By DEAN LAW.
“It is the Lord’s Passover.”—Exodus xii. 11
THESE words send us back to the last night of Israel’s bondage in the land of Egypt. The captives had suffered much, and long. The iron furnace had been heated by unpitying hate, and by unsparing hands. But God, in His high council, had decreed that a morn of deliverance should dawn. The appointed hour came. No power can now detain. Mad opposition becomes weak. The chosen people must go free.
Believer, stay your soul on the rock of the promises. They are as immovable as Him Who speaks them. At the set moment you shall march in triumph to your happy Canaan.
Let us, in thought, intermingle in the solemn scene. It was a night black in dismays,—terrible in judgments,—wild in affrights—keen in anguish. Throughout the whole of Egypt’s empire every house was woe, every face was horror, every heart was
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misery. Death forced all doors. Each eldest child was a lifeless corpse. There was no exception. The monarch and the slave alike bewailed, in bitter cry, their first-born’s sudden and untimely slaughter.
It was a night, memorable too, in sweet displays of tender love. Israel’s favoured sons were all assembled. But neither death nor fear was in their dwellings. They were equipped for departure from all cruelties and pains. They were feasting at a heaven-appointed board. They were rejoicing in a Gospel ordinance. They were partaking of a lamb slain. This exhibited, in loudly-speaking rites, all the certainties, and all the mercies of spiritual redemption. They realized present escape. They looked forward to future safety. They had much in hand. They had more in view.
Reader, let us with joy join these joyous companies. And may the Christ-revealing Spirit show Christ to us, as the substance, and truth, and glory of the spread feast!
God Himself selects the offering. His voice says, “They shall take to them every man a lamb” (verse 3). Thus Jesus is appointed, by heavenly wisdom, to be the one redeeming sacrifice. An elected Saviour is the strong foundation of salvation’s pyramid. Blessed provision of our blessed God! Whither could we turn, if bidden to find or frame a guilt-removing victim? But grace meets every want. Harken to the sure tidings: “Behold My servant, whom I uphold: Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth” (Isa. xlii. 1).
Reader, God’s only begotten Son is God’s only appointed Redeemer. He only is called to bear His people’s sins. For He only can sustain such load. He only is sent to make atonement. For He only has worthy blood to shed. He only is commissioned to bring in reconciliation. For He only can covenant with God, obey God, present Jesus in the arms of faith. Then your crimson stain is whiter than snow. Your soul is saved. Reject Him. And there remains no more sacrifice for sins.
The lamb must be a male of the earliest age (verse 5). These are signs of vigour in unbroken perfection. Truly He, Who is
to save, must be mighty in strength. For think, what mighty hindrances oppose. Whose arm can hold back the descending arm of Divine wrath? Whose shoulder can sustain the weight of countless sins? Whose force can close hell? Whose power can open heaven? Whose prowess can trample down Satanic rage, Satanic spirits, and Satanic men? In none but Jesus can such sufficiency be found. In Him it abounds to the overflowing of almightiness. The Father’s voice proclaims, “I have laid help upon One that is mighty” (Psa. lxxxix. 19). The pledge is given, “He shall send them a Saviour, and a great One” (Isa. xix. 20). The fulfilment is in Jesus, “The great God and our Saviour” (Titus ii. 13). He is the Lamb in all the energy of perfect strength.
The lamb must be “without blemish” (verse 5). Jesus, while man below, was pure, as God in heaven’s brightness. Sin strove in vain to soil Him. Foul temptations thickly fell, but left Him spotless, as the light of day. The Father’s eye, which cannot look upon uncleanness, delighted in Him, as the clear mirror of His own glory. In Him, human nature shone in the lustre of Divine holiness. In Him was sinlessness, which could atone for sin. In Him was righteousness, which satisfied the law.
The lamb must be set apart for four days (verse 6). Thus in heaven, through eternal days, Jehovah’s eye inspected Jesus, as the foreordained expiation for the foreseen evil. Thus on earth, through the days preceding the cross, He was tested by every judge: and thus, universal consent crowned Him with the crown of unvarnished blamelessness. Even Satan, speaking by blood-guilty lips, proclaimed that there was no fault in Him (John xix. 4).
It must be slain by the whole assembly of the congregation (verse 6). Not one voice was silent, when the awful cry went forth, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Believer, not one sin of all your life was absent, when He was dragged to the cross. All your transgressions strained the cords. They concurred to drive in the nails, and to make deep the wounds. Your iniquities brought in that death. That death brings in your life.
