I pass over the “signs and wonders, in the land of Ham” and the varied compromises of the enemy. I come now to the moment when all was approaching that solemn night of judgment: that crisis when all was brought to the final test; and every pleading voice was hushed in the dark and terrible night of judgment.
Yet God would not strike, without a warning word, even those who had hardened their necks against Him. Moses conveys this last and final testimony to Pharaoh in these words — “Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maid servant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more” &c. (Ex. 11:4-64And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: 5And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. 6And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. (Exodus 11:4‑6)). The voice was heard for the last time, but never to be repeated.
O the solemnity of those “last words” of God at times to souls! The like perhaps had often been spoken in the ears of those who have refused them; but they little calculated that they never more should be heard. “The day of visitation” was past, and Egypt knew it not. This was her condemnation. The helm of the ship was put “up” or “down”; her course was changed, the voice was unheeded, and then she rushed on to her final doom! In the midst of judgment Pharaoh sought to flee from the Lord (Ex. 14:2525And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. (Exodus 14:25)). It was now too late to flee to Him. And the day is fast approaching when the great men, and the mighty men of the earth will call upon the rocks to fall upon them and mountains to cover them, as they seek to flee, with souls guilt-stained forever, from the face of Him that sits upon the throne, and from the Lamb; because the great day of His wrath was come, and none would be able to stand (Rev. 6:15-1715And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:15‑17)).
I must not dwell on the chapters which follow. Suffice it that a few words may be said to lead us to the moment when Israel sang the song of Moses and of victory!
At midnight God would pass through the land in judgment; in the evening Israel were to slay the Lamb. There are two striking points before us as to the people here. First: their history would now begin with God; as He said, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months.” And next: the blood of the Lamb, and it alone, could answer His claim. Here we learn in type two things — so frequently presented to us in the New Testament Scriptures. We find them in the Lord’s discourse to Nicodemus in the third chapter of the Gospel of John.
(1) “Ye must be born again,” said the Lord to this man of the Pharisees; and
(2) “The Son of man must be lifted up.” This new birth would be to him, as to Israel, “The beginning of months.” All before this was ignored; God would have none of it. And then again, “Take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood,... and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood”; “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” “And the people bowed the head and worshiped.” This was not the grand and solemn rite of the Day of Atonement, when blood was placed on the Throne of God. It was not a scene where the High Priest alone —standing for God, wrought that great work for Him, as for the people. Not so; every individual soul whose house was in that land was active ere this solemn moment of judgment arrived. Each should slay the Lamb himself; each should personally and individually appropriate the blood as his only shelter from the sword of the destroyer. Here it was that each one entered upon and learned and appropriated that precious work of Christ. The moment the eye of each saw that blood flowing from the slain Lamb, and his hand grasped the bunch of hyssop — emblem of his soul’s humiliation — and the truth of his repentance, and sprinkled the blood, he re-entered his house, sure and certain that he was sheltered with what God had accepted and that which alone would meet the destroying angel’s sword. God’s provision and God’s own acceptance of it were the ground of his unchanging peace. This was faith: faith in God’s provision to meet His own demands: faith in His certain promise that all was well — all depended on this. Impossible that God could look on him other than white as snow. Why was this? Because He would never despise the value of the blood of Christ.
The night of terror came, and there was heard in Egypt “A great cry”; “for there was not an house where there was not one dead.” The firstborn was dead in every unsheltered house: the Lamb in every house which was sheltered by its blood! Judgment had been passed on all; the Lamb had borne it for the people of God. Egypt had borne it for themselves. Each was irrevocable, and its issues never changed.
I desire my reader’s reply to a question. Do you believe that that precious blood has been shed; has been presented to God by Jesus? Do you believe it has met His claims? Is this enough for you? Has it met your need? I ask you to answer this question in conscience before God; and when it is answered, I ask you to rest on that blessed and eternal fact. Never more can your sins be imputed to you. Never more can that blood be shed; never more can it be presented to God. All has been done, once and forever. Its efficacy remains eternally the same; you are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot — foreordained indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times for you. By Him we believe in God Himself: who not only gave His Son for us, but when His Son had died, He raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God (compare 1 Peter 1:18-2118Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (1 Peter 1:18‑21)).
What part had they in all that had gone before? Just but one small link which was only to their shame. “The bunch of hyssop,” — the humiliation of their soul— bringing each down to the very spot to which all that work applied, the link which appropriated all that was provided; the touch of faith of the hem of the garment of Christ!
Here I would remark, that there may be no misapprehension as to the import of the type, that in no way does hyssop point to Christ. It is remarkable that whenever the Lord is presented in Himself alone in type in Scripture, we never find this symbol mentioned. See the early chapters of Leviticus, where all those varied offerings of sweet savor, and for sin and trespass, are passed in review; no mention of hyssop is found there. But the moment we find an offering where the sinner is seen appropriating it, or being placed under its value, to cleanse or to restore — there we find the hyssop. We have noted this when Israel appropriated the Paschal blood. We see it when the leper is cleansed, (Lev. 14) when the unclean is restored (Num. 19). We learn it in the words of a soul in the depths of humiliation about its sin in Psalm 51, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean,” but never when Christ in His perfect blessedness appears.