And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Exodus 12:29-30

Where the blood was sprinkled, salvation was the result; and where no blood was seen, the plague fell. God passed through the land that night in judgement, and "there was not a house where there was not one dead." Even in the houses of Israel there was one dead: the lamb, the victim, the substitute. In the houses of Egypt there was also one dead: the first-born.

In the houses of Israel the lamb had died in place of the first-born, and that brought peace to many a household that night.

You might have gone up to a young man in one of the households of Israel, who was the first-born, and asked him, "How is it with you tonight? Have you peace?"

His reply would have been, "Perfect peace!"

We might then ask, "How do you feel?"

He would no doubt reply, "I do not rest on my feelings, but on the word of Jehovah. The blood is upon the doorpost. It was the father's work to put it there - but I assure you I took good care to see that it was done. I was much too intereseted in the matter not to see to it. I would loose my life this night, if the blood were not there. But the blood is there, and Jehovah has said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

So Christian, are you at rest? Perfect rest? The blood is the basis of your peace, not what you feel.

Peace is not a feeling, or an emotion, and not an experiece. Rather, it flows from the fact that the claims of God have been met by the Lamb of God, and God respects His precious blood. The blood of Jesus has reached and touched the very memory of God, for we read in Hebrews 10, "Your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more."

The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins, but the blood of Jesus does. Its value God alone knows.

You and I do not know the value of the blood of Christ. We value it surely, but our value of it is very poor and inadequate. God knows its value perfectly, and He esteems its worth fully, and He says to you and me, "Trust that blood. Get under its shelter."

If we can answer, "Lord, I trust it." then God says, "I shall treat you according to my estimate of the value of that blood, not according to yours."

That is wherein peace lies - not on your estimate of the blood of Christ, but on God's estimate. And what is God's estimate of it? He estimates it so highly, that there is nothing too great for Him to do on the ground of it. He delivers you from judgment, and brings you to glory, on the ground of the shed blood of His own dear Son. And more than that, it will give you the sweetest peace and confidence towards God.

W.T.P. Wolston