"When I see the blood" (Exodus 12:13).

I knew a person who had, for some years, been deeply anxious about her soul. She longed to know, for sure, that she had redemption through the blood of Christ _ that her sins were forgiven. She felt that if she died without redemption, she was lost for ever. She went from place to place to hear the preaching of the Word. Her anxiety became very great, yet nothing that she heard gave her peace. She was constantly thinking that she had to do something before she could have redemption. She tried to lay hold of the promises, but they gave her no relief. She tried to serve God and keep His commandments; she found she failed at every step. She tried forms and ceremonies, but all in vain. She then thought she must have stronger faith, and tried to understand more clearly the value of the blood of Jesus; still all was darkness. God would not even have her faith as the price of her redemption. Her heart sank in despair; she could do no more.

It was when she was in that state of hopelessness that she heard those words, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). The Holy Spirit spoke in her soul in that moment and said to her, "It was God who spoke these words." In a moment she felt the vast difference between herself seeing the blood of Jesus and God’s seeing it. She thought, "Yes, God sees such value in the blood of Jesus that He will pass over me; and the destroyer will not touch me." From that moment she believed what God had said about the blood of Jesus. From that moment she had peace through the blood of Jesus. Now she rests happily, with assurance, on the inspired scripture:"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians 1:7).

Surely, this one case out of many thousands that might be told shows the importance of the subject before us. Before speaking of these wonderful words, "When I see the blood . ..," let me remind you of the condition of this people, Israel, as described in the previous chapters. The Israelites were slaves under Pharaoh in bitter bondage. They "sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God" (Exodus 2:23). God heard and pitied them, "for," He said, "I know their sorrows." Yes, such also is the plain fact; man has sold himself as a bond-slave to Satan. There is no denying it. Oh, what a cry of misery ascends from this world of sin! How bitter is the slavery of sin! If there were no lake of fire hereafter, even now what bitterness and anguish has sin brought. Every heart knows its own bitterness. God heard their sighs; and has he not heard yours?

God is love! He heard their sighs, He knew their sorrows, and He came to save. The people heard that God had looked upon their affliction (4:31), and they wanted to worship Him. Just like the person above, they anxiously desired to serve God; but, as it was with her, this only made their burdens the heavier. Their affliction and their sorrow were now very great. How often is this the case when the soul is awakened to thirst after God. Then Satan brings all his force to crush the sin-burdened soul. The next thing we find, the promises of God (chapter 6) entirely fail to give the least comfort:"They hearkened not… for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage" (v. 9). In chapters 7 to 12, we see by the conduct of Pharaoh how loath Satan is to give up his victims.

Perhaps you will say, "How like me all this is! The more I have desired to serve God, the heavier has been my burden. I have tried to get comfort from the promises, but all in vain; still anguish of spirit, still the burden of sin, still uncertainty as to my interest in Christ." If this is your condition, let us now look at this redemption chapter, Exodus 12. God grant that this month may be truly "the beginning of months" to you. Notice in verses 6 and 7, that the Lamb was slain, and the blood was sprinkled on the doorposts. Every soul, young or old, that took refuge in the blood-sprinkled house had an interest in that blood. God said, "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are:and when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (v. 13). He did not say, "When I see how good you are," or "When I see that you deserve my favor," or "When you have repented enough, or believed enough." No, the blood is first and uppermost in God’s thoughts. It was His token of love to them, just as and where they were. He did not even say, "When you see the blood," but "When I see the blood." Now, I repeat, did any person within that blood-sprinkled house need to ask, "How may I know that I have an interest in the blood?" It was most certain that he had an interest, on the authority of the word of God. And every soul that simply trusted in what God said about that blood was saved that night.

Now we all know that redemption from Egypt was a type of redemption through "the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19). And in the very same way, the blood of Christ is God’s eternal proof of matchless love to lost, burdened sinners. Jesus did not die that God might love us, but because He loved us. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). "In this was manifested the love of God toward us. … Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9,10).

Note, thankfully, it is not what you see, but what God sees in the blood of Christ. He knows all your sins, but He also sees the blood of Christ. His beloved Son’s atoning sufferings and death justify Him in cancelling all your sins, however many and shameful they may be. He says so plainly, and is righteous in " [justifying] … by His grace" every sinner who believes in Him, "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

Do you say, "How am I to know that I have an interest in that atoning blood?" Every Israelite who believed God had an interest in the sprinkled blood. And if you search the New Testament through, you will find that every sinner who trusted God about that precious blood shed on the cross knew, with the utmost certainty, that he had redemption through the blood of Christ. You do not have to trust in a promise. Redemption is no longer a promise, but an accomplished fact_a finished work. If you were dying with thirst and a person promised to bring you water, you might trust his promise; but when he has brought the water to you, you no longer trust in his promise simply, but you drink the water.

Now God has fulfilled His promise_He has sent His Son. The blood has flowed from His pierced side. It is all finished. Peace through that blood is come to you. May God open your heart to receive and enjoy that peace on the testimony of God, who raised up Jesus from among the dead. How strange that men should forget or not see this, but go back to the promises, as though God had still to do something to save sinners. It is done. The blood has been freely shed. God sees that blood. I only ask, Have you been brought to take your last refuge in that blood? Can you say that the blood of Jesus is your only trust? If so, then it is most certain that you have an everlasting interest in that atoning blood. You have redemption through that blood according to the infinite value that God sees in the death of Christ.
"Ye are bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20). Oh, what a price! What a grand motive for living for and serving God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

FRAGMENT
All God’s joy told out unhindered_
Nought but Christ His eye can see!
Christ into His joy has entered,
And in Christ He welcomes me:
Would I know how dear to God?
Priceless as Christ’s precious blood!

All the worth I have before Him
Is the value of the blood:I present, when I adore Him,
Christ, the First-fruits, unto.
Him with joy doth God behold:
Thus is my acceptance told!