Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTER 12
Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTER 12
Scripture Reading: Exodus 12 (KJV)
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether" (Ex. 11:1). One more heavy blow must fall on this hard-hearted monarch and his land, before he will be compelled to let go the favored objects of Jehovah's sovereign grace.
It is utterly vain for man to harden and exalt himself against God; for, truly, He can grind to powder the hardest heart, and bring down to the dust the haughtiest spirit. "Those that walk in pride he is able to abase" (Dan. 4:37). Man may fancy himself to be something; he may lift up his head in pomp and vain glory, as though he were his own master. Vain man – how little he knows his real condition and character – a tool of Satan, taken up by him and used in his malignant efforts to counteract the purposes of God. If not under the direct control of the Spirit of God, the most splendid intellect, the most commanding genius, the most indomitable energy, are but so many instruments in Satan's hand to carry forward his dark designs. No man is his own master; he is either governed by Christ or by Satan. The king of Egypt no doubt fancied himself a free agent, but was only a tool in the hands of another. Satan was behind the throne; and, as the result of resisting the purposes of God, Pharaoh was judicially handed over to the blinding and hardening influence of his self-chosen master.
This explains an expression occurring frequently throughout the earlier chapters of Exodus. "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." There is no need for any one to avoid the full, plain sense of this solemn statement. If man resists the light of Divine testimony, he is confined to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. God leaves him to himself, and then Satan comes in and carries him headlong to perdition. There was abundant light for Pharaoh, showing him the extravagant folly of his course in seeking to detain those whom God had commanded him to let go. But the disposition of his heart was to act against God, and therefore God left him to himself, and made him a monument for the display of His glory "through all the earth."
At times, God gives people according to the real bent of their hearts' desire. ". . . because of this, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. 2:11, 12). If we will not accept the truth when it is put before us, we will assuredly accept a lie. If we will not have Christ, we shall have Satan; if we will not have heaven, we shall have hell.1 Will the infidel mind find fault with this? Before it does so, let it prove that all who are thus judicially dealt with have fully answered their responsibilities. For instance, let it prove, that in Pharaoh's case he acted in any measure up to the light he possessed. The same is to be proved in every case. Unquestionably, the task of proving rests on those who quarrel with God's mode of dealing with the rejecters of His truth. In view of the most inscrutable dispensations, the simple-hearted child of God will justify Him; and even if he cannot meet and satisfactorily solve the difficult questions of a skeptical mind, he can rest satisfied with this word, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" There is far more wisdom in this method of settling an apparent difficulty, than in the most elaborate argument; for it is certain that the heart which is in a condition to reply against God, will not be convinced by the arguments of man.
However, it is God's prerogative to answer all the proud reasoning, bringing down the lofty imaginations of the human mind. He writes the sentence of death on nature: "It is appointed unto men once to die." This cannot be avoided. Man may seek to hide his humiliation in various ways; covering his retreat through the valley of death in the most heroic manner possible; to call the last humiliating stage of his career by the most honorable titles he can devise; to gild the bed of death with a false light; to adorn the funeral procession and the grave with the appearance of pomp, pageantry, and glory; to arise above the moldering ashes a splendid monument, on which are engraven the records of human shame; all these things he may do; but death is death and he cannot keep it off or make it something else than what it is – "the ravages of sin."
The foregoing thoughts are suggested by the opening verse of Exodus 11. "One plague more"; solemn word. It signed the death-warrant of Egypt's firstborn – "the chief of all their strength." "And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more" (Ex. 11:4-6).
This was to be the final plague – death in every house. "But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." It is the Lord alone Who can "put a difference" between those who are His and those who are not. It is not our province to say to any one, "stand by thyself, I am holier than thou:" this is the language of a Pharisee. "But when God puts a difference!" we are bound to enquire what that difference is; and, in the case before us, it is a simple question of life or death. This is God's grand "difference." He draws a line of demarcation; on one side is "life," on the other "death." Many of Egypt's firstborn might have been as fair and attractive as those of Israel; but Israel had life and light, founded on God's counsels of redeeming love, established as we shall see by the blood of the lamb. This was Israel's happy position; while, on the other hand, throughout the length and breadth of the land of Egypt, from the monarch on the throne to the menial behind the mill, nothing was to be seen but death; nothing to be heard but the cry of bitter anguish, elicited by the heavy stroke of Jehovah's rod. God can bring down man’s haughty spirit. He can make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain the remainder. "And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves-unto me, saying, Get thee out and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out." God will accomplish His own ends. His schemes of mercy must be carried out at all cost, and confusion of face must be the portion of all who stand in the way.
