“Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). These few words furnish a title, distinct and unquestionable, for the Christian to range through the wide and magnificent field of Old Testament Scripture, and gather therein instruction and comfort, according to the measure of his capacity and the character or depth of his spiritual need. It is in the strength of these words that we invite the reader to accompany us back to the opening of the book of Joshua, that we may together contemplate the striking and instructive scenes presented there, and seek to gather up some of the precious “learning” there unfolded. We shall learn some fine lessons on the banks of the Jordan, and find the air of Gilgal most healthful and bracing for the spiritual constitution.
“And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host; and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore” (Josh. 3:1-4).
There are three deeply important points in Israel's history which the reader would do well to ponder. There is, first, the blood-stained lintel in the land of Egypt; second, the Red Sea; third, the river Jordan.
Now in each of these we have a type of the death of Christ in some one or other of its grand aspects; for, as we know, that precious death has many and various aspects, and nothing can be more profitable for the Christian, and nothing, surely, ought to be more attractive, than the study of the profound mystery of the death of Christ. There are depths and heights in that mystery which eternity alone will unfold; and it should be our delight now, under the powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit, through the perfect light of Holy Scripture, to search into these things for the strength, comfort, and refreshment of the inward man.
Looking then at the death of Christ as typified by the blood of the paschal lamb, we see in it that which screens us from the judgment of God. “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 I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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.” (Exod. 12)
Now we need hardly say it is of the deepest moment for the exercised, consciously guilty soul to know that God has provided a shelter from wrath and judgment to come. No right-minded person would think for a moment of undervaluing this aspect of the death of Christ. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Israel's safety rested upon God's estimate of the blood. He does not say, When you see the blood. The Judge saw the blood, knew its value, and passed over the house. Israel was screened by the blood of the lamb—by God's estimate of that blood, not by their own. Precious fact!
How prone we are to be occupied with our thoughts about the blood of Christ, instead of with God's thoughts! We feel we do not value that precious blood as we ought—who ever did or ever could? and then we begin to question if we are safe, seeing we so sadly fail in our estimate of Christ's work and in our love to His Person.
We are saved by grace—free, sovereign, divine, and eternal grace—not by our sense of grace. We are sheltered by the blood, not by our estimate of the blood. Jehovah did not say on that awful night, When you see the blood and estimate it as you ought, I will pass over you. Nothing of the kind. This is not the way of our God. He wanted to shelter His people, and to let them know that they were sheltered—perfectly, because divinely sheltered—and therefore He places the matter wholly upon a divine basis; He takes it entirely out of their hands by assuring them that their safety rested simply and entirely upon the blood, and upon His estimate thereof. He gives them to understand that they had nothing whatever to do with providing the shelter. It was His to provide. It was theirs to enjoy.
Thus it stood between Jehovah and His Israel in that memorable night; and thus it stands between Him and the soul that simply trusts in Jesus now. We are not saved by our love, or our estimate, or our anything. We are saved by the blood behind which faith has fled for refuge, and by God's estimate of it, which faith apprehends. And just as Israel within that blood-stained lintel screened from judgment—safe from the sword of the destroyer—could feed upon the roasted lamb, so may the believer, perfectly sheltered from the wrath to come—sweetly secure from all danger, screened from judgment—feed upon Christ in all the preciousness of what He is.
We are specially anxious that the reader should weigh the point on which we have been dwelling, if he be one who has not yet found peace, even as to the question of safety from judgment to come, which, as we shall see, is but a part, though an ineffably precious part, of what the death of Christ has procured for us.
We have very little idea indeed of how much of the leaven of self-righteousness cleaves to us, even after our conversion, and how immensely it interferes with our peace, our enjoyment of grace, and our consequent progress in the divine life. It may be we fancy we have done with self-righteousness when we have given up all thought of being saved by our works; but alas, it is not so, for the evil takes new forms; and of all these, none is more subtle than the feeling that we do not value the blood as we ought, and the doubting our safety on that ground. All this is the fruit of self-righteousness. We have not done with self. True, we are not, it may be, making a savior of our doings, but we are of our feelings. We are seeking, unknown to ourselves perhaps, to find some sort of title in our love to God or our appreciation of Christ.
