The Meanings of the Passover Symbols

To get my watch out so I can see it more easily, I've got a lot of material I want to cover. With Dari coming through Murfreesboro and shuffling the cards on the schedule, I realized this week that today was my only chance to cover some more material that focuses on the Passover up in Murfreesboro, and I want to do the same here, but even though I'll be here in a couple of weeks with another sermon, but with the Passover service, we of course have three parts, and I want to talk about each one.

Just take about maybe 20 minutes or a little less about each one, and just to remind us why we do what we do, what we're saying by our participation, what we are celebrating by taking of the bread or taking of the wine.

But we start with the foot washing. That's, you know, as you look at the four gospel accounts, it's a little challenging to try to piece together the chronology, but it only makes sense. It was practice in that culture that when someone came to your home or came to your banquet, that in that day and age, everyone walking around in a dry, arid, dusty land, and also in coming to a home, it was one of the first things that was offered, as far as a matter of hospitality, was the washing of feet.

We see that in a number of places. There's a story back with King David, and when Abigail came in, that when David and some of his men came, she ran and got water, and she began washing their feet. And so then it was a matter. It would make no sense at all to go partway through the meal and then stop and wash everybody's feet or wait until the end of the meal. So that's why, at least one reason why, we've always had the foot washing at the beginning.

So let's start with that. Of course, we've got our booklet on God's Holy Day plan. There is a chapter on the Passover. Why did Jesus Christ have to die? And there is a section here on the foot washing. Then there are a couple of areas here on the bread, and then a couple of areas on the wine, which is emblematic of his shed blood. So let's go ahead and turn over to John 13. We'll just get started in the topic because, again, we do have a lot of ground to cover and to review.

But John 13, the final evening of his life here on earth with the disciples, Jesus instituted a brand new ceremony, the symbols and this physical ordinance called the foot washing. So in John 13, let's read beginning in verse 1. Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

And supper being ended. Now, you may have a marginal note like I have that says some of the translations say during supper. The devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself.

So apparently laid aside the outer robe or mantle and got cinched up there to be able to get down and about and wash feet and dry feet and so on. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Again, you have precedence in the Old Testament. Let me just give you one reference, the one that I referred to with David and Abigail.

1 Samuel 25 verse 41. So 1 Samuel 25 verse 41, and that's a story where Abigail went and she began washing the feet of those who came to her home. So we do find that it was done. It was more of a cultural action. And so verse 6, then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet?

Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this. One of the things that he was doing not only was teaching humility, but he was teaching them about the basics of service and of leadership and of ultimately rulership in the family of God. That it is not to be done the way the world does it.

That he who is greatest, he had told them a little bit earlier in his ministry, he who is greatest let him be your servant. And then here he's actually living that and modeling that behavior for them. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. And you're familiar with the dialogue there between Peter and Christ, of course, in the presence of all of the others. In the end of verse 11, he made reference to the fact that you are not all clean. And a few verses later, he spoke of this one who would eat with them, but would lift up his heel against Christ.

But let's go to verse 12. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments, and sat down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? And that's a fair question for us. Do we just go through the motions? Or are we cognizant of what our actions and participation mean, and what we're saying by our participation? You call me teacher and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am.

If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, so you ought to wash one another's feet. And you know, really, I think probably some of you might know there there are some Protestant churches, little groups out of the mainstream that may actually have a foot washing. I've met a number of people who, you know, have a religious background, and there was a foot washing as a part of their churches practice at certain times.

But, you know, for many of us, when we came to the Church of God, it was something brand new, the concept that we actually literally kneel down and wash somebody else's feet. So I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Now, the foot washing. Basically, we could ask the question, why?

We can ask the question, why do we wash someone else's feet, that brother or sister? You know, that person represents the body of Jesus Christ to you. That person represents Christ to you. When Christ returns in the parable there in Matthew 24, dividing the nations to the right and the left hand. Those on the right hand were the ones who they had gone and visited and they had fed and they had closed others. And he said, as you did that to others, you've done it to me. So a service to a brother or sister in the body is something that's also done to Jesus Christ. We do this to demonstrate our attitude. Our attitude.

