MP #7 The Passover
Messianic Prophecy • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION Exodus 12:1-13.
INTRODUCTION Exodus 12:1-13.
At some point in virtually every book study, it should be pointed out that the Bible is the story of Jesus.
The OT promises Jesus, the gospels present Jesus, the Epistles explain Jesus and the Revelation brings Jesus, the Bible is His story.
In our study tonight, we will be looking at some tremendously great truths that promised Messiah.
Truths that were fulfilled in amazing detail.
The Bible describes the actions of soldiers, who will crucify Christ, what the religious leaders will do, how His disciples would respond, and even how the people would embrace Him and then turn on Him.
That is where we begin tonight in our Exodus passage.
The people embrace Jesus, but then in short order, they crucify Him.
And it t is all there in the OT, much of it pictured right here in Exodus 12.
The Bible begins with Jesus the agent of Creation, and culminates with Jesus the King of kings.
In between, we find volumes of information that illuminate the person of Messiah.
Do you see it, History really is his story.
And the Spirit of God as He moved men to write the OT, made sure it was all there.
Jesus, was made known, long before He became incarnate.
In our text we see Messianic Prophecy.
Why is Messianic Prophecy so important?
First because it reveals a plan hundreds of years in advance, that would eventually be fulfilled.
Second, because it reveal a person hundreds of years in advance that would eventually be revealed.
Third, it reminds us that God is in ultimate control of history.
You see, Messianic Prophecy is a great apologetic tool, demonstrating, even proving, the reality of the Savior.
In the Passover event, Christ is the star of the show, He is the lamb that is in view.
THE PASSOVER IS PRE-IMMINENT
THE PASSOVER IS PRE-IMMINENT
In Exodus 12 the first thing we see is beginning of months for Israel.
On the Jewish calendar the first month is Nisan (formerly Abib according to the ancient calendar)and it is packed with Messianic implications.
First on the 10th of the month each family or group was to select their lamb for their Passover celebration.
Second, you are to keep the lamb until the 14th of the the same month.
Third, at Twilight, you are to kill the Passover lamb.
At the same time, on the 14th, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to begin.
This lasted for 7 days.
The Feast of First fruits took place three days after the Passover according to Jewish reckoning.
The Passover was Friday the 14th the year Christ died.
The 15th was Saturday, the Sabbath.
The 16th, the first day of the week was Sunday, and the Feast of First Fruits.
The Feast of First Fruits was an offering to God of the best of the first part of the harvest.
It was an act of faith to give to God the first part of the harvest, trusting that YHWH would bless the later and full harvest.
The Passover Celebration launched a series of 7 mandated Celebrations or Feasts that went throughout the entire year, each one had Messianic implications.
50 days after the Passover came Pentecost.
In the 7th month came the Feast of Trumpets.
Next was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Last was the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles.
Each of these celebrations has a particular significance that applies to Messiah and really the agenda YHWH has set for the world.
So you can see how this particular month of Nisan is of great importance.
When YHWH selected this month to be the first month of the year, He was attaching significance to this particular month.
It wasn’t anything about the month itself per se, it was about the lamb that was to be slaughtered that made this month special.
It was the event of the Passover that made this the most special time of years.
This event will be seared into the minds of every Jew.
This event will be what the Lord uses again and again to remind the nation of His great power and deliverance.
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
This will be a phrase that YHWH uses often to remind the nation of their deliverance.
but because Yahweh loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your fathers, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
THE PASSOVER ORIGIN
THE PASSOVER ORIGIN
The Passover is a unique event of incredible importance in the life of Israel, but there is more than meets the eye.
Let me begin by explaining how it came to be.
Most people believe that the Passover was the result of God delivering His people from the clutches of Pharaoh.
But I would suggest to you that this was secondary.
Let’s back up for just a minute.
We know that the plan of salvation was formed before the foundation of the world was created.
God knew that He would save sinners before He even created sinners.
Let me show you.
First, YHWH knows all of human history before it even occurs, and He in fact providentially controls it.
