It was such a queer little hall in a narrow, dingy street in a seaport town where sailors and dock workers abound. The hall had been formed by knocking out a partition, thus making two rooms into one. It had been used for some time as a place of doubtful amusement for the young people in the neighborhood; but recently it had been rented to some Christian men who wished to proclaim the Gospel in that part of the town. They were not waiting for souls to seek the good news of salvation; they were carrying it into the midst of them; and the hall became a mission-room where many found the Savior.
I had most reluctantly come to the meeting at the entreaty of an older sister. A young Scotch doctor (he told us he had given up the lancet for "the sword of the Spirit") had been holding Gospel services in the little hall, and this was to be his last night there.
The room was crowded and uncomfortably warm and close. As soon as the speaker appeared, he opened a window then he asked a man to put out the fire which was burning in the grate in a corner of the room. This he did with a large pair of tongs, spreading all the smoking coals within the fender. They gave off a most unpleasant odor and steamy heat, hard for us to endure, for we were sitting close by, almost within reach of the platform.
This strange beginning did not make me like it any better. I thought I had never been in such a queer place. Then when the doctor began to preach, he shouted so loud that I was at first considerably annoyed. I hated loud voices, and I compared his with my father's gentle, gracious tones to which I was accustomed to listen. The contrast was not to the doctor's advantage.
But after a bit I forgot everything and everybody, and was only conscious that God was speaking to me in a way I had never known before.
The doctor was preaching on the words: "When I see the blood I will pass over you.” He described with graphic reality and intensity that awful night in Egypt: not a house where there was not one dead! The angel of the Lord had passed through the land in judgment; and the first-born of wealthy and poor, high-born and humble, had been struck down suddenly by the hand of a just and holy God. Only in the houses where the blood of a lamb had been sprinkled on door-posts and lintels was there peace and safety.
This was but a faint picture, he said, of the judgment soon to fall on this sinful world; and every unsaved soul in that hall, whatever his outward position, age, respectability, or attainments, stood guilty before God, exposed to the judgment which was as surely coming as it had come that long ago night in Egypt.
JUDGMENT—the inevitable consequence of man's sin and ruin—judgment was coming! It was sure, it was certain. We could no more prevent it coming than we could stop the express train rushing to its destination.
ALL were guilty ALL were in peril.
EVERY SOUL must meet a holy God—a just God, who could by no means clear the guilty.
ALL were shut up to the just judgment of God.
How terrible was the danger in which I found myself! To stand before God—a holy God-all alone. A guilty sinner! I knew and felt it now. What should I do?
In my anxiety I listened eagerly and drank in every word. The heat of the room no longer oppressed me. The loud voice of the speaker annoyed me no more. I was anxious about one thing only:—Would he explain clearly, clearly enough that I might know how to be saved? Would he make it quite plain how I might be sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb?
"When free grace awoke me with light from on high,
Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die.”
And he did explain it all so simply. "The blood of the Lamb means that a spotless life has been laid down—the blood of His own has been shed for sinners, FOR YOU. The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has suffered in your stead. Jehovah laid on His beloved Son the 'iniquity of us all.' God is satisfied with Jesus and His offering of Himself for sin. He asks YOU to be satisfied with His dear Son and His work on Calvary for you. He bids you come just as you are—in all your guiltiness and need—and accept Him and trust His word. He is here awaiting the response of your heart. Will you accept Him now as your own personal Savior? Now is the accepted time... now is the day of salvation.' You can take Him just as you are, just where you are. Will you?”
Never shall I forget those last words and the extraordinary sense of God's presence and power that came over me. I realized that I had to do with God, that I must answer a holy God, and that I must act at once. The present moment of salvation was all that was offered to me: tomorrow might be too late.
But what doubts arose! Though I. was deeply conscious of my need and my danger, it did not seem possible to come at once to Christ. It all seemed too simple. I must have misunderstood. There must be something to do, or to feel, or to wait for, before I could be forgiven and accepted as His.
All the long walk home after the service, the Spirit strove with me. I seemed to hear God saying, "When I see the blood I will pass over you. When I see the blood,—never mind what you feel; when I see you trusting only and entirely in the blood of Christ, the slain Lamb of God, slain in your stead,—I will pass over you. Judgment is past, it has been borne on Calvary for you if you will rest in that perfect sacrifice. You can take Him just as you are, just where you are. Will you?”
Praise be to God, by faith I took Him at His word. One more poor sinner proved "that night of the Lord" that God meant what He said: "When I see the blood I will pass over you.”
For the encouragement of you who are praying for the salvation of loved ones—perhaps you have waited long for the answer -I would relate one more fact of "that night of the Lord.”
My dear father, far from home and very ill, so ill that he wrote what he thought was a last letter to my mother, said in it, "I am specially praying for the salvation of our children who do not yet know the Lord." This letter was not mailed immediately, and arrived some time later. When my mother read it to us, I asked at once for the date on which it was written. It was the very date on which I had heard the Gospel of the saving power of the blood of the Lamb, and had accepted Christ as my Savior.
"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6.2
Dear lost soul, I implore you to believe that Jesus died for you, and that His precious blood shed on Calvary will cleanse you from all sin. You can take Him just as you are, just where you are. Will you?