The action of washing someone else's feet is a reflection of a demonstration of the attitude within. It is a sign of what's in our heart. It is, yes, an act of humility, as our booklet points out. It is an act of service, but it is a reflection of how you think about yourself, about your brother or sister, about God, about God's law, God's plan, God's purpose. It also, why foot washing has to do with rulership. We are expressing our agreement with what Jesus said. And you can just make a note of Matthew 20. I'm going to refer to a number of scriptures, but again, since we're covering so much ground, we can't go to everything. But Matthew 20 verses 26 and 27. And that's where Jesus told them, as they had once again been bickering over who was going to be greatest. And he reminded them that you've got rulers in the world around you who exercise dominion over their subjects. And then he said, it shall not be so among you. And he went on then and said, you want to be great? Let him be your servant. Now, we have lots of classic bad examples in the world around us today. And it seems so rare to find monarchs or leaders who really, truly have the welfare of their subjects at heart. I think we would still say, even though the years have taken its toll on King Bumabol, some would say, or I'm told it's more accurate to say, Pumipuan over in Thailand, the king and then Queen Sirikit. Mr. Armstrong, you may remember, was very taken with them. And they visited the campus at Passeh Nainan. He was over in Thailand many times. But they were out there serving among their people. And from the outset of his stepping into that role, as I think it's Rama IX, I forget what the number is, but when he became king, it was something that he stated was important, was the service of the people. And in so many ways, they really have done that. Just a marvelous example. And, you know, he's in his 80s now, and a stroke has taken his toll. But again, classic example of one who really has lived it, that those who are greatest in the kingdom of God, those who will rule with Christ, are those who serve. And they have, you know, services away from self and toward the benefit of others. And so, it's a statement here. It's a demonstration of the fact that we agree with that foundational statement of rulership. You want to be great, then serve, give. And then also, why the foot washing? And we'd have to answer that just with the word love. The foot washing demonstrates our belief in the way of give, the way of love. And I think it's interesting, as you look at the Passover service, the way it is arranged. The first thing we do, the first portion we participate in is a foot washing service. We give, we provide a service to a brother or sister.

We first give, and then look at what God gives to us via the symbol of the broken bread and then the little cups of wine. We must first give, we must first love before we receive a thing. And, you know, there's a statement in Paul's writings about how God loved first. God loved first, and He expects and He wants to see that within us. Once upon a time, I gave a sermon on the foot washing. It's been a number of years. It may have been the first spring we were here with you back about 08. But you may be familiar with the legal term ipso facto, that, you know, in making a case, ipso facto, or by the very fact that someone was in a certain place with a certain group, it may make them complicit in the crime. ipso facto. You know, we come here today, we make statements. We could have stayed in, turned on television, we could have turned up the fire, got a book or something to read. But no, we have a commanded assembly. So we got ourselves together. Some of us spent a lot of time on our hair, and we came here. And we warm a chair, and we make a statement that I am here because this is what God commands me to do. I am here because I need to rub shoulders with my brethren. So we make statements. And when we come together on the Passover service, by participating in that sermon years ago, I suggested that we're making certain statements. We're making a statement of forgiveness. That here is a brother or a sister who represents not only Christ, but also represents the entire church. And we are, by that participation, saying, you know, I have forgiven everyone. I have forgiven. I'm not holding things and grudges. And that's so difficult for human beings to do. We tend to want to remember. We want to carry this baggage around. But you know there in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, if you forgive men, their trespasses, your Heavenly Father, will forgive yours. And so there's a cause and effect there. If we are holding ill feelings and grudges, let us not assume that we'll walk away from drive home from the Passover service as clean in God's eyes as we may think. But God is the one who first forgave when not one of us was worth dying for. Christ came and died for the ungodly. And again, the Passover night forces us to look at a brother or sister and to look at one of the more uncombly parts of the body. I have yet to meet anyone who really thinks that their own feet are beautiful.

