A Basic History of the Passover

Well, thank you again, Mr. Blakey. Happy Sabbath, brethren. It's always good to see you. We're smiling faces out there with us today. On this final weekly Sabbath before the Passover this year, I thought it might be helpful for us to review the basic history of the Passover. What Jesus Christ did for us, the shedding of His blood as our Passover, was pictured thousands of years earlier in various statements and various commands and events and rituals in the Old Testament.

Today I'd like to review the symbolism and some of the statements and the events that pointed towards the ultimate fulfillment of what Christ our Passover did for us in 31 AD. So let's go back to a time when we may not even realize that it was the first discussion of the importance of what Jesus Christ would do for us.

Let's go to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 14. Let's pick it up there. We'll begin with a statement made by God to the serpent soon after Adam and Eve had sinned by their disobedience. We know that they unfortunately disobeyed their father. They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And as a result of that, immediately when God began having communication with them, he addressed the serpent and he addressed the woman.

He addressed the man because they all shared in that sin. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 14. So the Lord said to the serpent. And of course we know the serpent here represents Satan the devil. Because you have done this, because of your part in this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman. And no matter what human culture you go to, most women tend to find snakes and reptilian-looking type creatures as rather scuzzy and fearful and frightening.

Some men do as well, I might add, but women tend to look upon a reptilian features of a snake and to be rather appalled by it. Very powerful statement here. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, God says to this serpent, and you shall bruise his heel.

Now you may not realize it, but this is actually the first reference to the fact that God would provide a Savior to atone for the sin that had already just been committed. So was God shocked? Was God caught unawares that Adam and Eve sinned? Did they somehow thwart some plan that God had?

Well, of course not. Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. God wasn't shocked by it at all. He had already made a provision for it. And again, He says, and I'll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. You know this part here regarding the bruising of the head and the bruising of the heel, going all the way back to the second century, many Bible commentators have called this the first preaching of the gospel.

They even have a Latin name for this verse that I won't even attempt to pronounce. But this scripture, these verses are prediction of the continual hostility between good and evil. And you know, you find that in our culture today, don't you? If you look at a Disney movie, if you look at most entertainment that exists even in our world today, thousands and thousands of years later, you see that great battle between good and evil.

Most Disney movies, good and evil. Thankfully, at least in Disney's time, the good always won. The good always came out on top. But that is reflected here in these verses. The seed of the serpent includes the followers of the evil one. Jesus told the Jews of his day in John chapter 8 and verse 44, He said, You are of your Father the devil and the desires of your Father you want to do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. So Jesus Christ was addressing those whom he believed were the seed of the serpent, those who were disobedient towards God. On the other hand, her seed refers to all of those who would acknowledge God and specifically, ultimately, to Jesus Christ who would defeat Satan, the serpent, and his seed.

Let's take a look at this in a little more detail. To bruise your head and bruise his heel shows that there was going to be suffering on both sides. But there's going to be a difference between the type of suffering. Her seed, Christ, would ultimately bruise Satan's head. And sure enough, we'll find when we go to Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 3 that ultimately that the serpent is devastated. He is rendered impotent when he is confined to a spiritual prison, as mentioned there in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 1.

It says this, And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit in a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into a bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. So that's a mortal wound. When you take a blow to the head, that's a mortal wound.

And this prophecy said that the serpent's head would be bruised, and he eventually would be rendered impotent, unable to control or dominate the world. But how would the serpent bruise the heel of her descendants? We know, of course, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5 that, speaking of Jesus Christ, that he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

So what could this scripture mean that it says, and you shall bruise his heel? Well, do you know what the Romans actually did during the act of crucifixion? I'd like to read to you a couple of paragraphs from an article that you can easily find on the internet.

It's from Forbes.com. The article isn't that old. It's from December 8th, 2015, and the article's title is this, This bone is the only skeletal evidence for crucifixion in the ancient world. That's the title of the article, and you can find it this afternoon, tomorrow. All you have to do is go to Forbes.com. I'm going to read a couple of things from this article.

Quote, Since the Romans crucified people from at least the third century BC until the Emperor Constantine banded the practice and 337 AD out of respect for Jesus and the cross's potential symbolism for Christianity, it would follow that archaeological evidence of crucifixion would have been found all over the Empire, yet only one bioarchological evidence of crucifixion has ever been found. That's rather remarkable. I'm going to leave the quote for a minute. It's rather remarkable. Over 500 years of crucifixions recorded in much history, and there's only ever really been one proof evidence of Roman crucifixion.

