Prayer: O Lord, we thank You from our depths that we have been freed from all personal affairs and have been gathered into Your name, sitting here before You and listening to Your speaking. Speak, O Lord, for we are listening. We really long for You from within, and we know that Your word is Your very Self, Your word is Your expression, and Your word is Your reaching us. We truly regard this. We pray that You would again give us utterance, fresh utterance, instant utterance, utterance that can meet Your need today. We pray that You would cause those of us who speak to be able to speak and those of us who listen to be able to listen. O Lord, may none of us consider ourself to have already known and understood. O Lord, cause us to know that we are all like children, for we still know so little of what we ought to know. O Lord, have mercy on us and visit us. May Your Spirit of grace anoint us today, anoint this meeting, anoint every attendant, and anoint every move and action. Furthermore, O Lord, we cannot forget Your enemy. Even though You tolerate him, we still say, Lord, You must restrict him, and You must bind him. Lord, draw the boundary around us by Your prevailing blood and do not allow Your enemy to cross over one step to distract or disturb us. Do preserve us in these two to three days. Moreover, rebuke him and command him to leave us. O Lord, we desire to be free before You to enjoy Your presence. Amen.
In the previous message we saw that God’s complete salvation is of two aspects: the judicial aspect and the organic aspect. This is definitely a great and important matter which may not be easily comprehended by our mind. In the beginning of this message I would like to give a further explanation concerning this matter based on some illustrations found in the holy Scriptures.
Concerning the judicial aspect and the organic aspect of God’s salvation, there are some illustrations in the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the most evident illustration is the keeping of the Feast of the Passover by the children of Israel. When they kept the Passover, the situation was like this: First, they were enslaved in Egypt for over four hundred years and were unsuccessful in their struggling for freedom; second, like the Egyptians, they were sinful before God, they deserved to die, and they deserved God’s punishment. Now God sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt, but there were two problems with them that made it difficult for them to get out. First, like the Egyptians, they were under God’s condemnation and deserved the death penalty. Furthermore, Pharaoh and the Egyptian army would be difficult for them to overcome. Therefore, God gave them the Passover to save them in these two aspects.
Exodus 12 shows us the way to keep the Passover. On the fourteenth day of the first month every household of the children of Israel had to kill a lamb. Once the lamb was killed, it was divided into two parts, one part being the blood and the other part, the flesh. God commanded the children of Israel to put the blood of the lamb on the two side posts and on the lintel of their houses, for that night God would send the destroying angel to smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, and when the angel saw the blood on the door of anyone’s house, he would pass over it. The children of Israel did according to God’s word, so when the destroyer came to their houses, he passed over them. The function of the blood of the lamb was to deliver them from God’s condemnation and penalty of death. This is the judicial aspect.
God charged the children of Israel not only to sprinkle the blood of the lamb but also to roast the flesh of the lamb and eat it inside the blood-sprinkled house. They had to eat it with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand; they also had to eat it in haste. I believe that while they ate, they were standing, not sitting. This means that after the eating they had to flee from Egypt. Hence, after they sprinkled the blood of the lamb, the children of Israel also needed to eat the flesh of the lamb hastily. On the judicial side the blood was sprinkled on the door to meet God’s need; on the organic side the flesh was eaten and received into the children of Israel to meet their need for moving on. The way before them was quite long, at least three days’ journey. Without eating the flesh of the lamb, they could not go even for three hours, needless to say three days. Without eating the flesh of the lamb, they would be overtaken by the Egyptians. Therefore, every household had to eat the flesh of the lamb until they were full that they might be ready to take the journey ahead. This is the organic side.
Hence, the Passover in the Old Testament shows us that God’s salvation has the redeeming aspect and the saving aspect. The redeeming aspect, signified by the blood of the lamb, is according to God’s judicial requirement; the saving aspect, signified by the flesh of the lamb, is according to God’s organic provision of life.
Home | First | Prev | Next