Now all this must be given up. We must rest simply on the blood of Christ, and upon God's testimony to that blood. He sees the blood. He values it as it deserves. He is satisfied. This ought to satisfy us. He did not say to Israel, When I see how you behave yourselves; when I see the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the girded loins, the shod feet, I will pass over you.
No doubt all these things had their proper place; but that proper place was not as the ground of safety, but as the secret of communion. They were called to behave themselves, called to keep the feast; but it was as being, not in order to be, a sheltered people. This made all the difference. It was because they were divinely screened from judgment that they could keep the feast. They had the authority of the word of God to assure them that there was no judgment for them; and if they believed that word, they could celebrate the feast in peace and safety. “Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the first born should touch them” (Heb. 11:28).
Here lies the deep and precious secret of the whole matter. It was by faith he kept the passover. God had said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you,” and He could not deny Himself. It would have been a denial of His very nature and character, and an ignoring of His own blessed remedy, had a single hair of an Israelite's head been touched on that deeply solemn night. It was not, we repeat, in any wise a question of Israel's state or Israel's deservings. It was simply and entirely a question of the value of the blood in God's sight, and of the truth and authority of His own word.
What stability is here!—what peace and rest! What a solid ground of confidence! The blood of Christ! The Word of God! True, divinely true—let it never be forgotten or lost sight of—it is only by the grace of the Holy Spirit that the Word of God can be received, or the blood of Christ relied upon. Still, it is the Word of God and the blood of Christ, and nothing else, which give peace to the heart as regards all question of coming judgment. There can be no judgment for the believer. And why? Because the blood is on the mercy seat as the perfect proof that judgment has been already executed.
“He bore on the tree the sentence for me,
And now both the Surety and sinner are free.”
Yet, all praise to His name, thus it stands as to every soul that simply takes God at His word and rests in the precious blood of Christ. It is as impossible that such a one can come into judgment, as that Christ Himself can. All who are sheltered by the blood are as safe as the Word of God is sure—as safe as Christ Himself. It seems perfectly wonderful for any poor sinful mortal to be able to pen such words; but the blessed fact is, it is either this or nothing. If there is any question as to the believer's safety, then the blood of Christ is not on the mercy seat, or it is of no account in the judgment of God. If it be a question of the believer's state, of his worthiness, of his feelings, of his experience, of his walk, of his love, of his devotedness, of his appreciation of Christ, then would there be no force, no value, no truth in that glorious sentence, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you”; for in that case the form of speech should be entirely changed, and a dark and chilling shade be cast over its heavenly luster. It should then be, “When I see the blood, and -.”
But no, beloved, anxious reader, it is not and it never can be thus. Nothing must ever be added—not the weight of a feather—to that precious blood which has perfectly satisfied God as a judge, and which perfectly shelters every soul that has fled for safety behind it. If the righteous Judge has declared Himself satisfied, surely the guilty culprit may well be satisfied also. God is satisfied with the blood of Jesus; and when the soul is satisfied likewise, all is settled, and there is peace as regards the question of judgment. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” How can there be, seeing He has borne the judgment in their stead? No doubt the believer's exemption from judgment is to make God a liar, and to make the blood of Christ of none effect.
The reader will note that thus far we have been occupied only with the question of deliverance from judgment—a most weighty question surely. But, as we shall see in the course of this series of papers, there is far more secured for us by the death of Christ than freedom from judgment and wrath, blessed as that is. That peerless sacrifice does a great deal more for us than keep God out as a judge.
But for the present we pause, and shall close this paper with a solemn and earnest question to the reader: Are you sheltered by the blood of Jesus? Do not rest, beloved, until you can answer with a clear and unhesitating “Yes.” Remember, you are either sheltered by the blood, or exposed to the horrors of eternal judgment.