Notes on the book of Exodus Part 7

We are ever p.r.o.ne to look at something in or connected with ourselves as necessary, in order to make up, with the blood of Christ, the ground-work of our peace. There is a sad lack of clearness and soundness on this vital point, as is evident from the doubts and fears with which so many of the people of G.o.d are afflicted. We are apt to regard the fruits of the Spirit _in_ us, rather than the work of Christ _for_ us, as the foundation of peace. We shall see, presently, the place which the work of the Holy Spirit occupies in Christianity; but it is never set forth in Scripture as being that on which our peace reposes. The Holy Ghost did not make peace, but Christ did. The Holy Ghost is not said to be our peace, but Christ is. G.o.d did not send preaching peace by the Holy Ghost, but by Jesus Christ. (Comp.

Acts x. 36; Eph. ii. 14, 17; Col. i. 20.) My reader cannot be too simple in his apprehension of this important distinction. It is the blood of Christ which gives peace, imparts perfect justification--divine righteousness, purges the conscience, brings us into the holiest of all, justifies G.o.d in receiving the believing sinner, and const.i.tutes our t.i.tle to all the joys, the dignities, and the glories of heaven.

(See Rom. iii. 24-26; v. 9; Eph. ii. 13-18; Col. i. 20-22; Heb. ix.

14; x. 19; 1 Peter i. 19; ii. 24; 1 John i. 7; Rev. vii. 14-17.)

It will not, I fondly hope, be supposed that, in seeking to put "the precious blood of Christ" in its divinely appointed place, I would write a single line which might seem to detract from the value of the Spirit's operations. G.o.d forbid. The Holy Ghost reveals Christ; makes us to know, enjoy, and feed upon Christ; He bears witness to Christ; He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. He is the power of communion, the seal, the witness, the earnest, the unction.

In short, His blessed operations are absolutely essential. Without Him, we can neither see, hear, know, feel, experience, enjoy, nor exhibit aught of Christ. This is plain. The doctrine of the Spirit's operations is clearly laid down in the Word, and is understood and admitted by every true and rightly-instructed Christian.

Yet, notwithstanding all this, the work of the Spirit is not the ground of peace; for, if it were, we could not have settled peace until Christ's coming, inasmuch as the work of the Spirit, in the Church, will not, properly speaking, be complete till then. He still carries on His work in the believer. "He maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom. viii.) He labors to bring us up to the predestinated standard, namely, perfect conformity, in all things, to the image of "the Son." He is the sole Author of every right desire, every holy aspiration, every pure affection, every divine experience, every sound conviction; but, clearly, His work _in_ us will not be complete until we have left this present scene and taken our place with Christ in the glory. Just as, in the case of Abraham's servant, his work was not complete, in the matter of Rebecca, until he had presented her to Isaac.

Not so the work of Christ _for_ us. That is absolutely and eternally complete. He could say, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." (John xvii. 4.) And, again, "It is finished." (John xix. 30.) The Holy Ghost cannot yet say He has finished His work. As the true Vicar of Christ upon earth, He still labors amid the varied hostile influences which surround the sphere of His operations. He works in the hearts of the people of G.o.d to bring them up, practically and experimentally, to the divinely appointed standard; but He never teaches a soul to lean on His work for peace in the presence of G.o.d.

His office is to speak of Jesus. He does not speak of Himself. "He,"

says Christ, "shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you." (John xvi. 13, 14.) If, then, it is only by the Spirit's teaching that any one can understand the true ground of peace, and if the Spirit never speaks of Himself, it is obvious that He can only present Christ's work as the foundation on which the soul must rest forever; yea, it is in virtue of that work that He takes up His abode and carries on His marvelous operations in the believer. He is not our t.i.tle, though He reveals that t.i.tle and enables us to understand and enjoy it.

Hence, therefore, the paschal lamb, as the ground of Israel's peace, is a marked and beautiful type of Christ as the ground of the believer's peace. There was nothing to be added to the blood on the lintel; neither is there anything to be added to the blood on the mercy-seat. The "unleavened bread" and "bitter herbs" were necessary, but not as forming, either in whole or in part, 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. It saved them from death, and introduced them into a scene of life, light, and peace. It formed the link between G.o.d and His redeemed people. As a people linked with G.o.d, on the ground of accomplished redemption, it was their high privilege to meet certain responsibilities; but these responsibilities did not form the link, but merely flowed out of it.

