MARCH 15, 1906 “DOERS OF THE WORD’’ Our golden text is well chosen—‘‘Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only.’’ To be honored with a knowledge of the divine will and plan is a great boon, a great blessing; but it brings a great responsibility: ‘‘to whom much is given of him shall much be required.’? We who have heard the voice of him that speaketh from heaven, speaking peace through Jesus Christ; we who, on the strength of this message of ZION’S WATCH TOWER (98-100) forgiveness of sins, have been accepted in consecration as members of the body of Christ, we have greater responsibility than have others. To attain the glorious things to which we have been invited we must not merely have this honor but must make use of the privilege and show our appreciation by obedience to the terms of the Covenant——presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to the divine service in faithful obedience to righteousness, and in endeavoring to assist others in the same course. OUR NEW HYMN BOOK WITH MUSIC Three hundred and thirty-three of the choicest hymns selected from every quarter, with some of the grandest tunes, VoL. XXVII ALLEGHENY, PA., APRIL 1, 1906 cloth bound, 35c. by mail, by freight or express collect, 25¢.— now ready. The same cost price in any quantity. No. 7 “THE PASSOVER MUST BE KILLED” LUKE 22:7. The term Passover amongst the Jews was frequently applied as the name of a festival week, otherwise called the Feast of Passover, beginning on the fifteenth day of Nisan. But we must not confound this with the frequent references to the Passover found in the Scriptures when the word feast is not used. which generally referred to the lamb that was killed, the Passover. For instance, we read, ‘‘Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be Killed.’’ Again, our Lord sent disciples to inquire of a friend, ‘‘ Where is the guest-chamber, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’’? Again we read, ‘‘And they made ready the Passover.’? When our Lord sat down with the disciples to eat of the lamb he said, ‘‘ With desire I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you I will no more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’’— Luke 22:7, 11, 13, 15, 16. While the Jews still apparently think more of the Passover week than of the Passover lamb, we, on the contrary, and in harmony with the example of our Lord and the apostles, have special respect for the lamb, which typified the ‘‘Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,’’? and under whose blood of sprinkling we who now believe—namely, the ‘‘ Church of the First-Born’’—are passed over or spared in advance of the world. God’s arrangements for the Jews were typical and full of valuable lessons for us who belong to antitypical or Spiritual Tsrael. In the type the Lord provided for two great religious occasions amongst his people, the one at the beginning of the secular year and the other at the beginning of the religious year. The religious year began in the spring, counting from the first new moon after the vernal equinox, approximately April Ist, but varying because of the difference between lunar and solar time. It was in connection with this, the beginning of their religious year, that the Lord appointed the Passover ~the killing and eating of the Passover lamb on the 14th day, to be followed by a Passover week of unleavened bread. The civil year with the Jews began six months later, in the seventh month, approximately October 1; and it was in connection with this civil year that the Atonement Day sacrifices were appointed, in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, in which the Israelites called to mind their wilderness journey on leaving Egypt en route for Canaan. These two great religious celebrations pictured the same lesson from different standpoints: the first emphasized more particularly the passing over of the first-born, who subsequently were represented in the tribe of Levi, at whose head stood the priesthood. Although the type seems to carry forward and to picture the deliverance of all Israel through this priestly tribe, to which Moses belonged, yet specifically, particularly, in detail, it dealt merely with the deliverance, the blessing, of the priestly tribe, the first-born. The other type, in the seventh month, more particularly pictures the atonement for the sins of the whole world, the forgiveness and reconciliation of all mankind who desire to be reconciled to God: nevertheless, in connection with this Atonement Day sacrifice, the special favor of God to the church is also represented as preceding the blessing coming upon the world, reconciliation for the church’s sins being represented in the first sacrifice of the Day of Atonement, while the sacrifice for the sins of the world in general was represented in the second offering. ‘CHRIST OUR PASSOVER’’ There is a force and meaning in the Apostle’s expression, ‘*Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,’’ which is not gen erally appreciated. (1 Cor. 5:7.) Our Lord is not the world’s Passover, but the Church’s Passover. All Israel prefigured or represented the world of mankind, and the bondage of the whole people represented all mankind under the bondage of sin and death, the great taskmaster in the type being Pharaoh, in the antitype being Satan. Deliverance is desired for all, and the Lord’s arrangement is ultimately to deliver all. The Apostle so explains when he writes, ‘‘The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.’’ But the Apostle divides the groaning ones into two classes, saying, ‘‘The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now’’—‘‘ waiting for manifestation of the sons of God.’’? (Rom. 8:19, 21, 22.) His reference here is to the world of mankind whose deliverance from the bondage of Satan and the power of sin and death will only come through the manifestation of the glorified church, the Christ in glory and power, as God’s kingdom ruling the world. ‘The Apostle also mentions the church of the first-born in her present condition, saying, ‘‘But ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, do groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the deliverance of our body.’’ Both classes have an experience of groaning, both classes have an experience of waiting, but they wait for different things. The latter, the church of the first-born, waits for her deliverance as the body of Christ through a share in the First Resurrection. According to the divine promise, the former, the world, waits until the church class shall have been perfected, glorified, empowered, and shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father for the blessing of all the families of the earth, for the uplifting of all who desire divine favor on divine terms. Look now at the type: notice that it is not all Israel that is in danger from the destroying angel, but only the first-born. Only the first-born of the Egyptians were slain. Hence it was only the first-born of the Israelites that were spared or passed over. These first-born ones, protected by the blood of the Jamb, the Lord declared to be specially his; and, with a view to marking them out and keeping them as a special, peculiar people, an exchange was made whereby the first-born of all the tribes were exchanged by the Lord for the one tribe of Levi, which he accepted as specially his and which in the type represents the household of faith. Out of this household of faith, in turn, a priestly family was selected, which typified Christ our High Priest and the church his body, the under priesthood, the royal priesthood. So, then, those who perceive the matter clearly see that the Passover has to do only with the household of faith. It is in full accord with this that the Lord’s Supper, which antitypes the eating of the lamb, is not offered to the world, but is strictly and exelusively an institution for the household of faith. ‘‘LET US KEEP THE FEAST’’ Seeing in the type the slain lamb, its blood sprinkled upon the posts and lintels of the home and its flesh eaten with bitter herbs, we apply this in the antitype and see Christ the antitypical Lamb, see that his blood sprinkled upon our hearts cleanses them from a consciousness of evil and gives us an assurance of our being PASSED OvER, of our being spared, of our being granted life through his blood. This sprinkling represents our justification by faith; and the subsequent eating of the lamb with bitter herbs is represented in the antitype by our consecration, our partaking of Christ, our partieipation with him in his sufferings and self-denials-—also repre [3749]
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