3. The fruits and benefits of this sacrifice.
[1.] By the sprinkling the blood olE the lamb, he that destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians could not touch them, Heb. xi. 28. This secured them against the destroying angel ; to teach us that the justice of God doth only spare them whose consciences are sprinkled with the blood of Christ, The blood of the lamb and the blood of Christ was shed for this end, that it might be sprinkled, and being sprinkled, might exempt, and free us from death. So the apostle St Peter speaketh of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, by which the elect are sanctified and saved : 1 Peter i. 2, ' Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctifica- tion of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
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Christ.' There was not only blood shed, but blood sprinkled; so Heb. xii. 24, ' And to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel' God said of the blood of the paschal lamb, Exod. xii. 23, ' For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when he seeth 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 into your houses to smite you.' So when wrath maketh inquisition for sinners, God beholding his Son's blood, where- with the elect are sprinkled, they are exempted from the curse wherein others have entangled and involved themselves ; for saith the apostle Paul, Kom. v. 9, ' Being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.' So that we need not fear the sword of the destroying angel, whether he be an angel of darkness or an evil angel, for God hath ' delivered us from the power of darkness ' by the blood of his Son, Col. i. 13, or an heavenly angel. By the same blood he hath ' reconciled all things unto himself both in heaven and in earth,' Col. i. 20. Those angels which were heretofore set as a guard upon the earthly paradise, with a flaming sword, to keep us out from thence, do carry us into the heavenly paradise : Luke xvi. 22, ' The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom ; ' and are ministering spirits sent forth for the heirs of promise, not to destroy them, but to keep them and preserve them : Heb. i. 14, ' Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? '
[2.] In that very night in which the paschal lamb was slain, the Israelites obtained their freedom and deliverance out of Egypt. So hath Christ by his blood freed us from the slavery of sin, the devil, and the world, and called us into the glorious liberty of the children of God : 1 Cor. vii. 23, 'Ye are bought with a price ; be not ye the servants of men.' So Heb. ii. 1.5, ' That he might deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage ; ' and John viii. 36, ' If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.' We are redeemed unto God as they went into the wilderness to worship God.
[3.] In that very night God exercised judgments on the gods of the Egyptians. So it is said, Exod. xii. 12, ' Against all the gods of the Egyptians will I exercise judgment ; ' and it is repeated, Num. xxxiii. 4, ' For the Eg}'ptians buried all their first-born, which the Lord had smitten among them ; upon their gods also the Lord executed judg- ments.' Some say by slaying the beasts which the Egyptians wor- shipped, as the ox. Jonathan in his paraphrase saith that all their idols of metal melted, and their idols of stone and earth were broken in pieces, and their idols of wood were burned to ashes. Whether this or that we cannot tell, because the scripture is silent ; but surely these threatenings were not in vain, and wanted not their certain effect. Certain we are that by the blood of Christ the devil's kingdom goeth down : John xii. 31, 32, 'Now shall the prince of this world be cast out; and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.' As Christ's kingdom goeth up, ' The idols are thrown to the moles and to the bats,' Isa. ii. 20 ; and God will ' famish all the gods of the earth,' Zepli. ii. 11 ; and in the 1 Peter i. 18, 19, ' Yo were not
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redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vaia conversations, received by tradition from your fathers ; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot' The blood of Christ fetcheth over men from their inveterate customs and superstitions. And Kev. xii. 11, 'Tliey overcame by the blood of the Lamb ; ' and 1 John iii. 8, ' For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.'