followeth Me shall not walk in darkness
but shall have the light of life.” As
the hour which was dark to the Egyptian was bright to the Israelite
so the
sword that smote the firstborn of the earthly race passed by the children of
the chosen. This miracle
also
is for ever repeated. But for the Christian
the “firstborn
” the chief
most cherished object of His being
is the hidden
Divine life of Christ in the soul. In the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus
we behold the fulfilment o! that eternal spiritual law
which gives safety to
the firstborn of Israel. For us men and for our redemption He mortified the
natural life
and sacrificed it upon the cross. To the earthly soul
in that
self-sacrifice unto death the God man seemed to have yielded the chief
treasure
the “firstborn object of preservation
to the destroying sword. But
on the morning of the third day
it became manifest that the true Firstborn was
not the life laid down upon the Cross
but the risen life that had survived the
sword of the Destroying Angel in the night of Calvary
and come forth in safety
and triumph out of the hour of gloom
and out of the pains of death
“because
it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” So also in all the living
members of Christ this destiny is for ever being accomplished anew. The
Christian never loses his cherished treasure
the “ firstborn” of his heart.
Why? Because in the voluntary self-sacrifice of his own natural will he has
given up the natural earthly “firstborn
” in order to receive him again in a
risen
restored form
ensured against the destroying sword. He who belongs to
the moral commonwealth of Egypt
and knows no higher laws in the regulation of
his inward life than those of natural flesh and blood
will lose the dearest
firstborn of his being. He `who is enrolled in the commonwealth of Israel
as a
living member of Christ
having inscribed on his heart the laws of the
spiritual kingdom
has received that “firstborn” of the Eternal Life
who will
be found unscathed in the darker hour “when the Destroying Angel passes through
the land: “He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” The plague can
only be escaped by the spiritual franchise of Israel. They who give their
hearts to the external treasures of the sensual and temporal life
will find
their firstborn smitten down in the day of visitation.
II. The token of
the covenant that marks the habitations of Israel. “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.” The Destroying Angel
according to the eternal order of God
passed
harmlessly by the blood-sprinkled houses
and was not authorized to use His
sword against the lives of any that presented that token. Throughout Holy Writ
the saving efficacy of bloodshed in sacrifice according to God’s commandment is
declared. “Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without
shedding of blood is no remission.” So in this passage
the power that redeems
human nature from slavery and ruin is represented as dwelling in the blood:
“When I see the blood I will pass over you.” But let us ask again
What is the
connection between salvation through blood and the mystery of love? The hidden
attribute of love can only be communicated to man by outward expression. The
true expression of love is sacrifice. The most precious sacrifice expresses the
strongest love. In order to give expression to infinite love
a sacrifice of
infinite value was required. Man knows of no treasure equal in value to the
gift of life. “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” Thus the shedding of the
Divine-human blood was the expression of that love which “is the fulfilment of
the law.” Therefore the power that redeems man from Egypt
and neutralizes all
the influences that tend to debase and enslave his nature
is the power of
Divine Love working in his being through the presence of the Holy Spirit
that
came into humanity as the consequence of that infinite self-sacrifice on
Calvary of Him
concerning whom the appointed witness testified
“Behold the
Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world.” But we must bear in mind
that the blood of the sacrificed life was sprinkled upon the habitations of
Israel. What is the truth that we are to learn from that? The power of the
Divine Love must influence the forms of our earthly human life. The means of
grace in the Church are ordained for the purpose of bringing us under the
saving power of the Cross of Christ. The highest of these means is the Holy
Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. We must live the life of earnest
Christian activity: “Thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded.” We must
live in the desire of spiritual progress
earnestly preparing ourselves “to
walk henceforth in His most holy ways.” We must try to live above the world
in
the consciousness that we are hastening on towards another scene of existence:
“Ye shall eat it in haste.” If we are crucified with Christ
and living the
risen life in Him
the tokens of the saving power will be evident in all the
habits of our being. The signs of the grace of God that bringeth salvation are
for ever the same. They who are marked by them “live soberly
righteously
and
godly in this present world.” The sobriety that enables us to control our own
inward life
is one of the effects of the atoning blood. The sensual
the
proud
the self-indulgent man has in the character of his life no sign of the
spirit of self-sacrifice. (H. T. Edwards
M. A.)
Christ
our Passover
I. First of all
the need for the blood. And upon this we need to be very earnest
and to have a
very clear conception. We must not put it on one side
as being a minor
consideration. In that time
when Jehovah shall make an inquisition for sin
and shall search out iniquity
and shall set secret sins in the light of His
countenance
then we shall feel
if we do not feel now
that there is a
needs-be for the blood of Jesus Christ. But
brethren
we need to keep this
before us. But think not that in the last day it will be as at this time--that
each household shall give its contribution in redemption of its firstborn.
Think not that the judgment as to come to households or to families. Be very
clear upon that point: it is to come to you; and every one must give an account
of himself unto his God.
II. Now I pass on
with a joyous step to the next point--the nature of the blood. Notice here what
our figure implies
by teaching
first
wherein is the efficacy of the blood;
and
secondly
wherein it is not.
1. You will see that the great efficacy of this blood is that it is
the blood--not any blood
but the appointed blood. Supposing any one had been
so foolish
on that day to which our text refers
as to say
“I will not
sprinkle the lamb’s blood
but the bullock’s
or some other animal’s blood
on
the door-post”--what would have been the result? It would not have been the
appointed blood that was to save. The efficacy of the blood was that it was
appointed. Jesus Christ came not of Himself
but was sent by His Father. I hear
some one say
“How shall I be sure that God will accept the blood of Christ?”
Why
He hath appointed it
and surely if it is His own appointing He will not
disown what He hath done Himself; and if He hath appointed the blood to be the
means whereby you are to be passed over
rest assured that what He hath fixed
He will stand to.
2. And then
again
you will perceive that from this Lamb’s blood
there is an idea of innocence and of purity. Christ stood not only the innocent
Man
but He stood the righteous Man--having lived a life of righteousness
and
having wrought in His own flesh and blood a righteousness such as the world
hath never seen
and never shall see the like again. We therefore glory this
night in the purity of the blood of Jesus Christ.
3. Then
too
you will see that this blood was substitutionary blood.
It was blood that had been shed in the place and stead of the family upon whose
door-post it was put. Here thou canst see
if Christ died for thee
God
in
justice
cannot demand the victim twice
the offering twice--first of all thy
substitute
and then thee. That were injustice. He hath received the offering
at the hands of the substitute
and therefore thou canst say there is no
condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh
but
after the Spirit. These are the three things in which the type agrees with the
antitype. Now we pass to something in which they differ. The type was the blood
of a lamb
but He who comes is the blood of a man. Any one who has ever
seriously thought upon the subject must have discovered what the apostle Peter
so clearly revealed afterwards
that it is impossible for the blood of bulls or
of goats to take away sin. But when we come to behold the blood of the perfect
Man
then we see that there is something which can remove sin. The blood of
bulls and goats could not do it; but the blood of God’s own Son in human flesh
can do it. And now to that which
after all
is the leading characteristic of
this blood
by which we expect to be passed over. It is Divine in its nature
or rather Divine in its value. This
then
is the nature of the
blood--appointed by God the Father
perfectly pure
substituted for us
blood of man with the
value of Deity--that is the nature of the blood
seeing which
God says He will
pass us over.
III. Then
thirdly
we come to the application of that blood. Yes
I allow that that blood was
applied by the man to the door-post
but it was only so applied as he was
influenced by a solemn power. It was done by the man himself for the family--I
mean the head of the household representing the household--but that was because
he was influenced so to do
by sovereign power and sovereign grace. If ever you
are saved
you will not be saved in spite of yourself
but you will be saved by
being made willing in the day of His power. There is no getting out of human
responsibility. There is no getting away from the fact that there are Divine
commands. There are Divine promises
but they are linked with Divine commands.
There is the promise that will enable you to keep the command
but bear in mind
that you will have to put on the blood
though it will be by the sweet
constraint and sovereign power of grace.
IV. And now we must
pass on to the effect of the application of blood. We know how God passed
through and smote of every household of Egypt the firstborn
but not one died
in Israel. Oh
if you could have known the agony some doubtless were in as they
sat in their houses that night waiting for the midnight hour to strike--all
awake--strong and healthy--not one sick one was found amongst them--not having
retired to rest because they needed it not
but all feasting
and yet
listening--eating in haste because they wanted to listen as well as because
they wanted soon to depart--listening to the death-shrieks of those who were
smitten by the angel passing by--wondering whether the angel would come there
or not. At last the angel comes
and passes on. Oh
I could think of that till
it thrills through me! Did the angel sweep his wing through the air with a
perceptible sound
or was all silent till the shriek of death rose again? What
it was like I know not; but I think it must have been--oh
it must have been an
awful hour to the children of Israel
though it was a gladsome one to their
souls! Perhaps at that time there were anxious inquirers too
saying
“Oh
but we
cannot see the blood.” Ah
but the angel can; the promise is not
“When you
see the blood I will pass over you
” but
“When I see the blood.” And I dare
say there was somewhat of trembling and anxiety lest the blood should hot have
been put on rightly
or lest something should have been omitted. I have no
doubt they did not feel perfectly secure till the angel had passed by
and they
were safe
secure
and passed over. And so it happens with the Christian.
Though he may have believed in Christ there will come times when he will be
inclined to say
“I cannot see the blood
” and when he will be very downcast
lest death should come to him then
and he should not be quite secure. So then
there may be fear
and trembling
and doubting
and yet perfect security. But
still I am certain of this--God would have us to be sure of it and to trust
Him. And yet I feel this also
He would have us not to be high-minded
but to
fear; for He says
“Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Therefore the effect of the application of this blood is this--it is certain
you will be passed over
but at the same time you must not be too
high-minded--still trusting the blood--never forgetting that you may deceive yourself.
