The Greater Passover

Opening Prayer

Dear God,

We remember today, the pain and suffering of the cross, and all that Jesus was willing to endure, so we could be set free. He paid the price, such a great sacrifice, to offer us the gift of eternal life.

Help us never to take for granted this huge gift of love on our behalf. Help us to be reminded of the cost of it all. Forgive us for being too busy, or distracted by other things, for not fully recognizing what you freely given, what you have done for us.

Thank you, Lord that by your wounds we are healed. Thank you that because of your huge sacrifice we can live free. Thank you that sin and death have been conquered and that your Power is everlasting.

Thank you that we can say with great hope, “It is finished…” For we know what’s still to come. And death has lost its sting. We praise you for you are making all things new.

INTRODUCTION

Here we are.

Friday of holy week.

Palm Sunday

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, with crowds welcoming Him with palm branches and declaring, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Matthew 21:9)

Monday

Jesus cleanses the temple by driving out money changers

He healed the blind and lame

Tuesday

Jesus teaches in the temple, where the religious leaders challenge His authority.

He gives the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25)

Spy Wednesday

Judas Iscariot seeks out the chief priests and agrees to betray Jesus for 30 silver coins

Maundy Thursday

Passover Supper with the disciples

Jesus washes their feet and institutes the Lord’s Table

He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, dripping drops of blood, before being arrested and taken to the High Priest.

Good Friday

Jesus is unjustly tried, crucified, and laid in a tomb

All this took place nearly 2,000 years ago.

It marks the most devastating and important week in world history.

But even before this took place, there was a foreshadowing in Scripture of the need for this sacrifice… the need for “penal substitution.”

In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve that in the day they eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would surely die. Yet, after they sinned, God made them clothes from animal skins to cover the shame of their nakedness and sin. Some theologians believe those skins came from the first sacrifice made to atone for sin.

Genesis 22, Abraham took his son, Isaac, up the mountain to sacrifice him in obedience to God’s command. Yet, God rewarded his faithfulness by providing a ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.

Coming to the book of Exodus, we see the most clear picture of “penal substitution” pointing to Jesus Christ: the 10th and final plague in Egypt, the death of the first born.

This is the implementation of the Passover… the festival taking place in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Read Exodus 12:1-13, 21-28, 43, 49.

I would like to take what we read in this passage in the Old Testament, and show you how it makes sense of the death of Jesus in the New Testament.

THE LAMB WAS TO BE QUALIFIED

Exodus 12:3-5

God is very particular as He gives certain requirements for the lamb in order for the sacrifice to be acceptable.

Male

One year old

Without blemish

The Gospel:

John 1:29–34 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

During the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus was presented to the nation of Israel as God’s lamb to take away the sin of the world.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus never sinned…He never fell short of God’s perfect standard

Yet, God laid our sins on Him so that we can receive His perfect record credited to our account

1 Peter 1:17–19 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Jesus is the unblemished and spotless lamb

He is the only qualified lamb to be the acceptable sacrifice

THE LAMB WAS TO BE KILLED

Exodus 12:6

The lamb could only provide deliverance through the shedding of its blood.

The Gospel:

John 19:17–18 So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.

Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

As the Lamb of God, in order to take away the sins of the world, the blood of Jesus Christ needed to be shed

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

THE BLOOD HAD TO BE PROPERLY APPLIED

Exodus 12:7, 12-13

God had specific requirements in order for the shed blood to provide deliverance

Applied to the door posts and lintel of the house

If done properly, God’s judgment would “Passover” that house and those inside would be spared.

The Gospel:

John 3:16–18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God’s judgment will “Passover” those who have the blood of Christ applied to them

God’s judgment will visit those who do not have the blood of Christ applied to them

God graciously provided for the Israelites a feast of passover, showing His faithfulness to deliver them out of slavery in Egypt.

The Passover would be instituted through the plague known as the death of the first born

Almost 1500 years after that plague, God sent His only Son to be the Passover lamb for the world

“Epistle to Diognetus”, excerpt When our iniquity had come to its full height, and it was clear beyond all mistaking that retribution in the form of punishment and death must be looked for, the hour arrived in which God had determined to make known from then onwards His loving-kindness and His power. How surpassing is the love and tenderness of God! In that hour, instead of hating us and rejecting us and remembering our wickedness against us, He showed how long-suffering He is. He bore with us, and in pity He took our sins upon Himself and gave His own Son as a ransom for us — the Holy for the wicked, the Sinless for sinners, the Just for the unjust, the Incorrupt for the corrupt, the Immortal for the mortal. For was there, indeed, anything except His righteousness that could have availed to cover our sins? In whom could we, in our lawlessness and ungodliness, have been made holy, but in the Son of God alone? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable working! O benefits unhoped for! — that the wickedness of multitudes should thus be hidden in the One holy, and the holiness of One should sanctify the countless wicked!

TRANSITION TO COMMUNION

Closing Prayer

O Lord God, We stand amazed at your ancient plan of redemption for us — that One holy should be able to hide the sins of multitudes and that One holy should be able to sanctify countless wicked.

O Lord, we acknowledge that One holy to be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain for us. We thank you for your matchless love for us.

We remember, and we celebrate. In Jesus’ name, Amen.