"O! give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for His mercy endureth for ever . . . To him that smote Egypt in their first-born: for his mercy endureth for ever: and brought out Israel from among them; for his mercy endureth for ever: with a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm; for his mercy endureth for ever" (Ps. 136).
"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Ex. 12:1, 2). Here, there is an interesting change in the order of time. The common or civil year was rolling on in its ordinary course, when Jehovah interrupted it in reference to His people. Thus, in principle, God taught that they were to begin a new era in company with Him. Henceforth, their previous history was to be regarded as a blank. Redemption was to constitute the first step in real life.
This teaches a plain truth. A man's life is of little value until he begins to walk with God, in the knowledge of full salvation and settled peace, through the precious blood of the Lamb. Previous to this we are, in the judgment of God and in the language of Scripture, "dead in trespasses and sins;" "alienated from the life of God." Man's whole history is a complete blank, even though it may have been one uninterrupted scene of bustling activity. All that engages man's attention – honors, riches, pleasures, attractions of life – when examined in the light of the judgment of God is a dismal blank, a worthless void, unworthy of a place in the records of the Holy Spirit. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life" (Jn. 3:36). Men speak of "seeing life," when launching out into society, traveling here and there, seeing all that is to be seen; but they forget that the only true and real, the only divine way to "see life," is to "believe on the Son of God."
How little we think of such things. We imagine that "real life" ends when we become a Christian; whereas God's Word teaches that it is only then we can see life and taste true happiness. "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 Jn. 5:12). And, again, "Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps. 32:1). We get life and happiness only in Christ. In God's judgment, all that is apart from Jesus Christ is death and misery; whatever the outward appearance may be. When the thick veil of unbelief is removed from the heart, and with the eye of faith, we behold the bleeding Lamb, bearing our heavy burden of guilt on the cursed tree, that we enter on the path of life and partake of the cup of Divine happiness – a life that begins at the cross, and flows onward into an eternity of glory – a happiness that becomes deeper and purer, more connected with God and founded on Christ, until we reach its proper sphere, in the presence of God and the Lamb. To seek life and happiness in any other way is vainer work by far than seeking to make bricks without straw.
True, the enemy of souls spreads a gilding over this passing scene, so that men imagine it to be all gold. He sets up many a puppet-show to elicit the hollow laugh from a thoughtless multitude, who will not remember that it is Satan who is in the box, and that his object is to keep them from Christ, and drag them down into eternal perdition. Only in Christ is there something real, solid, and satisfying. Outside of Him, "all is vanity and vexation of spirit." In Him alone true and eternal joys are to be found; and we only begin to live when we begin to live in, live on, live with, and live for Him. "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." The time spent in the brick-kilns and by the flesh-pots must be ignored – its remembrance serving only to quicken and deepen the sense of what Divine grace had accomplished on their behalf.
"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house . . . Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening."
Here we have the redemption of the people founded on the blood of the lamb, in pursuance of God's eternal purpose. Redemption was no after-thought with God. Before the world, Satan, or sin was – before the voice of God was heard breaking the silence of eternity and calling worlds into existence, He had His deep counsels of love; and these counsels could never find a sufficiently solid basis in creation. All the blessings, the privileges, and the dignities of creation were founded on a creature's obedience, and the moment that failed, all was gone. But, then, Satan's attempt to mar creation only opened the way for the manifestation of God's deeper purposes of redemption.
This beautiful truth is typically presented to us in the circumstance of the lamb's being "kept up" from the "tenth" to "the fourteenth day." That this lamb pointed to Christ is unquestionable. 1 Corinthians 5:7 settles the application of this interesting type beyond all question; "for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." In the first epistle of Peter, we have an allusion to keeping up the lamb: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1:18-20).