V. And now just to
put two or three possible cases where this blood shall not be applied. I go to
the entrance of a solitary Israelitish house
and see there are signs of
mourning about it. I enter
and I find the mother with the corpse of her firstborn
child upon her knees. She is crying
“O my son
my son
would God I had died
for thee
O Absalom
my son
my son!” I say
“How is it that death should have
smitten him down? Did you not put the blood upon the doorpost? No
you did not
or he would not have been killed. I see no blood upon the door-post--how is
this?” “Oh
I never heard of such a thing as blood--I did not know of it.”
“Oh!” says one
“did no man care for my soul? I never heard of the message of
mercy till it was too late
and we never were told that death was coming
nor
of salvation from the wrath to come
and we have perished for lack of
knowledge.” Now
I put it seriously to you
and after the manner of men
of
course: Are there not souls lost in the same way now? Are not the heathen
crying out perpetually? Does not a wail from the uttermost parts Of the earth
penetrate the air? Now
let us pass on to another cause. I come to another
house
and I find them wailing. I say
“How is this?” The head of the household
says
“Oh
my boy
my boy! I was passing by
and I heard an elder saying
something to the people; I went still further
and heard another elder of
Israel saying something to a great crowd; but I went on. I did not know what
was going on
for I had just bought a yoke of oxen
and was going to prove
them--or purchased a piece of land--and I was so occupied with these things
that I did not think to listen. My whole heart was engrossed and engaged upon
these things
and I did not think about the plague; and now see the result. Death
has come
and we have been struck down in this way.” Ah
how many of you will
be struck down in the same way! God’s servants have been preaching about faith
and the wrath to come; but you have been too busy to trouble your minds with
such things. I will suppose another case. I say
“How is this
my man? You are
perfectly aware of it
I know
because Elder So-and-so took care to tell you of
it.” “Yes
I am without excuse
I admit; but you know
sir
I thought to-morrow
would have done quite as well as to-day
and so I put it off till to-morrow
and so now my boy is gone.” Oh
delay not
for delays are
dangerous--procrastination is the thief of time. I could go on giving instances
of persons who are thus lost; let me give one more and I have done. I go to a
house and I see death there. “What!” I say
“another case of delusion? Whose is
the mistake here? I see the lamb
I believe you have been feasting--I see
preparations for the passover
and yet there is death. How is this? “Well
sir
” they reply
“we thought of everything
but we forgot the blood.” Ah
many
will have at the last day Christianity
but no Christ--they will have
everything but the blood. They will say
“Lord
Lord
” but He shall say
“I
never knew you; ye never knew Me; ye may have spoken My words
but you never
had Me in your hearts.” It is not Christianity in its most perfect form
or
most sanctimonious garb
or most earnest
zealous efforts before the world--it
is not Christianity at all that saves
but Jesus Christ
and Jesus Christ alone.
(J. A. Spurgeon.)
The Passover in Egypt and its typical significance
1. The first feature which strikes us is
that the rite was of Divine
appointment. This significant Hebrew ceremony would never have been thought of
by an Israelite himself. It would have been the last thing that would have
suggested itself
on the concluding night of bondage
to kill one of the
members of their flock and sprinkle door-post and lintel with its blood. The
method of the great Divine Expiation for the sins of the world was pre-eminently
God’s devising. What human mind would ever have formulated such an idea as that
the Eternal would send to this apostate earth of ours the Prince of Life and
Lord of Glory
in order to effect
through a death of self-surrender and
suffering
the emancipation and final salvation of His people?
2. Let us note
next
the name and nature of the appointed victim--a
lamb. The animal of all others that seems to suggest the idea of innocence and
meekness. In the lion’s whelp
with all its playfulness
there is early
discerned the incipient fierceness of untamable years. It seems to us a poor
reason which some have given for the selection of the paschal offering
that it
was what could most readily be furnished by the shepherds of Goshen from their
herds. Let us see
rather
in this first simple element in the typical
significance
what the writer of an after age calls
“the meekness and
gentleness of Christ.”
3. As a further expansion of this thought
the selected paschal lamb
was to be “without blemish.” Plague-mark or disease or infirmity dare not
attach to it. No animal would be accepted with torn fleece or broken limb.
Christ was “a Lamb without blemish and without spot.” He “offered Himself
without spot to God.” As one flaw or vein in the marble fatally damages the
sculptor’s work; as one speck in the lens of microscope or telescope destroys
its use and demands a recasting; as one leak would inevitably submerge the
noblest vessel that ever rode the waters; so
one leak in the Mighty Ark of
Mercy would have been fatal to His qualifications as a ransom for the guilty.
Blessed be His name
the Lamb “slain for us” was “holy
harmless
undefiled
and separate from sinners.” What a host of witnesses conspired on earth to
testify to His immaculate purity!
4. The paschal lamb was not only without blemish
but “a male of the
first year”; that is to say
had attained its full growth. It was the choicest
of the fold. It was
in its lowly way
the type of absolute perfection. Behold
again
a yet additional attestation to the all-perfect Sacrifice! It surely
adds to the touching thought of His death
that it was just when the adorable
Saviour had attained all that was complete as the Ideal of humanity
that “He
was taken out of the land of the living.” The Heavenly Flower was cut down
not
when in early incipient bud
but in amplest blossom. The pure white Lily bowed
its head
not when the latent beauty was undeveloped
but when it had fully
revealed its “calyx of gold.” The Divine Tree of Life succumbed to the axe
not
in the early spring when its branches were unclothed and the fruit unformed;
neither in late autumn
with the leaves prematurely seared--but in the full
summer of its glory; when every bough was laden with verdure and hanging with
richest clusters. The magnificent Temple fell
not when half upreared
nor yet
when toil and suffering had left their lines and furrows on the gleaming
marble; but rather
just when the top stone had been brought forth with
shouting
and the cry arose
“Grace
grace unto it!”
5. The paschal lamb was separated from the flock and kept alive four
days. This formed a further Divine injunction
as you will find by reference to
the detailed instructions in the opening of the chapter from which our text is
taken (verses 3
6). Christ
as we have already seen
was designated for His
atoning work and sacrifice in the counsels of the Father from the foundation of
the world.
6. The paschal lamb--after being presented “on the fourteenth day of
the first month
at full moon
between the evenings”--was slain. Here is the
foundation truth of the gospel: “the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”
Yes
the “sprinkling”; for observe
that under the varying forms of observance
in earlier and later Jewish times
this expressive action was rigidly preserved.
Not enough for you or for me is the slaying of the Lamb: in other words
the
mere historical fact that the Divine-human Victim died. The Israelite might
have piled buttress on buttress
pyramid on pyramid
to effect exclusion. He
might have strengthened his dwelling with bars of brass and pillars of iron
lintels and door-posts of cunning workmanship. The Destroyer’s weapon would
have cleft them in sunder. “Neither is there salvation in any other.” The work
of Jesus must stand alone in all its solitary grandeur and sufficiency. “When I
see the blood”--“the blood
” says God--“I will pass over you.” The final
injunction to the Hebrews regarding their offering; viz.
that after the
carcass of the victim was “roast with fires
” it was to be eaten: the whole was
to be eaten
nothing was to be left. What
among others
is one great spiritual
lesson here inculcated? That it is not enough to rest satisfied with the
initial act of pardon and forgiveness through the blood of the Cross. Christ
must not only be looked to by simple faith
but in His own expressive but much
misunderstood and misinterpreted words and simile
“Verily
verily
I say unto
you
Except” (in a lofty
spiritual sense) “ye eat the flesh and drink the
blood of the Son of God
ye have no life in you.” (J. R. Macduff
D. D.)
The protecting blood
There is a legend that on that night of the Exodus a young Jewish
maiden--the firstborn of the family--was so troubled on her sick-bed that she
could not sleep. “Father
” she anxiously inquired
“are you sure that the blood
is there?” He replied that he had ordered it to be sprinkled on the lintel. The
restless girl will not be satisfied until her father has taken her up and
carried her to the door to see for herself; and lo! the blood is not there! The
order had been neglected
and before midnight the father makes haste to put on
his door the sacred token of protection. The legend may be false; but it
teaches a very weighty and solemn admonition to every sinful soul who may be
near eternity and is not yet sheltered under the atonement of Jesus Christ. (T.
L. Cuyler.)
Christ’s expiation
“In what way can the death of Christ
considered as a sacrifice of
expiation
be conceived to operate to the remission of sins?” Archbishop Magee
replies: “To this the Christian answer is
‘I know not
nor does it concern me
to know
in what manner the sacrifice of Christ is connected with the
forgiveness of sins; it is enough that this is declared by God to be the medium
through which my salvation is effected. I pretend not to dive into the counsels
of the Almighty. I submit to His wisdom.’” The blood as a remedy
A very useful lesson is taught in the following striking incident:
“One night I found
” says a minister
“at a meeting
two lads of sixteen years
of age sitting in a corner with their open Bibles. One had already been
conversing with me; I had noticed the other in an anxious state. ‘Well
Johnny
’ I said
‘what are you and George doing here?’ ‘I am trying to clear up
his doubts
’ said Johnny. ‘What does he doubt?’ ‘His interest in Christ’ ‘Well
what are you doing?’ ‘I am pointing him to the blood.’ ‘But is he not looking
there already?’ ‘Perhaps he is
but I’m telling him to look till it grows on
him.’” Ah
that is what we want; to look at the remedy till it so grows as to
annihilate guilt; to look at Christ and heaven till they so grow upon us as to
outshine and eclipse the world. To look at the pattern He has set us till it
grows in glory
and we grow through the power of the Spirit more “into the same
image”! (J. Cox.)