“Remember this, and be assured;
Cause it to return to your heart, you transgressors.
“Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My counsel will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,
The idea here is not just that YHWH tells us what will happen, but that He insures what He desires does happen.
Everything YHWH desires to happen, will happen.
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’
Notice here also, nations are formed in the mind of God, their times are appointed, and their boundaries set, by YHWH.
In fact, our very existence is due to YHWH.
It is important that we see the Sovereign Providence of God in all of human history.
The Bible rejects the idea that all of human history is just careening through time and out of control.
It is a hard pill to swallow, but even these United States will fall according to the time appointed by our God.
The providence of God is particularly important to our understanding of salvation.
Second, people were chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world.
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love,
Our salvation was an act of God in eternity past.
Third, Christ was slain before the foundation of the World.
And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
In the mind of God, the death of Jesus and the salvation it accomplished was a done deal the moment the plan was formed in His will.
Now what has all of this to do with the Passover?
Simply this, each of these feasts were created by YHWH and given to the people, to tell the story of Messiah.
In other words, which came first, the Passover or the plan for Christ?
The plan for Christ.
YHWH knew in eternity past how it would all play out.
Israel was sent to Egypt by YHWH for a variety of reasons.
But one was, so that He could deliver them through the power of His might, giving them a picture of their future Redeemer, the Messiah.
Acts 2:22 is incredibly important here.
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.
Two key words, predetermined and foreknowledge.
Let’s begin with foreknowledge.
Many people believe that this means that God knew what would happen.
But honestly, we have a big problem is that is what it means.
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers,
but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last times for the sake of you
Now if foreknowledge means that God merely saw what would happen in history and then used it, then God has no control.
If that is your definition of foreknowledge, then you have to also believe that God did not plan the crucifixion, but only used what He knew would happen.
Foreknowledge as applied to YHWH means that He knew what He wanted to do.
YHWH formed the plan of salvation, the death of Christ in every detail, that is foreknowledge.
YHWH knew what He wanted to do.
Predetermined is much easier, it simply means YHWH pre-decided that the plan He knew, would be carried out.
The two go hand in hand.
God knew what He wanted to do, foreknowledge.
Then determined to make it happen, predetermined.
So again, Christ came first.
The Passover was orchestrated by God as a means to tell the story of Messiah.
In fact this is true of every single feast, they all relate to the story of Christ.
THE PASSOVER PICTURE
THE PASSOVER PICTURE
When we studied the gospel of John we went into great detail to understand the last week of Jesus’ life, and we must return to that subject now.
Many scholars, and most lay people have Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as taking place of Sunday.
Hence we call it Palm Sunday.
This goes way back in church history.
But some in modern scholarship suggest that the Triumphal Entry of Christ took place on Monday.
John 12:1 states…
Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
John 12:12 States…..
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
This is the day of His Triumphal Entry, which would be 5 days before the Passover.
Now to our way of thinking in the west, 5 days before Passover Friday would be Sunday, hence we place the Triumphal Entry on Sunday.
But we have a problem, the scripture was not written with a western mind set.
Now consider this, how many days was Jesus in the Tomb?
Three days, according to the eastern mindset.
But to our way of thinking, really only two.
He went into the grave late Friday, so late Saturday constitutes one 24 hour period or day, and He was resurrected early Sunday.
Jesus was in the tomb less than 48 hours, two full days.
That bothers our western thinking.
But the scripture is adamant, 3 days in the grave.
This is because in that culture, any part of a day constituted a day.
So day 1 was those few minutes late Friday Jesus was in the Tomb.
Day 2 was Saturday in the Tomb.
Day 3 was part of Sunday in the Tomb.
Do you see what I am saying, Friday = one day, Saturday = one day and Sunday = one day, three days total.
Now apply that same math to the Triumphal Entry.
But let’s work backwords.
Passover Friday = day one.
Thursday = day two
Wednesday = day 3
Tuesday = day 4
Monday = day 5
Sunday, = day 6 which is when Jesus arrived in Bethany, and on the next day entered Jerusalem riding on a colt, Monday.