From everlasting, all God’s purposes had reference to Christ; and no effort of the enemy could interfere with those counsels: his efforts tended only to display the unfathomable wisdom and immovable stability thereof. If the "Lamb without blemish and without spot" was "foreordained before the foundation of the world," then, redemption must have been in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. The Blessed One did not have pause in devising a plan to remedy the terrible evil the enemy had introduced into His creation. No, from the unexplored treasury of His precious counsels, He simply brought forth the truth concerning the spotless Lamb, Who was foreordained from everlasting – to be "manifest in these last times for us."
There was no need for the blood of the Lamb in creation; it came fresh from the hand of the Creator, exhibiting in every stage the beauteous impress of His hand – "the infallible proofs" of "His eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. 1). But when, "by one man," sin was introduced into the world, then came out the higher, richer, fuller, deeper thought of redemption by the blood of the Lamb. This glorious truth first broke through the thick clouds that surrounded our first parents, as they retreated from the garden of Eden; its glimmerings appear in the types and shadows of the Mosaic economy; it burst on the world in full brightness when "the dayspring from on high" appeared in the Person of "God manifest in the flesh;" and its rich and rare results will be realized when the white-robed, palm-bearing multitude shall cluster around the throne of God and the Lamb, and the whole creation shall rest beneath the peaceful scepter of the Son of David.
Now, the lamb taken on the tenth day, and kept up until the fourteenth day, shows us Christ foreordained of God from eternity, but manifest for us, in time. God's eternal purpose in Christ becomes the foundation of the true believer's peace. Nothing short of this would do. We are carried back beyond creation, beyond the bounds of time, beyond the entrance of sin – everything that could possibly affect the ground-work of our peace. The expression, "fore-ordained before the foundation of the world," conducts us back into the unfathomed depths of eternity, showing us God forming His own counsels of redeeming love, and basing them all on the atoning blood of His own precious, spotless Lamb. Christ was always the primary thought in the Divine mind; and, hence, as we pass along the current of inspiration, we find every ceremony, every rite, every ordinance, and every sacrifice pointed forward to "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," and none more strikingly than the Passover. The paschal lamb, with all the attendant circumstances, forms one of the most profoundly interesting and deeply instructive types of Scripture.
In Exodus 12 we deal with one assembly and one sacrifice. "The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening" (v 6). It is not so much a number of families with several lambs – a thing quite true in itself – as one assembly and one lamb. Each house was the local expression of the whole assembly gathered around the lamb. The antitype of this is seen in the whole Church of our Lord, gathered by the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, of which each separate assembly, wherever convened, should be the local expression.
"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof" (vv. 7-9).
We shall contemplate the paschal lamb in two aspects: as the ground of peace and the center of unity. The blood on the lintel secured Israel's peace. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (v 13). Regarding the destroying angel, there was nothing more required, for settled peace, than the application of the blood of sprinkling. Death would do its work in every house throughout the land of Egypt. "It is appointed unto men once to die.” But God, in His great mercy, found an unblemished substitute for Israel. Thus God's claims and Israel's need were met by one and the same thing: the blood of the lamb – the blood of atonement.
It is true that if each one within the blood-sprinkled door were to receive his due reward, the sword of the destroyer would find its object in him; but then the Lamb was treated in his stead. This was the solid foundation of his peace. The judgment that was due him fell on a divinely appointed victim; and believing this, he could feed in peace within. A single doubt would have made Jehovah a liar; for He had said, "when I see the blood, I will pass over you." This was enough. It was not a question of personal worthiness. Self had nothing whatever to do in the matter. Everyone under cover of the blood was safe. They were not hoping or praying to be saved; on the authority of God’s enduring Word they knew it as an assured fact – not partly saved and partly exposed to judgment; they were wholly saved. The blood of the Lamb and the Word of the Lord formed the foundation of Israel's peace on that terrible night in which Egypt's firstborn were laid low. If a hair of an Israelite's head had been touched, it would have proved Jehovah's Word void, and the Lamb’s blood valueless.
It is important to be simple and clear regarding what constitutes the foundation of a sinner's peace, through Jesus Christ. So many things are part of the finished work of Christ, that we are often plunged into darkness and uncertainty as to their acceptance. Many of us do not see or understand the absolutely settled character of redemption through the blood of Christ,2 unaware that full forgiveness of sins rests on the simple fact that a full atonement has been offered. The Israelite believed what God said, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." Resting on God's testimony, the Israelite believed what God said, because God said it. "He set to his seal that God was true."
