Slain From the Foundation of the World

Well, as we prepare for the Passover this year, I believe it would be very good for us to review the history and symbolism of the Passover. Look at events in Scripture that looked forward to the need of a Passover. They looked forward to something that Jesus Christ would fulfill by his very own life in 31 A.D. The truth is that the Passover of Jesus Christ was the culmination of a plan that God had going back to the beginning of time. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the greatest single act of redemption that has ever occurred. And today, I think it would be good for all of us as we think about the Passover in the year that we call 2016, that we look at the Scriptures and begin to see how anticipated, how important this Passover would be. So let's begin by going to Revelation chapter 13 and verse 3. So we'll kind of start at the end of the story and hear in Revelation and then go back to the beginning of this story. Revelation chapter 13, beginning in verse 3. If you'll turn there, please.

This is speaking of a very difficult time in world events. When a superpower, one single superpower, will arise in the world and will cause a lot of trouble, not only for the people of the earth, but for the church. Beginning in verse 3, and I saw one of the heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, speaking of one of the resurrections of the Roman Empire, and all the world marveled and followed the beast. This is the last revival of a form of paganism, a form of secular government control that is referred to in the Scriptures as the beast, through the various reincarnations of the Roman Empire. Verse 4, so they worshiped the dragon, this is speaking of the world, who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? So, Satan the devil, represented here as a dragon, is the one who gives authority, who is behind and supporting this one-world superpower, who is taken over Jerusalem and is dominating the earth.

Who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. And indeed, he will take over and control Jerusalem for three and a half years. Verse 6, then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, the blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, that means his church, and those who dwell in heaven. So, anything relating to God, he blasphemes and he makes great proclamations. Verse 7, and it was granted to him, and notice he doesn't have this power of his own, it's God who grants him the ability, actually, to do anything that he does, God according to what he allows this beast to do, and it's granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. So, the gospel message by the church will literally be shut down. The church will be threatened. And authority was given him over every tribe and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So, what this is saying is that when God created the world and later created Adam and Eve, he knew in advance that Adam and Eve would sin. He understood because he created them to be flesh-like, earthly, carnal, and he wanted them to have free choice. You can only develop character when you have free choice. You only develop character when you're confronted with two options. Right, wrong, good, bad, and you consistently choose right and good. That is the only way to develop character, and that is the process that God wanted to have. So, he knew and he understood that they would be capable of sinning. They would make choices that would lead to sin. God was disappointed in Adam and Eve, but he was not shocked by their behavior, just like you and I. Sometimes God is disappointed in the things that we say, in the things that we think, in the things that we do. But he's never shocked because he, as part of his plan, created us as fleshly carnal beings, strong, and strong carnal beings struggling against the flesh, struggling against our own urges, so that we could develop the character by choosing right and good over wrong and over evil. In advance, he had planned on a provision for the forgiveness of sin. Now, let's go to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17.

Sure enough, Adam and Eve did absolutely sin. God said, this one tree that's in the garden, you can eat the fruit of everything else, every other tree that's great, but don't eat from this one tree because when you eat of it, you are under a death sentence, and sure enough, they did. So, we'll pick it up here in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 17. Then he said to Adam, Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, which I commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.

And that continues to this very day. If you talk to any farmer, what are your struggles? A farmer will tell you, oh, too much rain, too little rain. Weeds growing everywhere.

Diseases, fungus, bacteria, insects. It's a constant struggle to raise food.

Any farmer would tell you that. So, that was a curse, and that continues to this very day.

It says, 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 dust you shall return. You're going to work like a dog your whole life, and you're going to sweat, and you're going to grow old, and you're going to grow tired, and you're going to drop.

Doesn't sound very happy, does it? But God said, because of these choices, and because on purpose I created you to be a physical being that ages, you will experience the ravages of old age, and you will experience what it's like for a physical body to grow old and grow tired. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them, meaning Adam and Eve.

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, to no good and evil, and now lest he put forth his hand, and take also the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden, to till the ground, from which he was taken. So God said, I cannot give this being eternal life, because now they have free choice, and that's fine, but they're making the wrong choices. You can't give eternal life to a being that makes wrong choices. I did that once. His name is now called Satan. He was Lucifer.