Many scholars believe that the Triumphal Entry took place on Monday.
But why is this so important that I would take so much time to make the case?
Because, each of the celebrations of Israel told the story of Jesus, with incredible detail.
So let me ask you a question, and lets see who the thinkers are.
What day of the week during the Passion week, were the Jews to choose their Passover Lamb?
The lamb was chosen according to Exodus 12:3
“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
When would the 10th have fallen during passion week?
Monday!
The Triumphal Entry took place on the very day the people chose their Lambs.
At that point in time, they embraced Jesus.
They hailed Him as King.
They loved Him.
On the tenth day of the month, Jesus entered Jerusalem, and he was set aside as the Lamb of God.
So, the exact day that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was the day that the Jews were bringing their lambs in to be inspected and set aside for observation.
Choosing your Lamb on the 10th day was always about Christ.
If the Passover Lamb is a picture of Jesus, then so too must its selection be.
You see the Jews chose and brought their lambs to be inspected.
The lambs had to pass inspection to qualify as a passover lamb.
Jewish historians tell us that first, all the Passover Lambs came from the region of Bethlehem, isn’t that interesting.
Second, they all were brought to the city of Jerusalem through the Sheep Gate for inspection.
Third, only those who passed inspection at the Temple were acceptable for sacrifice.
Now apply these realities to Jesus.
First, He was born in Bethlehem, where all Passover lambs were born.
Second, He entered the city riding on a donkey through the Sheep Gate, just like every other Passover Lamb.
Third, Jesus presented Himself for inspection in the Temple everyday right up until they arrested Him.
Jesus presented Himself as their King for He was.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is righteous and endowed with salvation,
Lowly and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.
He was qualified to serve as the Passover Lamb of God, He was The Lamb of God.
Their King had come to die in their place.
THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PASSOVER LAMB
THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PASSOVER LAMB
The Passover Lamb was a type of Christ.
It pictured Messiah in many ways.
First, the Passover Lamb had to be unblemished.
Here we find a parable like representation of the Lamb.
A parable is an earthly story that reveals a spiritual truth.
Physically, the Passover lambs had to be perfect specimens.
No broken bones, no disease, no cripples, no blind ones.
Nothing could be wrong with them, they had to be physically perfect.
This speaks of the spiritual perfection of The Passover Lamb.
Jesus was sinless, without the stain or corruption of sin.
He knew no sin.
He was the sinless Son of God.
He had to be if He was to make atonement for sin.
You see our problem is that we can never atone for our own sin because we are guilty.
Atonement is only accomplished when an innocent substitute dies in our place.
The penal substitutionary atonement is the most beautiful picture in all of scripture.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Do you see those two little words “so that”?
Those words come from the Greek word “hina”, and they form a purpose clause.
The teach us why something happened.
The reality is, Jesus took your sin, so that He could give you His righteousness, and that is a beautiful thing.
But it was only possible because Jesus was unblemished by sin.
Second, the Passover Lamb had to be a male.
Here we see two great Messianic truths come together.
Remember the pronouns in Genesis 3 concerning Messiah were male.
Satan would strike His heal.
He would crush Satan’s head.
Well here in Exodus 12, the Passover lamb must also be a male.
Now it isn’t quite clear yet how these two come together.
But we know they do.
We know that is was through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that the power of sin, death and hell were broken.
Satan was defeated at the cross, his fate was sealed.
So the Messianic picture is filling out.
Third, the Passover Lamb was to be a lamb of the first year.
That is how the Hebrew actually reads which means, that the Lamb was somewhere between 8 days old and one year old.
Lambs could not be taken from their mother prior to 8 days old.
The question is why a yearling?
The best answer is that a yearling was at the prime of life.
At approximately 33, Jesus was at the prime of life.
Fourth, you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month.
The idea here is that the Lamb became a part of your family.
But also, this was an act of courage against the culture.
Egyptians worshipped lambs.
So to take an Egyptian god into your home for the purpose of slaughter took courage.
The Israelites had to take a stand and demonstrate their faith in God.
