In contemplating the cross, we find in it that which cancels all our guilt. This imparts sweet peace and joy. But we find in it also the complete setting aside of nature--the crucifixion of "the flesh"--the death of "the old man." (See Rom. vi. 6; Gal. ii. 20; vi. 14; Col. ii. 11.) This, in its practical results, will involve much that is "bitter" to nature. It will call for self-denial--the mortification of our members which are on the earth (Col. iii. 5.)--the reckoning of self to be dead indeed unto sin (Rom. vi.). All these things may seem terrible to look at; but when one gets inside the blood-stained door-post, he thinks quite differently. The very herbs which to an Egyptian's taste would no doubt have seemed so bitter, formed an integral part of Israel's redemption _feast_. Those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, who know the joy of fellowship with Him, esteem it a "feast" to put away evil and to keep nature in the place of death. "And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire." (Ver. 10.) In this command, we are taught that the communion of the congregation was in no wise to be separated from the sacrifice on which that communion was founded. The heart must ever cherish the vivid remembrance that all true fellowship is inseparably connected with accomplished redemption. To think of having communion _with God_ on any other ground is to imagine that He could have fellowship with our evil, and to think of fellowship _with man_ on any other ground is but to form an unholy club, from which nothing could issue but confusion and iniquity. In a word, all must be founded upon, and inseparably linked with, the blood. This is the simple meaning of eating the paschal lamb the same night on which the blood was shed. The fellowship must not be separated from its foundation. What a beauteous picture, then, we have in the blood-sheltered assembly of Israel, feeding peacefully on the roasted lamb, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs! No fear of judgment, no fear of the wrath of Jehovah, no fear of the terrible hurricane of righteous vengeance which was sweeping vehemently over the land of Egypt, at the midnight hour. All was profound peace within the blood-stained lintel. They had no need to fear anything from without; and nothing within could trouble them, save leaven, which would have proved a death-blow to all their peace and blessedness. What a picture for the Church! What a picture for the Christian! May we gaze upon it with an enlightened eye and a teachable spirit! However, we are not yet done with this most instructive ordinance. We have been looking at Israel's _position_, and Israel's _food_, let us now look at Israel's _habit_.