Now, I'm going to go back to the article. Quote, In 1968, archeologists Visilios Zafares excavated some tombs in the northeastern section of Jerusalem at a site called Ghevat Ahmazar within a rather wealthy first century Jewish tomb.

Zafares came across remains of a man who seems to have been crucified. His name, according to the inscription on the Ossuary, is Yehohanan Ben-Higkul. Analysis of the bones by osteologist Niku Hass showed that Yehohanan was about 24 to 28 years old at the time of his death. He stood roughly 167 meters. It's about 5'4", the average for a man of this period. His skeleton points to moderate muscular activity, but there was no indication that he was engaged in manual labor. Now, the next paragraph. Quote, The most interesting feature of Yehohanan's skeleton is his feet. Immediately upon excavation, Zafares noticed that a 19-centimeter nail that's about 7.5 inches long, it's a pretty long nail, that had, quote, penetrated the body of the right heel bone before being driven into an olive wood so hard that it bent because of the impossibility of removing the nail and because the man was buried rather than exposed, we have direct evidence of the practice of crucifixion. End of quote.

So a common Roman practice for crucifixion was to first drive nails into the victim's wrist or forearms to attach the individual to a crossbar. Once the crossbar was in place, the feet were usually nailed on either side of the upright or they were crossed and then nailed. In the example of Yehohanan, the nails have been driven through the heel bones.

The only evidence we have anywhere on earth of a crucifixion happens to be and show that this individual had a nail driven through his heel bone when he was crucified. So when God made the statement in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 that the serpent would bruise his heel, God could look thousands of years into the future toward the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and predict the exact kind of torture that was suffered by Christ. But he arose again. You see, he died, but three days and three nights later he rose again. Let's now go to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17.

Let's continue understanding that God intended for a Passover. God knew and understood that someone had to die to allow reconciliation to occur. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to look at the crossbar. We're going to look at the crossbar. We're going to look at the crossbar. The crossbar is very close between the sins of humankind and their creator. Blood had to be shed. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17. And Adam, so now he gets to the point here where he's talking to Adam, because you have heated the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake.

In our front yards, in our back yards, and not struggling with Japanese beetles, not struggling with black spot diseases and funguses and everything, but no, they wouldn't listen. I say that tongue-in-cheek, because the world could have been a lot easier for the human race, is my point, but because of sin, God would literally alter the environment that their descendants would live in.

So, cursed is ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Think of all the work of plowing, and what we do today with pesticides and fertilizers and all the hard work that goes into reaping a crop. Now, we have modern equipment to help us today, but for thousands and thousands of years, that was all done by the sweat of human labor. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring for you.

And you shall eat the herb of the field in the sweat of your face. You shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you will return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

So everything's changed. Life is going to be a whole lot harder for the descendants of Adam and Eve, and that includes you and I. And then verse 21, something that's very easy to pass over, but has very important symbolic significance. Also, for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skins and clothed them. You see, by killing an animal to provide clothes, God showed Adam and Eve that a shedding of blood would be required to cover humanity's spiritual shame, just like their physical shame needed to be covered.

And how was that shame covered? Something had to give up its life. Blood had to be shed in order for that shame, even in a physical sense, to be covered. Very powerful message there from God Almighty. Let's go down to Genesis 4, beginning in verse 1. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord, then she bore again. This time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, and the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. So Cain just brings some vegetables and fruits. And as much as that's nice, it's a lot easier to grow fruits and vegetables than it is to raise a precious animal of which they are very limited, and to go through the process of feeding and breeding and raising a living animal.

And Abel comes with his best. He comes with something and sheds its blood and offers it as an animal sacrifice to God. On the other hand, Cain brings kumquats, asparagus, whatever he brought.

But it wasn't the same, and it reflected the attitude that both of them had. Abel said, I'm going to bring God something that cost me. I'm going to bring a real sacrifice to my God. That's what Abel said. Cain said, I'm going to bring some of the leftovers, something I won't really miss, something I've got plenty of.

Big deal. Yeah, I'll do it. He's continuing here. But he did not respect Cain in his offering, and Cain was angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? Why do you look so sad? Why do you look so angry?

He says to him, if you do well, will you not be accepted? If you just do the right thing, if you have the right attitude, if you approach me as your God with your best, then you'll be accepted? Will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.

