Exodus 12:14

This day.

The fourteenth of Abib, or Nisan, which was forever to be memorial as Israel's birthday. The full moon of the spring equinox, when nature begins her round once more was ever to be the great national festival of Israel.-- F. H. Newhall.

A memorial.

The Passover was to be. commemorative and sacramental ordinance of perpetual obligation. As such it has ever been observed by the Hebrews. By the Christian it is spiritually observed; its full significance is recognized, and all that is foreshadowed is realized in the sacrament of holy communion. It is not, therefore, necessary to limit the meaning of the words "through your generations" and "forever," although both expressions are frequently used with reference to an existing dispensation, or to. limited period.-- Canon Cook.

A feast.

The radical meaning is festivity, expressed in outward demonstrations of joy.-- Canon Cook.

An ordinance forever.

A perpetual ordinance, lasting in its form as long as Israel is the peculiar people; in its principles, as long as the state of redemption which it celebrates, and therefore absolutely forever.-- Murphy.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

Salvation is wrought by. chosen and perfect sacrifice; an unblemished lamb must represent God's spotless Son. Vers. 4, 5.

All must have an interest, even the children, in the lamb which is slain for all. Ver. 4.

The lamb is not slain at once after being chosen; God kept his Lamb four thousand years, as the people kept theirs four days. Ver. 6.

The blood of the sacrifice must not only be shed, but appropriated, and according to the divine plan; we are saved not in our own way, but in God's way. Ver. 7.

There must not only be the sprinkling with the blood, but also the feeding upon the sacrifice: every believer must eat and drink Christ. John 6:53. Ver. 8.

An old warrior, lying at the point of death, said to the missionary who stood at his side, "I saw in. dream an immense mountain, with precipitous sides, up which. endeavored to climb, but when. had attained considerable height,. lost my hold and fell to the bottom. Exhausted with perplexity and fatigue. went to. distance and sat down to weep; and while weeping. saw. drop of blood fall upon the mountain, and in. moment it was all dissolved." "This was certainly. strange sight," remarked the missionary; "What construction did you put upon it?" The dying chief seemed astonished at the missionary's question, and replied, "The mountain was my sins, and the drop which fell upon it was one drop of the precious blood of Jesus by which the mountain of my guilt must be melted away."-- Foster's Cyclopedia.

The blood was the ground of safety. Not as seen by the sinner, but as seen by the Lord himself. And while the blood made all within safe, they gathered about the lamb and ate. Jesus, the source of safety, and the center of union forevermore, both on earth and in heaven.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

1. Bring out history to date of lesson; the appearance of Moses and Aaron before the king; his refusal to let Israel go; the plagues that follow in quick succession; finally the last appeal when Moses tells him he shall no more see his face. 2. Bring out the last terrible judgment that was about to fall upon Egypt; the death of the first-born in every household on. single night. 3. Impress the occasion of the Passover;. means to render all Israel safe from the dread passage of the angel of death. 4. Observe the means appointed;. lamb to be slain; blood to be sprinkled on the door post; the angel of death cannot pass behind that blood. 5. Observe the manner of the celebration;. lamb without blemish of first year, selected beforehand, slain and blood sprinkled, lamb roasted and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, by. family group girded for travel. 6. Note the memorial observance of Israel, observed at same time every year; never could have originated unless it had. historic basis. 7. Observe the type and its application to our Passover. Our Paschal Lamb slain at the same time; he without blemish; his blood saves those who have received its sprinkling from the angel of destruction; neither death nor curse can pass over or behind that blood; it was in neither case enough that the blood be shed; it must be appropriated in the Lord's own way, by obedience to his command. 8. Picture. passover feast,. family group of at least ten persons,. lamb roasted whole, thin cakes of unleavened bread;. dish of bitter herbs cooked in. kind of broth;. rehearsal of the wonderful deliverance of the first passover. 9. Turn to the last passover ever celebrated by the command of God, the Savior and his disciples eating the passover; the Lord dying as our passover.