The father was to act as the priest of the household, and if the father was dead, the eldest son living was to perform this solemn act of sprinkling the door-post with blood. This is a symbol of the work to be done in every family. Parents are to gather their children into the home and to present Christ before them as their Passover. The father is to dedicate every inmate of his home to God, and to do a work that is represented by the feast of the passover. It is perilous to leave this solemn duty in the hands of others.
This peril is well illustrated by an incident that is related concerning a Hebrew family on the night of the passover. The legend goes that the eldest daughter was sick; but that she was acquainted with the fact that a lamb was to be chosen for every family, and that its blood was to be sprinkled upon the lintel and side posts of the door so that the Lord might behold the mark of the blood, and not suffer the destroyer to enter in to smite the first-born. With what anxiety she saw the evening approach when the destroying angel was to pass by. She became very restless. She called her father to her side, and asked, “Have you marked the door-post with blood?” He answered, “Yes; I have given directions in regard to the matter. Do not be troubled; for the destroying angel will not enter here.” The night came on, and again and again the child called her father, still asking, “Are you sure that the door-post is marked with blood?” Again and again the father assured her that she need have no fear; that a command which involved such consequences would not be neglected by his trustworthy servants.
As midnight approached, her pleading voice was heard saying, “Father, I am not sure. Take me in your arms, and let me see the mark for myself, so that I can rest.” The father conceded to the wishes of his child; he took her in his arms and carried her to the door; but there was no blood mark upon the lintel or the posts. He trembled with horror as he realized that his home might have become a house of mourning. With his own hands he seized the hyssop bough, and sprinkled the door-post with blood. He then showed the sick child that the mark was there.
Are parents placing the mark of God upon their households in this their day of probation and privilege?…Fathers and mothers place their responsibility in the hands of others, and thus perilously neglect their own households….
I am much distressed because there is such manifest neglect in the home in the matter of training the children and the youth. Even in professedly Christian homes, where fathers and mothers would be supposed to be diligent students of the Scriptures, in order that they might know every specification and restriction in the word of God, there is manifest neglect of following the instruction of the word, and of bringing up the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Professedly Christian parents fail to practice piety at home. How can fathers and mothers represent Christ's character in the home life when they are content to reach a cheap, low standard? The seal of the living God will be placed upon those only who bear a likeness to Christ in character.
If parents would fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to be their strength, they would not fail of receiving His blessing in their households…
The reason why the children of Israel forsook Jehovah was that the generation rose up that had not been instructed concerning the great deliverance from Egypt by the hand of Jesus Christ. Their fathers had not rehearsed to them the history of the divine guardianship that had been over the children of Israel through all their travels in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus had given special instruction from the pillar of cloud, bringing before parents the responsibility of teaching their children the statutes and the commandments of God…
In the New Testament we are exhorted to be warned by the example of the Hebrews in neglecting their duty and in departing from the living God. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” The failures and mistakes of ancient Israel are not as grievous in the sight of God as are the sins of the people of God in this age. Light has been increasing from age to age, and the generations that follow have the example of the generations that went before. The Lord does not change, and a sin which he condemned in former generations should be avoided by us. We should heed the admonition that has been given in the past, and lay hold of the promises that are made for the encouragement of the obedient…
With every generation increased light has shone, and we are responsible for the use that we make of this light. Those who pretend to serve God, and yet cherish selfishness, who seek to fulfill ambitious projects, are lovers of pleasures, lovers of self, and are as much more sinful than was ancient Israel as the light is greater which shines upon their pathway. They have the past experience in the history of the disobedience of Israel, and they know the result of their neglect of duty. They have heard warnings from God as to how to avoid the mistakes and errors of his ancient people, in order that they may escape the results of their own course of action, and they are more inexcusable in their course of sin than was ancient Israel. Many feel astonished that the Israelites should have manifested such ingratitude when God had manifested such love and care for them. They think that they would not be guilty of taking such a course; but let the question be turned upon ourselves. How much gratitude do we render to God for his loving kindness and tender mercy? How easy it is for us to forget God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent! We each come under the condemnation that rests upon ancient Israel, when we neglect to give thanksgiving to God for his daily mercies to us. When the leper returned to give glory to God, Christ asked, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?” Is there only one in ten who returns to give glory to God? Is this the proportion who return with overflowing hearts to render praise and thanksgiving for the mercy and loving kindness of our Heavenly Father? RH May 21, 1895
