December 19

"When I see the blood I will pass over you." Exodus 12:13.

It will be recollected that, upon Pharaoh's refusing to release God's people from bondage, the Lord commanded the first-born in every house to be slain. It was a night of woe in the land of Egypt, long to be remembered. The only exception in this work of destruction was in favor of the children of Israel. And yet even they could not escape the judicial punishment, but in the strictest compliance with the Divine method for their safety. They were ordered on the eve of that fearful night, to take "a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year," and to "slay it, and take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper door-posts of the houses; and the blood," says God, "shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you 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." They obeyed God. And when the angel of death sped his way through the land, smiting the first-born of each Egyptian family, he paused with solemnity and awe when he beheld the sprinkled blood—sheathed his sword, and passed on to do the work of destruction where no blood was seen.

Thus will it be with the soul who has no interest in the life-giving and the life-saving blood of Jesus! The sinner who has not this Divine and sacred sign upon him is marked for condemnation; he is under the awful sentence of death! That sentence has gone forth—the destroying angel has received his commission—the sword is drawn—the arm is uplifted—one final word from that God who has long stretched out to you His beseeching, yet disregarded hand—that God whose patience you have abused, whose mercy you have despised, whose law you have broken, whose Son you have rejected—and the stroke falls—and heaven is lost forever! Oh, fly to the atoning blood of Jesus! Not a moment is to be lost. Your only hope is there—your only protection is there—your only safety is there! "When I see the blood I will pass over you." Blessed words! Where He beholds the pure heart's blood of His own Son—so precious to Him—sprinkled upon the broken, penitent heart of a poor sinner, He will pass him over in the great outpouring of His wrath; He will pass Him over when the ungodly, the Christless, and the prayerless sinner is punished; He will pass Him over in the dread day of judgment, and not one drop of wrath will fall upon Him. Escape, then, for your life! Hasten to Christ. It may be late—your evening's sun may be setting, the shadows of eternity may be deepening around you, but you have the Divine promise—plead it in faith, and God will fulfill it in your experience—"And it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." Relinquish now all the strongholds of your long rebellion against God, and Christ, and truth—give up your vain reasonings, cavilings, and excuses, and come to the Lord Jesus as a penitent, believing sinner; throw yourself upon His mercy, take hold of His blood, get beneath the covering of His righteousness, and tell Him that if He casts you off you are lost, eternally lost—and you shall be saved! "I went, and washed, and received sight."

When the chill of death is congealing the life-current of your mortal existence, and heart and flesh are failing—the world receding, eternity opening—what think you will then bring life and peace into death itself, illumine the valley, and place you in safety upon the highest wave of Jordan? It will be the living blood of the Divine Redeemer, at that awful moment applied to the conscience by the Holy Spirit, testifying that all sin is blotted out, your person accepted, and that there is now no condemnation. "Precious blood! precious blood that has secured all this!" will be the grateful expression of your expiring lips, as your ransomed soul crosses the dark stream into the light and glory of heaven.