I'm reaching the point where, hey, if they still work, they're beautiful. That's great. But it is called an uncombly part. There in the analogy of the body, Paul uses that phrase about parts of the body. But we kneel down, we wash, we serve. We're saying, I have forgiven. Another statement is a statement of acceptance. Because, and you can just make a note of Romans 12 verse 5. Romans 12 verse 5 uses that phrase that we are members one of another. I think that's the way the old King James reads. We are members one of another. And in Romans 12, and especially 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul talks about the analogy of the body, he talks about how when one rejoices, we all rejoice. When one suffers, all suffer. And that's because we're all members of the same body. And that we accept, and that we need each other. That we cherish each other. We've all had injuries to our own body. And if you smash a thumbnail with a hammer, if you have a broken toe, the whole body knows it. Everything revolves around that injury. And God help us to be like that in the body of Jesus Christ. But we all can grow in those areas, I'm sure. But the Passover, in the foot washing, reminds us that God called the other people, too. Even though we realize he didn't call as many normal people as he called when he called us, everyone's not quite as normal as we are. And yes, we ought to laugh about that. It takes all kinds. It takes all kinds to have a world, and they're all here if you look, and you notice. So, acceptance. It's an action that is a statement of respect. In fact, let's look at Philippians 2 verse 3.

Another human being, yes, but respect for that brother or sister.

Kind of difficult to kneel down in front of someone, wash their feet, dry their feet, and then get up walking around feeling all superior. Kind of lets the air out, doesn't it?

But in Philippians 2 verse 3, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

You know, I think we can do that. Two ways we can do that is because, first of all, we know ourselves. I know I have a lot more dirt on me than I have on anybody else on this earth. You have a lot more dirt on yourself than anyone else. We know ourselves. We know how desperately we need the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in an ongoing manner to be applied in our behalf. And I think also another way we can respect the other person is, it doesn't matter who they are, a brother or a sister represents Jesus Christ. As he said, inasmuch as you've done this onto one of these leads to my brethren, you've done it to me. And by washing a brother or sister's feet, we perform that service, as it were, to Jesus Christ. And because we have a lot more dirt on ourselves than we have that person, and because they represent Christ, we hopefully can kneel down and willingly do what Christ modeled for us. Because we appreciate, we esteem highly, we respect that person whom God called, and we see God working in their life, imperfectly though it may be in all of our lives. Also, we're making a statement of need. I need you. You know, part of the foot washing is the admission that we need other people. We have people who are members of the Body of Christ, who are going to be keeping the Passover. They're shut in. They're at home. They take it by themselves. Well, they wash their own feet every day. It's just having a foot washing service that you perform to somebody, give to somebody else, just it doesn't always work. And so they do the best they can, and they still take the bread and the wine. But there is the implied need for someone else to be able then to exchange that and to give that service back to each other. Let's go back to Psalm 69. Psalm 69 is one of many psalms that actually would be good to read through, review, as we come up toward the Passover. This is a Messianic Psalm. This is a psalm of David, where David actually foresaw some of the very sufferings Christ would go through. There are many prophecies that are referred to in this psalm that were fulfilled in those those final hours. For instance, in Psalm 69, verse 4, those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. And again, that was something that was there's a statement in the New Testament about being surrounded by those who hate him. Down to verse 8, I become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother's children. And again, that too was quoted in Mark and Luke and John.

Verse 9, because zeal for your house has eaten me up and reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. And that's a passage that was quoted when he ran the money changers out of his father's house. Well, let's skip on down here to verse 17. As he cried out, And do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily draw near to my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of my enemies. And here we have Christ, as it were, crying out, David foreseeing and writing down the very thoughts Christ would have. Remember, there was that time at the very height of his agony when there was darkness over the earth. There was that final step where he had to completely, totally take that final step on his own. And that's when he cried out, Father, why have you forsaken me? And so there is a statement of need that David, as a type of Christ, cried out for someone who would pity him, have mercy on him, or help him. And foot washing reminds us of that, too. And as I said earlier, it's a statement of love, a statement of love. And Mr. Tommy Keith recently gave a sermon at on that new commandment we've been given that came from John 13 a bit further down the chapter, a new commandment that you love one another. And he spoke of how that, you know, and we can pray, God help God speed the day when we are known and recognized as God's people because of the love we have one for another. So, okay, the Passover, the foot washing. And then it said, John 13, he ended by saying, happy are you if you do them. And so, happiness comes from knowing what we're doing when we're doing it. All right, let's consider the second portion of the Passover service that we will be participating in. And that has to do with the bread. And it is unloving the bread. It is unloving bread, even though it's not during the days of unloving bread.

I covered this in a sermon at where Tupelo recently that you've got your basic Greek word artos, and it's translated bread. It might be food in general. Command that these stones be made into bread, and it's artos. And then we looked at the word that is translated unleavened. And you cannot narrow it down from the New Testament.

