The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
   - Philippians 4:9

It is most needful to be simple and clear as to what constitutes the ground of a sinner's peace in the presence of God.

So many things have been mixed up with the finished work of Christ that souls are plunged into darkness and uncertainty as to their acceptance. They do not see the absolutely settled character of redemption through the blood of Christ in its application to themselves. They are not aware that full forgiveness of sins rests upon the simple fact that a full atonement has been made. They know that there is no other way of being saved but by the blood of the cross; but the demons also know this, yet it avails them naught. What is so much needed is to know that we are saved.

The Israelite in Egypt [during the first Passover] did not merely know that there was safety in the blood; he knew that he was safe. And why safe? Was it because of anything that he had done, or felt, or thought? By no means: but because God had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

"On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast .... Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."
Exodus 12:3, 5-7, 12-13

The Israelite rested upon God's testimony. He believed what God said, because God said it. It was not upon his own thoughts, feelings, or experiences that the Israelite rested.

It was not said, "When you see the blood, and value it as you ought, I will pass over you." This would have plunged him into dark despair about himself, since it was impossible that man could ever sufficiently appreciate the precious blood of the lamb. What gave peace was the fact that Jehovah's eye rested upon the blood, and that He knew its worth. The blood was outside, the Israelite inside. He could not possibly see it; but God saw it, and that was enough.

C. H. Mackintosh