CHRIST OUR PASSOVER by Percy T. Magan

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 29, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 13.

CHRIST OUR PASSOVER.

By Percy T. Magan

THERE is something inexpressibly sweet about the spiritual atmosphere in which the Christian word "Passover" is embedded. The very fountain-head, the very well-spring of those traits and attributes of character which appeal to our better natures as being divine, and which cause us to long for a pure and untainted experience, free from every defilement of self and sin, dwell in the sacred thought and idea which nestles in the bosom of the holy Passover.

When some poor trembling soul, guilty of a scarlet sin, standing in the presence of One who has the power to forgive, hears the welcome words, "I will pass over your offense and say no more about it," instantly he is filled with intense joy and feelings of deep relief. But the results of this act of "pass over" and mercy end not here; in widening circles upon the bosom of life's vast ocean of humanity, it touches springs of sympathy in the heart of many a man and woman, and extends through the finite to the infinite, till those waves of joy which started in the heart of the pardoned one terminate in throbs of pleasure, in the great heart of Eternal Majesty,—in the soul of God the Father, where the great thought of the Passover was born before ever sin and sorrow were.

Dark hung the pall of slavery over the land of Egypt. The beloved of God were bondmen. The seed of Abraham the faithful, of Isaac, the child of promise, and of Jacob, whose name an angel changed to Israel,—a prince with God,—for full four hundred years had suffered stern sorrows in the grim grasp of bitter bondage.

The condition of slavehood breeds wreck and ruin. The finer sensibilities of the souls of men are necessarily blunted by its blighting influences. This has been so in all climes and in all ages. And the effects of servitude upon the descendants of Joseph's brethren were no exception to the common rule.

It was sin which had fastened the shackles of slavery upon Israel. In a spiritual sense every son and daughter of Adam has been bound in slavery by sin. And degradation has followed in the train of enslavement, till the image of God, in which we were created, is now so faintly visible that these poor eyes of ours, bedimmed by sin, scarce recognize it in our fellow-beings.

But "Christ our Passover is risen for us," and through His tender ministry, with eyes undimmed by the lapse of years, and with spiritual vision untainted by the first contact with sin, God, the loving Father, still passeth by our iniquity and transgression, still sees in men and women, no matter how fallen and degraded, His own blest image in which we were created. And 'tis a blessed thought that day by day as we draw closer to God we see less of sin in others, and more and more is the divine, which still dwells in the souls of those with whom we have to do, revealed to us.

Steeped in sin and slavery as Israel was, God claimed him as His own—yes, claimed relationship to him. "Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even my first-born; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born."

Is there a soul bound in sin, sorrow, and sadness, let him look up and take courage, for, no matter how sinful, how degraded, how firmly bound in the slavery of sin, God still claims us as His own, still speaks those all-powerful words, "Let My son go."

Then came that memorable night when God delivered Israel, and on which the Passover feast was instituted and celebrated for the first time. "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house." No priest officiated at this ordinance. It concerned too sacredly the welfare of every individual son and daughter of Israel to permit of this. It was not solemnized in any temple or sacred edifice consecrated to religious service. Each father gathered loved wife and precious children around him in the family dwelling, and in later times the Saviour ate His last Passover in an upper chamber in a private dwelling.

It is even so to-day. Christ, who is our Passover may be found and spiritually partaken of in the quiet little upper chambers of our homes. No temple walls confine Him; no priest is necessary to give Him to us. The partaking of Christ our Passover is an individual work for every soul.

"In the evening" shall ye kill the lamb. It is when the shades of night draw over our souls, when dreary sin presses its lengthening shadows over us,—when it is that we must look up, for in the evening the lamb was slain; at midnight deliverance came. When bondage and thralldom in sin seems to be the most complete, and when deliverance is least expected, then it is that God bursts through darkest clouds, and shines, dispelling deepest night. As Israel was delivered when earth was enshrouded in the sable mantle of night, so it is at midnight that the history of this earth closes, Christ comes, and the saints are gathered home. For long ago it was written: "In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away; and the mighty shall be taken away without hand." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark; but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening-time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem."

To many a soul in the midnight of sin the Saviour has come and burst the fetters in the hour when, to all human appearances, they seem to be the strongest. Even the conversion of Saul took place when he was on his road to Damascus to persecute the church of God. How true are the words of Elihu in the book of Job: "Now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds."

For every household a lamb was to be slain, and says the record: "And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb." Christ Jesus is the paschal lamb. The household may be too little for the Lamb, but the Scriptures do not intimate that there could ever be a possible chance that the lamb would not be sufficiently ample for the household.

Christ Jesus is a sufficient Saviour for every soul. Every man to-day, as then, may call his neighbor next unto him to share in the feast, and still there is salvation in plenteous degree for all.

"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper door-post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." "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." It is not enough to have a theoretical knowledge of the saving power of the blood of Christ—it must be applied, it must be stricken upon the very portals of the heart. How precious are the words, "And when I see the blood, I will pass over you"! It is for the mark of the blood of Christ upon us that God watches. He calls not for our own righteousness, but for that one stain on the soul, the only stain which is desirable, the crimson stain of Christ's own blood.

A very touching story is told of that first Passover night. The lamb had been slain, and ready for the feast; the family were assembled in the humble dwelling, the door was shut, and all were waiting for the dread hour when the angel should smite the first-born of every house whose portal bore not the saving token of the blood. From her fitful slumber the young daughter of the house, the eldest born, awoke with the cry, "O father, is the blood upon the door?" The father assured his tender child that all was well, for their faithful servant had been intrusted with the service; but the daughter could not be satisfied, and again, in deepest anxiety, she asked, "Are you sure the blood's upon the door?" Finally the father yielded to the entreaty of his child, and carried her in his arms to see the sprinkled door. To his consternation, he found no sign which should turn aside the destroying angel, and then in haste he grasped the hyssop and himself applied the blood. With how much anxiety should every Christian ask himself the question, "Has the blood been stricken upon my soul?" "Has it been applied to wash away the stain of sin?"

"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover." How beautiful is the imagery in this verse! There must be no delay in partaking of Christ, who is our Passover. The blessed Lamb has been slain, and is offered to us, and while mercy's door is open, we must take the proffered Gift in haste, lest it be withdrawn. We must do it with our loins girded, as men who expect to go forth on the Christian's march, battling with temptation and with trial. Moreover, it was also said to Israel: "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire." We can not be Christians in part. Christ must be accepted wholly, or He can not be accepted at all. The whole of the Lamb must be eaten, and nothing must be allowed to remain till the morning. For when the morning of life's long night shall ultimately break, Jesus will then have been sealed in all of His saints. He must be taken now, ere the morning dawns, for then there are only the burnings with fire for those who are out of Christ.

We are living in the great antitypical Passover time. Soon will the cases of all of us come into review before the great Judge above.

"When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you." The cases of men are being settled, settled for time and eternity. Christian, is the blood applied, and when the Master reaches your name upon the books above, will He see the crimson stain, not of sin, but of the blood of Christ, which washes all sin away?