Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS

Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exodus 12:1-2). The Lord God said unto Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14), "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance."

Beginning at Genesis 37, omitting chapter 38, and on through to the 47th chapter we have preparation for, and settlement of Israel in Egypt. Joseph is sold by his brethren into Egypt. In the providence of God, and because of the lies of a wicked woman, Joseph is put into prison.

In this prison he becomes acquainted with the butler and baker of Pharoah. Joseph interprets a dream of the butler, and in accordance with the interpretation of this dream the butler is released from prison and restored to his high office before Pharoah. Joseph requests the butler to remember him to the king. The butler forgets his prison friend and benefactor until the King has a dream no one can interpret.

The butler now remembers Joseph, the interpreter of dreams, and tells the King of him. He is brought before the king and gives, the meaning of the King's dreams, which meant there would be seven years of plenty, suc-

ceeded by seven years of famine. Joseph advises that the king save during the years of plenty for the years of famine. The king appoints Joseph as conserver of food and later the distributor. When famine comes, Joseph has great stores of grain in Egypt.

Canaan has the famine, but they do not have Joseph. They have, through envy and hatred, sold Joseph. He is now in great power and glory and a great blessing to Egypt. His brethren come down into Egypt to buy corn. On the second trip Joseph makes himself known to them saying, (Genesis 45:3, 4, 5, 8) "I am Joseph: doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence . . . Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life ... So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." Joseph sends his brethren back for their families and his father.

Jacob and his sons, and their families come down into Egypt. The King said to Joseph (Genesis 47:6), "In the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell: in the land of Goshen let them dwell." "And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread according to their families" (Genesis: 47:12). "and Israel increased . . . and the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7). (Exodus 1:8). "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph". This king and his successors sought to stop the rapid increase of Israel, fearing they might become allies to their enemies in case of war. During this period the children of Israel were reduced to slavery and were made to serve with rigor. "They made their lives bitter with hard bondage." But in spite of this ill treatment Israel increased.

After many years God appears to Moses in Horeb (Exodus 3:6-10), "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob ... I have surely seen the affliction of my people . . . and am come down to deliver them . . . and bring them into a good land."

"Come now therefore, and I will send thee . . . that thou mayest bring forth my people." Moses, after much protesting, accepts the task. He goes before Pharoah and delivers God's command to let his people go. Pharoah contemptuously refuses. God through Moses brings upon Pharoah and the people of Egypt plague after plague till nine have been visited upon them. Still Pharoah refuses to let Israel go. God tells Moses He will bring one last plague upon Pharoah and then he will let them go. This plague is to slay the first born in all the land of Egypt. God commands Moses to instruct every man of Israel, the head of a home, to slay a lamb, catch the blood in a basin, and with a bunch of hyssop sprinkle the blood upon the two door posts and lintel above. "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" (Exodus 12:13). God puts a difference between His people and the Egyptians. It is a difference of grace and not of merit. Blood means grace.

At this juncture He says "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months". God has brought His people along through the centuries by His guiding hand and with His blessings, but not until now does He say anything about "This month shall be the beginning of months unto you". This was a new starting place. They were to reckon time from this experience. They are now a redeemed people, redeemed by blood. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." They are a blood protected people. Blood is the only protection from guilt. There can be no life before God without shedding of blood. Life comes after blood, after death. Shed blood means given life, means death. There must be a resurrection after death to live before God. There were yet to be many notable experiences in the history of God's earthly people but this was the beginning of months to them.

Does not all this have its lesson for us? Do we not have the counterpart to this in a higher realm? The believer in Christ Jesus is behind the blood, and God says to him, "I will pass over you". Not only has he died in Christ Jesus

but he has risen in Him. He is no longer in the flesh before God. That old existence has ended in death, in the death of Jesus. He lives unto God, the only way a man can live unto God and that is in the life that has gone through judgment death and has come up out of it in resurrection. This is all in Christ who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification.

Paul says of himself, "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Gal. 2:19) No one can live unto God until he has died unto the law. Jesus endured this death under the law for us. It is our death the moment we believe in Him. He rose again and now lives forever, and we live in Him. Again the same apostle said, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). God in substance says to us, "This is the beginning of months unto you, when you believe on the Son."

You were dead before this in your existence before God. Now you live unto Him. You may observe your natural birthdays, and other anniversaries, and New Year's Day, etc. These days come around with the seasons of the earth. They are of the earth. The life we have in Christ is not of this world. It is of heaven and of eternity. This life in Christ is not manifested in worldly circles, but is in a pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.