I'm not going to do that again. So I have to bar them from the opportunity to have eternal life until a provision is made for their sins and for their weaknesses. In spite of their sin, God had compassion on them, and he personally made them durable garments of the skin of a mammal. It says the skin of an animal. Now we know from Genesis 7 that God instructed Noah to understand the difference between clean and unclean animals. So it's very safe to say that this would have been, these garments, the skin, the leather of a goat or a lamb. Now it's interesting, the very one who did this for them would be the one who later would come to earth into flesh and become known as Jesus Christ and would fulfill what this was representing. The New Century version says this in verse 21, the Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them. I'd like to read a few sentences from the Believer's Study Bible because I think they put it very well.

Quote, man's covering for his nakedness was inadequate. Remember they put fig leaves together? Well, you know, trying to make yourself a garment out of leaves. Just ask the jolly green giant, he'll tell you. That just doesn't work very well. It doesn't last very long. It's not very durable.

It says, but quote, but God provided a more suitable and durable covering. While the text does not specifically state that animal sacrifice occurred, it is implied from the description of God's procuring skins the clothed Adam and Eve. This was the first sacrifice of atonement for man's sin, prefiguring the death of Christ on the cross as a propitiation of man's sins. This verse presented the gospel in symbolism. Number one, here's the first way it does it. Quote, the initial declaration of the necessity of the shedding of blood. And number two, an illustration of a substitution, meaning the death of the innocent for the guilty. In order to procure the skins, the clothes, Adam and Eve, God had to slay the animals and shed their blood.

So how long is it after they sin that God reveals to them a way of atonement? How long after they ate of that tree that they shouldn't have eaten of does a loving and merciful creator because he knew from the foundation of the world what would be needed provides them the symbolism to understand that atonement is possible. How long? It's like immediately, isn't it? We just read, as this was part of God, adding after he had cursed the woman and then the man and of course the serpent, he added this immediately here in the book of Genesis. Now let's just go to another chapter, Genesis chapter four and verse three. Let's see if the same theme is repeated. Genesis chapter four and verse three. It says, and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. So Cain just brought some vegetation.

If it would have been me, I probably would have said, I hate these Brussels sprouts.

You know what? I'm going to give all these to God. And so he brought to God something that he just grew from the earth. It wasn't living. It had no blood in it. He just brought to God what he wanted to. Like many people today, he worshipped God the way he wanted to rather than saying, God, how do you desire to be worshipped? How can I please you? How can I honor you? No, like many people today, he wanted to reinterpret who and what God is and worship God the way that was convenient for him. Again, as so many people do in our world today. Picking it up in verse four. And Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? And we'll stop right there because we get the point from those verses. The word flock here is the Hebrew word tison, and it means from a group of sheep or goats. So whereas his brother brought Brussels sprouts to God, Abel took the firstborn of his flock and it says their fat and he offered that to God. So just as Jesus Christ was a firstborn and was the only begotten son, Abel offered a living animal as a sacrifice. Later in Leviticus 3, when the Old Covenant was established, if you were to go there, you would find that it was the fat of the peace offering that was considered the best or choicest part of the offering. As the most valuable part of the animal in Leviticus 3, it was the fat that belonged exclusively to God. It had a particular sanctity, and for that reason it was not allowed to be eaten by the offer or the Levite. It was something special to God. Let me read to you again a couple of sentences here from the Scofield Bible notes regarding this verse.

It says in the very infancy of the race, the primal truth is that, quote, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. And it refers to Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 22, continuing, quote, Cain acknowledged God as the source of all natural good, but rejected his revealed way of worship.

Abel, in conformity with that revelation, brought a blood offering, thus confessing himself a sinner.

In Cain began all false religion, the essence of which is man's coming to God in his own way. And that certainly continues today, looking at the holidays that people have invented and created and their rituals they have invented and created in order to worship God. Well, now let's go to Genesis chapter 22. Continue our look at the glimpses, the important symbolism behind the Passover that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples in 31 A.D. I'm not going to go into Genesis 22 in great detail today. I actually did an entire sermon on this topic in March of 2011 that you'll find on our website. It's entitled, How Abraham Learned About the Sacrifice of Christ. And the almost the entire sermon focuses on the metaphors, the symbolism from Genesis 22 and what occurred in 31 A.D. So I'm not going to go into great detail today. Just a quick background as we lead up to verse 11, 22 verse 11. A voice tells Abraham that he needs or should sacrifice his son Isaac. Stunned to him, Isaac was his beloved son, the one who was going to be heir of all things, but he's obedient to God. And he heads for a land called Moriah, which later on would become known as part of the city of Jerusalem. And it says that it was a three-day journey, just like Jesus was dead three days and three nights. And from the moment of time that Abraham's heart is broken, when God says you need to sacrifice your son until the time when God intervenes is three days and three nights. Because in the mind of Abraham, his son was as good as dead. Because God said, I want you to go and sacrifice your son. So they arrived at Moriah, they stop with the other servants, and the two of them go alone, knife and a wood. And we know, of course, that eventually Jesus Christ would have his flesh broken open. He says, my flesh is broken for you.

