It was the last night of the stay of the children of Israel in the land of Egypt, God had borne along with the haughty stubbornness of Pharaoh and his people; and now He was about to "do His work, His strange work, and bring to pass His act, His strange act," (Isaiah 28:21) the act of destruction, bringing to a climax all the plagues of His wrath. Ample warning had been given. God had at the very beginning sent this message to Pharaoh: "Israel is my son, even my firstborn; and I say unto you, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, even your firstborn." (Exodus 4:22-23)
Pharaoh had repeatedly refused to let Israel go, but God had delayed the threatened reprisals. The Lord is "long-suffering to usward; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance; ... "and ... the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation." (2 Peter 3:9,15)
Consequently we know that the long delay in bringing this last plague upon Egypt, which from the first had been set forth as the alternative, and which was the only punishment threatened, was because God would save Pharaoh and his people if possible. But Pharaoh was one of those wicked ones whose wickedness only increases when favors are shown, and who regard the exhibition of mercy as weakness. Consequently there was nothing to be done for him, except to leave him to eat of the fruit of his own way.
Yet in the midst of wrath God remembers mercy, and even at this stage none of the Egyptians need have perished, if they had only believed. Directions were given for the last meal which the Israelites were to eat in Egypt; for now God purposed to deliver them without asking Pharaoh to let them go. Indeed, the case was not to be reversed, and Pharaoh was to beg them to go.
A lamb was to be selected for each family, or if the family were too small to eat the whole of it, two families were to unite; for none was to be left. On the evening of the night fixed for their departure they were to slay it and prepare it. It was to be roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
"And thus shall you eat it: with your loins girded, and your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hands; and you shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover." (Exodus 12:11)
Before taking this meal, however, an important act was to be performed. The people were to take of the blood of the lamb, and sprinkle it "on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses" wherein they ate the lamb. ... "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt and I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:7,12-13)
All this was written for our learning, for we as well as they are to keep the Passover.
"For our Passover also has been sacrificed, even Christ; wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, and neither with leaven of malice, and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:8)
The Jews were required to put all leaven away from their houses, and to this day at the time of the Passover they search their houses most carefully, to discover and clear away any possible trace of it. But leaven stands for malice and wickedness. We are exhorted to purge out the old leaven, that is, to put away all evil, that we may keep the Passover in sincerity and truth.
How can this be done? The answer is found in: "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified [made righteous] freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by His blood, to show His righteousness, because of the passing over of the suns done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of His righteousness at this present season; that He might himself be just, and the justifier of him that has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:23-26, RV)
Christ is ever slain, and ever lives; therefore the Passover is to be continually kept. His blood cleanses from all sin--purges away all leaven of malice and wickedness. In that He shed His blood for us, and we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins, by it, He gives us His life; "for the blood is the life." (Deuteronomy 12:23)
After the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, this instruction was given them: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." (Deuteronomy 6:5-8)
This is what was indicated by the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb upon the door post. The lamb signified the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; and the blood is the life. Putting the blood upon the entrance to the house, meant, therefore, the dwelling in Christ's life, which is the perfection of the law of God. We keep the passover by hiding in Christ, abiding in His love, which is living in His life. He has received the strokes due to sin, for all the plagues have fallen upon Him; yet He lives, and whoever lives in Him is safe from every plague--from sin and all its consequences.
Is the blood upon your door? Is your dwelling consecrated to the Lord, and sanctified by His presence?--Present Truth, December 5, 1901--Exodus 12:1-17.
E.J. Waggoner