Exodus 12:1-151And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover. 12For 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. 13And 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. 14And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. (Exodus 12:1‑15); 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7); 1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch 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: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)
Part 2
“Begotten of God” and “born of God” is the same word. “Canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth,” refers to the operation of the Spirit of God, and not to salvation. It refers to being born again. “So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
We must keep scriptural truths in their scriptural connection, and when it speaks about being born again, it is not speaking about salvation. That is where we get into such confusion. When it is a question of being born again, it is not the forgiveness of sins, and cleansing by the blood; it is about a new nature being communicated—a distinct line of things.
The Apostle Paul had been born again before Ananias went to him. He passed through deep exercise of soul, was three days and three nights without sight and food. When the Lord revealed Himself to Saul from the glory, and prostrated him, Saul said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” The Lord said to Saul,
“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?”
“Who art Thou, Lord?” That is surrender.
“I am Jesus the Nazarene.”
“What wilt Thou have me to do?”
That was three days before Ananias went to him. Ananias went to him to loose him and let him go. He sent the word of liberty—not life—to Saul by Ananias. Very beautiful it is, too. There is Ananias, that servant of God, in Damascus. To him the Lord said,
“Ananias.”
“Here am I, Lord.”
“Go into such and such a street and inquire for one Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth.”
“Lord I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints at Jerusalem, and here (120 miles or more from Jerusalem) he has come with authority to bind all that call on Thy name.”
O, the Lord says,
“Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.”
Ananias goes into the house where the blind man is, and he hasn’t eaten anything for three days, and he says, “Brother, Saul.” What do you think of that?
“The Lord Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
His sins were gone judicially before God, but not before men. He took a new place before men. And the next thing he was preaching Jesus Christ as He had never been preached before, “straightway, that He is the Son of God.”
From our point of view, we are saved when we accept that which He asked of us. In God’s sight, it is before the foundation of the world. Isn’t it?
Yes, there we have another thing—the sovereign counsels of God.
Now, suppose we ask ourselves, What is the character of the second book of the Bible. “Redemption.” In the 3rd chapter we find the blessed God come down in the burning bush, and He says to Moses, “I am come down to deliver.” “I have seen and I have heard, and I am come down.”
Go to the end of Exodus, 33rd verse of the 40th chapter. What have we there? God dwelling in the midst of His redeemed people, pitching His habitation among them. We get in the 12th and 15th chapters, the way in which He did it. The first thing was to shelter that people from judgment. That could only be done by the blood of the Lamb. The first thing God gives a soul to know when really exercised, is security from judgment under the blood of Christ, but we mustn’t stop there.
Look at the first of Ephesians, just a word, speaking of Christ as the Beloved. 7th verse, “In whom (that is Christ the Beloved) we have redemption.” How far does that go? “Even the forgiveness of sins.”
Now, go to the second chapter, 12Th verse, “without God in the world—without Christ.” I trust that is not the condition of any in this room. “Without Christ.”
“But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Don’t you see there are two things there. First the forgiveness of sins. That redemption we have in Christ through His blood, brings with it the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. It gives something else: takes me out of the old condition, and gives me a place of nearness to God Himself. You see the difference there. One is in advance of the other, so we must not stop with being secured from judgment.
That blood on the two side posts and the lintel, told that death had come in. It told the stroke had fallen on a victim—a life had been given. There is another thing in that passage we read in 1st Peter,
“Forasmuch as ye K-N-O-W.” The Christian K-N-O-W-S what? That he is redeemed. According to Scripture it is the normal condition of the Christian.
There are those who have faith in the Lord Jesus, who don’t know much about the blood—about being covered. That was my own experience, I accepted the Lord Jesus, but didn’t know my security, or much about the blood until later on. I think there are those who are saved, though, don’t know it.
Isn’t it a good deal with Christians, they don’t know, because they don’t read? Romans says, “you know.” How shall they know if someone doesn’t go and tell them?
(To be continued)