Likewise, as Jesus presented Himself, the people had to make a choice.
Would they stand with Jesus, or would they oppose.
We know the story, most opposed.
Fifth, the Passover Lamb had to die.
If the firstborn of Israel was to be spared, a substitute had to take their place.
This is the purest and clearest picture of the Passover, if a person is to be spared, a substitute had to take their place.
This is why the atonement is substitutionary.
Jesus died in our place.
John the Baptist understood the significance of the Passover Lambs, they took away sins, temporarily.
But The Passover Lamb, God’s Lamb, would take aways the sins of the world.
Behold the LAMB OF GOD, who takes away the sins of the world! John 1:29.
Sixth, the blood had to be shed and utilized.
The central factor of the Passover Lamb was it’s blood.
The blood was the means by which the firstborn of Israel were saved.
The Lamb’s blood functioned redemptively and therefore has Messianic significance.
Redemption is what is really in view here.
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers,
but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last times for the sake of you
Here Peter makes a direct correlation between the Passover lamb and Jesus.
The smearing of the blood was significant.
This was really an act of faith.
Rationally it makes no sense to smear blood on a door post or header.
This was simply a test God imposed.
Do you trust Me, will you believer Me and obey Me.
There is nothing inherent in the blood of a lamb on the door that saves.
YHWH saves, YHWH spares, based on the faith of the family.
This is yet another picture of the significance of faith.
We see them all over the OT.
Look to a Bronze serpent on a pole and you won’t die.
God to war with 300 against 100,000 and you will win.
Give your best lamb.
Give your first fruits.
These were all tests of faith.
This helps us to understand why there were 9 previous plagues.
If YHWH had started with the Passover, who would have believed and obeyed?
Few probably.
But after witnessing what YHWH did to Egypt through those first 9 plagues, the Israelites listened and obeyed.
Folks, this is still true today.
YHWH does not expect people to take a blind leap of faith.
He has given us great evidence to confirm that our faith is indeed warranted.
We have all of these Messianic prophecies to confirm we have trusted the One true God.
Last, you have all heard it, but the location of the blood on the door seems to point to the cross.
His head and his hands and the blood therewith.
Today there are those who talk of the blood of Christ as having some mystical power.
That is false.
The blood of Christ was no different than yours or mine, except His knew no sin.
The blood does not save, God saves!
It was YHWH that brought Israel out of the land of bondage, and it is YHWH who still saves today.
Seventh, they were to roast the Passover Lamb with fire.
This can only picture one thing, the wrath of God.
On many occasions YHWH uses fire to execute His wrath.
In Lev 10 Nadab and Abihu were destroyed by fire from YHWH for bringing strange fire into the Tabernacle.
In 1 Kings 18 YHWH rains down fire from Heaven and destroys the prophets of Baal.
In Genesis 19 YHWH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven.
So you can see fire is often a picture of wrath.
The Passover Lamb of God would suffer under the wrath of God poured out against sin.
Eighth, they were to eat the Passover Lamb.
This one is a bit difficult for some people.
Jesus used the same imagery in John 6:56
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
We didn’t talk about this during our study in John, but as I studied this it became apparent to me at least, Jesus was making reference to the Passover lamb.
This eating of the flesh was symbolic of becoming one with the Passover Lamb.
One of the greatest truths of our salvation is that we are in Christ and He is in us.
This is pictured in the eating of flesh.
When we eat something, it becomes part of us.
Thus the idea is that of association with God, with Christ.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
So you can see how much there is to learn about Messiah from the Passover, primarily the Passover Lamb that was a type of Christ.
But we mustn’t miss the last point.
In obeying the commands of YHWH pertaining to the Passover, they were to do so ready to leave at a moments notice.
Friends, when you embrace Christ, you have to be prepared to abandon the world and its former lusts.
They were leaving Egypt, and they were to leave it all behind.
They were walking with YHWH now.
Likewise, Jesus called on us to forsake the things of this world, even our very life, and follow Him.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
They had to leave Egypt behind, just as we have to leave our old life behind.
