Although strangers and hired servants could not partake of the Passover, the purchased and circumcised servants were qualified to eat of it (12:44, 48). To be purchased is to be redeemed. We are not hired servants, but we have been purchased by the Lord to be His slaves. We were lost, but the Lord paid the price to buy us back. This means that we have been redeemed, purchased, bought back. Thus, we are no longer strangers—we are redeemed ones. We are no longer the natural man—we are purchased ones.
Christ’s redemption does not include the natural life. Rather His redemption deals with the natural man by putting him on the cross. Christ redeems only those who have been dealt with by His cross. Such a dealing is signified by circumcision.
Do you regard yourself as a hired one or as a purchased one? Few like to think of themselves as those who have been purchased. A purchased one is actually a slave. This is the reason that in ourselves we all prefer to be hired ones. If we are hired by a certain person to work for him, we are willing to work as long as we are happy with our employer. But if we are not happy, we can resign and work for someone else. But a purchased one, a slave, has no right to resign.
Once again we see that the way of the natural man contradicts God’s principle. In God’s redemption we are not hired ones; we are purchased ones. Anyone who thinks of himself as a hired one has no share in God’s redemption. If we want to enjoy God’s redemption, we must take our standing as those who have been purchased by Him.
It is easy to say in a doctrinal way that we are purchased ones. But in our actual daily practice we may live as if we were hired ones. The apostle Paul knew that he was a slave of Christ Jesus (Rom. 1:1). He did not regard himself as one who had been hired to work for the Lord. In contrast to many pastors or ministers, Paul knew he had no right to resign from serving the Lord.
To be a hired one is, spiritually speaking, to work in our natural life for the purpose of receiving recompense. But according to the spiritual principle, to be a purchased one is to serve the Lord in redemption. A purchased one is a person who has been lost, who has been bought back, and who has been dealt with by the cross. This is the kind of person who has been redeemed by God. Such a one is qualified to partake of the Passover.
Exodus 12:44 says, “But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then he shall eat thereof.” Verse 48 also speaks of circumcision: “And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof” (Heb.). All the redeemed ones must be circumcised. Spiritually speaking, to be circumcised is to have the natural life dealt with by the cross. Apart from circumcision, there is no redemption. For this reason, the redeemed ones are related to circumcision. Those who have been redeemed have been dealt with by the cross. In Paul’s words, they are the true circumcision (Phil. 3:3). The strangers are the hired ones, whereas the purchased ones are the circumcised ones. Those who are circumcised do not exercise the natural life to work for God. God does not want us to work for Him; He wants us to be circumcised. The work according to our natural life can only produce Ishmael. Our strength to produce Ishmael must be cut off through circumcision.
If we would receive God’s salvation in a proper way, we need to be purchased and circumcised. At the time of conversion, a sinner should repent, confess, and believe in the Lord Jesus. Simultaneously, he should begin to hate his natural life and to realize that this life needs to be buried. This is the reason that as soon as someone believes in the Lord Jesus, he should be baptized. To be baptized is to realize that the natural life is good for nothing except burial. When a new believer has this realization, he is conscious of the fact that he has been purchased and circumcised. However, many of today’s Christians have received God’s salvation blindly, not realizing that they need to be purchased and circumcised.
All these details related to the Passover show the proper and adequate way to apply the Passover. If these details were not necessary, the Bible would not include them. Although these details are also in the New Testament, it is rather difficult for us to find them. However, they are vividly portrayed in the picture of the Passover in the book of Exodus. Thank the Lord that we are the purchased and circumcised ones and that we eat the Passover according to God’s principles.