Blessed protection
On board a British man-of-war there was but one Bible among seven
hundred men. This belonged to a pious sailor who had made a good use of it. He
had read it to his comrades
and
by God’s blessings on his labours
a little
band of praying men was formed that numbered thirteen. One day this ship was
going into battle. Just before the fight began
these thirteen men met together
to spend a few moments in prayer. They committed themselves to God’s care
not
expecting to meet again in this world. Their ship was in the thickest of the
fight. All around them men were stricken down by death. Two of these men were
stationed with three others in charge of one of the guns. The other three men
were killed by a single cannon-ball
bat there in safety stood the two praying
men. They had agreed that when the battle was over those who might still be
alive should meet if possible. They met soon after
and what was their joy to
find the whole thirteen were there. Not one of them had even been wounded. What
a blessed shelter it was that protected those men of prayer! (R. Newton.)
Verse 14
A feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
Analogy between the Jewish Passover and the Lord’s Supper
I. The Jewish
institution was commemorative; so is the Lord’s Supper.
1. It was a “memorial” of a deliverance from the most cruel bondage.
2. It was a “memorial” of a deliverance from the most cruel bondage
by the sacrifice of an innocent victim.
3. It was a “memorial” of a deliverance wrought by the sovereign
compassion of God (Exodus 3:7-8).
II. The Jewish
institution was social; so is the Lord’s Supper.
1. Here all feel that they are in the same moral condition.
2. Here all feel that they are dependent on the same Redeemer for
salvation.
3. Here all feel that they are members of the same family and
destined for the same house.
III. The Jewish
institution was binding; so is the Lord’s Supper.
1. It is binding on all.
2. It is binding on all perpetually. (Homilist.)
The Passover
I. The preparation
for the Passover.
1. Divinely commanded.
2. The Passover a new era.
3. Details explicitly given.
II. The blood of
the Passover.
1. The disposition to be made of it.
2. The purpose.
III. Eating this
Passover. Its typical significance. Lessons:
1. The Old Testament seems typical of the New Testament.
2. Doctrine and practice vividly portrayed. (D. C. Hughes
M.
A.)
Eastertide memories
1. It is a day that reminds us of the deep sympathy of mind with nature. The
springtime of the year has many meanings for us all. The face of the earth is
renewed; and in imitation of it we renew our dress and the face of our homes.
And for thoughtful and sensitive minds
doubtless the lesson goes very deep and
very far; they feel the gentle hint that old dust and cobwebs should be swept
out of the mind
and that they should seek for a fresh stock of impressions to
carry the work of imagination cheerfully on.
2. We are reminded of our part in the lot of humanity. A long history
seems to close; a new one opens on us Easter Day. We derive the name of Easter
from an ancient heathen goddess
Ostera
worshipped by our ancestors. A
thousand years ago
her priestesses on Easter eve washed their faces in clear
springs: it was a kind of sacrament in her worship. Then
too
the Easter fires
were kindled on many a height
as the name Osterberg
which often occurs in
Germany
reminds us. The Easter water and the Easter fire had substantially one
tendency and one efficacy--to cleanse from evil
to drive away evil spirits
to
bring blessing to the hearth and home
to the fields and the toil of the
husbandman. How far and wide the notion of a purgation
in the most
comprehensive sense
of the doing away with the old and a new beginning
has
extended through the world! We may begin our inquiries in the East of London
where the Jews make a thorough cleansing of the house and of the utensils
against the Passover season. With the old leaven let malice and wickedness go
out of the heart
and let it recover its unleavened state of sincerity and
truth. Corresponding customs to those of the Jews are practised among peoples
in all parts of the world
and there is not a tribe of black or brown men from
whom we may not learn something edifying for ourselves. At a feast of
first-fruits of a tribe of North American Indians
they provide themselves with
new clothes
new pots and pans; they collect all their worn-out clothes and
other despicable things
sweep and cleanse their houses
squares
and the whole
town of their filth
which
with all the remaining grain and other old
provisions
they cast together into one common heap
and consume it with fire.
After having fasted for three days
all the fire in the town is extinguished.
During the fast they abstain from the gratification of every passion and
appetite whatever. A general amnesty is proclaimed; all malefactors may return
to their towns. On the fourth morning the high priest
by rubbing dry wood
together
produces new fire in the public square
whence every habitation in
the town is supplied with the new and pure flame. Then there is feasting and
rejoicing
and on the following days they receive visits from their friends of
neighbouring towns
who have in like manner purified and prepared themselves. A
man of genius
in describing these things
says
“I have scarcely heard of a
truer sacrament--i.e.
an outward and visible sign of an inward and
spiritual grace--than this
and I have no doubt that they were originally
inspired from heaven to do thus
though they have no Biblical record of the
revelation.”
3. But this feast reminds us of deeper things--of things that never
were
nor could be
learned from nature--of the hope of humanity
of triumph
over death. If we look at the imagery and traditions of the nations
there is
evidence of an overwhelming persuasion that the soul has a life distinct from
the body
and that the soul will live again. One strong belief was
when the
body was consumed on the funeral pyre
the human burden
as a Roman poet calls
it
was cast away
mortality ceased
and higher life began. The phoenix bird
which arose from out of the ashes
was one of the symbolic images in which
antiquity found this thought expressed. In another way we may see the same
belief forming the very basis of worship. And at the great feasts of the year
such as Eastertide
the first thing was to bring offerings to the spirits of
the departed
solemnly to commemorate them
and to unite with them in the
social feast. What made those high days so peculiarly solemn
was the thought
that the ancestral spirits had come back from the viewless regions to hold
communion with their living posterity
and to impart to them a fresh blessing.
And here
again
at the head of this belief
is something sweet and sound. If
we let the heart’s logic have its way with us
we shall hold that the life of
humanity is continuous and unbroken
and that they who have gathered with us in
the house of God in times gone by return from time to time to visit us in our
lingering exile from bliss
and
it maybe
secretly to inspire us to follow
their faith and to attain whither they have attained. (E. Johnson
M. A.)
The Passover
I. Obedience. Lamb
to be killed
prepared
eaten
None to be left till morning. Eaten in a certain
form and manner. Christ
the Lamb
slain for us
to be received as a whole. His
yoke
His cross
as well as His crown. Example. Redeemer. Righteousness.
II. Faith. More
reasonable that they should shed the blood of their enemies than of the lamb
and use the sword than the knife. Spreading fire and slaughter. More
reasonable
apparently
to help and trust themselves than confide in a word
spoken
and a few drops of blood on the door-post. Our faith
and Jesus the
Lamb.
III. Humiliation.
Eaten with bitter herbs. Penitential recollections. They prevented mere carnal
delight in the feast. Our bitter herbs: remembrance of sin; of our condition;
of our prospects
etc.
IV. Deliverance.
Last night in Egypt. The blood sprinkled. The destroying angel. Door of every
Israelite’s home opens
and the family comes out. The escape. Learn:
1. That God gives songs in the night. “In darkest shades
if Thou
appear.”
2. That Christ our Passover was slain for us (1 Corinthians 5:7).
3. That we should receive Him with all humility
obedience
and
faith.
4. That trusting in Him
we shall have a great deliverance. (J. C.
Gray.)
A laudable custom
Rev. Joseph Sortain
the eloquent Brighton preacher
was of
Huguenot extraction. He always observed the custom of his persecuted ancestors
of reading the twenty-third Psalm at family worship on Saturday evening. When
sometimes asked by guests why he had a special portion of Scripture for that
evening
he would reply
“It was the custom of my Huguenot forefathers
and I
wish to gain inspiration for my Sunday’s duties by the associations it calls
up.” (J. Tinling.)
Verses 15-19
The feast of unleavened bread.
The feast of unleavened bread; or
the ordinances of God
and the
manner in which they should be observed
The feast of unleavened bread was a distinct ordinance from the
Passover
though following immediately upon it. At this feast the Israelites
were to eat unleavened bread; probably to commemorate the fact that they had
left Egypt in such haste that they had no opportunity to leaven their dough
and were consequently obliged to eat unleavened cakes. It would also remind
them of the power of God in bringing them out of Egypt when they were without
provision for their journey
and it would teach them a lesson of trust in the
Divine providence. This feast was an ordinance of God. We observe in reference
to it--
I. That the
ordinances of God are clearly made known and enjoined upon man.
1. Divinely authorized.
2. Morally beneficial.
3. Wofully neglected.
This neglect is prevalent; it is fearful; it is inexcusable; it is
morally injurious; it will ultimately meet with its due punishment.
II. That the
ordinances of God are to be observed in a spirit and temper free from sin.
1. In a spirit free from hypocrisy.
2. In a spirit free from malice and bitterness.
3. The home-life must be in sympathy with God’s ordinances.
What we are at home we shall be in the ordinances of God. The
home-life and the ordinary worship are inseparable; they are part of the same
service
and must be pure.
III. That the
ordinances of God are to be observed with solemnity and propreity of moral
conduct and demeanor.
IV. That those who
profane the ordinances of God are unworthy of them
and should be denied the
privilege of them. “That soul shall be cut off from Israel.” Lessons:
1. That there are in connection with the Church of God many
ordinances to be observed by men.
2. That these ordinances should be observed with due solemnity and
appropriate conduct.
3. That neglect of these ordinances is disobedience to the command of
God. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
Verses 21-23
Strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood.
Three great truths taught by the Passover
I. The
universality of condemnation. Israelite and Egyptian are brought under one
common charge of guilt
and there they all stand
“condemned already.”
II. The great truth
of substitution. The lamb instead of the firstborn. “Behold the Lamb of God
”
etc.