But if we go back to the old, there are statements that you shall not offer a bloody sacrifice with leaven. And this is a sin offering. The blood of Jesus Christ was poured out for us. And the Old Testament forbade any leaven or honey to be offered with any kind of a bloody sacrifice. So even though it's the night before technically unleavened bread begins, we use unleavened bread because of that. And the next morning we can go to that waffle house, Mr. Morgan referred to. And it's not yet unleavened bread. You can have a cheeseburger at noon the next day. But then the following night, when the sun is setting, we need to have the leaven out of our homes and no unleavened bread for seven days. Let's go back to Exodus 16. There actually was a forerunner, a forerunner of this bread. And it was called manna. Manna, Hebrew word just meaning what is it? The miracle of the raining down of the manna to feed Israel. And the lesson of the manna is that we look to the true bread, Jesus Christ, as will be made clear as we get to John chapter 6. But in Exodus 16, we have in the early verses, they are traveling and they have departed from Egypt. And in verse 2, who would have ever thought it? They complained. They're pretty good at that. We can cast no stones. We like to complain too. And they wanted food and one of the meats, or the pots of meat. Verse 3 in the middle, we ate bread to the full. And then they said to Moses and Aaron, you brought us out here to kill us. Verse 4, then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And this is a chapter where he gave them the six days of manna, no man on day seven. Any day, you know the story, any day they'd try to keep it over to the next day, it would breed worms and stink. Except the sixth day. They could get twice as much and they could keep it over. And on day seven, it was perfectly fine and they could use that. And you think about this, this is on as they're traveling toward Sinai. And of course, with their sin of unbelief, it turned out to be 40 years. You've got more than 5,000 weekly sabbaths.

Is that right? 5,000, 40 years? No, that's not quite right. 2,000 sabbaths.

Six days, manna. Seventh day, no manna. Gather twice as much day six and it was still fine on day seven. Any other day, you had to cast it and you had to get rid of it.

Um, week after week, God underscored this miracle. Reminded them, underscored the sabbath and how important it was. Well, let's see. They, of course, complained. Verse 15, 14. The layer of dew was lifted. There on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground. And so the children of Israel saw it and they said to one another, what is it? They did not know what it was. Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need. One omer. Now, the New International Version has a note that says two quarts. I've got another one that says somewhere around five or six pints. So somewhere a quart and a half to two quarts. And that's what each person is going to have to eat that day.

According to the number of persons, let every man take for those who were in his tent. Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man gathered according to each one's need. And then Moses explained, don't let it last till morning and what would happen. And of course, some of them left it and Moses was angry with them. And then we get to verse 22 and we have more fine tunes that hear as far as the Sabbath and the cycle. And some, verse 27, some went out on the seventh day to find, see if they can find any. And verse 28, the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my loss? All right, 31 verse 31 describes it a little bit. They called its name manna. Marginal note literally just means what? What is this stuff? It was like white coriander seed. The taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Yeah, sounds kind of good for the first day, second day. I don't know about 40 years, though, but we would complain too. Sometimes it was baked and there was an omer that was put in a golden pot and kept with the commandments there at the the ark. Let's go to John chapter 6, because during Christ's ministry, we have a miracle of the feeding of a vast multitude. In this story, it mentions that the number of the men was about 5,000. So you may have had many thousands more, many, many times more than that. A lot of people. In John 4, notice in verse 4, now the Passover, a feast of the Jews was near. So this gives us the season. We're coming up toward the Passover. This would have been probably, I think we would generally see this as being his third Passover. And of course, his final Passover would be the the fourth one there.