And we know that an animal, as well as its flesh being broken over, Jesus was stabbed in the side. We know also, of course, that blood was shed in a typical sacrifice. The wood that the young man was tied to represented the stake or the cross that Jesus Christ would be crucified on. So with that in hand, the symbolism continues. We're going to go here in verse 11. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. He's got the knife poised. He's ready, as difficult as it must be. He is ready to slay his son because of God's instruction. And the angel of the Lord called him from heaven, said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, here I am. And he said, do not slay your son. Do not lay your hand on this lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. So God knew Abraham's heart. He knew and he was deeply impressed that Abraham trusted him enough to have faith and courage, the courage to offer his own son, if required and necessary. And again, if you'll look at the story, it was the third day of travel. So it was three days and three nights since Abraham was told son was as good as dead in the heart of Abraham. When Isaac arose from the altar, it pictured the resurrection of Jesus Christ after he died. That would occur 2000 years later. Now, verse 13, then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and he took the ram and offered up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place. The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. Now, the power of this verse is far more than first meets the eye.

This is a prophecy and the Father in the future would be providing his son, just like Abraham had been asked. The Lamb of God in the same mountainous region as this sacrifice was attempted to be made. Brethren, God didn't leave Abraham in the dark about the symbolism of this emotional event. God grants Abraham a dramatic vision of the future rule of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God.

Jesus himself said that Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. Abraham rejoiced to see my day because Abraham was given a glimpse of what this all represented and what it was all about.

Now, Genesis 22, verse 15. Notice how quickly after this event what happens.

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 multiply, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as its sand which is on the seashore. Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.'" And then he changes from plural to singular here in verse 18.

"'In your seed,' singular, "'all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.'" Of course, the Hebrew word seed here in verse 18 is singular. It's specifically referring to Jesus Christ. Yes, Abraham's physical descendants have indeed become great and powerful nations and influenced the world, but far more important than that physical accomplishment. Far more than that, through Jesus Christ alone, all nations of the earth are blessed with the opportunity of forgiveness and reconciliation with God because Abraham obeyed God. He could now grasp the purpose of it all, and it all made sense why he was asked to sacrifice his beloved son. Thankfully, God didn't require him to do that. Not at all.

Well, now let's take a look at another event that predates the Old Covenant. All of these events predated what occurred when the nation of Israel went to Mount Sinai and established a covenant with God. Exodus chapter 12. Let's turn there and find out what we might call the original Passover events and take a look at them.

Now the Lord God spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 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 count for the lamb.

So in other words, the lamb was not supposed to be wasted. Lambs were precious. They were a valuable resource. So you didn't want a lot of leftover meat. So if you had a lamb and you knew you were going to have a lot of meat, you made sure you invited enough people over to consume as much of the lamb as possible. Verse 5, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from sheep or from goats. We oftentimes refer to the Passover lamb as a sheep, as a lamb. But according to scriptures here, a young goat who met these physical requirements was also acceptable. Now you shall keep it into the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it at twilight. Verse 7, And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two-door post of the lentil of the house, where they eat it. And they shall eat the flesh on that night roasted in fire with unleavened bread. So this was the instruction. Before there's even a covenant. This is the instruction that it made possible for them to leave the slavery of Egypt, the nation of Egypt. God was changing the way Israel began celebrating a new year. Now the new year would begin in the first of Abib in the springtime. In Egypt, the new year began in late June or July at the appearance of the star Sirius.

Now before Sirius was a radio station, satellite radio station, it was actually a star.

And when it was rising up in the sky, that's when the Egyptians celebrated their new year because it meant there were going to be floods. And the floods would mean that there would be water and they could plant their crops and they would have a great year. So God was instituting them their Hebrew calendar that was a typical Semitic calendar that already existed when the new year would begin in contrast to Egypt. By the way, Sirius is also known as the dog star. We have a phrase in our western culture. We call it the dog days of summer. That actually comes from the Greeks, who after the star Sirius would rise, the Greeks knew that the hot summer months were coming upon Greece. So they referred to the dog days of summer phrase that we still use today.

