Break the Neck of the Donkey? What's That All About?

The inestimable Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon expounds the Gospel where one might not expect to find it -- in the Old Testament law of sacrifice.

"THE FIRSTBORN OF A DONKEY YOU SHALL REDEEM WITH A LAMB, OR IF YOU WILL NOT REDEEM IT YOU SHALL BREAK ITS NECK." Exodus 34:20

Every firstborn creature must be the Lord's; but since the donkey was unclean, it could not be presented in sacrifice. What then? Should it be allowed to go free from the universal law? By no means. God allows for no exceptions. The donkey is His due, but He will not accept it; He will not void the claim, but yet He cannot be pleased with the victim. As a result, no way of escape remained but redemption-the creature must be saved by the substitution of a lamb in its place; or if not redeemed, it must die. My soul, here is a lesson for you.

That unclean animal is you. You are justly the property of the Lord who made you and preserves you, but you are so sinful that God will not, cannot, accept you; and it has come to this-the Lamb of God must stand in your place or you must die eternally. Let all the world know of your gratitude to that spotless Lamb who has already bled for you and so redeemed you from the fatal curse of the law.

Oh, the wonderful truth that indeed, Christ is in all the Scriptures! (Luke 24:27)