blood is the token, and the Lord still looks for the blood in order that "He may be just and

the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus".

To many, possibly, the yearly sacrifice of the passover said little; to one, however, we

do know that it spoke of Christ. That one was David.  Ps. 51: is the prayer of a truly

penitent man. He prays that his transgressions may be blotted out, and he himself

thoroughly washed from his sin. "Purge me with hyssop", he cries, "and I shall be clean;

wash me and I shall be whiter than snow". Why did David ask to be purged with hyssop?

Hyssop is a small bushy plant; in what way could it be used to purge and cleanse? The

answer is found in the passover. "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 sideposts with the blood"

(Exod. 12: 22). Here is David's meaning; he cried for the protection and cleansing of the

blood.

David follows the reference to the hyssop by another strange remark, "Make me to

hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice". Of the

passover lamb it was written, "neither shall ye break a bone thereof", and

John 19: 33-36, speaking of the Roman custom and the soldiers' attitude says, "These

things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken."

In verse 14 of Psalm 51: David utters the dreadful character of his sin, "Deliver me

from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud

of Thy righteousness". If it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away

sin or to touch the conscience, how could David expect deliverance, and how could he

couple it with God's righteousness? He might have said that his tongue would sing aloud

of God's mercy, or love, or pity, but no, he says righteousness. David saw beyond the

passover lamb to the Lamb of God, Whom God was to set forth to be a propitiation

through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission (margin,

passing over) of the sins that are past, through the forbearance of God (Rom. 3: 25).

The lessons of the passover are many and full. This paper touches a few, but however

many more may be seen and realized, still must it ever be true that in the sacrifice of the

passover, as in all the scheme of redemption, CHRIST IS ALL.