in the land of Egypt at the time of the first Passover. The angel of death passed over the homes of Jewish families where the door posts were marked by the blood of an innocent lamb. This, of course, illustrated the way in which God would later pass over those sins covered by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. God instructs them, "And it shall be a sign unto thee, upon thine hand, and for a memor ial between thine eyes, that the Lord's laws may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord brought thee out of the land of Egypt” (vs. 9). The first great doc trine these people were to keep before their eyes was the doctrine of the atonement and salvation through the blood. The second passage is in Deu teronomy 6, "And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes" (vrs. 6-8). This great doctrine deals with the nature of God and man's re sponsibility to Him. Later, in this same book, God sets forth the principle by which He will bless the life of any indi vidual or any nation of people. The determining factor is always obedience. To fail at keeping His Word means judgment. The peo ple are warned, "Therefore shall you lay up these words in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand
that they may be as frontlets be tween your eyes, that your days may be multiplied and the day of your children in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them" (Deuteronomy 11:18- 24). You see we are talking about a closeness to God which results in a wonderful possession of joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, the Word of God is absolutely inexhaustible, like God Himself. Our joy depends upon our relationship to the Lord and to His truths for us. How well are we acquainted with these great doctrines of Scripture. Are we daily applying them to our lives? Know ing all of the unrest in this world we of all people should realize that we can enjoy a settled con fidence and contentment through our relationship to the Saviour. If we are the Christians we profess to be we must continually grow close to the Lord feeding upon His Word. As Scripture enjoins, "God will fill you with all joy and peace in believing and trusting in Him" (Romans 15:13). Is it enough for one to get to heaven if he has been reared in a Christian home with consistently godly parents? Paul had a distin guished "spiritual pedigree" (Phil- ippians 3:4-8) but he testified that he was more than willing to count all human effort as loss, in order that he might win the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. As one writer observed, "Man keeps records with God, and God keeps records with man. The whole problem is that God's methods of bookkeeping are not the same as. ours." He writes down that "all men are sinners, pointing out that there is none righteous, no not Page 29
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online