III. The third truth
taught is appropriation. The Israelite would not have been safe if he had
merely killed the lamb; he had to sprinkle its blood on the lintel and on the
two side posts. When we repose our confidence in the Person of Christ
we have
taken the bunch of hyssop and dipped it in the blood
and from that moment we
are safe. (W. Hay Aitken
M. A.)
Christ
our Passover
I. The first thing
is this
that salvation then and now is freedom from impending doom. Let us
revive that essential idea of our most holy faith in all our hearts and minds.
The times greatly need it. As there hung over Egypt that night the awful threat
of God’s descending wrath
so let my soul and yours never forget there hangs
over this city the threat of impending vengeance. And just because of that
a
motive which worked that night upon the hearts of Israelites
and ought to work
upon our hearts now
was
and should be
the element and moving principle of
fear. Let me reassert this: let me iterate and reiterate it--that fear is a
legitimate motive in salvation. Perhaps the Israelites on that occasion were
immediately drawn by loving obedience to obey what God had spoken. If so
they
were different from you and me. I rather think that while some temperaments
would just quietly and unquestioningly yield whenever Moses declared the mind
and heart of God
as to what was coming of doom
and as to how salvation was to
be secured
others would question; others would be reluctant; others would be
very like ourselves. But we do hope that
no matter how they felt “rubbed the
wrong way” (if you will allow the familiar expression)
they had sense enough
whether drawn by love or driven by fear
to sprinkle that blood and get in
under its shelter in time
and stay there. Ah
yes
it is said to be
unphilosophical
that if you do not draw men with love
you will never drive
them by fear. Men are moved by fear every day. Why did you go and insure your
house last week? Was it not through fear? Why did you insure your life last
week
even though the doctor told you that there was nothing wrong with you?
Was it not from fear? Grand men
large broad-brewed men
are men who are moved
by fear. Methinks Noah was a grand
broad-brewed man
and “Noah
moved by fear
prepared him an ark for the saving of his house.” It was fear as well as love
that clenched every bolt in it. So never go away and boast
my friend
that you
have such a big intellect that fear will not move you. This is a real
legitimate element in salvation. God works upon it. He plays upon that
heart-string by His Word and by His Spirit. He did it then in that night in
Egypt.
II. Now
I should
like to say
further
re-stating some simple but essential elements of gospel
revelation regarding sin and salvation
that salvation was of God’s devising.
It was altogether a matter of revelation. Nothing was left to man but bare
obedience of mind and hand and foot. Mark that I do not say that God spoke
irrationally; I do not say that God simply came and overmastered them with
despotic tyrannical power
but I do say that God came forth out of His secret place
that memorable night
and Himself devised the plan of salvation. God Himself
devised such a plan that no soul needed to be lost if that soul simply believed
and obeyed. It was all of God
it was all of grace; so still.
III. I wish to say
further
that on this night of this divinely appointed salvation
when it was
received and obeyed
there were one or two things which would surely strike the
recipients
and those who were obedient to this heavenly revelation. “Draw out
a lamb
” says Moses
speaking for God
“draw out a lamb and kill it
and take
its blood and sprinkle it on the lintel and on the two side posts.” Every
Israelitish father who killed the lamb
not simply with a knife and with his
hand
but whose mind and heart were working behind the knife
must surely have
had this thought borne upon him--“If I am not to die
something is to die.”
Substitution. Oh
let me ring it out! “For me
for me
” yeas bound to ring in
his ears with every gurgling of that lapping blood. That again is the heart of
salvation
for you and for
me. If I am to go free
this innocent thing has to part with its very life’s
blood. “By His stripes we are healed.” Bless God for this substitutionary
salvation. Then this salvation on that night in Egypt
and this night for you and
me
was not only substitutionary
but another very simple idea I would like to
revive in your hearts and minds
and it is this: it was after all a matter of
simple obedience. “Take the blood.” It was not enough that it was sprinkled by
every Israelitish father or head of a household who represented them all. Every
Israelitish father had to take that bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood
and strike it on the lintel and pass in
he and his household
just as he was
told. And there is an element
therefore
in salvation that is illustrated
there. What is faith? It is a simple literal bowing of the soul in abject
obedience. And
again
it comes out
contrariwise
that the very essence of
unbelief now is not a want of understanding
but a want of obedience. There is
a moral taint in unbelief. Now
come away to another evening away down the
stream of time for centuries; and again it is becoming dark
and there is a
darkness deeper than the darkness of the darkening sky. The darkness and
blackness of sin
and of all time
are gathering round about that hill called
Calvary. Now
watch that Saviour Christ. See that innocent holy Man
holy as a
lamb
without blemish and without spot. See the soldier as he thrusts that
spear into His side
and out there come blood and water. And
remember this:
there is the last blood that shall ever be shed for human sins. “There
remaineth no more sacrifice for sin
but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour the adversaries.” “Take you a
bunch of hyssop
and strike the lintel and the two side posts.” God actually
condescending to tell a man how to sprinkle the blood! He left no loop-hole by
which a man might be lost if he wanted to be saved himself
and to save his
wife and his children. If lost
you will be inexcusable. What was the hyssop?
Well
so far as I can gather from Scripture
it was a very common plant. You
remember that when the range of Solomon’s botanical knowledge is being
indicated
it is said that Solomon spoke of trees from the hyssop that grows
out of the wall to the cedar that is in Lebanon. What a poor salvation if God
had said
“Take a sprig of cedar.” What an easy salvation it was when He said
“Take a bunch of hyssop”--that kind of coarse grass
I suppose
that would grow
out of any dyke-back--just like the grass that grew out of the thatch of your
mother’s house away in the country long ago--a thing so simple; do you not see
that everybody could get at it? Instinctively the father’s hand went for it
and used it. There is a something in the powers of your soul and mine that is
common and handy
and is continually in use in this work-a-day life of ours. It
is continually in use like the bunch of hyssop. And what is that? It is faith.
Believe me
faith is as common as the hyssop that sprang out of the wall. With
all the rack and ruin that sin has made it is here. Now
what you have to do is
this. Take that faith
that confidence that you are exercising in brother-man
and sister-woman every day--it is the very cement of society--society would
tumble into chaos without it--take that faith of yours and give it a new
direction. Give it an operation which it never had before. “Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.” Faith is common
natural
reasonable
sublime. You put it to its highest power
its loftiest use
when it is turned
to trust God in the word that He has spoken
and in the love that He has
displayed on Calvary.
IV. And the last
word I have to say is this-the last word in the text
“take the bunch of
hyssop
and dip it in the blood
and let none of you go out of the door of his
house until the morning.” I hear to-day
and so do you
about “development
”
and “growth”; and what we hear about them gets wearisome
does it not? There
was very little development that night. “Let none of you go out of the door of
his house until the morning.” Go in
and stay in
if you would be saved. That
is to say
there was to be no advance
and absolutely no development from the
simplicity of faith. That which they had begun to do saved them only as they
kept it up. Human nature is the same all the world over
whether you are in
Egypt or in London; and I can imagine a young Israelite
a young fellow just
like ourselves
full of flesh and blood
full of natural go and glow and
enthusiasm
feeling it a little irksome as the evening wore on
and as the
night darkened down; and feeling that it was rather an ignoble
inglorious
position to be huddled in there like sheep
with that word over them
“Let none
of you go out of the door of his house until the morning.” And to be saved in
this simple way by the blood-red mark which they did not see
but which
being
outside
could be seen by the Destroying Angel as He passed. And I should not
wonder
as the Israelites and the Egyptians were not separated one from
another
if the Egyptians were all round about the Israelites; and I should not
wonder if some young Egyptians came round about these blood-streaked houses and
cried
with scoffs and jokes
“Come out! Come out!” and laughed and said
“What
are you doing in there? There is no judgment. There was never such a fine night
in Egypt. Come out! Come out!” Was not that hard to bear? Is not that taunt in
our ears yet--“Come out
yon stupid believers!” And I can imagine a young
Israelite chafing and getting restless as the night wore on
and there came no
sign of this doom
and no sign of this judgment; I can imagine him shaking
himself
and saying
“I will assert my manhood. This may do for the old
people”; and he is going over to the door
but his father rises
and with a
voice like thunder says
“Unhand that door! Back for your life!” And he was
right if he did. He was right. The Egyptians might laugh that night
and the
young
restless
hot-headed Israelites might have a little trouble
but nobody
laughed in the morning. And you and I
children of faith
believers in God and
in God’s Christ who died for sin
just for a little while have to stand the
laugh
and I admit that it is against our pride. By the grace of God
and in
the obedience of faith
let me charge you
hold on
my brother
as you began.
Let us keep together
we who belong to “the household of faith.” How that
expression receives its illustration from this story. Let us keep together. Let
us encourage ourselves to stay in doors until the morning. Some of you
God
bless you
will not have long to wait. God bless all white and whitening heads
in this assembly; you will not have long to wait. “Now is the time of your
salvation nearer than when you believed.” For you the morning cometh. (J.
McNeill.)
Anxiety in reference to salvation
There is among the Hebrews a legend of two sisters who that night
had
with the rest of their household
gone into their dwellings. One of them
stood all ready to depart
and began quietly eating her portion of the roast
body of the lamb (a type of the soul feeding on Christ)
her mind at perfect
peace and rest. The other was walking about the dwelling
full of terrible fear
lest the Destroying Angel should penetrate therein. This one reproached her sister
for being so careless and confident
and finally asked her how it was that she
could be so full of assurance when the angel of death and judgment was abroad
in the land. The reply was
“Why
sister
the blood has been sprinkled; and we
have God’s word that when He sees the blood
He will pass over us. Now I have
no right to doubt God’s word. I believe He will keep His word. If I were in
doubt about the blood having been shed; or if I doubted either the integrity or
ability of God in connection with His word
I should be uneasy. But
as I do
not question the fact that the blood has been shed
and as I believe that God
will be true to His word
I cannot but be at peace.” They were both equally
safe; but one was at peace
while the other was not. Or
as we should say now:
one had assurance; and the other was full of doubts. But if the doubting one
had believed what God said
she could not have been in distress. It is even so
now. Those believers who make the finished work of Christ the ground of their
hope
and are resting simply and sincerely on His Word
are at peace; while
those who are trying to find peace in themselves
in their frames and feelings
are never at rest. It is the Blood of Jesus that makes us safe; it is the Word
of God concerning blood that makes us sure. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verse 24-25
Ye shall keep this service.