So he lifted up his eyes, seeing the great multitude coming toward him. He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat? But this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip comes into the... or Philip gives his reply as far as how much they have. And then Andrew comes along in verse 8, verse 9. He says there's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many? Well, Christ again knew what he was going to do, make the people sit down. A number of the men, about five thousand. He took the loaves. When he had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples and the disciples to those sitting down. And likewise, the fish. And then the gathering up of the fragments in verse 13. They gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. Now, the story continues on. Again, remember Passover was near. And verse 22 says it's the following day. So we're now a day closer to the Passover. And what he gives here sounds very much so like a Passover Unleavened Bread message, because he goes on into defining the fact that your father's had this manna, but I am the true bread. And I think it's good to focus on this, because the unleavened bread that is broken on the Passover night, we ask in the prayer that it be blessed to its sacred purpose to represent the broken body of Jesus Christ, which is for sin. Yes. And it is also that biostrimes were healed. So verse 27, do not labor for the food which perishes. Now, very shortly, he's going to refer to the manna of old, and it wouldn't remain good until the next morning. It was only temporary. It was emblematic. It was a forerunner. It was a type and anotype pointing forward to the true manna that was to come. But for the food which endures to everlasting life. So the food that perishes, the manna, that which it represented was the true bread of Christ, of life, Jesus Christ, which the Son of Man will give to you, because God the Father has set a seal on him. Well, let's skip on down. Verse 31. There were those who said, our fathers ate the manna in the desert as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said to them, verse 32, most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread. The bread of God is He, and notice the translators capitalize that, they recognized it referred to the Messiah, He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. He said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. Skip on down a little. Verse 41, the Jews complained about him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. Let's go to verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the man in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. And then, of course, it goes on. We'll read these verses 53, 4, 5. We'll read those in the past overnight. But most assuredly, I said to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Verse 58, this is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever, referring to himself. And, of course, the way that we do that on an annual basis is we renew our devotion to the covenant we made with God long ago. And we actually partake of a little piece of bread that has been blessed or asked God's blessing over to represent Jesus Christ. The manna of old and the coming of Jesus Christ.

The manna came from heaven. You have all these parallels that could be drawn. You have the description of it being small, little, insignificant. And so was Christ. There's nothing out of the ordinary to notice about Him. No special comeliness that anyone would have desired Him. You have the fact that it was freely given. It came as a free gift to God that nourished the Israelites. It came with the dew. It came, and then as the dew dried, it was apparent. It was nourishing. It provided everything they possibly need.

You know, we've used the... maybe I should say we used to use the phrase that bread is a staff of life. That apparently, with wheat as it once was... you can read a book, Wheat Belly, and you can find out the rest of the story of what's been done to wheat. But it's not the same as you would have had 50 or 80 or 200 years ago. The German immigrants who were actually in Russia along with Volga, and they got asked to migrate out of there, and they ended up out in West Texas, West Oklahoma, Southeast Colorado, Southwest Kansas. They brought with them some of that hard red winter wheat seed, and began planting it there. You know, about time of the leading up to the stock market crash and all back in 29 the Depression. They also brought another seed with them they didn't know. Little little seed there, and it was a Russian thistle.

And Leanne probably saw her dad dodging tumbleweeds blowing across I-40 many times, as we did when we lived in Lubbock home. They were up in Amarillo, and those immigrants brought that seed. You see, the tumbleweed is actually the Russian thistle. It's not native to that area, but it came over. But that old red winter wheat, as it was once upon a time, basically everything a person needed for nutritional value was there. And yet, man's improved it so many times since then. Yeah, tongue and cheek improved, and it's not the same as it once was. But the manna was perfectly nourishing, provided everything they needed, just as Christ is to be the one who brings everything that is possibly needed. The manna fell on Israel alone. There's not really a record that peoples around them in the Middle East had manna. You can go to some commentaries, and they think they know what it was, and they think that they can describe it happening. But different. Different. And that's why when we come together on the Pass overnight, the Church has always said, you know, well, those actually partaking of the bread and the wine ought to be those who are in that sense, spiritually Israel, baptized members of the Church. We've allowed others to come and observe and find, but the manna went to Israel only, and Jesus Christ, in the sense of the broken bread, would go only to those who spiritually are in a covenant with God. And that's something that begins with the time of our upper baptism. The manna was given to those who were obedient. Those who disobeyed and went on day seven didn't get any manna. And we, too, are called to be an obedient people. The manna returned back to heaven. It's interesting they took that one pot, that one omer of manna in the golden pot, and was placed there in or with the ark, and then Revelation speaks of that ark being back up in heaven.

Now, when we gather and we partake of the unleavened bread, the blessing, we ask God to bless it for its sacred purpose.

The fellows presiding then break it into smaller pieces, and the trays pass through the congregation. And we all take a little piece of that, and we eat that, and it goes into us. What are we picturing there as we take of that little piece of unleavened bread?