Now, on the tenth day of Abib, to get back to the story, the head of the house would choose an unblemished lamb to be kept until the evening of the fourteenth. The lamb symbolized Jesus Christ, and after sunset before the sky became dark at twilight, but after sunset the lamb would be killed and its blood would be shed and painted or dabbed on the doorpost of the lintel of each home.

The original Passover was a family festival with another family included, if they were too small. The lamb's blood represented the shed blood of Jesus Christ, providing salvation for those who were in the household or the family of God. They didn't see it that way. They didn't understand it yet, but they were just being obedient to what God told them to do.

And of course, they were told to eat unleavened bread, which represented the righteousness of Christ, that is the bread of life that makes salvation possible. And symbolically, that's what it means to us. Chapter 12, verse 13. Now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial, and it shall be kept as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.

You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats unleavened bread from the first day into the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day, there shall be a holy convocation on the seventh day. There shall be a holy convocation for you.

No manner of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat. That only may be prepared for you, so you can prepare meals. Verse 17. So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. So what's the symbolism here? Well, those who had the blood in their homes were passed over from the plague of physical death that night. The Hebrew word is pasha.

The word pasha, meaning you hop over something. You skip over it. The New Testament Church observes the passover in days of unleavened bread because of their rich spiritual meaning, because God has instructed us to continue to observe them. We observe this feast as a spiritual family. And together, as God's spiritual family, we will share the passover in this very building this year. Thanks to Jesus Christ, our sins and condemnation have also been passed over. We are spared from the plague of eternal death and offered everlasting life because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Now, let's fast forward a little bit. Go to the year 622 BC in 2 Chronicles chapter 35 verse 1. Second Chronicles chapter 35 and verse 1. A remarkable time when Josiah tries to straighten the nation out, tries to get it back to God, to doing what God had instructed in the covenant.

He was a reformer, a religious reformer. And here's what it says, beginning in verse 1. Second Chronicles chapter 35. Now, Josiah kept a passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the 14th day of the first month. And he set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service in the house of the Lord. You see, the Levites had basically stopped doing their job.

The temple had been discarded. The temple had been ignored. No one cared anymore. Verse 3. Then he said to the Levites, who taught all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, put the holy ark in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. So the ark wasn't even in the temple anymore. It had previously been removed, probably in the time of Manasseh, to protect it.

Continuing now. Serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your father's houses, according to your divisions, following the written instruction of King David and Israel in the written instruction of Solomon, his son. So he says, we need to get the Levites doing their job, get back in your division, start taking care of this temple, bring the ark back into the temple. We need to get our house in order, spiritually speaking.

Now, verse 16, chapter 35, verse 16. So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day to keep the Passover and all of the burnt offerings and the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah and the children of Israel who were present, kept the Passover at that time and the feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. Verse 18, this is key. There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet and none of the kings of Israel had kept a Passover as Josiah kept with the priest and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the 18th year of the reign of Josiah, this Passover was kept. I want you to notice how the nation had declined over the years. This Passover that was observed by everyone who was present was the most zealous Passover since the days of Samuel. That's been 400 years by that time. Longer than the United States has been a nation, the nation of Judah and Israel had deteriorated spiritually to the point where the Passover, if it was observed at all, was just a cheap, meaningless ritual. It wasn't kept zealously. It wasn't kept with enthusiasm.

Did we lapse this past year from our calling as God's special treasure to God? As the Passover looms for us this year, is it time for a personal revival? Has it been many, many Passovers since we really took it seriously? Since we really understood the power, the symbolism behind our rededicating ourselves to God, renewing our baptismal vows on the Passover this year?

Will we make this the best Passover ever? You know what can make this the best Passover ever for you and for me? We can! For Greg Thomas to have the best Passover in his life, this will be my 43rd Passover, is all up to none other than Greg Thomas. And for you to have the best Passover ever, it's a choice that you can make. That's how important the Passover is to us. Let's go to Ezra 6 and verse 17. Ezra 6 and verse 17. Unfortunately, what we just read didn't last very long. Those who followed Josiah took the nation down. We know by history that Israel went into captivity, Judah went into captivity, and eventually a remnant was allowed to return after captivity. And let's see what it says here in Ezra chapter 6 and verse 17. It says, And they offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God, one hundred bowls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats. According to the number of the tribes of Israel, verse 18, and they assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to their divisions over the service of God in Jerusalem as it is written in the book of Moses. And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month. So they had to relearn all over again. Just like Josiah's generation did, they had to relearn all over again. Here's the point that I want to make with this background that we have before we look at the book of John. I want to emphasize this. All the events leading to the genuine Passover offered by Jesus Christ in 31 A.D. were lost on those who observed it anciently except for perhaps Abraham. No one got the connection that they pointed to something future, to something profound. For them it was we keep the Passover because we remember that our ancestors were slaves in Egypt and God had to put a plague on Egypt and the Passover saved our firstborn. That's the only connection they made. They didn't understand it. It pointed to something very profound and that is that God would empty himself of his glory, would come to earth, walk in the flesh, and become the ultimate fulfillment of these things to offer forgiveness of sin and reconciliation. Now let's go to John, book of John chapter 1 and verse 26 and see what his predecessor said, what the predecessor of Jesus Christ said about him. John chapter 1 and verse 26 It says, and John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you, whom you do not know. It is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandals strap I am not worthy to loose. These things were done in Bethvara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. Verse 29, then the next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John got it. John understood it. He was not only a baptizer, original Greek, a dipper, because he would immerse people when he baptized him. He was also a prophet.