Celebration of the Passover
I. In this
incident we have a clear recognition of the principle of vicarious suffering.
It is seen in the birth of the infant
in the history of the family circle
in
the events of everyday life
but supremely in the Cross of Christ. In the Cross
of Christ it is seen in its highest embodiment
in its truest meaning
and in
its most glorious possibility. There is the innocent dying for the guilty
the
God-man suffering for the race.
II. In this
incident we have a clear recognition of the need of falling in with all the
requirements of the great scheme of salvation. The method whereby the
Israelites were to be protected from the stroke of the Destroying Angel was
Divinely originated
clearly revealed
and imperative in requirement. The
sinner must be saved in God’s way
and not after his own. He may reason about the
peculiarity of the method of salvation; be may think that other means will be
more effective to the end desired; but if he at last is found out of the Divine
way of safety
he will inevitably be lost. The blood of Christ sprinkled on the
heart is the only sign the Destroying Angel will recognize and regard as the
token of safety.
III. In this
incident we have a clear recognition of the fact that the Divine method of
salvation will avert the most awful peril. The trustful soul shall not be hurt
by the second death.
IV. In this
incident we have a clear recognition of the fact that the efficacy of the
Divine method of salvation should be associated with public religious
ordinances (Exodus 12:24).
V. In this
incident we have a clear recognition of the fact that the good should be able
to give an intelligent explanation of their moral safety (Exodus 12:27). (J. S. Exell
M.
A.)
The need of an intelligent apprehension of the service and worship
of God
I. It is necessary
in order to the true performance of religious service and worship.
II. It is necessary
in order to the true performance of parental duty and instruction.
III. It is necessary
in order to refute and silence the sceptical reasonings of men. (J.
S. Exell
M. A.)
The blood of sprinkling and the children
I. The importance
attached to the blood of sacrifice is here made very plain.
1. It became and remained the national mark.
2. It was also the saving token.
3. It was rendered as conspicuous as possible.
4. It was made very dear to the people themselves by the fact that
they trusted in it in the most implicit manner.
5. The paschal bloodshedding was to be had in perpetual remembrance.
6. This sprinkling of the blood was to be an all-pervading memory.
II. The institution
that was connected with the remembrance of the Passover. Inquiry should be
excited respecting spiritual things in the minds of children. The doctrine of
the expiatory sacrifice is a gospel for the youngest. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Children should be taught the doctrine of the Cross
It is well to explain to children the ordinance of the Lord’s
Supper
for this shows forth the death of Christ in symbol. I regret that
children do not oftener see this ordinance. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
should both be placed in view of the rising generation
that they may then ask
us
“What mean ye by this?” Now
the Lord’s Supper is a perennial gospel
sermon
and it turns mainly upon the sacrifice for sin. You may banish the
doctrine of the Atonement from the pulpit
but it will always live in the
Church through the Lord’s Supper. You cannot explain that broken bread and that
cup filled with the fruit of the vine
without reference to the Lord’s atoning
death. You cannot explain “the communion of the body of Christ” without
bringing in
in some form or other
the death of Jesus in our place and stead.
Let your little ones
then
see the Lord’s Supper
and let them be told most
clearly what it sets forth. Tell them who it was that suffered
and why. And
when attention is excited upon the best of themes
let us be ready to explain
the great transaction by which God is just
and yet sinners are justified.
Children can well understand the doctrine of the expiatory sacrifice; it was
meant to be a gospel for the youngest. The gospel of substitution is a
simplicity
though it is a mystery. We ought not to be content until our little
ones know and trust in their finished Sacrifice. This is essential knowledge
and the key to all other spiritual teaching. With all their gettings may they
get an understanding of this
and they will have the foundation rightly laid.
This will necessitate your teaching the child his need of a Saviour. You must
not hold back from this needful task. Do not flatter the child with delusive
rubbish about his nature being good and needing to be developed. Tell him he
must be born again. Don’t bolster him up with the fancy of his own innocence
but show him his sin. Mention the childish sins to which he is prone
and pray
the Holy Spirit to work conviction in his heart and conscience. (J. S.
Exell
M. A.)
Verse 28
Did as the Lord had commanded.
Worship and obedience
1. Worship of God in faith
humility
and integrity is the fittest
way of expressing thanks to him.
2. God’s revelation of grace in providences and ordinances deserve
praise from His people.
3. Worship of God and obedience to Him are well coupled (Exodus 12:27).
4. Dispatch in obedience is very requisite in God’s Israel.
5. Sons of Israel are fit to give worship and obedience
and Jehovah
only to receive it.
6. Obedience and worship must be regulated by God’s Word only.
7. As God gives to ministers
so the Church must receive
and do
exactly. (G. Hughes
B. D.)
Verse 29-30
A great cry in Egypt.
The death of the firstborn of Egypt
I. We see here
that God’s vengeance is as certainly executed upon the rebellious as it is threatened. Men cannot
elude the stroke of heaven.
II. We see here
that God’s vengeance is upon all sinners
no matter what their social position
whether king or beggar. He takes the rich from their wealth
the poor from
their misery; and perhaps in the next life the relations of men may be
inverted--the poor man may be the prince
and the prince the slave in the
dungeon.
III. We see here
that God’s vengeance comes upon sinners when they least expect it
and in their
moments of fancied security. The darkness cannot hide from Him
We know not
what will be in the approaching night.
IV. We see mere
that God’s vengeance may make the most obstinate sinners yield to the demands
of heaven. It is well to avoid the penalties of sin
though this is the very
lowest motive for obedience to the will of heaven. The submission of Pharaoh
1. It was immediate upon the plague.
2. It was complete in its obedience.
3. It was comprehensive in its injunction.
4. It was welcomed by the Egyptians. (J. S. Exell
M. A.)
“Not a house where there was not one dead”
I. We shall notice
some of the particulars detailed in this remarkable history. It is of no
utility we read it
if it be not with care for our instruction.
1. Evidently there was a Divine design in this event. All events are
of Providence
and not a single death takes place
however man seeks to shun
it
without its concurrence. But in this ease
God obviously determined on
giving palpable proof of His hand
that the blindest of the Egyptians should be
able to see and own it.
2. Let us ascertain what was the design of God in this peculiar
visitation of the Egyptians. He may bear long in patience with the unjust and
cruel
but not always
and the lingering stroke will fall the more heavily at
last.
II. When God
resolves on punishing the rebellious
it is impossible to stay his hand.
1. How sudden was the infliction l No sign was given to the
rebellious of this particular calamity; for they had been furnished with signs
which
they had net properly regarded.
2. What may we suppose were the contemplations and feelings of the
Israelites during these solemn proceedings? No doubt they had often been
tempted to think hardly of Providence that had given them such evil things
and
the Egyptians their good things of wealth and prosperity
at their cost. Now
what a reverse! “He is not unrighteous who taketh vengeance.”
III. The scenes of
mortality
still so common in our world
ought to produce in us a disposition
to thine of our own approaching dissolution. Let two things be well considered.
1. A sense of the transitory nature of earthly scenes unquestionably
is most necessary as a preparation and stimulus to seek the salvation of the
soul. 2 What is it to be prepared for death? There is no other question equal
in importance to this. You must see and feel yourself a lost sinner without
Christ as your Saviour. (Essex Remembrancer.)
The marks of spiritual death
1. The first mark of spiritual death which I shall mention is that of
living in any open and acknowledged sin; such as profane swearing
sabbath
breaking
drunkenness
adultery
covetousness
and such like.
2. Another mark of spiritual death is a dependence in whole or in
part upon ourselves for salvation. One of the first acts of the Spirit of God
upon the heart is to convince men of sin.
3. A third mark of this state is
when under the preaching of the
gospel
no change takes place in the life or conversation.
4. Another mark of this state is
a practical preference of the
creature to the Creator
or of self to God. When the soul is quickened by the
Holy Spirit
it makes God its chief happiness.
5. Another mark of those who ai e spiritually dead is
living without
private and secret prayer. (J. H. Stewart
M. A.)
A king’s bereavement
Henry I.
on his return from Normandy
was accompanied by a crowd
of nobles and his son William. The white ship in which the prince embarked lingered
behind the rest of the royal fleet
while the young nobles
excited with wine
hung over the ship’s side taunting the priest who came to give the customary
benediction. At last the guards of the king’s treasure pressed the vessel’s
departure
and
driven by the arms of fifty rowers
it swept swiftly out to
sea. All at once the ship’s side struck on a rock at the mouth of the harbour
and in an instant it sank beneath the waves. One terrible cry
ringing through
the stillness of the night
was heard by the royal fleet
but it was not until
the morning that the fatal news reached the king. He fell unconscious to the
ground and rose never to smile again! (H. O. Mackey.)
A father’s grief
On the death of his only son
the famous Edmund Burke wrote as
follows: “The storm has gone over me
and I lie like one of those old oaks
which the late hurricane has scattered around me. I am stripped of all my
honour. I am torn up by the roots
and lie prostrate on the earth. I am alone.”
(J. Tinling
B. A.)
The last plague
and the deliverance of the Israelites
Two questions naturally arise here: Why in this judgment upon the
life of man should precisely the firstborn have been slain? and if the judgment
was for the overthrow of the adversary and the redemption of Israel
why should
a special provision have been required to save Israel also from the plague?
