The LORD’S Passover
Good Friday
V
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 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 Antitype
(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
Y
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
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 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 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 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
15th 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
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 kingdom of God
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.
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