Three things. Number one, the literal physical body of Jesus Christ. Now, forget about the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation, how that bread that they pass literally becomes the literal actual flesh of Christ, but this is a representation. The physical body of Jesus Christ, we partake of it. We ingest it. Christ then lives within us. We share in His sufferings. The breaking of His body is something we share in this life. Let's look back at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, beginning in verse 4, speaking of Messiah, this is a messianic prophecy through this area, 52-53. Isaiah 53 verse 4, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions. You see, there is a parallel here. That bread came from grain that was pulverized into flour. But then, even as it is baked as flatbread, then it again is broken and passed to the congregation. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. The latter part of verse 6, The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Verse 10, Yet it pleases the Lord to bruise Him, and put Him to grief when you make His soul an offering for sin.

You shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Verse 12, right in the middle, it says, Because He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The physical body of Jesus Christ, we take a little unleavened bread, we eat of that, it becomes a part of us.

Number 2, we represent the body of Christ the Church.

The body of Christ the Church.

Now, for that, let's go to 1 Corinthians 10. There's a statement here about how by that bread that we partake of makes us one bread, one loaf, one body. 1 Corinthians 10, verses 16 and 17. Verse 16, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? So that bread represents the actual body of Jesus Christ, but you know, another sense of the term body of Christ is the Church. It goes on, verse 17, for we, he's writing here the Church of Corinth, we of the Church, though many are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.

Now, think about the Passover night. Of course, as the time zones move across this world, we have people taking the Passover service over the course of close to 24 hours. And we have some areas where we may have a rather large, good-sized congregational group get together. We may have some who are infirm, some who are sick, some who you could have weather be an issue where people are cut off and they're taking the Passover at home. But across the world, as those ceremonies take place, there is in common a little bit of unleavened bread. Whether someone bakes it, whether someone uses whole wheat matzos or whatever, as long as it doesn't have leaven in it, which we have to watch for. But as that is blessed or rather prayed over and asked God's blessing, that it represents the broken body of Jesus Christ. And as that is broken and then a part of that eaten by each person, it's something we all share in common. Verse 17, though we, though many, are one bread and one body. We all partake of that one bread. I think the New International says that one loaf. And so we share that. There's a sense of community, of commonality, of unity, of oneness. We're bound together by sharing this in common with all other members of the body of Christ. It is one of those beautiful ties that bind us together as one. Okay, the 11 bread. Then, number three, the Word of God, the true bread.

The Word of God, the true bread. Now, remember before Christ began His ministry, He fasted for many weeks. And then Matthew's account, Matthew 4, or Luke's account in chapter 4, tell us that the tempter came to Him. And, of course, at that weak moment, Satan, the tempter, said, command that these stones be made into bread. And what did Jesus do? He quoted back to Him the Scripture. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Where does that come from? Well, let's go back to Deuteronomy 8. Because, you see, we see back here a tie-in, how it brings together the manna and the Word of God, and Jesus Christ, and living by every word of God. It brings it all together.

Deuteronomy 8. Again, remember, this is toward the end of Moses's life. And he is recounting, reiterating the story of their wanderings and their ups and their downs. And he had reiterated commandments. Well, verse 2. Deuteronomy 8 verse 2, And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness to humble you. Again, Christ quoted from what is about to follow when He was, He had been afflicted forty days and forty nights, and test you. Remember how when Israel was given the manna? God gave that manna to test them to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. Verse 3, So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments do not wear out, nor does your foot swell for forty years. But a tie-in is made. The manna and the humbling and the process that teaches us that yes, bread is the staff of life. If the bread we're talking of is the Word of God. And Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos, the spokesperson for God, but He is also the very embodiment, the very living embodiment of the written Word of God. It is one and the same. The true bread is Jesus Christ. And we hold His written Word, and we're to live by every word, and we're to partake of that Word every day, as annually we take of a piece of that unleavened bread, and it lives in us. And then, as Paul wrote in Galatians 2, verse 20, you can just make a note of that, Galatians 2, verse 20. He talks about His own life, that it's not me, you know, it's Christ who lives in me, that this life becomes Christ's evermore increasingly as we yield to His lead in our life.

