From “Feast of Tabernacles,” Chapter 2- The Feast of Passover, continued
THE PEOPLE MUST DEPART
The children of Israel were to eat the Passover lamb with their loins girded and with their shoes on their feet–ready to depart from Egypt. The moment a man receives Christ as his Passover Lamb, he must there and then be prepared to depart from the world and all of its allurements. He is not saved by works, and it is entirely unscriptural to teach holiness as the means of salvation. For it is not within the power of any man in Adam’s fallen race to present himself acceptably before God. There is none righteous, no not so much as one; and by the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight. (See Rom. 3:9-31). He receives the efficacy of the blood, and eats of the Passover Lamb by faith–and that constitutes his salvation. But when one identifies himself with Christ he must depart from the world and its corrupting influences, and be prepared to follow his Lord in the pathway of separation and consecration. Then only, by the works of grace produced in the heart, do we behold the scriptural signs and evidences of the salvation of Christ.
THE BLOOD IS THE SIGN
“When I see the blood I will pass over you.” (Ex. 12:13). For our part we must apply the blood by faith to our hearts. Our feet must be shod, and we must be ready to leave the old ways behind. We must participate in Christ, and give evidence of the fact that we are true disciples. But so far as God is concerned He beholds this one token: “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” God is eternally satisfied with the work of Calvary’s Cross, and we as God’s children are “accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph. 1:6). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:21).
‘Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary,
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me;
Forgive him, O forgive, they cry,
Nor let that ransomed sinner die.’
O, there are so many, many things that we have left unsaid concerning the Passover Lamb. He is the theme of the whole Bible. All spiritual blessings stem from Calvary, and all power and glory and majesty pertaineth to the Lamb that was slain, and He is therefore “Worthy… to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” (Rev. 5:12). GHW
Bro. Warnock is right in saying that we are not saved by our holiness, because we have no genuine holiness of our own. Growing in holiness is, however, an indicator on the far side of the cross, that we have been born again. A good tree produces good fruit (see Matthew 7:15-20). Holiness ought to be essential to us, first of all, because it is the essence of God. It ought to be taken seriously by us because it is a weighty matter to God. Wherever God appears, holiness comes with Him because it cannot escape Him. Theologian Henry C. Thiessen wrote in his “Lectures in Systematic Theology, that God’s holiness “is not really an attribute that is coordinate with the other attributes, but is rather coextensive with them all. Holiness occupies the foremost rank among the attributes of God.”
When Moses encountered God at the burning bush, God met Moses first with His holiness.
Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:1-5 NASB)
The ground was not holy because of Moses; it was holy because God was there, and God declared it so.
God sets us apart and claims us as His own at our conversion (consecration). We then begin the journey of becoming what He has declared us to be (sanctification). As we grow in Christ, we become more like Him, growing in holiness. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29). Holiness is the outcome of our consecration (positionally) and sanctification (progressive realization).
In chapter 3 we will look at “The Unleavened Bread.”
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