The Children For Christ by Andrew Murray

Twelfth Day – Sanctify the Firstborn
And the Lord said unto Moses, Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn. . . . All the
firstborn of man among thy sons thou shalt redeem. And it shall be, when thy son
asketh thee in time to come, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By
strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt; and it came to pass, when
Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn of Egypt;
therefore I sacrifice unto the Lord all that openeth the womb, being males; but all
the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ Exod. 13: 1, 13-15.
`Let My people go that they may serve Me,’ – in these words so often
repeated by the Lord in sending Moses to Pharaoh, we see how service is
the aim of redemption. God makes His people free from the bondage of
Egypt, to translate them into the liberty of His service, the willing,
loving, free service of a redeemed people. The deeper God’s people
enter into the spirit of redemption, the deeper will be the insight into
the blessed unity of liberty and service, of liberty and necessity. No true
service of God without liberty; no true liberty without service.
We have seen in the Passover what a permanent place the family and
the children take in redemption. No less than their parents were they
redeemed to serve; all their training was to be a training to the service
of God. When Pharaoh said to Moses after the plague, `Go, serve the
Lord your God; but who are they that shall go?’ the answer was very
distinct, `We will go with our young and our old, our sons and our
daughters.’ It was on this point that the negotiations were broken off.
The going of the children was what the king would not consent to: `So
be the Lord with you, as I will let you go with your little ones: look to it,
for evil is before you’ (Exod. 9: 8-10). And when later on Pharaoh still
wanted to keep the property, he felt that this at least must be conceded:
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