I desire for a little to compare the PASSOVER as celebrated in Egypt with the PASSOVER celebrated in the land of Canaan, and the practical condition of the soul indicated in the two.
The passover in Egypt was celebrated at the moment of deliverance. They were slaves there under Pharaoh. It was bringing before them their deliverance from slavery, as the Cross shows that of man from Satan—showing that God is stronger than the adversary; in its spirit, it was a matter of deliverance.
Now mark here the character God has for Israel. No doubt, He is a Saviour, but especially (whatever was going on), as one who was going to smite in judgment. If the blood was not there, His holiness must be avenged of their sin. If God is not to judge sin, there is no need of the gospel. Blessed to be within when destruction is abroad! The storm may gather; there may be the scourge of God’s judgment; but the blood being upon His own, even in the presence of judgment, they are secured from it.
The character of this passover then was deliverance from the oppressor. They were secured from destruction, and were about to haste away from slavery. They were to eat unleavened bread, not the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, but the bread of affliction, the character and nature of their passover was, they were going out in haste, escaping from sin, judgment, oppression, bondage. (Ex. 12:33,34,39.)
We begin to know the power of God when the soul is escaping from Egypt. In Egypt there was no consciousness of God being for men—only not against them—till they came to the Red Sea. There is in the passover no doubt this character very distinctly shown of the work of Christ, that it secures the soul from God’s judgment, and preventing God coming near to slay us; but it is a different thing to be able to say, God has saved me, and in the power of His love, He has adopted me as His child. When I come to resurrection, I find the whole energy of God’s power to deliver me out of death, and from the terrors of the enemy.
Israel had passed through the wilderness without keeping the passover, excepting once at Sin; they could not keep it because they were not circumcised (v. 45). No doubt it was their own fault. When they were come to the land, Joshua led them across. The passover in the land, in Canaan, was a remembrance of the efficacy of the death of Christ, as the ground-work of their deliverance and introduction of the believer into his own place before God. He goes where the work of Christ brings him. Having passed Jordan, death and resurrection in spirit with Jesus, we get into a new state and experience. Beloved, that is our position as thus in the land. God has made you sit there in spirit; He does not invite you to do so. This does not alter the fact that we have also our journeys to perform—as in fact in the wilderness. Faith thinks and judges with God. Whatever it meets, it sees it as God sees it. Israel saw Goliath as a giant; David saw him an uncircumcised Philistine. See also Jonathan. (1 Sam. 14:6.) Faith sees thus, according to the revelation of God in His sight. God having set Christ at His own right hand in heavenly places, and having by His Spirit united us to Him, He has made us sit there also. You will find in this very Epistle to the Ephesians an account of our warfare. (Eph. 6:2.) May God make this sink deeply into our hearts! God has made us in His presence what would satisfy His love. My love could not be satisfied in my child, if he was in difficulty and sorrow in my presence; and God in His holy will has chosen us “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4).
The moment Israel crossed the Jordan they were in Canaan, and regarded themselves as possessors of it. Joshua acted on this at Ai, though he had fought but a single battle: “and the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide; and as soon as the sun was down Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down.” Why? Because the land was holy; it was God’s land, and must not be polluted. So when we have obtained a title to our estate, we have a right to deal with all as ours.
The next place which they came to from Jordan was GILGAL. The reproach of Egypt had not been rolled away; they were not circumcised. Here the reproach of Egypt was abolished. Circumcision as regards the saint does not refer to the position in which we are in Christ, but to the application by the Spirit of God of the truth of God, we having died in Christ to the mortification of all that is of the flesh; and this must be before we can sit and eat our passover in the land in peace. We cannot enjoy our blessings till “circumcision” comes in, —till we come to Gilgal. When God has set us in heavenly places, He then comes by the power of the Spirit and writes life on us; but not on the flesh, on it death. “Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” All upon which death has not been written, in principle, is the reproach of Egypt; for it belongs to the condition out of which we have been called, and gives us the consciousness of Egypt, not of Canaan. Every evil habit that has not been repressed is the reproach of Egypt.
This is a different thing to being “dead” as a sinner in “trespasses and sins.” We have died to sin, and mortify all that is of it practically. When the soul is dead in sins, the poor awakened sinner does not know what to do. God says, “I will deliver you, I will make you come out of Egypt.” When this has been done, we escape from satan as from a serpent.
But there is another thing needful for the peaceful enjoyment of heavenly things, —the operation of the Spirit of God upon all that is mere nature.
Now, just one word as to the different character of eating the passover in Canaan. Escape from in and judgment we have nothing to do with here: nothing to do with the passover in Egypt, which represented these. In the passover in Canaan we have the precious, sweet recollection, that though we were in bondage, there is now no more of that. We are in blessed, peaceful quiet in the land (we shall have conflict of course); but God has brought us in here in grace and power to eat the unleavened bread, not of escape from sin but of sincerity and truth; and to eat “the old corn”—the fruit of the land. We say now “To what a place are we brought!” not “From what a fearful place and evil we are saved!” The reproach of Egypt is rolled away. Holiness of soul is the fruit of our own land; we may eat and enjoy it. The “old man” has been annulled—death written on nature and the flesh; and we are made partakers of a “new nature.” Our “unleavened bread” now is the growth of the land: we live on “the corn of the land.” We sit down at the Lord’s table, delivered long ago—perfectly in peace. Not that we have no conflicts; but God has opened a passage for us, brought us into His presence, and put us in His possession, and shut the door; and we are now sat down in the land to which God has brought us to eat the fruit of it. If we rise to the conflict, God goes before us. If we have known the sentence of death in ourselves (as 2 Cor. 1:9); it is a very hard lesson to learn; but it must be so before we can eat the old corn of the land; if “the reproach of Egypt” is “rolled away,” if we have got to GILGAL, we can sit down in heavenly places. Our conflict will be our practically taking possession of the Lord’s Land. The camp was always at Gilgal; there the circumcision must be. If there is not subduing of the flesh, there will be no continued conquest. But whatever our victory may be, our camp must be at Gilgal. In the secret energy of God’s Spirit, setting nature and flesh aside, we must sit down and at of the fruit of the land.
Beloved, can you say this holiness and this experience are yours? Are you feeding on “the old corn of the land?” Have you understood God has put you there? There are not two sorts of Christians; there are not two positions for us as Christians; there may be two sorts of states, but all God’s saints are set down in Christ in heavenly places.
Beloved, can you say you are there, and eating the fruit of that land which He has given you? Do not say I am in conflict. Joshua had not a single battle fought when he and the Israel of God celebrated the passover in the land; but he could peacefully rest in the possession of the land.
The Lord give us to understand He has brought us there! Do not be alarmed if you find God beginning to write “the sentence of death” on “the flesh;” it must be so, or you will not have the abiding consciousness of the, peace of God in your hearts. It is not the heart that keeps God’s peace, but His peace that keeps our hearts in the conflict. Is the ear ruffled by the storm, Jesus has braved it. He has entered the land in peace. When we are realizing our position in heavenly places, we celebrate the passover, feeding on it, enjoying and delighting in God’s love. —MS. Notes.