And I would further remind my reader that the obedient _life_ of Christ is not set forth in Scripture as the procuring cause of our forgiveness. It was His death upon the cross that opened those everlasting floodgates of love which else should have remained pent up forever. If He had remained to this very hour, going through the cities of Israel, "doing good," the vail of the temple would continue unrent, to bar the wors.h.i.+per's approach to G.o.d. It was His death that rent that mysterious curtain "from top to bottom." It is "by _His stripes_," not by His obedient life, that "we are healed;" and those "stripes" He endured _on the cross_, and no where else. His own words, during the progress of His blessed life, are quite sufficient to settle this point.--"I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished." (Luke xii. 50.) To what does this refer but to His death upon 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." (John xii. 24.) He was that precious "corn of wheat;" and He should have remained forever "alone," even though incarnate, had He not, by His death upon the accursed tree, removed out of the way everything that could have hindered the union of His people with Him in resurrection. "If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

My reader cannot too carefully ponder this subject. It is one of immense weight and importance. He has to remember two points in reference to this entire question, namely, that there could be no union with Christ, save in resurrection; and that Christ _only_ suffered for sins on the cross. We are not to suppose that incarnation was, by any means, 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 the divine requirement; all the power of the enemy had to be abolished.

How was all this to be done? Only by the precious, spotless Lamb of G.o.d 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. ii. 10.) "Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and _the third day I shall be perfected_."

(Luke xiii. 32.) The expressions "perfect" and "perfected" in the above pa.s.sages, do not refer to Christ in His own Person abstractedly, for He was perfect from all eternity, as Son of G.o.d; and as to His humanity, He was absolutely perfect likewise. But then, as "the Captain of salvation"--as "bringing many sons unto glory"--as "bringing forth much fruit"--as a.s.sociating a redeemed people _with_ Himself,--He had to reach "the third day" in order to be "perfected."

He went down _alone_ into the "horrible pit, and miry clay;" but directly He plants His "foot on the rock" of resurrection. He a.s.sociates with Himself the "many sons." (Psalm xl. 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 enjoy them forever.

Moreover, we are not to regard the cross of Christ as a mere circ.u.mstance 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 Peter ii. 24.) He did not bear them any where else. He did not bear them in the manger, nor in the wilderness, nor in the garden; but ONLY "ON THE TREE." He never had aught to say to sin, save on the cross; and there He bowed His head, and yielded up His precious life, under the acc.u.mulated weight of His people's sins. Neither did He ever suffer at the hand of G.o.d, save on the cross; and there Jehovah hid His face from Him because He was "made sin." (2 Cor. v.)

The above train of thought, and the various pa.s.sages of Scripture referred to, may perhaps enable my reader to enter more fully into the divine power of the words, "_When I see the blood_, I will pa.s.s over you." The lamb needed to be without blemish, no doubt, for what else could meet the holy eye of Jehovah? But had the blood not been shed, there could have been no pa.s.sing over, for "without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) This subject will, the Lord permitting, come more fully and appropriately before us in the types of Leviticus. It demands the prayerful attention of every one who loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

We shall now consider the second aspect of the pa.s.sover, as the centre round which the a.s.sembly was gathered, in peaceful, holy, happy fellows.h.i.+p. 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 round which they were gathered was, manifestly, the roasted lamb. This is not, by any means, a distinction without a difference. The blood of the lamb forms the foundation both of our connection with G.o.d, and our connection with one another. It is as those who are washed in that blood, that we are introduced to G.o.d and to one another. Apart from the perfect atonement of Christ, there could obviously be no fellows.h.i.+p either with G.o.d or His a.s.sembly.

Still we must remember that it is to a living Christ in heaven that believers are gathered by the Holy Ghost. It is with a living Head we are connected--to "a living stone" we have come. He is our centre.

Having found peace through His blood, we own Him as 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. xviii.

20.) The Holy Ghost is the only Gatherer; Christ Himself is the only object to which we are gathered; and our a.s.sembly, when thus convened, is to be characterized by holiness, so that the Lord our G.o.d may dwell among us. The Holy Ghost 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 must stamp a peculiar character on G.o.d's a.s.sembly. Men may a.s.sociate on any ground, round any centre, or for any object they please; but when the Holy Ghost a.s.sociates, it is on the ground of accomplished redemption, around the Person of Christ, in order to form a holy dwelling-place for G.o.d. (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19; Eph. ii. 21, 22; 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.)

We shall now look in detail at the principles brought before us in the paschal feast. The a.s.sembly of Israel, as under the cover of the blood, was to be ordered by Jehovah in a manner worthy of Himself. In the matter of safety from judgment, as we have already seen, nothing was needed but the blood; but in the fellows.h.i.+p which flowed out of this safety, other things were needed which could not be neglected with impunity.