Now, he didn't live long enough to observe the Passover with Jesus, but he knew in advance that Christ was the fulfillment of everything the Passover Lamb pointed to. Very profound.

Beginning immediately as we read the Gospel. Now, we'll go to Matthew chapter 26 and verse 17.

Matthew chapter 26.

Now, on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, Where do you want us to prepare to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city and to a certain man and say to him, The teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. Notice once again, it's a family that's going to observe the Passover together. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover. When evening had come, he sat down with the twelve and as they were eating, he said, Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful and each of them began to say to him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. Now, let's continue here in verse 24. Matthew 26 verse 24. The son of man indeed goes, just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I? And he said to him, You have said it. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke it. And he gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat. This is my body. Knowing that his body would be broken, that his body that he would be stabbed in the side, that he would be whipped, he would be scourged, his flesh would be torn. Verse 27. 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 Testament. His blood would be shed, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. Verse 29. But I say unto you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you and my father's kingdom. And when they had sung of him, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So he said, My wedding supper, I will not be drinking this beverage with you, my beloved disciples, again, until I return in the kingdom of God. So here we see in Matthew chapter 26, and we'll be following the example of what Jesus did with his disciples on the Passover together.

Now let's go to Luke's account. Luke chapter 22 and verse 15.

See something that Matthew left out and John doesn't cover either.

Luke chapter 22 and verse 15. Then he said to them, With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. So why?

Why would Jesus say, with fervent desire, I want to keep this Passover with you?

What he had been anticipating this event from the foundation of the world.

He remembered and recalled when he made animal skins and made garments from those animal skins for Adam and Eve that pictured what he would do that very evening. He understood the sacrifice by Abel of an animal where blood was shed, that that prefigured and looked forward to what he was about to do with his disciples. He understood the faith of Abraham, that his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac and all of that command and all of the symbolism there prefigured and looked forward to what he was just ready to share with his disciples. He understood as he commanded Moses in ancient Israel to slaughter that original Passover lamb and put its blood on the lentils, that it represented, that it pictured, that it looked forward to what he was about to do that very minute with his disciples. That's why he could say, with fervent desire, I have wanted to keep this Passover with you.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 20. Some say the Passover is obsolete and that it's no longer required to be observed, that it's no longer valid. The problem with that reasoning is that the apostle Paul didn't share that opinion. And let's see, I can either take the opinion of a mere man, some theologian who graduated from some stuffy stale theological institution, or I can choose the words of the apostle Paul. Boy, that's going to be a tough decision for me.

So here's what Paul says to a Gentile congregation in the year 55 AD, decades after Jesus died and was resurrected, and everything that's ever going to be nailed to the cross has been nailed long, long ago. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 20. Therefore, he says, when you come together in one place, it's not to eat the Lord's supper. This isn't the church's potluck. This isn't a smorgasbord. The whole purpose of the Passover even isn't to come here and scarf down food. Verse 21. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of the other. You don't even wait for each other. What's going on there, Corinth? And one is hungry and the other is drunk. People coming to the Passover, the poor folks who have virtually nothing, they're coming hungry, and then there are people who have too much and they're coming drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? You come and show off. Look at this big smorgasbord guy. I have wine. I have all these great meats, and the poor members are looking at that and they're hungry, and it's just chaos. It's shameful. It's an embarrassment. He says, what shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. He says, here's what the Passover is all about, Corinth. Get it. For I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

Verse 25, in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do is often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Year after year, when you observe that Passover, it's not about a supper, not about drinking wine.

Not about drinking wine. It's not about scarfing down a potluck.

