Is there an angel of death?

Against all the gods of Egypt the Lord executed judgment. This is a statement soon read; but how terrible was that of which it treats. Man had no refuge on that day from the avenging arm of Jehovah. The gods of Egypt were powerless when Jehovah rose up to judgment. Shelter, help, deliverance, there was none. The angel of death entered every house of the Egyptians, and with an unerring blow smote the first-born of whatever age or rank he might be. The most exalted in position could not shelter his first-born, the meanest could not escape the observation of God; for "the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; for there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. (Ex. 12:29-30.) It was a terrible moment indeed; for the Lord Jehovah was passing through the land of Egypt, and no power could hinder His passage. The angel of death was entering into houses; and no bolts, no bars, no chains, no incantation, nor demoniacal agency, could shut him out. A power which man could not cope with, and which man could find nothing to resist, was carrying all before it, making the first-born of man and of beast its victims. Every Egyptian was made to feel that Jehovah alone was God, who had the life of His creatures absolutely at His disposal, and who could act in discrimination, smiting those He would, by singling out for death the first-born male in each house. Such was the state of matters among the Egyptians.

The Passover celebrated in Egypt is the well-known type of Christ averting from His people the judgement which overtakes the ungodly. The destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt, and smote the firstborn in every house. Israel escaped by the death of the lamb, and by that alone. The blood sprinkled on the door-post told the destroyer that the sentence of death had been already executed, and he therefore passed over. Hence, then, the blood distinguished the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians. This was the grand distinction. When it was a question of life or death, the blood, and the blood alone, fixed the line of demarcation: "When I see the blood, I will pass over." This was God's record, presented for the obedience of faith. The blood was outside, and Israel were inside, and hence they could not see the blood, nor was that needful. All that was needed was simple faith in God's record, and the more simple the faith the fuller was their peace. It was their privilege to eat the lamb within their houses with tranquillised hearts, while the destroyer passed through with unsheathed sword, inflicting terrible judgement on all who were not sheltered beneath the blood.

What a night! The angel of Jehovah sweeping through Pharaoh's empire from end to end with his destroying sword! Every house, save those which were marked with blood, was bereaved of its firstborn. Every stable too was robbed of its choicest and best. One deep united wail ascended to heaven as Jehovah thus vindicated His offended majesty, and manifested His superiority over all the gods of the heathen, and over all the might and glory of men.

What a night! The angel of Jehovah sweeping through Pharaoh's empire from end to end with his destroying sword! Every house, save those which were marked with blood, was bereaved of its firstborn. Every stable too was robbed of its choicest and best. One deep united wail ascended to heaven as Jehovah thus vindicated His offended majesty, and manifested His superiority over all the gods of the heathen, and over all the might and glory of men.

This is what is set forth with all plainness in the ordinance of the Paschal lamb. The angel of death was to pass through the land of Egypt at midnight to destroy the firstborn in every house. No way of escape was possible from so fearful a visitation, but the death of the lamb. In every home in which death had done its work upon the sacrifice, death passed the firstborn by. Wherever the people failed to put the death of the lamb between themselves and God there the stroke fell. Even so is it now. The death of Christ, humbly accepted and appropriated in faith, is our only possible door of escape from the eternal judgement of God. A living lamb would not suffice in Israel; a living Christ could not suffice for us. His personal presence on earth was an inestimable privilege and blessing for men, but atonement was not effected thereby. He must die ere He could be available as Saviour for the lost. His own words in John 6:51 show this conclusively: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." To this may be added His memorable utterance to Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). Happy is the man who can say, "The Saviour died for me." Upon such a one the stroke of divine judgement can never fall. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Not "them," but "it." Thousands of lambs were slain that night, and yet in the mind of God there was but One. Christ is God's first great thought, and to Him every sacrifice pointed. There is no salvation in any other.