So God is telling Cain, young man, you know, you really need to seize control of your self-talk, because you're working yourself up on the inside to hating your brother. You've been replaying this stale episode so many times, you've become hateful of your brother, and you need to get control of yourself. You need to challenge your self-talk. You need to stop dwelling on that, because sin is ruling over you, and you need to rule over it. So again, Abel's offering was superior and accepted, because the shedding of blood from his flock pictured the future loss of life that would be required by the Lamb of God for humanity to have reconciliation and access with God.

Fruit doesn't do this. Later on, God would even call a man named Abraham and reveal the future need of a Passover sacrifice to him. Let's take a look at that in Genesis chapter 18. If you will turn there with me, Genesis chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18, we'll pick it up here in verse 16. Then the men, after they had shared a meal, had a little bit of communication with Abraham. By the way, part of that meal was eating unleavened bread, and if you go back to previous verses, you'll see the meal was prepared in haste.

These guests showed up unexpected, and bread was prepared for them to eat, and it was all done in haste, so it certainly must have been unleavened bread. Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on their way. So he walked with them. He wanted to be a great host, and he's walking with them as they're heading toward Sodom. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation? And all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.

Now previously, God had alluded and told Abraham that his descendants would become mighty. But this is the first time in Scripture where God makes this promise universal. He says, And all nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Isn't it interesting that while sin is on God's mind, they're heading toward Sodom, God knows he has to deal with a very wicked culture, a wicked society, that God, for the very first time, says this about Abraham. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Let's continue here. Verse 19, For I have known him, In order that he may command his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of the Lord, and do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.

And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave. Yes, the sin of sexual perversion in God's eyes is very grave.

Whether a particular court approves it or not. Verse 21, And I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me, and if not, I will know. So God says, I want to see this through my representatives, my angels. I want to see firsthand what's going on there. It's interesting, again, that what is on God's mind here, what's on his mind is the punishment for sin. It's also interesting that in verses 5 through 7, if you go back there and look on leaven bread would have been prepared because this meal was prepared in haste.

Again, these individuals showed up unexpected. This event, what we read about here, may have even occurred during the days of unleavened bread. We don't know, but that's possible. Yet, it's while the sin of Sodom is on God's mind that he first proclaims that because of Abraham, all nations of the earth will be blessed. Because Abraham was obedient and he has a friendship with Abraham, he knows he can trust him.

He loves him. What God meant by this promise for all nations is explained a few chapters later. And we'll get to that in a minute. God had instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in chapter 22, the son that had been promised by God, the very son that was to carry on his legacy. God asked him to sacrifice him and it was very difficult for him. And what this event pictured was a parallel of what God the Father would later allow regarding the sacrifice of his own beloved son.

Unfortunately, today I don't have time to go into the details of Genesis chapter 22. I did give a sermon in March of 2011 that's entitled, How Abraham Learned About the Sacrifice of Christ, which was a pretty theological sermon and it explains the rich symbolism of why God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son on Mount Moriah, which of course was the same site later that the temple would be built. And rather than go through that again today, I encourage you to listen to that sermon. Genesis chapter 22 and verse 13, after all the events of that sacrifice he had been instructed to do, came to the point where God really didn't ask him to sacrifice his son. Beginning in verse 13, then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught by the thickets by the horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son and Abraham called the name of the place the Lord provided.

No, that's not what he called the name of the place. It's future tense. The Lord will provide. Now why would Abraham say that? Because he got it. He understood exactly what that was all about and all that went through his mind in the three plus days of anguish as they walked to the Mount and he thought about having to kill his beloved son. He got it. The Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, in the Mount of the Lord it shall be future tense, not it was shall be provided. Verse 15, then the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time out of heaven and said by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and then the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. That's one promise, a physical promise that has been fulfilled and the descendants of Abraham through inventions and technologies and government have certainly provided a lot of blessings, their descendants, throughout this world in the history. But verse 18 is a different blessing. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to the young men and they rose and they went together to Beersheba and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. This entire episode of Abraham being willing to sacrifice his beloved son represented what God would someday allow to happen to his own son Jesus.

Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus proclaimed in John chapter 8 and verse 56, he said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and was glad. And how do we know he was glad?

