The blood sprinkled on the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites in Egypt was not to deliver them from their bondage or from the power of Pharaoh. Rather, it showed them what was necessary to shelter them from God’s judgment, in their relationship with Him. If they entered as they were into judgment, there could be no more hope for them than for the Egyptians, for all were sinners, but God said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”
The blood was God’s provision to shelter them, making “atonement for the soul.” It was His ordered way of delivering them from the judgment which fell on the Egyptians. He would have them feel in the depths of their souls that their deliverance was wholly due to His direct intervention on their behalf.
The Needed Remembrance
To maintain in their hearts the constant remembrance of this, God ordained for them a solemn feast, to be kept from year to year, in the first month — the Passover on the fourteenth day — which was followed immediately by the feast of unleavened bread, which lasted for seven days. The meaning of the unleavened bread is given to us in 1 Corinthians, and we will consider it presently. But for the moment let us look at another characteristic of this feast, one of the three special occasions on which all the males in Israel were ordered to appear before God (Deut. 16:1616Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16)). It began and closed with a “holy convocation,” or assembling of the people, on which days it was ordained that “no manner of work” was to be done (Ex. 12:1616And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. (Exodus 12:16); Lev. 23:58). Now the divine thought in this rest comes out more clearly in connection with the Sabbath instituted immediately after (Ex. 16) and carries us back to its origin after the work of creation was complete (compare Exodus 20:8-118Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8‑11)).
Rest and Communion
There must be rest of heart in order that communion may exist. This is even true in earthly circumstances and relationships. How much more, when it is a question of having to do with a righteous and holy God and of drawing near to Him! The Lord said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)). Let us then consider the place that “rest” was to have in the ordinances established of God for His redeemed people and gather up the instruction contained in these days of “holy convocation,” when all the people were to present themselves before God and when every work of service was absolutely forbidden.
Complete rest characterized these days. Its moral importance is shown shortly after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. The people murmured against Moses, complaining that he had brought them into the wilderness to kill all the assembly with hunger. “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily” (Ex. 16:45). On the sixth day the Lord explained to them this double provision, saying, “Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. . . . Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none [gathered]. . . . So the people rested on the seventh day” (Ex. 16:23,26,3023And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. (Exodus 16:23)
26Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. (Exodus 16:26)
30So the people rested on the seventh day. (Exodus 16:30)). We find then that the “manna,” the heavenly food with which God supplied His people to meet their daily need, was made subordinate to the “rest” which He ordained for them and which surpassed every other consideration. The Lord says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:2727And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: (Mark 2:27)).
The Prominent Place
of the Sabbath
“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” Ezekiel gives a similar thought: “I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt. . . . Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them” (Ezek. 20:10,1210Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. (Ezekiel 20:10)
12Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. (Ezekiel 20:12)).
This shows us why the Sabbath held such a prominent place in the institutions of the children of Israel, and why one of the ten commandments is specially devoted to the observance of this day. Elsewhere it is added: “Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death” (Ex. 31:1515Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 31:15)). The Sabbath was a perpetual sign between God and the children of Israel, and the rest was to be inviolable.
The Sabbath was the continual remembrance of the accomplished work of the Creator, and in this we get the explanation of its moral character as well as its perfection. God saw everything that He had made, and it was very good. He had ended His work, and He rested on the seventh day. God’s sabbath is thus the expression of His complete satisfaction with a perfect scene, where nothing is lacking that could add to the happiness of those creatures to whom He grants the enjoyment of it all in communion with Himself.
Sin, however, entered the world, ruined everything, and prevented man’s enjoying creation rest. Nevertheless, the rest in God’s thought and purpose remains, for God has established it, and the day will come when man too will enjoy it with Him. God has shown us, in the meanwhile, by His ways with the children of Israel, that the only possible ground on which man could enter into His rest in righteousness and holiness is that of accomplished redemption. Faith lays hold of this truth and enjoys beforehand what will be realized in glory. Redemption and its consequences, according to God’s purposes, have then to be maintained steadily before the soul, and this God did for Israel, first in connection with the Passover, and then in a more direct way by the institution of the Sabbath.
The Unleavened Bread
But we must not forget the unleavened bread, and 1 Corinthians 5 gives us the full explanation of it. It is written: “Purge 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: 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.”
The “unleavened bread” is then, first of all, an expression of what believers are before God by virtue of the work of Christ, whose blood purifies from all sin. It is said, “Ye are unleavened.” That is the divine standing of the believer, the result of Christ’s death, but then the conduct is to correspond in every particular with this perfect position. “Let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” that is to say, let us walk before God in holiness — in a manner worthy of Him. Therefore, everything that is not in accordance with the truth of God must be “put away,” as the Israelites, on pain of death, were to put away all leaven from their houses. God requires a perfectly holy walk.
Holiness
This truth is clearly set forth in the history of the Israelites, for the law was summed up thus: “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:22Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)). This passage is quoted and applied to Christians —see 1 Peter 1:16. Faith accepts this established relation with God, as we see in the song of the Israelites after their deliverance from Egypt, on the other side of the Red Sea. They say, “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord? . . . Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation” (Ex. 15:11,1311Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
13Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. (Exodus 15:13)).
Salvation is only of God. He leads us by the work of Christ into close relationship with Himself, giving us free access into His very presence by the blood of Christ. By His love He removes every fear, that love being made known on the ground of righteousness, and He gives us a good conscience by the assurance that all our sins are forgiven on account of the sacrifice which Christ has offered. Christ has entered into heaven itself, having obtained “eternal redemption” for us, and there it is that the believer will enjoy fully and forever that sabbath rest which remains for the people of God (Heb. 9:12; 4:912Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)
9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)). It will be a scene of absolute perfection and perfect happiness, where God Himself will be satisfied in every way, and will lead His people into participation with His own joy in communion with Himself. One of the operations of the Holy Spirit is to cause us to enter by faith even now into the enjoyment of these things, that our hearts may overflow with joy and that we may have strength and courage for walking in holiness with God.
W. J. Lowe, adapted