The Apostle had dwelt on Abraham's faith, instancing more than one proof of it. He will now dwell a little on that evidenced by Moses. These two most honoured ones in the history of the nation both exhibited, but in very different ways, because under different circumstances, that faith which is well pleasing to God. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them" (27, 28). Two distinct examples of his faith. The wrath of man he could brave, and leading an untrained host, encumbered with women and children, and flocks and herds, he started forth out of Egypt. No one knew better what the power of Egypt was, and humanly speaking what risk he and the people ran. But he recoiled not from it. Pharaoh's anger did not move him, it did not daunt him "for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." With God for them, what were the serried ranks of the Egyptian infantry, with all the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh! The Spirit brings this feature of the future lawgiver's faith into prominence, which men in after ages might easily have overlooked, as they knew the success which attended Israel's departure. But what must it have been to Moses, when he started from Rameses to Succoth, and then proceeded with the host under his guidance to Pi-hahiroth, turning, it would seem, out of the usual track at the command of God! That brought them apparently into a hopeless position (Ex. 14:2 Num. 33:7). A venture, man would have said, for which there was no precedent, and a venture to human thoughts doomed to discomfiture, when they turned back to Pi-hahiroth. God, however, sustained him. Man's wrath he braved. Would he brave God's? No. How wise! So "by faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them" (28). To the appointed way of escape from a visit of the angel of death to his house he resorted, and was safe. What lessons these for the readers of the Epistle! The wrath of man they might encounter. How many of them had done that! Like Moses, they were still to brave it, however great might be the powers against them. But the wrath of God was not to be risked by any who would be wise and the way of escape from that they knew, and were to cleave to, taking shelter in the blood of the Lamb. Has, we ask, any one from Stephen downwards acted like Moses and not experienced the wisdom of it?

But whilst the king and the captive must feel the anger of God, there were those who would be sheltered from it, but sheltered by blood. Accordingly one marked feature in this history is the prominence given to the blood, here for the first time spoken of in connection with a sacrifice. The blood of Abel had cried to God for vengeance against Cain; and the blood of any man whether killed by his fellow or a beast, God would surely require. In these cases the blood shed claimed vengeance on the slayer, but in the paschal rite it exempted from divine wrath all who took shelter behind it. "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." Such was God's promise to Israel, and that all should know how to sprinkle blood on the house, Moses was directed to say, "Ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you." (Ex. 12:22-23.) All then for Israel depended on the blood, and that outside the house. It was the blood the Lord would look for, and the blood would be the only barrier against the entrance of the destroyer. Had any in Israel sat within, saying they believed what Moses had said, yet refused to sprinkle the blood as directed, the destroying angel would have found his way to the first-born of that family. Assent to the truth without a corresponding action was valueless to ward off the blow. Had anyone sprinkled the blood inside instead of outside, the angel of death would have made known his presence within that house, for man had no choice left him as to what he would do. He had to obey implicitly the command of the Lord by Moses, and await in confidence the result. The blood, God was to look at, not man. It was a new method of escape, but a sure one, a plan which man had not devised, but God; for the judgment to be averted was the judgment of God.

The destroying angel is turned aside by the blood on the door of that house, where most surely he would have entered, carrying death with him, but for the blood. That blood was God's provision for settling matters between Himself and Israel in the doomed land of Egypt. It effectually blunted the sting or power of death, and it did it all alone, in great ease and simplicity. Nothing else could have done anything at such a moment; but that. blood alone did everything that such a moment needed - a moment that was to decide whether Israel were to live or die, to be saved or to perish.

The destroying angel [Jehovah] passed through the land. In the darkness and dead of night he did his work. He knew no difference between the houses of the Israelites and those of the Egyptians, unless marked with the blood. Over such a house he passed. He saw the blood on the lintel and on the door-posts; he looked no further; he entered not into the house.

How did the firstborn sons of the thousands of Israel know for certain that they were safe the night of the Passover and Egypt 's judgment? Let us take a visit to two of their houses and hear what they have to say. We find in the first house we enter that they are all shivering with fear and suspense. What is the secret of all this paleness and trembling? we inquire. The firstborn son informs us that the angel of death is coming around the land, and that he is not quite certain how matters will stand with him at that solemn moment. "When the destroying angel has passed our house," says he, "and the night of judgment is over, I shall then know that I am safe, but I cannot see how I can be quite sure of it until then. They say they are sure of salvation next door, but we think it very presumptuous. All I can do is spend the long dreary night hoping for the best."