1. In regard to the first of these points
there can be no doubt that
the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt had respect to the relation of Israel to
Jehovah; “Israel
” said God
“is My son
My firstborn: if thou refuse to let
him go
I will slay thy son
thy firstborn” (Exodus 4:22-23). But in what sense could
Israel be called God’s firstborn son? Something more is plainly indicated by
the expression
though no more is very commonly found in it
than that Israel
was peculiarly dear to God
had a sort of firstborn’s interest in His regard.
It implies this
no doubt
but it also goes deeper
and points to the Divine
origin of Israel as the seed of promise; in their birth the offspring of grace
as contradistinguished from nature. As the firstborn in God’s elect family is
to be spared and rescued
so the firstborn in the house of the enemy
the beginning
of his increase
and the heir of his substance
must be destroyed: the one a
proof that the whole family were appointed to life and blessing; the other
in
like manner
a proof that all who were aliens from God’s covenant of grace
equally deserved
and should certainly in due time inherit
the evils of
perdition.
2. In regard to the other question which concerns Israel’s liability
to the judgment which fell upon Egypt
this arose from Israel’s natural
relation to the world
just as their redemption was secured by their spiritual
relation to God. For
whether viewed in their individual or in their collective
capacity
they were in themselves of Egypt: collectively
a part o! the nation
without any separate and independent existence of their own
vassals of the
enemy
and inhabitants of His doomed territory; individually
also
partakers
of the guilt and corruption of Egypt. It is the mercy and grace alone of God’s
covenant which makes them to differ from those around them; and
therefore
to
show that while
as children of the covenant
the plague should not come nigh
them
not a hair of their head should perish
they still were in themselves no
better than others
and had nothing whereof to boast
it was
at the same time
provided that their exemption from judgment should be secured only by the blood
of atonement. (P. Fairbairn
D. D.)
A picture of the wrath to come
Is this a dreadful picture? Yet it is but a type of what must
be--a shadow merely of the wrath to come to all the unsprinkled souls’ tenements
in eternity. Ye that affect to think so lightly of death and eternity! see here
this shadow and gather the elementary ideas of what shall be
from what has
been already
under the government of God. Standing
in imagination
amid these complicated horrors in Egypt--the groans of the dying
mingling with
the shrieks of the living
throughout a whole empire--all earthly pomp and
power levelled to mingle its unavailing cries with the lowest and meanest in a
common woe
--here see what it is for God to “whet His glittering sword and His
hand to take hold on vengeance.” (S. Robinson
D. D.)
God’s direct interference
It is to be observed that in this last plague God is represented
as descending in His own Person. It is no longer the man Moses
standing as a
mediator between the king of Egypt and the King of kings. God Himself awakes to
judgment; He hath girt His sword upon His thigh
and is come down;--“Thus saith
the Lord
About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt” (Exodus 11:4). This solemn assurance
though it might well strike terror into the hearts of the miserable Egyptians
would encourage and confirm the Israelites. What God had undertaken could not
fail
could not miscarry. The course of Moses’ policy with Pharaoh hitherto had
brought them no deliverance
but some increase of their sufferings
and many
disappointments. Now they might feel assured that the promised rescue was at
hand. The God of their fathers has given over the Egyptians appointed unto
death
and is gathering the Israelites together for safety and release. Through
the fall of Egypt salvation is come unto Israel; and the judgment which slays
the one people is ordained as a type of mercy and redemption for the other
to
be commemorated evermore. If God made use of natural means in a supernatural
manner
as in the case of the locusts
and generally of the other plagues
the
miracle would not
on that account
be less miraculous. But there are
circumstances in the account of this plague which distinguish it from any known
or specific form of disease. The firstborn only were smitten; these were
singled out in every family with unerring precision
the houses of the
Israelites
wherever the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the door-posts
being passed over. The death of all those thousands
both of man and beast
took place at the same instant--“at midnight.” Every one of these extraordinary
events had been foretold by Moses. Whatever explanations modern scepticism may suggest
they were admitted without hesitation both by the Egyptians and the Jews to be
the Lord’s doing
and marvellous in their eyes. The God whom they knew not had
come among them
and made His presence felt: they stood face to face with their
Creator. Fear fell upon them
and a horrible dread overwhelmed them; their
flesh trembled for fear of Him
and they were afraid of His judgments. The sins
of the parents were now visited upon the children: the seed of evildoers was
cut off. Slaughter was prepared for the children
for the iniquity of their
fathers. Is God unrighteous
then
that taketh vengeance? No;this is an act of
retribution. The Egyptians had slain the children of the Israelites
casting
their infants into the river. Now the affliction is turned upon themselves; the
delight of their eyes is taken from them; all their firstborn are dead
from
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat upon his throne
unto the firstborn of the
captive that was in his dungeon. (T. S. Millington.)
Midnight terror
A Southern lady
writing of the early days of the war in America
says--“The fear of an uprising of the blacks was most powerful with us at
night. The notes of the whip-poor-wills in the sweet.gum swamp near the stable
the mutterings of a distant thunderstorm
even the rustle of the night wind in
the oaks that shaded my window
filled me with nameless dread. In the daytime
it seemed impossible to associate suspicion with those familiar tawny or sable
faces that surrounded us. We had seen them for so many years smiling or
saddening with the family joys or sorrows: they were so guileless
patient
and
satisfied. What subtle influence was at work that should transform them into
tigers thirsting for our blood? But when evening came again
the ghost that
refused to be laid was again at one’s elbow. Rusty bolts were drawn and rusty
fire-arms loaded. A watch was set where never before had eye or ear been lent
to such a service.” (H. O. Mackey.)
The Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send
them out of the land.
Hastened out of Egypt
1. Note the reason of this urgency. Fear lest death overtake them
all.
2. Note the utter selfishness of the motive. No true repentance in
it.
3. Urgency is fitting when there is imminent danger.
4. There is the greatest need of urgency in every sinner’s case. Doom
and death are at
hand. (Homiletic Review.)
The Israelites going out of Egyptian bondage; or
the freedom of
the Church
I. That the
Israelites were given their freedom by those who had long oppressed them; and
so the Church shall be freed by those who have long enslaved it.
II. That the Israelites
in availing themselves of their freedom
had to make many temporary shifts; and
so the Church
in stepping into liberty
will have to encounter many
perplexities.
III. That the
Israelites
going into freedom
took with them all the wealth they could get
from the Egyptians; and so the Church
in entering upon its liberty
should
avail itself of all the valuables it can obtain from the world. (J. S.
Exell
M. A.)
Borrowed from the
Egyptians.
Borrowing from the enemy
I remember
when visiting Denmark some twenty years ago
I learned
a little incident in the history of a great Danish admiral. On one occasion
when commanding a little sloop--it was before he was admiral--he had the
audacity to engage an English frigate in battle. They both fired away
but after
a little time the captain of the frigate noticed that the firing from the sloop
ceased. A flag of truce was hoisted; a boat was lowered
and the Danish captain
came alongside. Addressing his opponent
he said
“Sir
our powder is all done
and we have come to borrow some from you!” The devil has been using money
against the cause of God for many years; let us take it from him
and turn his
guns against himself. (Dr. Sinclair Patterson.)
Verse 35
The Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send
them out of the land.
Hastened out of Egypt
1. Note the reason of this urgency. Fear lest death overtake them
all.
2. Note the utter selfishness of the motive. No true repentance in
it.
3. Urgency is fitting when there is imminent danger.
4. There is the greatest need of urgency in every sinner’s case. Doom
and death are at
hand. (Homiletic Review.)
The Israelites going out of Egyptian bondage; or
the freedom of
the Church
I. That the
Israelites were given their freedom by those who had long oppressed them; and
so the Church shall be freed by those who have long enslaved it.
II. That the
Israelites
in availing themselves of their freedom
had to make many temporary
shifts; and so the Church
in stepping into liberty
will have to encounter
many perplexities.
III. That the
Israelites
going into freedom
took with them all the wealth they could get
from the Egyptians; and so the Church
in entering upon its liberty
should
avail itself of all the valuables it can obtain from the world. (J. S.
Exell
M. A.)
Borrowed from the
Egyptians.
Borrowing from the enemy
I remember
when visiting Denmark some twenty years ago
I learned
a little incident in the history of a great Danish admiral. On one occasion
when commanding a little sloop--it was before he was admiral--he had the
audacity to engage an English frigate in battle. They both fired away
but
after a little time the captain of the frigate noticed that the firing from the
sloop ceased. A flag of truce was hoisted; a boat was lowered
and the Danish
captain came alongside. Addressing his opponent
he said
“Sir
our powder is
all done
and we have come to borrow some from you!” The devil has been using
money against the cause of God for many years; let us take it from him
and
turn his guns against himself. (Dr. Sinclair Patterson.)
Journeyed from Rameses.
The setting forth of the Israelites from Egypt
1. The sons of Israel
or Church of God
are in a moving state below.
2. From countries and cities with habitations
God leads His people
sometimes to pitch in booths.
3. The number of the seed of God’s visible Church is great and multiplied according
to His word.
4. Men
women
and children
God numbers with His Church or Israel (Exodus 12:37).
5. Providence so ordering
all sorts of people may join themselves to
God’s Church
though not in truth.
6. God’s Word fails not in giving His Church great substance when He
seeth it good (verse 88).
7. Liberty from Egypt is Israel’s good portion with unleavened cakes.
8. Sufficiency and contentation God giveth His people in their
straits.
9. In working liberty for His Church
God may put them upon some
hardship. 10. God sometimes prevents the providence of His Church for
themselves
that He may provide for them (Exodus 12:39). (G. Hughes
B.