We should move to the wine that represents the blood of Christ, the third portion of our Passover ceremony, the blood. A fascinating story, really, to trace, to do a study on the concept of blood throughout the Bible. I suppose we'd have to go back and begin the story there in Genesis chapter 4. We aren't given all of the particulars as far as what God instructed Adam and Eve, excuse me, Cain and Abel, but Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, and his offering was rejected. Abel brought of a life from the flock, and God honored that. A bloody sacrifice. We have the beginning of the concept of a substitution, a substitutionary sacrifice that goes all the way back to the sacrifice that was made by Abel, and it got honored.

You see, they had had sons, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, in short order then, Abel, the one who was righteous, was killed. Christ referred all the way back to righteous Abel.

And then there was another one. Seth came along to carry on that faithful line.

The blood of the Lord. We follow that. We have sacrifices. We have that in the days of Noah. As soon as the flood was over, one of the first orders of the day was they took some of the clean animals, because, you know, they had enough of those, took some of the clean animals, and went and built an altar and offered some there to God.

And we get to the time of Abraham, and, you know, he was to take the son of promise, Isaac, go to the land of Moriah, the place I'll show you, sacrifice him there to me.

And we've come in on that recently. And God provided, God provided a substitute. When Abraham proved that he was willing to obey God all the way, God stopped him. And over in the bushes was a ram that was caught by its horns. And God provided this substitution. So throughout the Bible, we have this concept. We get to the days of the Levitical system. It wasn't a part of what God gave Israel when they first came out, added about a year later after they had sinned. In the Leviticus, you have the burnt offering. Of course, then you have the grain or cereal offering. You have the, what, peace and trespass offerings. And all of these have to do with offering lives. You had daily sacrifices, morning and evening. You had double sacrifices on weekly Sabbath. You had holy day sacrifices.

Untold millions of animals, lives were offered and given to God.

And so you follow that throughout. And we come to the New Testament. Let's go to Matthew 26. And on the pass overnight, we'll read from this and perhaps from Luke's account.

But in Matthew 26, verse 26, And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take heat, this is my body. Then he took the cup. And of course, humans are still looking for the Holy Grail. They want to find that goblet. They want to find the real one. And of course, if anybody ever finds it, then man's got something else to worship. But he had a singular cup the way it reads, and it had wine. And he gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood.

Okay, no longer the blood of all the animals that were sacrificed through the for 4,000 years. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. The marginal note says the forgiveness of sins. And then he says, 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 and my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung him, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And that's the way we end our ceremonies as well. We sing him and then just make our way on toward our homes. Blood of the new covenant, shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. What does the blood of the Lord provide?

Well, number one is just that, forgiveness. The past is wiped clean. The sins of a lifetime are covered.

But you know it's an ongoing process because every one of us will stumble. We will fall. We will be tempted. And sometimes we deal with that temptation and reject it. And at other times, we succumb to temptation and we cross a line. We share that in common, every one of us. And we continue to go. That's where in 1 John 1, he said, if any man sins, you know, go to God, confess your sins, and he's just and faithful who will forgive your sins. And it is an ongoing covering of sins. But he asks that we celebrate that, that we remember that in a very special way once a year. Forgiveness is woven into this concept of this symbol, the blood, the wine.

Number two is reconciliation. Reconciliation. We know what that is because we're human.

We have our differences sometimes. And God wants us to learn somehow to get along.

But we also have a need to be reconciled with God. The prophet Isaiah so long ago said, your sins have separated between you and God that he will not hear.

Our sins cut us off from God. There's a breach there. There's a wedge that is driven between us.

And so we go to God, and the way to be reconciled is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Let's go to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2.

