Exodus 12
Redemption, as presented in the type of Israel's deliverance from Egypt, has two aspects. The one is seen in the feast of the passover, the other in the passage of the Red Sea.
The history and circumstances of the two disclose, in a wonderful manner, the redemption which God has wrought for His people in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the deliverance at the Red Sea, by Israel's being brought through a path, by the power of God, which was death to all who attempted to go through without it, we have presented to us the power of God in associating believers with Christ in His resurrection, and so delivering them from the reach of all their enemies-sin, Satan, death—as well as separating them from the whole portion and judgment of the world.
Accordingly, at the Red Sea (Ex. 15) there is the song of victory, and the celebration of the triumph which God's power has given to His people over all the power of their enemies. And the—knowledge which a poor sinner finds now, through God's grace, of his being " risen with Christ," makes his heart indeed rejoice, and say, " we are more than conquerors through him who hath loved us. '
But in the passover the deeper question is met, of how God's power can be thus displayed on behalf of those whom His holiness has condemned as sinners.
" God is light"-" There is none holy as the Lord." He cannot, there-fore, link Himself with sin, nor can He bring a people into association with Him-self until He has put away their sins.
Hence the passover comes before deliverance at the Red Sea; even as Jesus must be known as dying for our sins, before we can say, through His resurrection, " Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The passover, which answers to Christ's death, brings redemption before us in connection with God's righteous holiness, and the judge and hater of all sin. The deliverance at the Red Sea, which answers to Christ's resurrection, shows how God's power in Christ is on His people's side, because His death has met the claims of all the holiness of God.
Israel were delivered, it is true, on the night of the passover: but from what were they delivered? Not from the pursuit of Pharaoh, but from God's judgment for sin. The blood was sprinkled on the lintel and on the door- posts to bar the way of God's entrance as a judge. It is not power that delivers in the passover; but weakness, death, the blood of the Lamb!
The question to the Israelite, on that night, was how God should be staid from entering his dwelling as a judge. And God showed him that nothing but his trusting to the sprinkled blood of the Lamb, would cause the angel of death to pass over his dwelling. He entered every dwelling, of high and low, of the Egyptians, where the blood was not sprinkled. For "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." "For," says the Scripture, (verse 23,) "the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians: and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and. will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." Blessed picture of the ground of security, which a simple trust in Christ's blood gives to the chief of sinners! For in the blood of this precious Lamb, God's justice has found its full answer:-" He was de-livered for our offenses." " He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Can I then, though trembling with a sense of guilt, say, "O God, my trust is only in the blood of the Lamb;" "I seek a refuge only in the blood shed on Calvary?" Then the answer of God to my heart is, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." What security is this, when God says, "I will pass over!"
The passover, then, as a type, presents the redemption of believers from the just judgment of sin; while it, at the same time, shadows forth the execution of that judgment upon the world. And, alas! there will be no escape for high or low, if the blood, which alone shields from judgment, be despised. It is said, (ver. 29, 30) " And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead."
No height of position, no worldly power and glory, can shield from the judgment of' sin; nor can any meanness of condition escape. The firstborn of Pharaoh on the throne, and the first-born of the captive in the dungeon, are smitten alike. " There is no difference, for all have sinned.”
I may add here, as to the world's judgment, that the Red Sea is a type of death to all who are not brought through it by the power of God. Israel was brought through the sea, and safely landed on the other side of it, as believers are brought through death, by the resurrection of Christ; but Pharaoh was lost in it. He entered in pride and unconsciousness of the power which was leading the hosts of God through the deep waters, and, when too late, he found that he could neither retreat nor make good his passage on the other side. Not one escaped: " The depths covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone."
To meet death without a part in Christ's victory over death, is to be lost in it. It is ruin and perdition. But God's people are brought, by the resurrection of Christ, even in this world, to the other side of death: as it is said, " If ye then be risen with Christ." And as Israel, when brought through the Red Sea., and safely landed on the other side of it, could sing both of the power that had delivered them, and that would finally plant them in Canaan, so the believer, now, who is associated by faith with the power of God in the resurrection of Christ, can sing of present victory over death, and rejoice in the certain hope of coming glory. "He hath quickened us together with Christ... and hath raised us up together;" and " when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory."
(To be continued if the Lord will.)