He named that place the Lord will provide. Looking down on the history, Abraham looking into the future. Got it! He understood what God the Father would have to do, how difficult it would be for him to allow his only beloved son to be tortured and die and shed his blood for the sins of the world. So Jesus said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. And the Jews said to him, You're not yet fifty years old and you've seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was I am. Making that same I am statement that was told to Moses. He's saying, Look, I was there. I mean, physically, not look like I'm fifty years old. I was there. I witnessed it. I said the very words to that man. So I know what I'm talking about. But again, here in Genesis chapter 22 verse 18, what does it mean when the angel says, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice? The answer to that is given by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 16. And here's what he said. Now to Abraham and to his seed where the promise is made, he does not say unto seeds as of many but one, and to your seed who is the one who is the first Christ. That's what Paul said in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 16. So who gets to define what it means here when it says that in your seed all the nations shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice? This is Genesis chapter 22 and verse 18. Paul himself says that that seed, singular, is referring to the coming of Jesus Christ. So, brethren, can we begin to see that long before ancient Israel started sacrifices and started the Old Covenant Passover that God had planned all along and shown in various events and commands and rituals of the need of a Passover, the need of his very own son to die, to die and shed his blood for the reconciliation of humankind? Now let's continue forward in history to see what the Passover was like in ancient Israel's time. We're going to move up to about 1457 B.C. Exodus chapter 3 and verse 1. If you'll turn there with me, Exodus chapter 3 and verse 1.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro's father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire and the bush was not consumed. So it just continually burned. But it's not being consumed like normal wood or anything you would throw into a fire. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush does not burn. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God knew he'd find out how I've got his attention with this burning bush, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy grounds. There was something on his sandals that God didn't want him to defile that holy ground. Verse 6, Moreover, he said, I am the Lord God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God, as I'm sure most of us would be. Verse 7, And the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land to a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Parezzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Now at first we can read these verses and we can understand them for what they are, a literal, true, accurate history of God because of his promise to Abraham, literally freeing a physical people from the bondage of a great nation called Egypt so that they could go into the promised land. And remnants of Israel are still in that land this very day. But brother and I think we need to understand that these are descriptive metaphors of what the entire human race has experienced since the sin of Adam and Eve. What is embedded in here goes far beyond the commands to a man named Moses regarding a physical nation called Israel. Let's take a look at some of these phrases and see how they universally apply to the human race and would be fulfilled by the new covenant Passover. He says, I've seen the oppression of my people. John wrote in John chapter 8 and verse 34, he said, Jesus answers them and said, most assuredly I say unto you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. You see, the human race is oppressed because we are slaves to sin. That great Pharaoh, Satan himself, that prince of the power of the air, holds humanity as his slaves. Sin is addictive. Sin controls us. Sin forces us to give up choice. And we just begin allowing time and chance and things to happen and it takes our life out of control. So when this phrase is made about the oppression of my people, all humanity are God's people. As Paul wrote, and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses to sins of which he once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

Was Pharaoh and his cronies in ancient Egypt who were the taskmasters today, of course, it's the prince of the power of the air and the sons of disobedience. And the sons of disobedience rule this world. Most of the rulers of this world, most of the powerful people in this world, whether it's financial or business or religious or any segment of our cultures, are the sons of disobedience. And they pull the levers. They make everything happen in this world. So you can see that this is a universal description, not simply limited to what the ancient Israelites were experiencing in Egypt. Another phrase here we read here in Exodus chapter 3, so I will come down to deliver them. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 11 and verse 26, and so all Israel will be saved. For it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away unrighteousness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. You see, brethren, that's universal. Jesus Christ came down the first time to become the ultimate Passover. He's coming back again as a deliverer, not only to save the world of its sins, but to establish the kingdom of God.

Speaking of that kingdom, a phrase here was a good and a large land, a land flowing with milk and honey, but that has a universal aspect. Jesus said in Luke chapter 12 and verse 32, do not fear little flock, it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Far better than just a physical land, a large physical land flowing with milk and honey. How about the world? How about ruling the world and serving all humanity as a literal child of God?

Another phrase made here in Exodus chapter 3 was the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites.

Right now, it's the place of the Chinese and the place of the Nigerians and the place of the Americans and all of these different nations that exist on earth. And God says, I'm going to take it all away from them and I'm going to give it to my saints to rule in my kingdom. And then, of course, there's Pharaoh himself. As John wrote in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 19, we know that we are the children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Just like the ancient Israelites were under control of that physical ruler named Pharaoh, there's a spiritual Pharaoh.

We know him as Satan the devil and right now the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Again, that's 1 John chapter 5 and verse 19. My point is that the events outlined in the book of Exodus are true history, but they offer a far greater need for all humanity and things that would be fulfilled later on by the ministry and the sacrifice and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now let's go to Exodus chapter 6 and verse 1. Exodus chapter 6 and verse 1.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he will let them go. This is God's strong hand, by the way. I will force him to let them go. And with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. And God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name I was not known to them. I've also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I've also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage. And I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, I say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. And I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, that brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I will give it to you as a heritage. I am the Lord. Very powerful scripture, brethren, but like ancient Israel, when God called us out of this world, it too was a miracle. We were set free from a very powerful spiritual force.