The Israelite did not rest on his own thoughts, feelings, or experiences, respecting the blood. To do so would have been resting on a poor sandy foundation. His thoughts and feelings bring deep or shallow, they had nothing to do with the foundation of his peace. It was not said, "When you see the blood, and value it as you should, I will pass over you." This would have been sufficient to plunge us into dark despair about salvation, because it is impossible for the human mind to sufficiently appreciate the precious blood of the Lamb. Peace came because Jehovah's eye rested on the blood; because He knew its worth. This tranquillized the heart. The blood was outside and the Israelite inside, so he could not see it; but God saw it, and that was enough.
The application of this to the Christian’s peace seems plain. The Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious blood as a perfect atonement for sin. He has taken it into the presence of God, and sprinkled it there. Thus, God's testimony assures the Christian that everything is settled – that because of it can righteously forgive sin, accepting the sinner as perfectly righteous in Christ. The loftiest understanding that the human mind can form of the blood falls infinitely short of its divine preciousness. Therefore, if our peace were dependant on valuing it as we should, we could no more enjoy settled peace than if we were seeking it by "works of law." There is peace only in the blood. To think otherwise is to upset the entire fabric of Christianity, just as effectually as if we were conducted to the foot of Mount Sinai, and put under a covenant of works. Either Christ's atoning sacrifice is sufficient or it is not; if it is sufficient, then why those doubts and fears? Too often, the words of our lips profess that the work is finished; but the doubts and fears of the heart declare that it is not. To doubt the full and everlasting forgiveness through the blood of Christ, denies the completeness of Christ’s sacrifice.
As the ground of Israel's peace the paschal lamb is a beautiful type of Christ as the foundation of the believer's peace. There was nothing added to the blood on the lintel; neither is there anything added to the blood on the mercy-seat. The "unleavened bread" and "bitter herbs" were necessary, but not for forming the ground of peace. They were for the inside of the house and formed the characteristics of the communion there; but the blood of the Lamb was the foundation of everything. The Lamb’s blood saved them from death and brought them into life, light, and peace, forming the link between God and His redeemed people. As a people linked with God, it was their high privilege to meet certain responsibilities; but these responsibilities did not form the link, but merely flowed out of it.
The obedient life of Christ is not set forth in Scripture as the procuring cause of our forgiveness. It was His death on the cross that opened those everlasting floodgates of love. If He had remained to this very hour, going through the cities of Israel "doing good," the veil of the temple would have continued unrent, baring the worshipper's approach to God. It was His death that tore that mysterious curtain "from top to bottom." It is "by His stripes," not by His obedient life, that "we are healed;" and He endured those “stripes” on the cross. His own words are quite sufficient to settle this point: "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished" (Lk. 12:50). This surely refers to His death on the cross, which was the accomplishment of His baptism and the opening up of a righteous vent through which His love might freely flow out to the guilty sons of Adam. Again, He says, "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone" (Jn. 12:24). He was that precious "corn of wheat:" and He would have remained forever "alone," even though incarnate, had He not by His death on the accursed tree, removed everything that hindered the union of His people with Him in resurrection. "If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
We cannot ponder this subject too carefully. It is one of immense weight and importance. We must remember two points in reference to this entire question: only in resurrection could there be union with Christ; and only Christ suffered for sins on the cross. We are not to suppose that incarnation was Christ taking us into union with Himself. This could not be. How could sinful flesh be thus united? The body of sin had to be destroyed by death. Sin had to be put away according to Divine requirement; all the power of the enemy had to be abolished. How was all this done? Only by the precious, spotless, Lamb of God submitting to the death of the cross. "It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10). "Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected" (Lk. 13:32). The expressions "perfect" and "perfected" in the above passages do not refer to Christ in His own Person abstractedly, because as the Son of God3 He was perfect from all eternity; and His humanity was likewise absolutely perfect. But then, as "the captain of salvation"; as "bringing many sons unto glory"; as "bringing forth much fruit"; as associating redeemed people with Himself, He had to reach "the third day" in order to be "perfected." Alone, He went down into the "horrible pit, and miry clay;" but, then He planted His "foot on the rock" of resurrection, associating Himself with the "many sons" (Ps. 40:1-3). He fought the fight alone; but, as the mighty Conqueror, He scatters around Him, in rich profusion, the spoils of victory, that we might gather them up and forever enjoy them.