And first, then, we read, "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." (Ver. 8, 9.) The lamb round which the congregation was a.s.sembled, and on which it feasted, was a roasted lamb--a lamb which had undergone the action of fire. In this we see "Christ our pa.s.sover"

presenting Himself to the action of the fire of divine holiness and judgment which 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." (Psalm xvii. 3.) All in Him was perfect. The fire tried Him, and there was no dross. "His head with his legs and with the purtenance thereof." That is to say, the seat of His understanding, His outward walk, with all that pertained thereto--all was submitted to the action of the fire, and all was entirely perfect. The process of roasting was therefore deeply significant, as is every circ.u.mstance in the ordinances of G.o.d. Nothing should be pa.s.sed over, because all is pregnant with 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 which it was the divine purpose to shadow forth; namely, that our paschal Lamb was to endure, on the cross, the fire of Jehovah's righteous wrath,--a truth of infinite preciousness to the soul. We are not merely under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb, but we feed, by faith, upon the Person of the Lamb. Many of us come short here. We are apt to rest satisfied with being saved by what Christ has done for us, without cultivating holy communion with Himself. His loving heart could never be satisfied with this. He has brought us nigh to Himself, that we might enjoy Him, 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 G.o.d, that He may, in this wondrous character, be the food of our ransomed souls.

But how was this lamb to be eaten? "With unleavened bread and bitter herbs." Leaven is invariably used, throughout Scripture, as emblematical of evil. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament is it ever used to set forth anything pure, holy, or good. Thus, in this chapter, "the feast of unleavened bread" is the type of that practical separation from evil which 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. Naught but unleavened bread could at all comport with a roasted lamb. A single particle of that which was the marked type of evil, would have destroyed the moral character of the entire ordinance. How could we connect any species of evil with our fellows.h.i.+p with a suffering Christ? Impossible. All who enter, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into the meaning of the cross will a.s.suredly, by the same power, put away leaven from all their borders.

"For even Christ our pa.s.sover 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. v. 7, 8.) The feast spoken of in this pa.s.sage is that which, in the life and conduct of the Church, corresponds with the feast of unleavened bread. This latter lasted "seven days;" and the Church collectively, and the believer individually, are called to walk in practical holiness, during the seven days, or entire period, of their course here below; and this, moreover, as the direct result of being washed in the blood, and having communion with the sufferings of Christ.

The Israelite did not put away leaven in order to be saved, but because he was saved; and if he failed to put away leaven, it did not raise the question of security through the blood, but simply of fellows.h.i.+p with the a.s.sembly. "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." (Ver. 19.) The cutting off of an Israelite from the congregation answers precisely to the suspension of a Christian's fellows.h.i.+p, if he be indulging in that which is contrary to the holiness of the divine presence. G.o.d cannot tolerate evil. A single unholy thought will interrupt the soul's communion; and until the soil contracted by any such thought is got rid of by confession, founded on the advocacy of Christ, the communion cannot possibly be restored. (See 1 John i. 5-10.) The true-hearted Christian rejoices in this. He can ever "give thanks at the remembrance of G.o.d's holiness." He would not, if he could, lower the standard a single hair's breadth. It is his exceeding joy to walk in company with One who will not go on, for a moment, with a single jot or t.i.ttle of "leaven."

Blessed be G.o.d, we know that nothing can ever snap asunder the link which binds the true believer to Him. We are "saved in the Lord," not with a temporary or conditional, but "with an everlasting salvation."

But then salvation and communion are not the same thing. Many are saved who do not know it; and many, also, who do not enjoy it. It is quite impossible that I can enjoy a blood-stained lintel if I have leavened borders. This is an axiom in the divine life. May it be written on our hearts! Practical holiness, though not the basis of our _salvation_, is intimately connected with our _enjoyment_ thereof. An Israelite was not saved by unleavened bread, but by the blood; and yet leaven would have cut him off from communion. And as to the Christian, he is not saved by his practical holiness, but by the blood; but if he indulges in evil, in thought, word, or deed, he will have no true enjoyment of salvation, and no true communion with the Person of the Lamb.

This, I cannot doubt, is the secret of much of the spiritual barrenness and lack of settled peace which one finds amongst the children of G.o.d. They are not cultivating holiness; they are not keeping "the feast of unleavened bread." The blood is on the lintel, but the leaven within their borders keeps them from enjoying the security which the blood provides. The allowance of evil destroys our fellows.h.i.+p, though it does not break the link which binds our souls eternally to G.o.d. Those who belong to G.o.d's a.s.sembly must be holy.

