Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you… Let us for once use the story as an illustration of evangelical faith as an instrument in attaining salvation under the gospel. In its analysis we are all agreed that saving faith has three elements — knowledge, assent, and trust. Now, we study these in turn. I. In the first place, the security of the Children of Israel on that awful night lay partly in the INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGE they possessed of the prescribed means of escape from the destroying angel. Four things were taught them — 1. It was not the announcement of Moses which made this blood of a slain lamb the sign of deliverance from the plague, but the appointment of God Himself. The essential truth taught here is, that the crucifixion of Christ had no inherent value in itself which could atone for sin; it was the covenant of redemption that gave it its value. 2. It was not the shedding of the lamb's blood which should avail to save them, but the sprinkling of it on the door. Every soul must accept the atonement on God's terms. 3. It was not consciousness of security within, but evidence of obedience without, which would settle the fact of deliverance in every instance. It ought to be a help to sinners to know that God does not go over the past life of those who come to Him, as if on inquisition after their iniquities great or small, when once they plead the merits of His Son as their Redeemer. The vilest become clean in His sight when Christ is wholly accepted. The angel of Divine justice looks only upon the marks which show obedience and substitution. 4. It was reserved to God Himself to judge of the evidence of true and believing surrender to His commands. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." II. These four things were taught to the people on that remembered night, and constituted their necessary intelligence; from this it is easy to pass on and inquire after the second element of saving faith, ASSENT, illustrated here in the story. 1. See how such a conception rebukes a feeling of indifference in the heart of any sinner. 2. See how this history rebukes a captious spirit making petulant objection to the sovereignty of God. 3. See how this incident rebukes the mistake of trying to be a Christian out of sight. No one is wise in attempting to obey God in secret, when it is written down plainly that part of the command is that we obey Him in public. So the Scripture says. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 4. See how this history rebukes all delay in the duty of obeying God. What if the Israelites one after another put off the preparation of the lamb for the Passover? What good was there in waiting? How strange it would have been for any one to say, "I want more conviction," or for any one to plead, "I am not really so badly off as this assumes"; or for one to say, "My neighbours are so inconsistent that I cannot endure them" 1 If a duty is to be done, why does not each man do his duty now? This is what is meant by assent as an element of saving faith. III. There remains only the third element of faith mentioned in the beginning — TRUST. Think of that family just the half-hour before midnight. The lamb lies there; the basin with its bunch of hyssop stained in it is close beside; the doorway is wet with the blood. They have done all their duty just as God bade them; that was all they could do. Now they wait; that waiting is trust — the trust we are talking about. It is the feeling within one's heart which says, "Thus I have tried to do honestly all that the Lord asked at my hands; He told me to bend my will, make my prayer, take my Saviour, and after that leave all the rest to Him; there now I stand and wait." (C. S. Robinson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And 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. |
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