Exodus 12 28–39
“At midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle.”
The Lord’s righteous vindication. For 400 years had His chosen people been held in bondage for the Egyptians, for 400 years had they been forced to labor night and day for a cruel master. This was the judgment of the Lord sent to the land of Egypt, to the throne of Pharaoh himself. He did not spare any first-born, for great is the sin, and great is the retribution required. In the same way have we sinned. Sure, we have not kept slaves (I assume), but, in the same way, we have enslaved ourselves to sin. For our bodies are the Temple of the Lord, His Holy Dwelling place, where He rests His Presence, and we have defiled it. Long, our entire lives, as a matter of fact, have we kept ourselves enslaved to the works of the flesh, and, if we were not to repent and place our faith in Christ, then retribution for sin would be required. Our sin, however, is too great for us to pay, our offense against the Lord can never be repaid. Not in the imaginary land of Purgatory, not in hell or hades, for the weight of our sin greatly outweighs our power to reconcile ourselves for it. We can do nothing for our sins. They have overwhelmed us, covered us as by a raging ocean, we are lost, without a smidgen of hope for our immortal souls because of our great misdeeds in the sight of a Holy God. We are as criminals deserving the death sentence because of our crimes, and that is exactly what we shall get. We all get what we deserve, and death is our lot. Every man died, but only some go on living. “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” Only those who have never sinned may ascend the hill of the Lord. That sounds like only one man; only one man has never sinned, only one is righteous in the eyes of the Lord. Our Lord Christ, God Incarnate. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.” He was the only one who lived in perfect accordance with God’s Will, for He was, and still is, God. If only one man has met the requirements for ascension of the Lord’s hill, then what hope do we have? Surely, we would have none of Christ did little but live a perfect life. If that were all that He did, then there would be little point to His coming, but our Lord did so much more than simply live in holiness. He lived in holiness, but decided to become sin for our sakes. I cannot emphasize enough how reprehensible sin is to our Lord, how thoroughly disgusted He is by our gross acts of selfishness. However, He knows that we will engage in these vile acts, and He made a way that we could be forgiven of this wickedness. He has always allowed the repentant to come to Him, He does not turn away those who are passionately disgusted by their own unrighteousness. Through the Old Testament, and the new, of course, He is willing to accept those who turn from their sinful ways. Look at Rahab, the prostitute, she indeed was a great sinner, but through her line came the greatest king of Israel, David, and through his sinful line, from Bathsheba, came Solomon, and down on to Christ. Our Lord descended from a prostitute, but one that felt shame for her ways and turned to the Lord. The Lord is always accepting of repentance, “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” This brings me around, for there are two things required for salvation, in the words of Christ, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Repentance is required because we simply cannot say the words, ‘I believe in Christ,’ without changing our sinful ways and expect to be saved. If one says ‘I believe in the strength of this bridge,’ but does not place his faith in the bridge, and rather cowers on the near side of it, would we really say that he thinks the bridge is safe? If someone claims to follow Christ, but goes on sinning as the heathens do, what difference does it make what he has said? There is great sin, much hypocrisy in the church of Christ, and the devil uses this to his advantage, to discredit the cross. Of course, it is a logical fallacy, but most people cannot identify these when they are right in front of them, and the devil doesn’t care about fallacies anyway. We cannot do anything about the sins of others, except for condemning them, but we can do something about our own sins. We have complete control over our mind and body, and we can force it to do what we will. But not what we will, for our old desires should be “crucified with Christ,” but our new will, our heavenly will. For God will make known His Will, His Almighty Plan for the Universe, so that we might be conformed to Him. For He is perfectly holy, there is none more righteous than Him, there is none more just or forgiving than the Lord of Hosts. He will make us a new man, He will take our old thoughts and desires and make them to be one with His Will. We must, must conform our will to His, so that we might be holy in His sight. This is the power of Christ, to take wretched humans, sinners, and make them anew in Him. We are so broken, but He is the Ultimate Potter that can take the broken potsherds that compose our sinful being and mend them. There is a Japanese art called kintsugi where a broken dish is mended by using gold as sealant. The pieces are put back together with the gold, making the dish more beautiful than before it was broken. This is what Christ does to us. For we have always been broken, and some might say beyond repair, but the Lord of Hosts takes our wretchedness and makes us anew, filling our cracks with the gold of His Presence. He fills us with righteousness, He makes us holy through His atoning sacrifice on the cross. How awesome is our Lord! How everlastingly holy is His Name! Praise be to the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh, for He has broken, but He is the One who has repaired us perfectly, made us perfect in His sight. Praise the Lord, dear Christian, with all of your heart. For He is the Lord of Creation, the King of kings, Lord of lords, El Shaddai, Adonai, Savior, God.