D.)
A mixed multitude went up
also.--
The nominal followers of the Christian Church; the motives by
which they are actuated
and the perplexities by which they are tested
I. The motives by
which the nominal adherents of the Christian church are animated.
1. They are acquainted and impressed with the history of the Church
and hence are induced to follow it.
2. They have an inner conviction that the Church is right
and hence
they are sometimes led to follow it.
3. They are associated by family ties with those who are real members
of the Christian Church
and hence they are induced to follow it.
4. They are troubled by ideas of the retributive providence of God
and so are induced to seek shelter in the Church.
5. They have an idea that it is socially correct to be allied to the
Church
and therefore are induced to follow it.
6. They always follow the multitude.
II. The
perplexities by which the nominal adherents of the Christian church are tested.
We read elsewhere that “the mixed multitude that was among the Israelites fell
a lusting” (Numbers 11:4). Their unhallowed desires
were not gratified. Their deliverance had not been so glorious as they had
imagined. Trial was before them
and they rebelled against the first privations
of the wilderness. And so it is
nominal members of the Christian Church are
soon tested
and they often yield to the trying conditions of the pilgrim
Church life.
1. The nominal members of the Church are tested by the outward
circumstances of the Church.
2. They are tested by the pilgrim difficulties of the Church.
3. They are tested by the pilgrim requirements of the Church. (J.
S. Exell
M. A.)
The character and conduct of the mixed multitude
I. The character
of this mixed multitude. Some
perhaps
were mere idolaters; others had
outwardly renounced their superstitions. Some might be connected in marriage
with the sons or daughters of Israel; for such are mentioned: and some
perhaps
were a thoughtless rabble
whom curiosity had called from their homes
that they might go three days’ journey with the people
to sacrifice to the
Lord in the wilderness.
1. With such a view of the mixed multitude
we may reasonably imagine
that they had a very imperfect knowledge of the God of Israel.
2. This mixed multitude had been induced to follow Israel
probably
because they had seen the miraculous interpositions of God in behalf of His
people
and wished to partake of them.
3. Others
again
had probably accompanied the Israelites in
unreflecting carelessness
without anticipating the difficulties and trials
before them.
4. The mixed multitude seem never to have entirely united themselves
to the community of Israel.
II. Their conduct
in the hour of temptation. The passage in the book of Numbers informs us that
they fell a lusting. We know not the peculiar nature of the trials to which they
were exposed; but we find them soon yielding to the power of temptation
and
the love of sin.
1. They speedily became discontented with their condition.
2. The inspired penman speaks no more of this mixed multitude; and
therefore we are justified in supposing that they who escaped the fire of the
Lord
quitted the camp of Israel
and returned to Egypt. In that mixed
multitude which throng around the Church of the living God
and profess
communion with it
there are
I fear
not a few who sin after the similitude of
the transgression committed in the wilderness. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Lessons
I. That profession
is not necessarily true religion.
II. That trials are
necessary proof of faith and love.
III. That evil
communications corrupt good manners. (R. P. Buddicom.)
The mixed multitude
I. The emissaries
of Satan. In all ages there have been these corrupters of the truth in the
Church
who have bred schisms of all kinds
“creeping into houses
” and
“leading captive silly women”; and
as they have gained power and position
becoming more bold in the propagandism of error
both in doctrine and form.
II. The hypocrites.
Worldly men come into the Church for the purpose of making “gain of godliness
”
and using religion as a “cloak of covetousness.” I remember very well
when I
was a young man
going away from home into a newer part of our country with a
view of making my fortune. I was advised by a respectable business man to
“connect myself with the most popular church in the town
” as a means of
“getting on
” and securing the recognition-and help of the best people. Soon
after I became a pastor
I overheard a merchant talking to a young man
and
endeavouring to persuade him to join the church; he used as an argument the
fact that when he cams to that village a young man
that was the first thing he
had done; and he affirmed that it was “the best stroke of business he had ever
done.” He attributed his success in life to that fact. And no doubt the
hypocrite was right. Verily he had his reward.
III. The formalists.
By these I mean those who are more or less apprehensive of the future
and
somewhat troubled about their sins
and who take to the formalism of
Christianity as a means of security against the possible dangers of another
world. They know nothing of Christ and His salvation; are strangers to
conversion and regeneration: but seize upon the forms and ceremonies of
religion as being all that is needful. Among this number may be classed a vast
number who have fled for refuge to the “Church” in serious earnest
but who are
at best the merest parasites
or semi-parisites. They have no life in
themselves
but are clinging to persons or things from whom or from which they
fancy they can draw lifo for themselves. Poor souls! did they only flee to
Christ
and be joined to Him
they would indeed be saved; but
as it now is
they are mere Egyptians who are in the midst of the camp of Israel without the
mark or sign of blood upon them.
IV. The
self-deceived. (G. F. Pentecost
D. D.)
Mixed multitudes
People looking on will judge everything according to their own
quality. You cannot get bad people to form good judgments. You cannot persuade
good people to form mean and contemptible judgments. Let us suppose Moses and
Aaron at the head of this great throng. Criticism would thus speak respecting
the multitude: They must be better than they seem
or they would not follow the
leadership of such men as Moses and Aaron; it is a very motley crowd
but it
must be substantially good at heart
because look at the leadership which it
has chosen. Or criticism might speak thus: Moses and Aaron cannot be much after
all
or they would not allow this rag-tag-and-bob-tail following. Thus
criticism
I repeat
is determined by quality. In the one case the multitudes
get the benefit of the moral elevation of their leaders; in the other case the
leaders come in for depreciation because of the motley character of their
followers. Blessed be heaven
the Judge is just who shall judge us all. We
shall not be left at the disposal of imperfect and selfish criticism. A crowd
even in church
is not to be judged indiscriminately or pronounced upon in some
rough generalization. The crowd is “mixed.” Men are not all in church for the
same reason. Men are not all in church through the same motives. Some are in
church who do not want to be there; they have a purpose to serve: some are
there on account of mere curiosity. Others are in church to pray
to confess
their life-sins
and seek the pity of God as expressed in pardon at the foot of
the saving Cross. Outside criticism would thus judge us differently. Whilst we
say this about the outward church
the great surging crowd that may be within
the hallowed walls
we could say practically the same thing about the inner
church. Even the inner church
gathered around the sacramental board
is a
mixed multitude. For example
look at the difference of spiritual attainment.
There is the veteran who knows his Bible almost by heart
and here is the
little learner spelling out its earliest words. Have they a right to be in the
same church? Their right is not in their attainments
but in their desire. But
this makes church life very difficult to conduct: very difficult for the pastor
and teacher
very difficult for the constituent members themselves. One can go
at a great pace; another can only crawl. What is to be done when there is such
a diversity of power? Then look at what a mixture of disposition there is even
in the inner church. We are not all of one quality. Some men are born generous;
other men are born misers. It is easy for some men to pray; other men have to
scourge themselves to their knees. Look at the difference of faculty for work you find in
the church. One man will do anything for you in the way of music. He likes it;
it would be a burden to him not to do it. Thank God for such service! Another
man will work in the Sunday school. He loves children; their presence makes him
young; he can never be old so long as he sees the light of little faces. Every
man is himself a mixed multitude. That is the philosophy. Have you ever gone
far enough in the task of self-analysis to find out how many men you
the
individual man
really are? You are self-inconsistent; you are not the same man
at night you were in the morning; whatever you do
you do in a mixed way. It is
human nature that is the mixed multitude. We know that we have motives; we have
never seen them
but we have felt them; we know of a verity that we never do
anything with a pure
simple
direct
frank motive. Sometimes the motive is as
a whole good
with just one tittle taint in the middle of it. Sometimes the
motive is predominantly bad
with just one little speck of white on the outside
or on the left hand. So are we. It is the same way with our thoughts. We are
not always impious. Sometimes even the unbeliever feels as though he could
believe if one beam could be added to the light which already showers its glory
upon his life. Sometimes the believer feels as if he had been misled
as if he
were following some aerial sprite
some shadowy spectral nothing. At what point
is he to be judged? God will judge him at his best. God accepts our prayers in
their bloom. Do not
therefore
condemn yourselves because sometimes you are in
moods that really distress the very soul; on the other hand
do not flatter
yourselves and commit yourselves to the seduction that ends in utterest failure
of life. What is the great work which the gospel has to do in the soul in
relation to all this mixture of motive and thought? It has to take out all the
bad and throw it away. Come
thou Holy Ghost
and take out of our hearts the
selfish motive
the miser’s greed
the debasing thought
the little
mean
contemptible purpose; tear it up
burn it in unquenchable fire. When a man can
so pray he has a seed hope that one day he shall be self-unanimous. Blessed
will be the realization of self-unanimity. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Hangers-on
The remora
instead of swimming far by its own exertions
greatly
prefers being transported from place to place on ships’ bottoms
or even the
bodies of sharks. When one of the sharks to which a remora is clinging is
caught by a hook
and is pulled out of the water
the little parasite is shrewd
in its own interest
for it drops off and makes for the bottom of the ship. As
long as a ship remains within the tropics
numbers of remorse cling to its
bottom
whether that be coppered or not
whence they dart off occasionally to
pick up any morsels of greasy or farinaceous matter that may be thrown
overboard
retiring again rapidly to their anchorage. These hangers-on resemble
our social ones in the following particulars: they like travelling about; they
do not care what they attach themselves to so long as it suits their purpose
for the time; they will not get along by their own exertions if they can find
others to carry them; they are sharp in their own interests
and know quite
well when to desert a supporter; and they are ready to avail themselves of
discarded or accidental ailment. (Scientific Illustrations.)
All the hosts of the Lord went out.