Alsor, we are not to regard the cross of Christ as a mere circumstance in a life of sin-bearing. It was the grand and only scene of sin-bearing. "His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:14). He did not bear them anywhere else. He did not bear them in the manger, nor in the wilderness, nor in the garden; but only “on the tree.” Only on the cross did He bow His blessed head, and yield His precious life under the accumulated weight of His people's sins. Only on the cross did He suffer at the hand of God; and there Jehovah hid His face from Him because He was "made sin" (2 Cor. 5).
Hopefully, the above train of thought, and the various passages of Scripture referred to, may encourage a deeper consideration of the divine power of the words, "When I see The blood I will pass over you." The lamb needed to be without blemish. What else could meet the holy eye of Jehovah? But, had the blood not been shed, there could have been no passing over, for "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). The Lord permitting, this subject will more fully come before us in the types of Leviticus. It demands the prayerful attention of every one who sincerely loves our Lord Jesus Christ.
We now briefly consider the second aspect of the Passover,4 as the center around which the assembly was gathered in peaceful, holy, happy fellowship. Israel, saved by the blood, was one thing; and Israel, feeding on the lamb, was quite another. They were saved only by the blood; but the object around which they were gathered was the roasted lamb. This is certainly not a distinction without a difference. The blood of the Lamb forms the foundation of both our connection with God and our connection with one another. As those washed in that blood, we are introduced to God and to one another. Apart from the perfect atonement of Christ, there could be no fellowship either with God or His assembly. Still we must remember that it is to a living Christ in heaven that Christians are gathered by the Holy Spirit.5 It is with a living Head we are connected; we have come to "a living stone." He is our center. Having found peace through His blood, He is our grand gathering point and connecting link. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). The Holy Spirit is the only Gatherer; Christ Himself is the only object to which we are gathered; and when converted, our assembly is to be characterized by holiness, so that the Lord our God may dwell among us. The Holy Spirit can only gather to Christ. He cannot gather to a system, a name, a doctrine, or an ordinance. He gathers to a Person, and that Person is a glorified Christ in heaven. This stamps a peculiar character on God's assembly. Men may associate, on any ground, round any center, or for any object they please; but, when the Holy Spirit associates, it is only on the ground of accomplished redemption, around the Person of Christ, in order to form a holy dwelling place for God.6
We now look at the principles brought before us in the paschal feast. Under the cover of the blood, the assembly of Israel was to be ordered by Jehovah in a manner worthy of Himself. As we have already seen, in the matter of safety from judgment nothing was needed but the blood; but in the fellowship that flowed out of this safety, other things were needed which could not be neglected with impunity.
First, we read, "They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire,7 and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof" (vv. 8, 9).
The lamb, around which the congregation was assembled, and on which it feasted, was a roasted lamb – a lamb which had undergone the action of fire. In this we see "Christ our Passover" presenting Himself to the action of the fire of divine holiness and judgment that found in Him a perfect material. He could say, "Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress" (Ps. 17:3). All in Him was perfect. The fire tried Him and there was no dross – no scum; no waste, no foreign matter; no impurity. "His head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof." In other words, the seat of His understanding and outward walk; all submitted to the action of fire, and all entirely perfect. Therefore, the process of roasting was deeply significant, as is every single circumstance in the ordinances of God. Nothing whatsoever should be passed over, because all is full of meaning.
"Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water." Had it been eaten thus, there would have been no expression of the great truth that it was God’s purpose to shadow this, as follows; on the cross our paschal Lamb was to endure the fire of Jehovah's righteous wrath – a truth of infinite preciousness to the soul. We are not merely under the eternal shelter of the blood of the Lamb, but by faith we feed on the Person of the Lamb. Many of us come short here. We are pone to be satisfied with being saved by what Christ has done for us, without cultivating Holy Communion with Him. His loving heart can never be satisfied with this. He has brought us close to Himself, so that we might enjoy Him, so that we might feed on Him, and delight in Him. He presents Himself to us as the One who has endured, to the uttermost; the intense fire of the wrath of God; so that in this wondrous character, He may be the food of our ransomed souls.
