The Egyptians had become weary of the people of God, and they were going to be glad to see them go. The world, too, is becoming weary of true Christians who witness for their Lord and Saviour. The unsaved will no doubt be glad to have us out of the way when the Lord comes and takes us to heaven, but there will not be much gladness when God’s awful judgments begin to fall upon them.
God said that when He took His people out of Egypt not even a dog would move his tongue against them. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people going out of Egypt in great haste, as they did, and not one dog barked! Surely God controls everything, and no man or beast can harm us unless He allows it.
Why should I ever careful be,
Since such a God is mine?
He watches o’er me night and day.
And tells me, “Thou art Mine.”
The Substitute
One great question remained. If God began to act in judgment where would He stop? How could He bring judgment upon the Egyptians and pass over the children of Israel, since they were sinners and deserved the same judgment? God is holy and He must punish sin. How could he spare the firstborn of the Israelites and bring them to Canaan as His people, while killing the firstborn in the Egyptian homes? “The wages of sin is death,” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)) and the wages must be paid. Either the firstborn in every home must die, or a substitute must be provided. Moreover, it must be a substitute which God would accept. No other substitute would do; no other means could be found. So God told them of the substitute, and assured them that He would accept it. He said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (ch. 12:13). How precious, how assuring!
“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (ch. 12:2). It was to be a new beginning and so God changed their calendar completely. From then on they used a different calendar from the Egyptians. This reminds us of the new birth. We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity (Psalm 51:55Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)), and had our backs toward God. We were dead before Him and we must “begin” to live — we must be born again — before we can please God or enter heaven.
The Lamb Was Enough
The children of Israel were to take a lamb for every house, and if there were any small households they could share the lamb with their neighbor. Surely there is a lesson for us in this. There could never be a household too large for the lamb (for it typified Christ), but there might be one that was too small. Perhaps the one who reads these lines is saved. Have you shared your knowledge of Christ with your neighbor? Have you told him of God’s Lamb? Surely there is enough in Him to fill our hearts to overflowing so that there is something for others as well. Let us not keep the good news to ourselves but tell others that they, like the neighbors of the Israelites, may know the value of the sprinkled blood, and share the joy of feeding upon Christ in their homes.
Further Meditation
1. Why was Israel’s calendar changed?
2. What New Testament believers had their hearts so filled that they had to tell others?
3. If the Lord has stirred you to do the work of an evangelist there are many ways to do it. One that fits into every day of life is to share gospel tracts. If you don’t already have some favorites that you use you can get started with Color Tracts Variety Pack (Item #5703) from BibleTruthPublishers.com. Many other publishers also provide good quality gospel tracts.