They have not only been delivered from the guilt and consequences of sin, but also from the practice of it, the power of it, and the love of it. The very fact of being delivered by the blood of the paschal lamb, rendered Israel responsible to put away leaven from all their quarters. They could not say, in the frightful language of the antinomian, Now that we are delivered, we may conduct ourselves as we please. By no means. If they were saved _by grace_, they were saved _to holiness_. The soul that can take occasion, from the freedom of divine grace and the completeness of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, to "continue in sin," proves very distinctly that he understands neither the one nor the other.

Grace not only saves the soul with an everlasting salvation, but also imparts a nature which delights in everything that belongs to G.o.d, because it is divine. We are made partakers of the divine nature, which cannot sin, because it is born of G.o.d. To walk in the energy of this nature is, in reality, to "keep" the feast of unleavened bread.

There is no "old leaven" nor "leaven of malice and wickedness" in the new nature, because it is of G.o.d, and G.o.d is holy, and "G.o.d is love."

Hence it is evident that we do not put away evil from us in order to better our old nature, which is irremediable; nor yet to obtain the new nature, but because we have it. We have life, and, in the power of that life, we put away evil. It is only when we are delivered from the guilt of sin that we can understand or exhibit the true power of holiness. To attempt it in any other way is hopeless labor. The feast of unleavened bread can only be kept beneath the perfect shelter of the blood.

We may perceive equal significancy and moral propriety in that which was to accompany the unleavened bread, namely, the "bitter herbs." We cannot enjoy communion with the sufferings of Christ without remembering what it was which rendered those sufferings needful, and this remembrance must necessarily produce a chastened and subdued tone of spirit, which is aptly expressed by the bitter herbs in the paschal feast. If the roasted lamb expressed Christ's endurance of the wrath of G.o.d in His own Person, on the cross, the bitter herbs express the believer's recognition of the truth that He "suffered _for us_." "The chastis.e.m.e.nt of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah liii. 5.) It is well, owing to the excessive levity of our hearts, to understand the deep meaning of the bitter herbs. Who can read such psalms as the sixth, twenty-second, thirty-eighth, sixty-ninth, eighty-eighth, and one hundred and ninth, and not enter, in some measure, into the meaning of the unleavened bread with bitter herbs? Practical holiness of life, with deep subduedness of soul, must flow from real communion with Christ's sufferings; for it is quite impossible that moral evil and levity of spirit can exist in view of those sufferings.

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 G.o.d's righteous wrath?

Unquestionably. This is the solid foundation of all our joy. But can we ever forget that it was for "_our sins_" He suffered? Can we ever lose sight of the soul-subduing truth that the blessed Lamb of G.o.d bowed His head beneath the weight of our transgressions? Surely not.

We must eat our lamb with bitter herbs, which, be it remembered, do not set forth the tears of a worthless and shallow sentimentality, but the deep and real experiences of a soul that enters, with spiritual intelligence and power, into the meaning and into the practical effect of the cross.

In contemplating the cross, we find in it that which cancels all our guilt. This imparts sweet peace and joy. But we find in it also the complete setting aside of nature--the crucifixion of "the flesh"--the death of "the old man." (See Rom. vi. 6; Gal. ii. 20; vi. 14; Col. ii.

11.) This, in its practical results, will involve much that is "bitter" to nature. It will call for self-denial--the mortification of our members which are on the earth (Col. iii. 5.)--the reckoning of self to be dead indeed unto sin (Rom. vi.). All these things may seem terrible to look at; but when one gets inside the blood-stained door-post, he thinks quite 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 fellows.h.i.+p with Him, esteem it a "feast" to put away evil and to keep nature in the place of death.

"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."

(Ver. 10.) In this command, we are taught that the communion of the congregation was in no wise to be separated from the sacrifice on which that communion was founded. The heart must ever cherish the vivid remembrance that all true fellows.h.i.+p is inseparably connected with accomplished redemption. To think of having communion _with G.o.d_ on any other ground is to imagine that He could have fellows.h.i.+p with our evil, and to think of fellows.h.i.+p _with man_ on any other ground is but to form an unholy club, from which nothing could issue but confusion and iniquity. In a word, all must be founded upon, 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 fellows.h.i.+p must not be separated from its foundation.

What a beauteous picture, then, we have in the blood-sheltered a.s.sembly 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 which 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 all their peace and blessedness. What a picture for the Church!

What a picture for the Christian! May we gaze upon it with an enlightened eye and a teachable spirit!

