“AND THE LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” It was to be a new beginning for the children of Israel. At God’s direction they were to have a new calendar to mark their days. Henceforth they were to put Egypt and its attachments behind them, and their walk was now to be with the Lord. It would be a new life for them.
Time counts for nothing before God as long as the sinner is in his sins. Until we are sheltered under the blood of Christ we have not bun to live in His sight. The years we lived before we are born again are all wasted time as far as He is concerned. To continue in that condition is a very solemn thing, for every day of that period but adds to our guilt, and should we pass into eternity unsaved, every sin will be brought into judgment at the great white throne.
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, the Lord Jesus said to him: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus had difficulty with these words and inquired: “How can a man be born when he is old?” The Saviour replied: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:3-63Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:3‑6). When a lost sinner, through faith in Christ, is brought into the good of God’s redemption, “he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17). He is “born again.” The new life which begins the moment of his “new birth,” makes as dead all that was associated with the old. Is this not a wonderful position to be in?
If God was about to bring judgment on the Egyptians, how could He pass over the children of Israel, 1 for they were sinners and deserved the same judgment? God is holy and must punish sin. How could he spare the firstborn of Israel, while slaying the firstborn of Egypt. “The wages of sin is death,” and the wages must be paid. Either the firstborn in every home must die, or a substitute must be provided. Moreover, it must be a substitute which God would accept. No other would do; no other means could be found. But, blessed be God, He did tell them of the substitute; He would provide redemption for them through the blood of the Passover lamb, sprinkled on the doorpost and lintel as the means the only means — of safety from the angel of death that dark night in Egypt. God saw prefigured in that Passover lamb His own dear Son, the Lamb of God, slain on the cross, through whose shed blood redemption would avail for all who believe. Thus He could accredit the faith of the Israelites in the blood of their Passover lamb as a means of their salvation. He assured them that He would accept this substitute, saying, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” How precious and assuring! Thus this wonderful day in their history was ever after to be to them “the beginning of months.”
Memory Verse “LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH: FOR I AM GOD, AND THERE IS NONE ELSE.”
ML-01/19/1969