And beginning of verse 11, he speaks of some who were Gentile in the flesh. They were not a part of the stock of Israel. And then there are others who were of the circumcision. They were of the stock of Israel. And there are these differences. It's just, I think something that Satan plays upon that we have differences that he magnifies depending upon size and color, skin and gender. I mean, all of these things he uses to drive voyages between brethren. Let's go to verse 13. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. There's a whole explanation here with this verse that we need to just skip over for now. So as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Verse 18, through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19. We're no longer strangers and foreigners, but we're fellow citizens with the saints. We're members of the household of God. And so there is reconciliation through the pouring out of the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, a number of things happened at the precise moment. The Gospels tell us that the moment when Christ died, when as the old King's name says, He gave up the ghost. What happened? Temple of Baal. We had an earthquake. We had graves of some of the saints opened. But I think most significant is the tearing, the rending of the temple veil. Now Josephus writes that that thing was some four or five inches thick. It's hard for us to really fathom how thick, how big, how heavy it was, but it was torn apart. Up until that time, once a year, the high priest could go back behind that veil, not without blood, we're told, and sacrifice on behalf of the people of Israel. It is interesting that somewhere along the line, I guess the Israelites or the Jews were hedging their bets. They picked up the practice of tying a rope around one of his legs in case they needed to pull him back out. I suppose if he did something wrong, how would you like to be the next high priest in line saying, you take the blood and you do it? Well, but no longer was there a veil. There is open access to God the Father. We can kneel down, as we did today, depending on how we drive, we might do in the middle of a traffic incident. Spare the moment, and we have access to the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ.

We have a high priest who has no limitations like the old Levitical priests had. So reconciliation through the blood of Jesus Christ, access, justification. Mr. Morgan spoke about that here, what, last week, the week before. Justification. One of those religious-sounding words, legal term, this meaning to make guiltless, to pronounce guiltless, to be justified by being pronounced righteous, by being given the righteousness of Christ. Redemption. That's another something else.

Forgiveness was one. Reconciliation two. Justification three. Now redemption number four. To redeem is to buy something back.

And by our sins, we've been under a very heavy penalty, a death penalty. But the good news is we can be bought back from that because someone came along and was willing to pay that price for us. Kind of like John there when he saw all these seals and he kind of, you know, who's worthy to open these seals? And he was traumatized. But then this one, this lion of the tribe of Judah who came and was able to undo those seals one at a time. Ephesians 1, as we're here, Ephesians 1, verse 7, the earlier verse is speaking of Jesus Christ, but in verse 7, in Him, Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Redemption. To buy back the blood of Jesus Christ, buys us back from death and covers every sin. Every time we place something in front of God, every lustful thought that we dwell upon, every sinful action, the blood of Jesus Christ can cover that and redeem us. Let's go back to John chapter 6, because the blood of Jesus Christ also has to do ultimately with the gift of salvation of eternal life in the very family of God. John 6, I think we read verse 53, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Verse 54, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. And that's something we do via the symbols of the Passover. We actually imbibe a bit of His broken body and of His shed blood. It lives in us, and it has to do ultimately with being raised up to eternity, raised up to being a part of the very very body, the very family of God for all time. Verse 56, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in Him. All right, I think we'll leave from reading there. But the blood carries the deepest solemnity. It is the most sacred manner in making an agreement. And when we gave our lives to God, when we entered a vow of baptism, we symbolically signed a contract. And the ink was the blood of Jesus Christ. Let's go over to Hebrews 12. And just read a few verses here and we'll wrap it up. Hebrews 12.

And in verse 22, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. It ties it all the way back. The first offering of a bloody sacrifice that we find in the Bible was that offering made by Abel. And what Jesus Christ came and brought. A couple of chapters before He talked about how this man with his own blood entered the holy place once and for all. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks, for if they did not escape, who refused Him who spoke on earth, how much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now He has promised saying, yet not once more I'll shake not only the earth but also heaven. Chapter 13.

Oh, chapter 13 verse 10. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. And what God has given to us throughout this book earlier on He contrasted the Levitical priesthood with the priesthood of Melchizedek. And those who served in the Levitical system have no right to eat yet to eat from what God has offered us. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the One to come. The booklet that the church has on the Holy Days, this chapter on the Passover, simply concludes by saying that the Bible specifies the yearly observance of the Passover. History records its annual celebration as a practice of the early church. Passover as a memorial of Jesus's death is to be observed annually rather than whenever or however often one chooses, just as all the other festivals are to be kept once a year.

Following their example, we should continue to observe the Passover at the beginning of the evening of the 14th of the first month of the Hebrew calendar. During His last Passover with His disciples, Jesus explained that this celebration has significant implications for the future as well. And we read in Matthew 26 verse 29 about how He would drink of that fruit of the vine with us once again in His Father's kingdom. So keeping the Passover each year reminds us that God is the forgiver of sin who grants us eternal life in His kingdom through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Passover. This observance is a memorial to our Creator's continuing role in humanity's salvation.