The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-06
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MIlsA sABER ACLE
Israel Spared. or Passed Over
BIBEE .sTUDY. ON A-ee>

| 1srdei spared, or passed OVer-EXodus
12:2l-S1-August 10.
THE Son of Man came not to be min
istered unto. but to minister, and to give
His life ransom for many Matthew,
20:2s
The tenth plague. sent upon the Egyp-
tians as a chastisement for their persist
ent injustice toward The Hebrews, was
the death of their first borns. In every
home there was death-the frst-born son
or daughter The terror of such night
can better be imagined than described.
In the Scriptures death is always repre-
sented as being the enemy of man-the
penalty of sin. The death sentence came
upon our first parents because of sin; and
| through them, by the laws of heredty, 1t
| has passed to all their cbildren-the hu-
man family. We are all dying; and the
| Bible tells us that the only hope Of a re-
| covery lies In the fact that God has made
preparation for the satisfaction of His
Justice through the death of Jesus Dur
ing Messiah's reign, the curse of death
shall be removed: there shall be no more
| signing, crying or dying.
| What God brought upon the Egyptians
in that night was, therefore, merely the
same penalty that has been against all
mankind for six thousand years. The
| iiiSI poiHo, ieliIHB IN BOOQ nealtn, were
corpses before morning, the death sem
tence coming upon them more suddenly
| than it otherwise would have done
This plague did not touch the homes of
the Israeltes. Their first borns were
passed over, spared protected, by the AL
mighty; hence the name Passover. BY di-
vine command the Israeites made the an
niversary of this event historical Every
| lsraelite shows his faith in God and his
confidence in this record of the divine de-
liverance of his forefathers, when he cele-
brates the Passover.
The Passover's Real Meaning
Israel's experiences in being passed over
We're allegorical AS a type they repre-
sented the experiences of Gods elect
spiritual Israel. Be ii noticed that spir-
itual Israel is company of sanity people
of God gathered from all nations and de-
nominations. The chief members came
from natural Israel, but no nation can lay
| exclusive claims 1t is an elect class,
| chosen along no other line than that of
! character.
! Spiritual Israel was represented in the
| first borns of fieshly Israel, who were
passed over in that night. The next morn
ing the Israelites went forth under the
leadership of the first borns, who subse-
quently became the priestly tribe typi-
cally representing the royal priesthood,
nHuSe royal llSn priest Is the BlOrli1cd
Messiah. Soon He and His Church of
the First-borns" CHebrews 2:23), glorfied
| by participation in the first resurrection,
Will be Installed in the glory and power of
| the Messianic kingdom for the blessing
of all desirous of coming back into har-
mony with God
Just as the first borns of Israel passed
over were not the. only ones saved from
! Egyptian bondage so the church of the
| first borns will not be the only ones saved
/ from the bondage Of sin and DEATH SYM
! bolized by that Egyptian bondage. on
J the contrary. the preserving of the first
| borns implies the deliverance of the re-
mainder.
| The Bible represents the six thousand
years in which sin and death have held
| sway and enslaved many as a night time
During this night Gods people have been
increasingly oppressed by Satan and his
servants, typfied by Pharaoh and the
Egyptians. Respecting this long night the
prophet declares, Weeping may endure
for night. but joy cometh in the MORN
ing.-Psalms, 30:5.
The morning will be the dawning of the
great anttypcial Sabbath, the Seventh
Thousand-year day. Then Messiah and
His church, passed over from death TO
life by divine power, will begin the great
work of blessing all who desire to come
into harmony with God, That new dispen-
SatlOn VIII be so dlfterent from the present
one that it is fguratiusly called day In
contrast with the darkness of the present,
represented as night.
"1srael My First Born"
Since any deliverance from the power of
sin and death was of Gods grace, and
not an obligation of justice, He had a per-
feet right to determine long In advance
that the blessings which He purposed to
send should reach mankind through Abra-
hams seed, or children. Unnoticed by the
Jews the Lord indicated that Abraham
would have two Seeds one a heavenly, the
other an earthly. Thus He said. "Thy
seed shall be "a as the stars of heaven,
and (2) as the sand of the sea shore. -
Genesis 2217
God did not explain this to Abraham, but
now we see the meaning OF this feature Of
the promise. The stars represent the
heavenly seed of Abraham and
His church. The sand of the sea shore
| represents the vast multitude who ulti-
mately will be saved from sin and death,
| and recovered to divine favor and ever
lasting life in the Messianc kingdom
soon to be ushered in.
| God did not forget or turn aside from
his favor to the natural seed of Abra ham
! in His selection of spiritual Israel; for. I o
| them came the first opportunity. and from
them were gathered the first members of
the spiritual Jsrael-the spiritual seed of
Abraham OF these st. Paul says: IF ye
| be Christ's, then are We Abraham's seed
and heirs according to the promise'-made
! to Abraham that in this, his spiritual seed
| all mankind would receive the divine
blessing-the rolling away of the curse of
sin and death.-Ga1atians 1929; Revela-
| ton 21:4, g.
| Moreover. the Scriptures indicate that
after the spiritual Israel shall have been
completed by the change from earthly ma
1ture to heavenly nature, Gods blessing
will begin to come once more to the nat
lural seed of Abraham Gods providences
were to the Jew first as respects the spir-
itual privileges, and will be to the jew
first as respects the earthly privileges
restitution to human observation-disclosures
II :25-33 Acts. 3:19-H.
First -Borns Blood Protected
/ Let us not fail to note that the divine
favor toward the first born of Israel was
not without blood Indeed, as St. Paul
points out the whole lesson of the Old
| Testament Scriptures is that without the
shedding of blood there is no remission"
| OF sins BY divine command, the Israel
Iites indicated their faith in the Lord by
| taking a lamb of the first year without
spot. killing it and sprinkling its blood
upon the door posts and lintels of their
| houses, and eating the flesh within
| AS the Passover was typical, so were
the lamb and the sprinkled blood. The
| lamb represented Jesus, the Lamb of God.
His death was not foc His own sins, but
| for the sins of humanity. 1t is equally
| to notice that Christ died not