(Part 3.)
The next proof to which I shall call my reader’s attention is furnished by the well-known institution of the Passover. This type has been already referred to, in the pages of “Things New and Old;” but that need not, by any means, prevent our making use of it, in connection with our present subject.
Let us turn, then, at once, to Exod. 12 Here we find, in terms as plain as plain can be, “SALVATION BY BLOOD.” Not, be it remembered, salvation by blood and something else; but salvation by BLOOD ALONE. I desire to use great plainness of speech; believing, as I do, that these lines will be read by thousands of plain people. I would ask the very plainest reader, What was it that sheltered the Israelite from the sword of the destroyer?
He will, I doubt not, answer me in the very words of Jehovah Himself, who said to Israel, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”
“True, the lamb was to be “without blemish, a male of the first year:” for what else could have suited? What else could have met Jehovah’s claims?” 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.” (v. 5, 6.) All this was divinely true. A spotless lamb was needed -a lamb “taken out” and “kept up.” Naught save a spotless victim could ever suit the altar of the God of Israel; but ten thousand unblemished lambs—“males of the first year”—“taken out” and “kept up” forever, would not have warded off the stroke of justice, or turned aside the keen edge of the sword of the destroyer. No; the blood had to be shed. “The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” (ver. 6.) The sentence of death should be executed, either on the Israelite, or on a substitute. Death is the sinner’s due. Death has passed upon all because of sin; and it is morally impossible that aught but death can save a sinner from a sinner’s doom. If grace has found a substitute—one to stand in the sinner’s place, then it follows that he must, in order to deliver the sinner, submit to what was really due to him.
Thus it was, in Israel’s case, on that memorable night in which the destroying angel passed, with his drawn sword, through the land of Egypt. Had he seen a living lamb, ever so unblemished, standing outside the Israelite’s door, what would have been the result? Death to the firstborn within! But, it may be asked, why would he not execute the sentence upon the living lamb? The answer is plain enough, and let my reader mark it. It was only a slain lamb that could save a sinner. It was the blood of the lamb applied, by faith, to the lintel, and not a living lamb, at the door, that saved Israel. “When I see the blood, I will pass over.” The blood told the tale that death had already done its work, in reference to all within the bloodstained lintel.
Here, then, we have a lovely type of salvation by blood. The blood was amply sufficient for Israel’s salvation. Nothing less would do. Nothing more was needed. Nothing else was mingled. The blood stood alone. It was Israel’s sole and all-sufficient title to salvation. “Through faith he kept the Passover and the SPRINKLING OF BLOOD, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them.” (Heb. 11:2828Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. (Hebrews 11:28).) Nothing could be plainer than this. That the paschal lamb was a type of Christ, the most cautious reader will admit. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed (or slain, see margin) for us.” (1 Cor. 5:77Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:7).) This settles the question. The death of the paschal lamb was a figure of the death of Christ; and what the death of the former did for Israel, the death of the latter does for all who put their trust in it. The death of the lamb gave perfect peace to Israel; the death of Christ gives perfect peace to the believer. Nothing more than the death of the lamb was needed to secure Israel; nothing more than the death of Christ is needed to secure the believer. An unslain lamb could not have availed the Israelite; an unslain Christ could not avail the sinner.
True, it is in resurrection that the value of Christ is set forth; but it is His death that saves us. The blood that saved Israel flowed from a slain lamb; and the blood that saves us flowed from a crucified Christ.
Does this, in any wise, detract from the value of the pure and spotless life of Christ? By no means. Pure and spotless He was, blessed forever be His peerless name! He was the Holy One of God. His whole life was a fragrant odor ascending to the throne of God. His perfect path might well have been the admiration of angels, as it is the model for saints. He ever moved in a line of implicit obedience to the Father’s will; He was, in all things, the living expression of the Father’s heart; and He walked in the unclouded sunshine of the Father’s countenance, from the manger to the cursed tree. The Holy Ghost delights to dwell on this; and so will all who are taught of Him.
But, then, His spotless, holy, obedient life could not blot out our sins, or justify God in justifying us. My reader cannot be too clear as to this. Let him drink in the precious instruction furnished by the Paschal Lamb. We must not anticipate the teaching of the New Testament, which will, if God permit, come before us, in due time. But I would ask him to dwell upon the institution of the Passover. Let him see that it was, in very deed, the death and not the life of the lamb that saved Israel; and not merely saved them from the sword of the destroyer, but put them in a position in the which they were privileged to enjoy the fruits of salvation.
If an Israelite had been asked what it was that saved him from the destroyer, what would have been his reply? A very brief one, we may be sure. He would have replied in a word of five letters, namely, BLOOD! He would have quoted Jehovah’s words, in proof, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” He knew nothing about salvation by the blood and something else. No; no, my reader, the Israelite could have taught us a very simple lesson. The blood was everything to him, as a ground of salvation and peace. And, surely, it should be everything to us likewise. If he was not taught to mingle anything else with the blood, neither should we. If the blood of a lamb was sufficient to save an Israelite from the hand of death, surely the blood of the Eternal Son of God is sufficient to save us from all the consequences of our sins—from the wrath of God and from eternal judgment. It is justly due to the blood of such a sacrifice that all who put their trust therein should be safe under its shadow forever.
There are two ways of casting dishonor upon the blood of Jesus; first, by supposing that it only goes half way in procuring salvation; and, secondly, by supposing that it is, only a half salvation which it procures. The ordinance of the Passover contradicts both these suppositions—contradiets them, in the plainest possible way. Israel’s first-born were saved by the blood alone; and they were wholly saved by the blood. Let us remember this. They never thought of adding aught thereto. Having that, they wanted nothing more. It perfectly saved them from judgment, and gave them perfect peace.
Reader, my object, in this paper, is not, the Lord knoweth, controversy, but to unfold the truth of God as I find it in His word, and to benefit your precious soul. I want you, ere you lay down this number of “Things New and Old,” to be able to say, “Blessed be God, I have gotten peace, through the blood. I am happy, now, I rest in the blood, I am eternally saved.” God grant it may be thus! May you see a fullness, a sufficiency, a dignity, a glory, a divine virtue, in the atonement which you have never seen before. May your doubts and fears be forever set aside, and may it be your happy privilege, now, henceforth, and forever, to have “LIFE THROUGH DEATH.”