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#4. Redemption.
pp. 142 - 144
"Christ our passover hath been sacrificed for us" (I Cor. 5: 7).
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29).
The first promise which God made to Abraham is contained in the words, "Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I
will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation" (Gen. 12: 1, 2). It was not,
however, until the seed of Abraham had spent many grievous days of toil in Egypt, that
God appeared on their behalf, and fulfilled His promise. The first national act was the
sacrifice of the passover, every member of the chosen race being redeemed by blood.
A vital change is indicated in Exod. 12: 2, "This month shall be unto you the
beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year TO YOU". Up till this point
the first month of the year had been Tisri, which corresponds with our October, but a
complete change was introduced, and the month Abib became the first month of the new
year to Israel, "This day came ye out in the month Abib" (Exod. 13: 4).
The children of Israel were commanded to take a lamb for an house. There is
something suggestive in the way the word lamb is used. First it is A lamb (12: 3), then
THE lamb (verse 4), then YOUR lamb (verse 5). It is good to recognize Christ as A
Saviour, it is better and more blessed to see in Him THE Saviour, best of all to realize
once for all that He is YOUR Saviour. The record of Exod. 12:, spoken as it was for the
instruction of Israel on that memorable night, nevertheless seems to pass from the type to
the Antitype in verse 6, "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel shall kill
IT in the evening". For every house of Israel a lamb had been taken; many lambs
therefore that awful evening would have been slain by as many fathers--yet the Word
reads, "the whole congregation. . . . shall kill IT". "Christ our passover hath been
sacrificed for us".
It has been pointed out by others before us, that while the blood of the passover was
sprinkled above the upper door post, and on either side the two side posts, no blood was
sprinkled upon the threshold; God saw to it that not even in type should any of the
children of Israel "trample under foot" the blood that spoke of the sacrifice of His Son.
To the children of Israel that sprinkled blood was a token, and the Lord said, "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".
"When I see the blood". Not when I see your genealogy as a true son of Abraham, not
when I see your character, but when I see the blood. No dispensation, however diverse in
character, calling, and destiny, alters one word of this basic truth. Redemption by blood
lies at the bottom of Israel's deliverance and nationality, redemption by blood is one of
the "spiritual blessings" of the dispensation of the mystery (Eph. 1: 7). Every presentation
of the gospel whether from pulpit, platform, or village green must pass this scrutiny. The