revelation of the one ground of man’s acceptance with Himself. 1. In Genesis 4:4., the Lamb is Sanctioned. 2. In Genesis 22:13, the Lamb is Substituted. 3. In Exodus 12:6, the Lamb is Slain. 4. In Isaiah 54:4-10, the Lamb is Suffering. 5. In John 1 :29, the Lamb is Specified. 6. In Revelation 5 :6-14, the Lamb is Saluted. 7. In Revelation 22:1, the Lamb is Sovereign. The far-reaching effects of the Death o f Christ are seen in the orderly development and outreach of the sacrifices: 1. In Genesis, chapters 4 and 22, the Lamb avails for the indi vidual. 2. In Exodus 12, the Lamb avails for a household. 3. In Isaiah 53, the Lamb avails for a nation. 4. In John 1:29, the Lamb avails for the world. Let us look now at the beautiful type of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb o f God, as seen in the Passover lamb of Exodus, chap ter twelve. The Passover lamb had to be “without blemish, a male . . .” (vs. 5). The identical expression is used by the Apostle Peter, where he writes, “ Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not re deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradi tion from your fathers ; But with the precious blood o f Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18, 19). Occasionally there comes across our path a person who rejects Christ and excuses himself be cause he claims to know too many Christians who are hypo crites. Salvation is not found in Christians but in Christ. There are no perfect Christians. God found no sinless persons in the earth. That is why He had to send One from Heaven. “Christians may sin less, but they are not sin- THE KING'S BUSINESS
Now what are we to learn from this? The Passover undoubtedly represents the Death of Christ, for, says Paul: “ Christ our pass- over is sacrificed for us” (I Co rinthians 5 :7). Just as God made the night of the Passover to mark a new beginning for Israel, and the seventh month to become the first month with the past six months blotted out, even so the first four thousand years of hu man history and man’s failure are blotted out by the Death of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Israel’s new beginning was upon a new foun dation, a lamb without blemish. In the same manner the Death o f God’s Son, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), becomes the new foundation and ground for man’s deliverance from the bondage of sin. When a man is bom again, the birthday of that soul marks the beginning of months, the new birthday being relatively more important than the day o f nat ural birth. Belief in the finished work o f Christ on the Cross is the pivotal point of transition from the old, unregenerate life to the new life in Christ, “ There fore 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). All attempted worship is futile before conversion, but the very moment a believing sinner appropriates the death o f the Lord Jesus Christ the sinful past is forever blotted out. The Passover Lamb is the ac knowledged type of the Death of Christ, the basis of God’s great salvation, for Christ crucified is the very foundation stone of our redemption. The Death of the world’s Saviour was neither ac cidental nor coincidental; it was divinely intentional. He is “ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). A safe way to study the Bible is to follow closely God’s law of “ Progressive R e v e la t ion ” or “ Progressive Mention.” Follow the repeated mentioning of the “Lamb” in Scripture and you will be following God’s progressive
TME FEAST o f the PASSOUER by Lehman S trauss
“ These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD ’S p a s so v e r ” (Leviticus 23:4, 5). T he P assover F east , first in or der, symbolically typified the foundation for the full accom plishment of the divine plan. The slain Lamb was the starting point of all God’s dealings in the re demption of Israel as a nation. When the Book of Exodus com mences, Israel is a nation in bond age and slavery. For more than four hundred years the people had been in Egypt under the tyr anny of a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. Exodus, chapter twelve, records the beginning o f Israel’s redemption on the night of the passover. The institution of the Passover introduces these words from Je hovah, “ This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2). At the time the Passover was insti tuted nationally, Israel was in the seventh month (Abib) o f her c iv il y ea r (of Deut. 16:1), but in Leviticus twenty-three, God is going to rearrange the Jewish calendar to make the sev enth month become the first month. It was altogether a new beginning. 14
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