But how was this lamb to be eaten? "With unleavened bread and bitter herbs."8 Leaven is used throughout Scripture as emblematical of evil. Neither in the Old or New Testament is it ever used as an example of anything pure, holy, or good. Thus, in this chapter, "the feast of unleavened bread" is the type of that practical separation from evil that is the proper result of being washed from our sins in the blood of the Lamb, and the proper accompaniment of communion with His sufferings. Nothing but perfectly unleavened bread could comport with a roasted lamb. A single particle of a marked type of evil would have destroyed the moral character of the entire ordinance. How could we connect any species of evil with our fellowship with a suffering Christ? All who enter by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the meaning of the cross will, by the same power, assuredly put away leaven from all their borders. "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). The feast spoken of in this passage corresponds with the feast of unleavened bread, which lasted "seven days." Christians are called to walk in practical holiness during the seven days, i.e., the entire period of our course here below – as the direct result of being washed in the blood, and having communion with the sufferings of Christ.
"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" (v 19). The cutting off of an Israelite from the congregation shadows the suspension of a Christian's fellowship from indulging in that which is contrary to the holiness of the divine presence. God cannot, and will not, tolerate evil. An unholy thought interrupts the soul's communion; and until the soil contracted by any such thought is fertilized by confession, communion cannot possibly be restored.9 The true-hearted Christian rejoices in always giving “thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness."
We perceive equal significance and moral propriety in that which accompanies the unleavened bread – the "bitter herbs." We cannot enjoy communion with the sufferings of Christ, without remembering what it was that rendered those sufferings needful. This remembrance must produce a chastened and subdued tone of spirit, aptly expressed by the bitter herbs in the paschal feast. If the roasted lamb expressed Christ's endurance of the wrath of God in His own Person on the cross, the bitter herbs express the Christian’s recognition of the truth that He "suffered for us." "The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed" (Is. 53:5). Because of the excessive levity of our hearts, it is well to understand the deep meaning of the bitter herbs. Who can read such Psalms as 6, 22, 38, 49, 88, and 109, and not, in some measure, enter into the meaning of the unleavened bread with bitter herbs? Practical holiness of life with deep subduedness of soul flows from real communion with Christ's suffering, because it is impossible that moral evil and levity of spirit can exist in view of those sufferings.
As pointed out in footnote four, the Passover was a specific family celebration, truly a Lord's Supper,10 dedicated to Him on the eve of the holiday. It is based on the family gathering preceding the Exodus (Ex. 12:1-14), when God passed over (hence the name of Passover) the house of the Israelites while punishing the Egyptians. But it may be asked, is there not a deep joy for the soul in the consciousness that Christ has borne our sins; that He has fully drained on our behalf the cup of God's righteous wrath? Unquestionably. This is the solid foundation of all our joy. How could we ever forget that it was for "our sins" He suffered; or lose sight of the soul-subduing truth that the blessed Lamb of God bowed His head beneath the weight of our transgressions? We must eat our lamb with bitter herbs, that do not set forth the tears of a worthless and shallow sentimentality, but rather the deep and real experiences of a soul that, with spiritual intelligence and power, enters into the meaning and practical effect of the cross.
In the cross, we find the complete setting aside of human nature, crucifixion of "the flesh," death of "the old man."11 The practical result of this involves much that is "bitter" to nature. It calls for self-denial, mortification of our earthly members (Col. 3:5), the reckoning of self to be dead unto sin (Rom. 6). All these things may seem terrible to look at; but when we get inside the bloodstained door-post we think differently. The very herbs which, to an Egyptian's taste, would, no doubt, have seemed so bitter, formed an integral part of Israel's redemption feast. Those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, who know the joy of fellowship with Him, esteem it a "feast."
"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" (v 10). In this command, we are taught that the communion of the congregation was not to be separated from the sacrifice on which that communion was founded. The heart must always cherish the vivid remembrance that true fellowship is inseparably connected with accomplished redemption. To think of having communion with God on any other ground is to imagine that He could have fellowship with our evil; and to think of fellowship with man on any other ground, is but to form an unholy club from which comes only confusion and iniquity. In other words, all must be founded on, and inseparably linked with, the blood. This is the simple meaning of eating the paschal lamb the same night on which the blood was shed. The fellowship must not be separated from its foundation.
