And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household: and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man’s eating ye shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even. And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. Exodus 12:1–7.
In theological references, this is called the threshold covenant. However, the blood of the lamb was not placed on the threshold, but on the two side doorposts and on the top or lintel, so that three sides of the entry were covered with blood. It was not placed upon the threshold, for the precious blood of the lamb—symbolic of Christ—was not to be trampled underfoot. It was always to be honored as that which covers us, averts judgment, and opens the door of mercy.
The term “threshold covenant” originated in Arabia and Babylon in ancient times and does not refer to this provision, as theologians claim. In pagan religions, they would create an invisible screen across a doorway, to prevent certain individuals from passing through it. In this walk, we have found the counterpart in God Who built the hedges around Job so that Satan could not touch him. At the present time we are interested in the protection God is able to build round about us and what He intends for us.
The Feast of Passover was a perfect illustration of this truth. The angel of death was sent to destroy everyone in Egypt, but when he came to the doorway on which the blood had been placed, he did not enter in to destroy. The chorus, “When I See the Blood I Will Pass Over You,” presents a true picture. The blood of Jesus Christ averts all intention of judgment or destruction from the hand of Satan or even anything we deserve from the hand of God, because of Christ’s vicarious sacrifice. Christ was substituted for us, and His precious blood is the blood of covering.
In our reading of the Scriptures we have often not understood that the Bible is a book of families, not individuals. Much of the Old Testament is woven around Abraham and his seed because God had promised Abraham In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3. Galatians 3:29 reminds us, If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. What promise? In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. We do not yet understand fully what we can claim through the blood of Jesus Christ when it is applied to our hearts. We should be motivated by faith to claim promises for a household. The Passover lamb was not only for individual salvation; it was a kindred covenant of God, a deliverance provided for a whole household. The firstborn was spared, but that was only symbolic. The entire family was saved from sorrow and disaster because of the precious lamb without spot and blemish that had shed its blood and was being roasted over the fire even at the moment that its blood was averting judgment over a whole household.
The Philippian jailer was ready to commit suicide because Paul and Silas had been set free by the earthquake, and he knew that according to Roman law he would have to serve out the sentence of every man who escaped. Paul told him, “Do yourself no harm; we’re all here.” The jailer asked, “Sir, what must I do to be saved?” Paul’s answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy household” (Acts 16:30–34). That same night, not only the jailer was saved, but he believed for his family also; and before morning they were all baptized. They took a midnight dip in the grace of God and an entire family was released. Don’t you agree that we do not claim enough blessings for our families?
In his first epistle, Peter tells how a woman of faith may win an unbelieving husband to the Lord by her spirit and the way she lives (3:1–4). In I Corinthians 7:13–15 Paul reveals something else that is very significant. A woman may have an unbelieving husband, yet the children of that marriage are sanctified by the faith of the believing parent. Again the grace of God reaches out and the blood becomes a covering, not only over that mother, but over her children as well. That is God’s provision as outlined in the Word.
This truth is also voiced in Psalm 103:2–4, 17–18. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction … But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, And his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, And to those that remember his precepts to do them.
The evil a man does is visited upon him unto the third and fourth generation, but according to the Scriptures righteousness can be extended to a thousand generations. Aren’t you glad that the blessing of the Lord is much more potent than the curse of sin?
We often fail to recognize the blessings that our country still enjoys because of men who believed in prior generations. If it were not for that, we would have been delivered into the hand of judgment long ago. Even for a Remnant’s sake God will turn the tide and bring blessing. And I pray to God He will, because this is the only nation in the world prepared to give of its sons and of its wealth for an apostolic company to bring the end-time witness to the whole world at this particular time. Other nations are coming up fast with groups of people who believe in the restoration, but we are spearheading it. New Testament churches in some of the countries received the light through the faithful word and sacrifice that came from this country. God has raised us up to be a witness.
Something else is happening here for which I glorify God. There is a difference in the babies being born in this walk. There’s a difference in the young people who have been raised in this walk. The protection of God rests upon our families as a threshold covenant, a kindred covenant where God reaches out and blesses every one pertaining to you. The many difficulties in this walk could turn the children away from it—but still there’s a blessing. One day it will dawn upon them that they are richly blessed.