It's about the powerful symbols of unleavened bread and wine that represent the body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Verse 27, therefore, whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Verse 28, something we should all do before the Passover this year, but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. A couple of things about verse 28 I want to highlight as we begin to close the sermon today. If we come to the Passover this year, without beginning at least an annual review of our life and how we're doing, then we miss the point.

If we come to the Passover without thinking about how far have I come, where did I start from? When did God begin to work with me in an honest evaluation of how far I've come from that time when God called me? And then, candidly, looking into our hearts, our minds, and looking for yet potential areas of growth that are needed, if we don't do that, at least begin that process, then we'll come to the Passover unprepared and we'll only be performing a ritual.

And it'll offer us no opportunity for growth. To get the most benefit from our spiritual renewal at Passover, we must be honest enough to do a self-examination. And that's all God asks. It says in verse 28, but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink the cup. If you've examined yourself, then you're ready to get the meaning of the Passover. I also want to add that it says here, so let him a man examine himself. This isn't the time of year to examine your spouse, to examine your children, to examine your boss, to examine Pastor Thomas. This is the time of year when we examine ourselves. So I'd like to start out by mentioning that. Again, to get the most benefit from our spiritual renewal at Passover, we have to be honest and candid enough to do a self-examination. Another thing I'd like to point out is this comment of worthiness. I remember messages many years ago, how you can be worthy to take the Passover. Brethren, none of us are worthy to take the Passover. Revelation chapter 5 and verse 12 says, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

Only Jesus Christ is worthy. He makes us worthy. We cannot of ourselves ever be worthy, no matter how much self-examination we do or good works we perform, it's always Jesus Christ in us that makes us worthy to take the Passover. It's by the grace and mercy of God that we can partake of the Passover this year. One final scripture. If you'll turn with me to 1 John chapter 1 and verse 5. I think this scripture is a great place to begin the process of our self-examination together.

You examine your life, I'll examine my life, and this scripture here written by the apostle John himself near the end of his life, I think is a great way for us to begin thinking about how and what criteria we can use to examine ourselves. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 5.

John writes, this is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So if we know what God's laws are, we know what God's commandments are and we're not doing them, and we think we're walking in the light, it says we're lying to ourselves. We're deceiving ourselves. We're not practicing the truth. Verse 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. I want you to notice what it says here. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another. If I sit at home, I can't have fellowship with you.

If I sit at home, what happens is I start judging everybody. I start evaluating everything that everybody does, and I become self-righteous. That's why it says that if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another. That means get to Sabbath services regularly.

That's what it means. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So as we examine ourselves and we see areas that we fall short, we have to repent. We have to confess our sins. Father, I haven't been living up to that standard. Father, I haven't been doing that consistently. Father, I haven't changed in that area. I repent. Please, through the power and the gift of your Holy Spirit, help me to do better. Help me to have a breakthrough this year in my life. And it says if we do that, it says we will be cleansed from all unrighteousness. That's the power of repentance. I've confessioned the God.

Verse 10. And if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar. And his word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, if you come to the conclusion at the end of your examination that you're a sinner, here's the answer. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that if we know him, we keep his commandments. As obedient, loving children, tell me what to do, Father. I'll obey it. What did Abraham do when God said, sacrifice your son? Did he argue with God? Did he give God a hard time? Did he say, God, I'm just going to ignore your instruction. I'm going to ignore your commandment? No. He wanted to know God.

He wanted to know him intimately, and so he kept God's commandments.

Well, we're coming upon the annual Passover, and that gives us an opportunity to renew our commitment to God and to ask for the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ to sustain us another year.

He is our biggest supporter. Jesus Christ isn't against us. As I've said before, God isn't mad at you. He's mad about you, and he wants to have a deep, intimate personal relationship with us, and the barrier is us. It's not with God.

We need to ask God to sustain us. We can make this the best Passover in our lives, and you know who can do that? You can. I can. So for the next few weeks, I'm going to be doing an examination of my personal life. I'm going to examine my heart. I'm going to examine my mind, and in just a few short weeks, I'm going to be joining 50 or so other sinners, and we, as a spiritual family, are going to share the Passover together as God's people in Cleveland, Ohio. It's by the grace of God that we're called. It's by the grace of God that we're forgiven. It's by the grace of God that he has granted us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let's make the choice, the personal, individual choice, that this is going to be my most rich, meaningful, spiritually fulfilling Passover in my entire lifetime, and it's going to happen this year.

We can make that choice. We can make that happen. Have a wonderful Sabbath.