What a beautiful picture – the blood-sheltered assembly of Israel feeding peacefully on the roasted lamb, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. No fear of judgment, no fear of the wrath of Jehovah, no fear of the terrible hurricane of righteous vengeance that was sweeping vehemently over the land of Egypt at the midnight hour. All was profound peace within the blood-stained lintel. They had no need to fear anything from without; and nothing within could trouble them, save leaven, which would have proved a death-blow to their peace and blessedness. What a picture for the Church of our Lord. What a picture for the Christian. May we gaze on it with an enlightened eye and a teachable spirit.
We have been looking at Israel's position, and Israel's food, let us now briefly look at Israel's habit. "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover" (v 11). They were to eat it as a people prepared to leave behind the land of death and darkness, wrath and judgment, to move onward toward the land of promise – their destined inheritance. The blood that had preserved them from the fate of Egypt's firstborn was also the foundation of their deliverance from Egypt's bondage; and they were now to set out and walk with God toward the land that flowed with milk and honey. True, they had not yet crossed the Red Sea; they had not yet traveled the "three days' journey." Still, in principle, they were a redeemed and separated people; a pilgrim people, an expectant people, a dependent people – their entire habit was to be in keeping with their present position and future destiny. The girded loins bespoke intense separation from all around them, together with a readiness to serve. The shod feet declared their preparedness to leave that scene; while the staff was the expressive emblem of a pilgrim people, in the attitude of leaning on something outside themselves. Would that these precious memories were exhibited by every member of God's redeemed family.
Conclusion: Through grace, Christians have tasted the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. It is our privilege to feed on His adorable Person and delight in His "unsearchable riches;" to have fellowship in His sufferings and be made partakers of His resurrection. Therefore, let us be seen with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the girded loins, the shoes and staff. In other words, let us be marked as a holy people, a crucified people, a watchful and diligent people; a people manifestly "on our way to God"; on our way to glory; "bound for the kingdom." We pray that these things may not be mere theories in our intellects; mere principles of Scriptural knowledge and interpretation; but living, divine realities, known by experience and exhibited in life to the glory of God.
We shall close this brief lesson by glancing for a moment at verses 43-49. Here we are taught that while it was the place and privilege of every true Israelite to eat the Passover, yet no uncircumcised stranger should participate therein. "There shall no stranger eat thereof . . . all the congregation of Israel shall keep it." Circumcision was necessary before the Passover could be eaten. In other words, the sentence of death must be written on our human nature before we can intelligently feed on Christ, either as the ground of peace or the center of unity. Circumcision has its antitype in the cross. The male alone was circumcised. The female was represented in the male. So, in the cross, Christ represented His Church,12 and hence, the Church is crucified with Christ; nevertheless, she lives by the life of Christ, known and exhibited on earth, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
"And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover unto the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. They that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8).
The ordinance of circumcision formed the boundary line between the Israel of God and all nations on the face of the earth; and the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ forms the boundary between the church and the world. It matters not what position or advantage a man might possess, he could have no part with Israel until he submitted to that flesh-cutting operation. A circumcised beggar was nearer to God than an uncircumcised king. So also now; there can be no participation in the joys of God's redeemed, save by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that cross sweeps away all pretensions, levels all distinctions, and unites in one holy brotherhood of blood-washed worshippers. The cross forms a boundary so lofty, and a defense so impenetrable, that not a single atom of earth or nature can cross over or pass through to mingle itself with "the new creation." "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself" (2 Cor. 5:18).
But, not only was Israel's separation from all strangers strictly maintained in the institution of the Passover; Israel's unity was also enforced. "In one house shall it be eaten: thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house. neither shall ye break a bone thereof" (v 46). Here is a beautiful type of ‘one body and one Spirit.’ The Lord’s Church is one. God sees it as such, maintains it as such, and, in the view of angels, men, and devils, will manifest it as such. Blessed be God, the unity of His Church is as much in His keeping as is her justification, acceptance, and eternal security. "He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken" (Ps. 34:20). And, again, "a bone of him shall not be broken" (Jn. 19:36). Despite the rudeness and hard-heartedness of Rome's soldiery, and despite all the hostile influences that have been and will continue to work from age to age, the body of Christ is one and its divine unity can never be broken. "THERE IS ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT." Happy are they who have the faith to recognize this precious truth, and faithfulness to carry it out in these last days; in spite of the almost insuperable difficulties facing a Christian's profession and practice.