The blood must be sprinkled on the lintel, and on the door-posts of each dwelling (verse 7). The blood shed must be used. It must be openly exhibited, as a distinguishing sign. If the destroyer find the preserving mark, the foot of vengeance must pass over. If there be no shield of blood, the arrows of death must do their deathful work. Reader, the Gospel moves poor sinners to appropriating efforts. Christ is uplifted that eyes may look to Him. He is an open refuge, that feet may fly to Him. His blood flowed, that it may be taken by the hand of faith. Do you live a blood-besprinkled life? Is your soul at all times fresh dripping from this stream? If so, you safely dwell beneath salvation’s wings. Justice cannot drag you to execution. The curse cannot blight you. The law cannot condemn you. Vengeance cannot slay you. The blood upon you cries, Away, stand back, no foe can touch, where I protect. But are you thus marked as Christ’s? If not, arise speedily, and flee unto the wounded Lamb. The day is far spent; the night of ruin is at hand. The destroyer is at your heels. Each house unmarked was a house unspared. Each soul unwashed will be a soul undone. A remedy applied alone can heal.
Not one drop stained the floor. The blood of Jesus is the most precious thing in heaven—in earth. The Father honours it with all heaven’s honours. The saints in light praise it with all heaven’s praises. The saints on earth joy in it with all heart’s rapture. Satan flees before it. Shall godless men treat it with rejecting scorn? Let them beware: on the heart it is a seal of life: beneath the feet it is a stamp of hell.
The flesh must be roast with fire (verse 8). We have here the keenest image of the keenest torture. The pain of pains is to be slowly mangled by devouring flames. But this is a faint image of what Jesus verily endured. O my soul, deal closely with the sufferings of your suffering Lamb. Let the amazing facts be the very fibres of your constant thought. Daily visit the garden. Hourly study the cross. What is the sight, what are the soups, which there confront you? The God-man Jesus lies crushed to the earth. He bends beneath a weight of woe. The saddest
groans proclaim the writhings of a tortured soul. Each pore weeps blood. Agony could not more agonise. A piteous cry confesses that the black horrors of desertion blackened around Him. These marks of extremest anguish have clear meaning. The Passover is roast with fire.
Believer, Jesus is tormented in your stead. All the wrath, which all your sins deserved, is outpoured on Him. The vengeance of God descends in all its fury. The curse of the law exacts its utmost. The flames of hell tightly grasp Him. He endures the very miseries, which all His people must have endured, if they had wailed for ever in the lake of fire. Faith sees it, and exclaims, I live, for Jesus died. I cannot suffer. Jesus has exhausted all. Wrath cannot touch me, because it has touched Him.
Each inmate of the house must feed upon the lamb (verse 8). So every one who would be saved, must verily partake of Christ. To hear of Him: to touch the emblems of His dying love: to know His merits: to commend His worth, will profit little. Faith takes Christ—Christ Himself, as its own. It makes Him the very juice and substance of the inner man. Here is the believer’s never-ending banquet. He feasts on Christ now. He will feast with Christ for ever.
A bone of it may not be broken (verse 46). Jesus indeed was hardly used. But no wounds marred the proportion of His stature. They weakened not the pillars of His strength. He lives all-vigorous in salvation’s might. He stands the unbroken, the unblemished column of His people’s hopes. The marvellous fulfilment, too, of this command, proves Jesus of Nazareth to be the true Passover of God. When the soldiers “came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs” (John xix. 33). The unwitting heathen unwittingly accomplished the Jewish type. Infidelity, what can you reply? Know, that as no ignorance is like yours; so no ruin will be like yours.
It must be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (verse 8). These requirements shadow out the combined graces
of penitence and sincerity. Reader, do you boast of hope in Christ? It only dwells in a heart ground to powder under sense of sin. Tears are the magnifying medium through which the cross attracts. Faith has no root in rocky soil. It only blossoms in the moist garden of a weeping spirit. They come in sorrow’s sackcloth, who receive Christ’s justifying robe.
Do you boast that Christ is your feast? Where is your unleavened bread? Sin loved, sin cherished, sin retained, turns heaven’s food into hell’s poison. A searching eye comes in to see the guests. Leaven in the hands, leaven in their mouths, leaven in their hearts, is a fatal mark. They must go away to the cell of hypocrites.
It must be eaten in the attitude of haste, and with equipment for departure (verse 11). The loins must be girdled. The feet must be shod. The hands must hold the staff. Here is the believer waiting for his summons with wings expanded towards his far-off home. Earth’s ties are all severed. Anchors are weighed. The eye is strained for the signal, “Come up hither.” Reader, are you thus ready? It is miserable to have aught to do, when doing-time is past. He is a foolish servant who has to seek the key when his Lord knocks. He is a poor advocate who has to find a plea when he is called to plead. When death comes, have nothing to do, but just to die.
Believer, may you hear, in these poor lines, the Spirit calling you to this Gospel feast. It is His voice, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast; not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness: but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. v. 7, 8). I deeply feel that without His light, His grace, His power, we cannot see, or know, or love, or serve, or glorify our Lord. But may He vouchsafe to open our eyes, that we may behold the rich plenteousness of our paschal board! May He show us the glories of Jesus, as the Lamb slain! May He enable us to receive Him as our All! May He fill our hearts with the longing prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.”