He didn't want to let us go. He still doesn't want to let us go. As a matter of fact, he'd like to have us back. So this applies in a universal sense. Our land of pilgrimage is the kingdom of God. Satan wants to continue to keep his people in bondage. He wants us to be living under burdens. And God says, I will rescue you from that bondage. I will redeem you, is what these scriptures say here. Anciently, God made a covenant with them. It was known as the old covenant or the old relationship, and it was based on physical blessings and promises given to a physical nation. And those blessings, again, were all physical. But we're under the new covenant, or the new relationship that transcends physical barriers and limitations. As Paul wrote to Titus in chapter 2 and verse 13, he said, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works.

So we're not just limited to some physical nation. We are God's own special people, Paul tells Titus.

And it doesn't matter what our DNA is, it doesn't matter what our heritage is, our skin color, our eye color, our hair color, the language we speak, what group or religion that we previously belonged to. When you receive the gift of God's Spirit, you transcend physical blessings that were given to the old covenant, and you become his own special people. Zealous for good works.

That's what the new covenant is all about. It's based on spiritual blessings.

Spiritual promise is like eternal life. Eternal life wasn't promised in the old covenant.

The new covenant includes the promise of becoming a member of the family of God.

That was not part of the promise of the old covenant.

Exodus 12, verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be your beginning of months, and it shall be the first month of the year to you. This was the springtime, and they needed this instruction because the Egyptian calendar, the new year, started around the summer, I believe. So God had to reorient them so that they knew and were able to calculate how God wanted them to keep time holy. Speak to all the congregation of Israel and say, 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. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons, according to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb. So you need to make sure you don't have too much lamb left over because you have to burn what remains. Make sure that there's not too little lamb so that everyone can participate in this celebration. He says you've got to figure it out mathematically and make sure you have the right amount of lamb for each household. Your lamb shall be without blemish. Jesus Christ himself was, of course, sinless.

A male of the first year. He had to be a young adult. Of course, Jesus Christ was 30-ish. He obviously was a young adult male. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. They were to separate it on the 10th day but sacrifice it on the 14th. That represented a period of three and a half days. It represented the ministry of Jesus Christ, which was three and a half years long. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts of the lentil of their houses where they eat it. And they shall eat the flesh on that night roasted in fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat it raw nor boiled at all with water but roasted in fire with its legs and its end tails. It had to represent Jesus Christ, who did not have a bone broken on his body. He was intact. He may have had wounds, but he was intact. And if you've ever boiled meat too long, for example, you'll know that it falls apart. It falls into pieces when you try to take it out. So it had to be intact. Verse 10, you shall let none of it remain until morning. For what remains of it until morning, you shall burn with fire, and thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. They had to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment's notice. But there's something else that you can take out of this, and that is you need to be prepared for a life mission of doing something. You need to immediately prepare to do something with your life. Be ready. Have your sandals on your feet. Be ready to move. Have your staff in your hand. Have your belt on your waist. Be ready for a exciting life mission that I'm going to send you on. Again, continuing, so you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. It represents Jesus Christ. For I will pass through the land of Egypt, and at night, and I 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. Whereas Pharaoh had killed every Hebrew infant boy. Do you remember that instruction in Exodus chapter 1 and verse 16? God, in his mercy, only judged the firstborn of Egypt. God's merciful judgment was mild compared to Pharaoh's severe judgment. You know, looking at Scripture, there's no proof or indication that that command by Pharaoh in Exodus chapter 1 was ever rescinded. It may have continued for decades. It was possible that this present Pharaoh was still killing Hebrew boys at the time of these plagues. And, of course, these plagues also mocked the gods of Egypt. Each particular plague was intended to mock one of the gods that existed in Egypt. And, unfortunately, we don't have time to look at that in detail today. Let's pick it up here in verse 13. Now the blood shall be assigned for you in the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. I'll have mercy on you. You're not really better than anyone else. You still have sin. But I'll have mercy on you, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you in your house, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you.

