The LORD’S Passover - Good Friday

The LORD’S Passover

Good Friday

                It has been rightly said “The Bible is a book with the answers at the back,” Zola Levitt.

All of the stories, events and rituals that are recorded for us in the Old Testament are there for our instruction, and are explained in the principles and applications found in the New Testament. Also, the “Pictures”, “ Shadows” and “Types” that are portrayed in the Old are fulfilled in the New. 

                Jesus Christ explains and applies many of the principles and truths that are enfolded in the Law and the Prophets, and He is the fulfillment of many of the foreshadowed Pictures and Types that are represented throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.

The Type and Anti-Type (fulfillment) that we are considering today, concerning Good Friday, is  “The Passover Lamb.”

 

John 1:29

John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

 

1 Cor 5:7

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

 

1 Peter 1:18-19

knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

 

Heb 10:1-10

 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

 

"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

But a body You have prepared for Me.

6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin

You had no pleasure. 

7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come--

In the volume of the book it is written of Me--

To do Your will, O God.' " 

 

8 Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

1 Cor 10:1-6

                 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

 1 Cor 10:11

                 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

The Passover

                The story of the first Passover is recorded for us in Exodus chapters eleven and twelve. It has long been understood that the story of Israel’s bondage in Egypt is a picture of mankind’s enslavement to sin in the world. The symbolism is as follows. Egypt is a type of the world. Pharaoh is a type of Satan.  Israel is a type of mankind. The slavery of Israel under the bondage of Pharaoh is a type of man’s slavery to sin (leaven is a type of sin). The blood of the Passover lamb is a foreshadow of the blood of Jesus Christ. The Exodus from Egypt is a picture of the deliverance from the bondage of sin that is only possible through the “covering “ of the sinner with the blood of Christ.

 

Ex 11:1

And the LORD said to Moses, "I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.

 

Ex 11:4-5

 Then Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt;

5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals.

 

Ex 11:7

 But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.'

 

Ex 12:1-4

Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: '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.

 

Ex 12:5-8

                 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 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. 7 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. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

 

Ex 12:11-20

 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. 12 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; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 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. 14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat--that only may be prepared by you. 17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.' "

 

                Note the specificity with which the LORD instructed Moses regarding the meal and the activities surrounding it. In order to insure that all subsequent generations of Jews in all lands where they have been scattered would be able to follow the order of service correctly, a book of directions was produced in Hebrew. The book is known as The Haggadah. It has  remained virtually unchanged throughout the ages.

               

Ex 12:21-28

 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' 27 "that you shall say, 'It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.' " So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

 

                The feast of Passover has been celebrated and kept now for over thirty five hundred years by the people of Israel. The term “Passover” is used in several ways in the scripture and is still today. First of all it refers to the historical event that took place on that momentous night in Egypt those thousands of years ago. As we have read it also refers to the one-day festival, instituted by God, to be held every year by the children of Israel, on the 15^th of Nisan. Next it can mean the entire eight-day festival which includes Passover (Lev.23: 4-5), Unleavened Bread (Lev.23: 6-8) and the Feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:9-14). These three memorial celebrations all speak clearly of the work of Christ in providing redemption to mankind. The Passover speaks of His sacrificial vicarious death. The Unleavened Bread speaks of His sinlessness. The feast of First Fruits speaks of His resurrection (He is the firstfruits from the dead, 1Cor. 15:20).

He was crucified on Passover, He was buried on Unleavened Bread and He rose on the day of First Fruits!

Next, the term Passover can be used to mean just the ceremonial meal that is eaten in commemoration of that night long ago, which meal has come to be known as “The Seder” which literally translated means “order of service.” This is the meal that our Lord ate with His disciples as recorded in Jn. 13 + 14. It is from this ceremonial meal, the Seder, that the Lord took the emblems of “The Lord’s Supper.”

Lastly, the word Passover can be used to refer to the lamb that was the centerpiece of the feast, whose blood was used to protect the people. This meaning was finally fulfilled as is specifically stated in 1 Cor.5: 7 to mean the true “Sacrificial Lamb”, “The Lamb of God”, Jesus Christ.

One last comment about Passover is in order. Our Lord Jesus Christ indicated in Mt.26: 29 that there would be a time when He will once again partake of “this” festival cup in His Fathers kingdom  (the use of the pronoun this indicates He was not just speaking of wine in general). (By the way, just a mention in passing, obviously Jesus is not an Amillennialist; He believes that the Kingdom of God will be literal and is future).

 

Matt 26:29

              “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.”

 

 Luke 22:14-21

              When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

 

1 Cor 11:25-26

           “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

Infinite Regress -worldview series

Infinite Regress
The idea or concept of an infinite regress has been suggested by some (Atheists, Naturalists, Materialists, etc.) as an explanation as to how and why the universe did not have and does not need a beginning.
An infinite regress involves a beggingless series of events in time, which is actually impossible for at least three reasons which I will list at the end of this post.
...

A) We can speak of two kinds of infinite series;
1) Imaginary or abstract infinite; such as in mathematical theory, where for instance we could imagine an infinite number of points on a line between point A and point B; or in set theory where a whole number can be divided an infinite number of times.
Imaginary infinites exist only in the mind.
2) Actual or concrete infinite; real in a metaphysical sense. An actual infinite must be complete and indivisible, and there can be only one. If there were more than one infinite, then they would actually be finite, no matter how vast, because one would necessarily end where the other began.
(God is the only actual infinite that exists, and He is one and complete.)
B) An actually infinite number of things cannot exist in the material world for several reasons.
First; you can never arrive at an infinite number of things by adding one thing after another for the simple reason that you can always add one more, forever; and so you can never arrive at actual infinity.
You can’t add to infinity because it’s already infinite.
But the history of the universe is a collection of all past events that have ever occurred in the universe.
But a collection formed by adding one member after another cannot be actually infinite.
So the events in time that form the history of the universe cannot be infinite.
Therefore, the universe must have had a beginning.
An infinite regress has no beginning.
But if it is impossible to arrive at infinity by adding one thing to another going forward, so it is also impossible to achieve infinity by subtracting one thing from another going backward.
You can’t subtract from infinity, it’s infinite.
Therefore, a beginningless series of events in time cannot exist.
However, a limitless series can exist; that is to say something that began to exist in time can continue endlessly. This is called a potential infinite as opposed to an actual infinite.
Second; it is impossible to cross the infinite. You can never reach the other side.
An infinite period of time can never be traversed and so if the universe had no beginning but has an infinite regress into the past then you could never arrive at today.
But we have arrived at today; therefore the events in time prior to today must have had a beginning. (The universe, including time itself, was created by God, who is timeless.)
Third; an infinite number of causes is impossible because there needs to be a first cause to get it all going. There must be an uncaused first cause. (This is God.)