I think it is significant that proportionately more presidents have come from the ranks of preachers’ sons than any other class or profession, in spite of the fact that the preacher’s son often has a reputation of being wild and undisciplined. God has blessed many a faithful man who knew how to claim the blessings that belong to him, to his children and to his children’s children; for God has promised His blessing to a thousand generations of those that fear him.
In the eighty-ninth Psalm God made a covenant with David saying, “I’ll bless you, regardless of what your children do. If they turn away from Me, I’ll deal with them with a rod, and chasten them, but My mercies will never depart from your house; your seed will never be without the blessing of the Lord.” God made an unconditional covenant that He would never forsake them under any circumstance. When God can find a man after His own heart (and that’s what David was called), He will bless him and no matter what he produces in the way of children, He will continue to bless them.
This applies also if a woman marries a man who has children by a previous marriage (and vice versa), even though they are not her flesh and blood. This principle of the kindred covenant does not seem restricted to blood lines. If the household was too small for a lamb, they were to invite the next-door neighbor to share it and come under the blessing.
Rahab was a harlot who believed that God was going to bless the people of Israel. Because she hid the two spies, they promised her and all that were in her house protection when Jericho fell. The day that those walls fell down flat and the city was utterly destroyed under the hand of the Lord, one small section of wall was left standing along with one little house filled with Rahab’s kindred. God honored her faith and protected every one of them.
God looked upon Noah and said, “Come thou and all of thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous in this generation.” That meant a total of eight people, and included one or two sons who didn’t turn out too well. Yet God honored Noah and brought his whole family in. This kindred or threshold covenant will work for us too, as we enter into a new level of vicarious faith.
A man once came to Jesus and said, “If Thou canst do anything have mercy on us and heal my son.” Jesus healed that son with the epileptic spirit. But notice the father’s plea, “Have mercy on us.” God knows that you share your children’s sufferings. You’re never separated from them. Progressively you let go of the restraint, as they take on maturity and a sense of responsibility and live their own lives. You glory in their successes and weep with them in their problems. But God says you’re not really cut away from them; you can claim a blessing for them. God honors the simple implicit faith of our little ones and they are healed and delivered.
Jacob leaned on his staff and blessed his sons. Down through the years, fathers blessed their children to be a blessing. We have lost sight of the power of that blessing, but the Word still promises it. This is a time to claim something special, not just for yourself and your own walk, but also for your children. Claim the blood of the Lamb over the sideposts and lintel of the door. If there is rebellion, bind that which is working against them and loose them into God.
I no longer believe in the free will of man, I don’t believe that anyone serves God unless someone has travailed for him. A person doesn’t just stumble into God; forces are at work to bring him in that may not be apparent at all. Perhaps a mother prayed or some friendly young person talked to them about the Lord which marked them and God drew them in.
It will work for you to do the same thing. If you believe that no one can get into this walk without a revelation, then pray that the Lord will reveal Himself to the individual you are claiming. Over and over again, we’ve seen how parents who walk with God bring their children into His blessing. Paul reminded Timothy of the unfeigned faith that was first in his grandmother and his mother and in him also. He urged him to move on in God.
Instead of testifying and witnessing to a loved one in an arrogant, pushy way, back off a little and start believing with an irresistible faith, ministering with a love that accepts the way they are to go. It is a time for faith—the kind of faith that makes a woman like Hannah travail in an agony, resembling a drunken stupor before her child was ever conceived; that will lend the child to the Lord as long as he lives; that will make little ephods for him year after year because she believes he will grow up to be a priest before the face of God and one of the greatest prophets and judges that Israel ever had. How blessed we are that Samuel started the school of the prophets, resulting eventually in almost all of the prophets of the Old Testament being recorded for us.
We believe! We put the Passover blood on the sideposts and over the lintel of the door, declaring, “This night I claim that Passover Lamb for my entire household!”
Therefore in thee, O house of the Lord, shall all of the families of the earth be blessed. By thy faithfulness thou shalt rise up and proclaim the word of the Lord. The families of the earth shall be blessed and God shall take out of them a Remnant for His name.
Ye shall sow beside all waters and ye shall believe as the Lord quickeneth His compassion in thy heart for every man. Ye shall wrest from the hand of the enemy, for the Lord shall give thee grace to bind the strong man and plunder his house and take for the Lord a people for His name and His praise. Amen.