I'm going to offer you forgiveness, God says, when I strike the land of Egypt. 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 as an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven. And of course we know from many scriptures, it's symbolic of sin. So you shall remove as a ritual, as an action, something that symbolizes sin in your life. That is the leaven in your home. You'll remove it from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread on the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. If we so disregard God's grace, of forgiveness, and what he wants to teach us, that we just disregard what he asks us to do, then we're in serious trouble. Verse 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 which everyone must eat that only may be prepared by you. In other words, just enough food to eat on that day that you may do, but aside from that, you shouldn't do any other work. Just enough to prepare yourself a meal. Verse 17, so you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for on this same day I have brought out your armies from the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an ever-lasting ordinance in the first month on the 14th day of the month that evening you shall eat unleavened bread. And why do you eat unleavened bread? Because it pictures the righteousness of Christ in us. Every time we eat that piece of unleavened bread we picture Jesus Christ being inside of us symbolically. That's what it represents, righteousness. And why though we continue to be sinners and we continue to fall short of God's perfection and his way of life, why does he continue to love us? He continues to love us because we have the very righteousness of his son living, residing inside of us. So you shall eat unleavened bread. Again, it represents the righteousness of Christ in us until the 21st day of the month that evening. 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.

And you shall eat nothing leavened in all of your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. I want you to notice this is an everlasting ordinance is what it is called so it shouldn't surprise us at all that the apostle Paul wrote to the gentile Corinthians 25 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ why he told the gentile Corinthians in chapter five and verse seven therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are in leavened for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us therefore Paul says in verse eight let us gentiles Jews everyone who's part of the congregation let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth so we're going to observe it spiritually we're going to take it to another level and realize that we're talking about examining our hearts and minds we're going beyond just physical bread Exodus chapter 12 and verse 23 for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians and when he sees the blood on the lentil and on the door post the Lord will pass over the door not allowed the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you we can accept the Lord's Passover because we have a Savior a Savior who paid in full the price for our sins as Paul said in Romans chapter 6 in verse 22 but now having been set free from sin and having become slaves to God you have your fruit the holiness and the end everlasting life he says that's what it's all about that's what our calling leads to it leads to everlasting life and then Paul says this in verse 23 for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord of course all of these things written in Exodus these events everything that occurred here was a forerunner of what Jesus Christ would do becoming part of the new covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ would do for the new covenant Passover Jesus Christ magnified the purpose and the meaning of Passover we heard today and it was referred to in our sermonette of course that he instituted the foot washing and that of course was very very important he also did something else and we'll take a quick look here in our final scripture today in Matthew chapter 26 in verse 26 he instituted two new symbols to replace the eating of the roasted lamb because he was fulfilling the purpose of that lamb he was replacing the need for bitter herbs because one of the fruit of the spirit is joy Jesus said I've come that they could live life abundantly how many times in a farewell discourse did he mention that he wanted his disciples to have full joy because instead of looking backward to the old covenant Passover the new covenant Passover looks forward into a new world with new potential and new promises fulfilled by God it's forward-looking it's not backward-looking Matthew chapter 26 verse 26 and as they were eating Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins so he instituted two very powerful symbols that we will share together as God's people in greater clavland this coming week the bread represents the body of Christ its symbolic of his suffering of his punishment in our place it represents Jesus Christ dwelling in us it's a call for unity as they all shared the same loaf together as disciples and then of course he took the cup which had wine in it it represents the blood of Christ it's symbolic of the total forgiveness of sins reconciliation with God and redemption through his blood according to the riches of his grace we'll examine these details more during the Passover service coming up this week so today we've looked at biblical history we've examined the symbolism the different statements the different events that all pointed to the need of shedding of blood that pointed to the need that there had to be a life given up in order for humanity to be reconciled to its god going all the way back immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve and a number of times in between until we come to that new covenant Passover in 31 A.D.

I encourage you to spend the remaining days until the Passover service reflecting on the awesome love of a god who was willing to do all of that for us how much he must love us how much Jesus Christ must love us to have been willing to experience all of that so that you and I would have an opportunity to be part of God's family so let's examine our hearts and minds and come back here desiring to rededicate ourselves to another year of spiritual growth knowing that God's Spirit resides in us I won't ask you to turn here but I'll read a final scripture from Romans chapter 8 and verse 31 Paul said what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things verse 33 who shall bring a charge against God's elect it is God who justifies so if we examine our hearts we take a little self-analysis of ourselves come to that Passover come to the Passover in confidence knowing that it's God who justifies and if you have repented of your sins if you've examined yourself and you've come here to renew that covenant you made at baptism it's God who justifies no man no organization no opinions no ideas have the right to condemn you and judge you because you are coming to the Passover of Jesus Christ knowing that it's God who justifies have a wonderful Sabbath