The Exodus
I. We cannot treat
the Exodus as an isolated fact in history. Egypt is the type of the cunning
careless
wanton world
out of which in all ages God is calling His sons. The Exodus
remained a living fact in history. The infant Jesus went down into Egypt
as
the infant Israel went down
not to repeat the Exodus
but to illume afresh its
fading lines.
1. The Children of Israel were an elect race
because they were of
the seed of Abraham: that constituted their distinctity. You are of the race of
the second Adam
of the same flesh and blood as Jesus; and all who wear a human
form and understand a human voice
God calls forth from Egypt; His voice calls
to His sons
“Come forth to freedom
life
and heaven.”
2. You
like the Israelites
are called forth to the desert
the
fiery pillar
the manna
the spiritual rock; and while you aim at Canaan
His
will
His heart
are on your side.
II. Note the moral
features of the Exodus.
1. There was a life in Egypt which had become insupportable to a man.
That bondage is the picture of a soul round which the devil’s toils are
closing.
2. The Israelites saw the stroke of heaven fall oil all that adorns
enriches
and nourishes a worldly life.
3. They had a Divine leader
a man commissioned and inspired by God.
We have the Apostle and High Priest of our profession
Christ Jesus
who
in
the house and the work in which Moses wrought as a servant
represents God as
the Son.
4. We discern a condition of utter dependence on the strength and
faithfulness of God. They and we were delivered by a Divine work.
5. Notice
lastly
the freedom of the delivered Israelites; a broad
deep sea flowing between them and the ]and of bondage
and the tyrants dead
upon the shore. Such is the glorious sense of liberty
of wealth
of life
when
the deep sea of Divine forgiving love sweeps over the past and obliterates its
shame. (J. B. Brown
B. A.)
The Exodus
I. First
consider
the mode of their going out.
1. When the Children of Israel went out of Egypt it is a remarkable
thing that they were forced out by the Egyptians. The dove fleeth not to his
cote unless the eagle doth pursue it; so sins
like eagles
pursue the timid
soul
making it fly into the clefts of the Rock Christ Jesus to hide itself.
Once
our sins kept us from Christ; but now every sin drives us to Him for
pardon. I had not known Christ if I had not known sin; I had not known a
deliverer
if I had not smarted under the Egyptians. The Holy Spirit drives us to
Christ
just as the Egyptians drove the people out of Egypt.
2. Again: the Children of Israel went out of Egypt covered with
jewels and arranged in their best garments. Ah! that is just how a child of God
comes out of Egypt. He does not come out of his bondage with his old garments
of self-righteousness on: oh! no; as long as he wears those he will always keep
in Egypt; but he marches out with the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ
upon him
and adorned with the goodly graces of the Holy Spirit.
3. Note
moreover
that these people obtained their jewels from the
Egyptians. God’s people never lose anything by going to the house of bondage.
They win their choicest jewels from the Egyptians. “Strangely true it is
sins
do me good
” said an old writer once
“because they drive me to the Saviour;
and so I get good by them.” Ask the humble Christian where he get his humility
and ten to one he will say that he got it in the furnace of deep sorrow on
account of sin. See another who is tender in conscience: where did he get that
jewel from? It came from Egypt
I’ll be bound. We get more by being in bondage
under conviction of sin
than we often do by liberty.
4. They came out in haste. I never met with a poor sinner under a
sense of sin who was not in haste to get his burden off his back. No man has a
broken heart
unless he wants to have it bound up directly. “To-day if ye will
hear His voice
harden not your heart
” says the Holy Ghost; He never says
to-morrow; to-day is His continual cry
and every true-born Israelite will pant
to get out of Egypt
whenever he has the opportunity.
II. The magnitude
of this deliverance. I would have you particularly remember one thing; and that
is
that great as this emigration was
and enormous as were the multitudes that
quitted Egypt
it was only one Passover that set them all free. One agonizing
sacrifice
one death on Calvary
one bloody sweat on Gethsemane
one shriek of
“It is finished “ consummated all the work of redemption.
III. The
completeness of their deliverance. As Moses said
“Not an hoof shall be left
behind.” They were to have all their goods
as well as their persons. What does
this teach us? Why
not only that all God’s people shall be saved
but that all
that God’s people ever had shall be restored. All that Jacob ever took down to
Egypt shall be brought out again. Have I lost a perfect righteousness in Adam?
I shall have a perfect righteousness in Christ. Have I lost happiness on earth
in Adam? God will give me much happiness here below in Christ. Have I lost
heaven in Adam? I shall have heaven in Christ; for Christ came not only to seek
and to save the people that were lost
but that which was lost: that is
all
the inheritance
as well as the people; all their property.
IV. The time when
the israelites came out of Egypt. God had promised to Abraham that His people
should be in bondage four hundred and thirty years
and they were not in
bondage one day more. As soon as God’s bond became due
though it had been
drawn four hundred and thirty years before
He paid the bill; He required no
more time to do it in
but He did it at once. Christopher Ness says
they had
to tarry for the fulfilment of the promise till the night came; for though He
fulfilled it the selfsame day
He made them stay to the end of it
to prove
their faith. He was wrong there
because Scripture days begin at night. “The
evening and the morning were the second day.” So that God did not make them
wait
but paid them at once. As soon as the day came
beginning with our night
as the Jewish day does now
and the Scriptural day always did--as soon as the
clock struck--God paid His bond. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A night to be much observed unto the Lord.
The Passover
I. The Passover
the appointed means of a great deliverance. The destruction of the firstborn
secured Israel’s freedom; the rite itself saved Israel’s firstborn.
1. Wrath was averted.
2. Individual faith and action were required.
3. Perfect safety was thus obtained.
II. The Passover as
ordained feast of remembrance.
1. Not a formal service
but gratefully rendered
and intelligently
observed; the father instructing the child as to its meaning (Exodus 12:26-27).
2. To be kept by all the people (Exodus 12:4). The redemption to be
celebrated by all the redeemed.
3. In each successive generation. A perpetual witness of Jehovah’s
delivering mercy; an unfailing type; a constant test and measure of religious
life. Kept by Moses (Numbers 9:1-23.); by Joshua (chap. 5.);
revived by Josiah; in Nehemiah’s time (Ezra 6:1-22.); in our Lord’s time widely
observed.
4. Every detail was divinely ordered.
5. The lamb was eaten with special accompaniments Bitter herbs
denoted penitence; unleavened bread
sincerity. Godly sorrow chastens Christian
joy. True consecration marks the believer’s praise.
6. In a pilgrim spirit. Loins girded
shoes on feet
staff in hand.
Christ’s service here is not the Christian’s rest. His eye is fixed on heaven;
and
while he works and praises
his true cry ever is
“Come
Lord Jesus.” (W.
S. Bruce
M. A.)
Freedom and discipline
I. Scholars have
said that the old Greeks were the fathers of freedom; and there have been other
people in the world’s history who have made glorious and successful struggles
to throw off their tyrants and be free. But liberty is of a far older and
nobler house. It was born on the first Easter night
when God Himself stooped
from heaven to set the oppressed free.
II. The history of the
Jews is the history of the whole Church and of every nation in Christendom. The
Jews had to wander forty years in the wilderness
and Christendom has had to
wander too
in strange and bloodstained paths
for eighteen hundred years and
more. For as the Israelites were not worthy to enter at once into rest
no more
have the nation of Christ’s Church been worthy. As the new generation sprang up
in the wilderness
trained under Moses’ stern law
to the fear of God
so for
eighteen hundred years have the generations of Christendom
by the training of
the Church and the light of the gospel
been growing in wisdom and knowledge
growing in morality and humanity
in that true discipline and loyalty which are
the yokefellows of freedom and independence. (C. Kingsley
M. A.)
A holy celebration
It is the night of our regeneration; it is the night of our
conversion (night or day
it matters not which); the time in which we actually
received salvation
and were made partakers of this Passover
that we would
just now admonish you to remember. At that particular time important events
transpired for us. The most important events
to us
that ever occurred in our
history
happened on that occasion. There was a point in our life up to which
we were dead: then we were made alive. There was a point up to which we were
condemned: then
in an instant
we were acquitted. Now
what events transpired
on that occasion?
1. Well
the first was
it pleased God then to show us the blood of
Jesus
and to apply it to our souls. That night
too
or that day
whichever it
may have been
we do remember that we enjoyed a feast upon our Saviour. The
blood was sprinkled
and so we were saved; and then we sat down at the table
and began at once to feast upon the precious things stored up in the person of
Christ.
2. And then it was that for the first time in your life you felt that
you were free. You were free; but finding yourself free
you also discovered
for the first time
that you were a pilgrim; for the Israelites
as they ate
that paschal supper
had to do so with their loins girl and staves in their
hands
like men that were to leave that country. You found that now you were a
stranger. If you had an unconverted parent
you could not talk to him or her
about your soul. If you had old companions
you felt you must bid them
farewell
for they would not understand you; if you did not know you were a
pilgrim before
you found it out the very next day
when you began to talk with
them. O! it was a time to be remembered
and I want you to remember it
now--those blessed days when we began to live!
3. Important results will flow to you from the preservation of this
memorial. It will humble you and foster the grace of humility. Have you become
an old experienced Christian
my brother? Go back to the hole of the pit whence
you were digged. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The ordinance of the Passover.
Minute instructions in reference to the observance of the Passover
I. That God not
only institutes ordinances for men
but also shows in what way they are to be
observed.
II. That God will
not allow any stranger to the death of Christ to partake of His Holy Sacrament.
“There shall no stranger eat thereof.”
III. That a mere
hired and nominal relation to the Church does not give a true right to the Holy
Sacrament. “An hired servant shall not eat thereof.”
IV. That
circumcision of heart is necessary (Exodus 12:48). (J. S. Exell
M.
A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》