We pray the Lord deliver us from the spirit of unbelief that leads us to judge by the sight of our eyes, instead of by the light of God's changeless Word.
Footnotes:
1
There is a vast difference between the Divine method of dealing with the heathen (Rom. 1) and with the rejecters of the Gospel (2 Thess. 1, 2). In reference to the former, we read, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind:" but with respect to the latter, the word is "because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved . . . God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned." Unbelievers refuse the testimony of creation, and therefore, are left to themselves. The rejecters of the Gospel refuse the full blaze of light that shines from the cross, and, therefore, "a strong delusion" will be sent from God on them. This is deeply solemn for an age like ours, in which there is so little light and so much profession.
2 For more information on the blood of Christ see ‘God’s Salvation’ in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
3 For more information on the Son of God see ‘God the Son’ in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
4 Early documentary evidence of this is found in the Mishnah. This work consisted of a topical arrangement of the deliberations of the Rabbis concerning the interpretation and development of the Torah. Although originally transmitted orally, eventually the written Torah, its oral interpretations, and expansions, were set to writing at about the beginning of the third century, A.D. In the tractate Pesahim in the Mishnah one finds, in the argumentative style of the Rabbis, and in great detail, how one should prepare for, partake of, and depart from the Passover feast. In spite of this early record of Passover observance, the picture is not entirely clear. Opposing schools of thought, such as those of Shammai and Hillel, are often given without a resolution of the disagreement. However, aside from a few obscure particulars, the following description is adduced from the ancient Pesahim of the Mishnah. On the night before Passover, the family home was searched to remove all forms of leavened items (hanetz) to insure compliance with the scriptural mandate found in Exodus 12:15. On Passover day the father of the household took a selected lamb to the temple for sacrifice. He slaughtered the animal and the priest received its blood and dashed it against the base of the altar of sacrifice. The parts of the animal to be burned (Lev. 3:3-4) were given to the priest for burning. The remainder was then taken home and roasted for eating. What followed was "a specific family celebration ... truly a Lord's Supper, dedicated to Him on the eve of the holiday. It is based on the family gathering preceding the Exodus (Ex. 12:1-14) when God passed over (hence the name of Passover) the house of the Israelites while punishing the Egyptians" (Leo Trepp, Judaism: Development and Life).
5 For more information on the Spirit see ‘God the Spirit’ in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
6 See 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; 6:19; Ephesians 2:21, 22; 1 Peter 2:4, 5.
7 The instruction to "roast" (not boil) the lamb has provoked many speculations. Why roast? That it expedited the cooking of it in one piece, that it could be more easily done in this manner, that it was a simpler and quicker process, and that a special sanctity was supposed to attach to that which "passed through the fire," are just a few of the reasons men have supposed lay behind this instruction. We cannot find much fault with the opinion of Justin Martyr, who found the cross of Christ in it. He said that for roasting the lamb, two wooden stakes were used, one passing from end to end length-wise through the animal, and the other an upright thrust through the center and attached to the cross-member, thus forming a cross. Whether or not this was actually the custom, we have no way of knowing, but one thing is certain: Christ was indeed in the ceremony of the Passover. Especially note that this roasting of the Passover was not at all like the priestly method inaugurated in Deuteronomy 16:7, where one finds a demand to boil the meat.
8 Nettles, chicory, wild lettuce and endives are among the "bitter herbs" supposed to have been used, and used by the Jews for this ceremony until today. The meaning of this also is reflected in the reality of the Lord's Table, where the prospect is retrospective to the sufferings and death of Our Lord, and prospective to the coming of His glorious Second Advent. Just so, in that Passover, the bitter herbs were retrospective to the bitter slavery and hardships of Israel in Egypt and prospective to their trials and hardships as they struggled to reach the Promised Land.
9 See 1 John 1:9-10.
10 For more information on the Lord’s Supper see ‘Remembering Jesus’ in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
11 See Romans 6: 6; Galatians 2: 20; 6: 14; Colossians 2:11.
12
For more information on the Church see ‘God’s Church’ in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