However, we are not yet done with this most instructive ordinance. We have been looking at Israel's _position_, and Israel's _food_, let us now 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 pa.s.sover." (Ver. 11.) They were to eat it as a people prepared to leave behind them the land of death and darkness, wrath and judgment, to move onward toward the land of promise--their destined inheritance. The blood which had preserved them from the fate of Egypt's first-born was also the foundation of their deliverance from Egypt's bondage; and they were now to set out and walk with G.o.d toward the land that flowed with milk and honey. True, they had not yet crossed the Red Sea,--they had not yet gone the "three days'

journey;" still they were, in principle, a redeemed people, a separated people, a pilgrim people, an expectant people, a dependent people; and 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 att.i.tude of leaning on something outside themselves. Precious characteristics! Would that they were more exhibited by every member of G.o.d's redeemed family.

Beloved Christian reader, let us "meditate on these things." We have tasted, through grace, the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus; as such, it is our privilege to feed upon His adorable Person and delight ourselves in His "unsearchable riches;" to have fellows.h.i.+p in His sufferings, and be made conformable to His death. Oh! let us, therefore, be seen with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the girded loins, the shoes and staff. In a word, let us be marked as a holy people, a crucified people, a watchful and diligent people,--a people manifestly "on our way to G.o.d"--on our way to glory--"bound for the kingdom." May G.o.d grant us to enter into the depth and power of all these things, so that they 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 the life, to the glory of G.o.d.

We shall close this section 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 pa.s.sover, yet no uncirc.u.mcised stranger should partic.i.p.ate therein.--"There shall no stranger eat thereof ... all the congregation of Israel shall keep it."

Circ.u.mcision was necessary ere the pa.s.sover could be eaten. In other words, the sentence of death must be written upon nature ere we can intelligently feed upon Christ, either as the ground of peace or the centre of unity. Circ.u.mcision has its ant.i.type in the cross. The male alone was circ.u.mcised; the female was represented in the male. So, in the cross, Christ represented His Church, 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 Ghost.

"And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the pa.s.sover unto the Lord, let all his males be circ.u.mcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncirc.u.mcised person shall eat thereof." "They that are in the flesh cannot please G.o.d." (Rom. viii. 8.)

The ordinance of circ.u.mcision formed the grand boundary line between the Israel of G.o.d and all the nations that were upon 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, in the smallest degree, what advantages of person or position a man possessed, he could have no part with Israel until he submitted to that flesh-cutting operation. A circ.u.mcised beggar was nearer to G.o.d than an uncirc.u.mcised king. So, also, now, there can be no partic.i.p.ation in the joys of G.o.d's redeemed, save by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that cross sweeps away all pretensions, levels all distinctions, and unites all in one holy congregation of blood-washed wors.h.i.+pers. The cross forms a boundary so lofty, and a defense so impenetrable, that not a single atom of earth or of nature can cross over or pa.s.s through to mingle itself with "the new creation." "_All_ things are of G.o.d, who hath reconciled us to Himself." (2 Cor. v. 18.)

But not only was Israel's _separation_ from all strangers strictly maintained, in the inst.i.tution of the pa.s.sover; Israel's _unity_ was also as clearly enforced. "_In one house_ shall it be eaten: thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house: neither shall ye break a bone thereof." (Ver. 46.) Here is as fair and beauteous a type as we could have of the "one body and one Spirit."

The Church of G.o.d is _one_. G.o.d sees it as such, maintains it as such, and will manifest it as such, in the view of angels, men, and devils, notwithstanding all that has been done to interfere with that hallowed unity. Blessed be G.o.d, 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. x.x.xiv. 20.) And again, "A bone of Him shall not be broken." (John xix. 36.) Despite the rudeness and hard-heartedness of Rome's soldiery, and despite all the hostile influences which have been set 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;" and that, moreover, down here on this very earth. Happy are they who have got faith to recognize this precious truth, and faithfulness to carry it out, in these last days, notwithstanding the almost insuperable difficulties which attend upon their profession and their practice. I believe G.o.d will own and honor such.

The Lord deliver us from that spirit of unbelief which would lead us to judge by the sight of our eyes, instead of by the light of His changeless Word.

CHAPTER XIII.

In the opening verses of this chapter we are taught, clearly and distinctly, that personal devotedness and personal holiness are fruits which redeeming love produces in those who are the happy subjects thereof. The dedication of the first-born and the feast of unleavened bread are here set forth in their immediate connection with the deliverance of the people out of the land of Egypt.--"'Sanctify unto Me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is Mine.' And Moses said unto the people, 'Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.'" And again, "Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast unto the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee; neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters."