"But," answers the priest firmly, "the law of the Lord is plain and unmistakable: 'EVERY firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck.' Where is the lamb?

"Ah, sir, no lamb do I possess!"

"Then go, purchase one, and return, or the ass's neck must surely be broken. The lamb must die, or the ass must die."

"Alas! then all my hopes are crushed, " he cries, "for I am far too poor to buy a lamb."

While this conversation proceeds, a third person joins them, and after hearing the poor man's tale of sorrow, he turns to him, and says kindly, "Be of good cheer, I can meet your need," And thus he proceeds: "We have in our house, on the hill-top yonder, one little lamb, brought up at our very hearthstone, which is 'without spot or blemish.' It has never once strayed from hoe, and stands (and rightly so) in highest favour with all that are in the house. This lamb will I fetch." And away he hastens up the hill. Presently you see him gently leading the fair little creature down the slope, and very soon both lamb and ass are standing side by side.

Then the lamb is bound the altar, its blood is shed, and the fire consumes it. The righteous priest now turns to the poor man, and says, "You can freely take your little colt in safety; no broken neck for it now. The lamb had died in the ass's stead, and consequently the ass goes righteously free. Thanks to your friend."

Now, poor troubled soul, can't you see in this, God's own picture of a sinner's salvation? His claims as to your sin demanded "a broken neck", that is, righteous judgment upon your guilty head; the only alternative being the death of a divinely-approved substitute. Now you could not find the provision to meet your case; but in the person of His beloved Son, God Himself provided the Lamb. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

Onward to Calvary He went, "as a lamb to the slaughter," (Isaiah 53:7) and there and then He "once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). He "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25). So that God does not abate one jot of His righteous, holy claims against sin when He justifies (i.e., clears from all charge of guilt) the ungodly sinner who believes in Jesus (Romans 3:26). Blessed be God for such a saviour, such a salvation!

"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"

"Well," you reply, "I have, as a condemned sinner, found in Him one that I can safely trust. I do believe in Him."

Then I can tell you that the full value of His sacrifice and death, as God estimates it, He makes as good to you as though you had accomplished it all yourself. Oh, what a wondrous way of salvation is this! Is it not great, and grand, and Godlike, worthy of God Himself - the gratification of His own heart of love, the glory of His precious Son, and the salvation of a sinner, all bound up together? What a bundle of grace and glory! Blessed be the God