The Gospel Message

Why This Topic

(Introduce myself)

It might seem weird to do a Sermon on the Gospel to a Church- and I do understand why it seems like that. A church is the only place where the people there are supposed to read the Bible regularly, and I do think that in my experience that is mostly true. However, even with that there is a very scary reality that we have to reconcile. The fact is that according to the University of Arizona in a study conducted back in 2020, less than one half of one third of church going Evangelical Christians in America correctly understand the Gospel. That means that only 1/6th of the Christian population that are supposed to be out in the world spreading the good news actually even know what the Goodnews of God is. Today being Easter Sunday- the day our Messiah rose from the grave, I think that it truly is the best time to talk about this, because today is the day that we remember the Goodnews coming into fruition in a way that had never before been seen.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

In the Beginning

In order to understand what Christ did for us on Calvary and therefore knowing what His resurrection truly means for us- we have to back up, way up. To before anything was created by God, before time, matter, or space had been spoken into existence and all there was was God. God existed in a perfect harmony of triunity- existing in one essence and three persons- Father, Son, and Spirit. It is here that we can truly understand the nature of God outside our own biases. See, people will deny the trinity, yet affirm that God created all things including time- they'll say that God is all loving and all powerful without realizing that these attributes of God cannot exist without the triunity of the creator. How can a God that relies on nothing need to create for His future creation a Savior to conquer death on God’s behalf to save a people that God created? That seems to me like a contradiction, if God is self sufficient and all powerful He needs no Savior to come for His people and He needs not create one- and He didn’t, for in eternity past the Son is Begotten not made. If God is all loving yet all alone prior to creation would He not need to learn how to love? Therefore making it impossible to have an attribute that defines His character for us, because if He needed to learn how to love he would have the same attribute of love that we posses as the creation. The trinity answers this, for in eternity past the Father loved the only Begotten Son. If the Son was created how could He be an agent of creation? For if time came into existence in the first verse of Genesis, how could anything prior to that beginning have a beginning? The trinity answers this, for in eternity past without beginning and without end, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have existed. This starting point is important in understanding what truly happened when Christ died for us.

God created us for His pleasure, He wanted us- for we have nothing to offer to God even in a sinless state, but especially in the sinful one that we find ourselves in now. God created us to love us and so we could love Him- the state we were in in the beginning of Genesis proves just that. All things that God had created He did so for our pleasure. Even the animals were passed before Adam to find a suitable helper for Adam- showcasing the original intent behind them was with us in mind. When none could be found God gave mankind the greatest gift mankind had been given since breath was breathed into him- woman. Someone who fit together with us in an unimaginable perfect way. All was good, all was complete- yet God in His love for us offered us a choice, continue in this perfect peace, or go our own way. See, without choice there is no love, only programming, for love is the choice to place someone else's wants above our own- to be forced into that is nothing more than being a robot. So, when Adam and his wife Eve were placed into their home God filled it with food- and imagine that type of food it must have been for the creator to declare it good. Yet there was one choice, there was a tree in the garden that we were told was not good for food. It represented something that we cannot appreciate until we are offered the same choice as Christians today; take God’s path and be unsure but promised safety, or take your own path and feel in control where you actually have none. We all know how that story ended then- hopefully we learn from that and don't fall into the same error.

The moment Adam and Eve decided their way was better the world broke apart. A nature of mankind was changed from perfected into tainted- yet God had a plan to fix it. Disease, death, hunger, thirst and mourning all came and anointed mankind. The rest of the Old Testament records just this- wars fought against brothers for supplies and land, harmony was lost. But more than that, even deeper than that, was mankind innate desire to deny God every step of the way now.

It did not take long for God to begin trying to reconcile His people back to Him. He tried to talk to them, they ignored Him our of fear, so He sent people to talk to them for Him, and the murdered them, so He elected rulers to rule on behalf of Him and they revolted against them. Their sin stained their spirit and ripped them apart, so God gave them a priesthood to offer atonement for them and they perverted it for monetary gain. The Old Testament is filled primarily with 3 types of stories- ones about God trying to fix our relationship, ones about mankind complaining about their bad mistakes as if God had anything to do with them, and ones about God telling us that He actually planned for our lack of faith and though its hard now- there is something far better coming. Often its in the midst of the painful stories that God gives us the insights of His spiritual dealings- at least that's what I hope to be able to showcase to you today. But first, we just spent the last ten minutes or so talking about really sad stuff, today is a happy day- so lets talk about that.

The Workings of Christ

The Advent of Christ is something that isn’t just the turning point in terms of hope for this story- it is the entire point of the story. The openings verses of the Book of John showcase this to us amazingly.

John 1:1–16 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

Jesus like I said before was the agent in Creation, the Father created all things through Him because this is the relationship of Father and Son. Its important we understand what our terms mean here- when we say Father and Son we are not speaking in Terms of their Biology- rather their relationship. Jesus is the Son because He is in full perfect submission to the Will of the Father. The Father is the Father because He is the one who plans that which is accomplished. Jesus verifies this in John 5:19 “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” and Hebrews 1:1–4 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

To better understand this I want to take a moment to review some Greek terms here, primarily in Hebrews. The word ‘radiance’ only had one meaning in the Greek, and it refers to that which a star does. It radiates light. The passage is saying that Christ is to God what light is to a star, it comes from the star, it reveals the stars presence but most importantly- it is of the same substance as the star. They are made of the same stuff, our sun provides us with heat because it is made of energy and it throws that energy out of itself and into the area around it. Yet if the sun was not there to send the energy, there would be no energy to send. That which is sent does that which is sending does because that's all it knows how to do. That is what Christ is trying to get across here- and its important to drive this home when we try and understand the significance of Christs sacrifice. This was not just any man suffering at the hands of evil- this was God suffering at the hands of something that His creation fabricated in rejecting Him, so that His creation might obtain Him. If this was any ordinary man this would not have worked, and we can see that in the Old Testament.

Exodus 32:19–35 “And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.” The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.”

Moses could not die on behalf of Israel, because Moses was just a man and Israel was the one who sinned. There was not innocence that Moses could pay because Moses was himself a flawed individual. Christ had to be God to do this- but more than that this verse reveals something that I think is very overlooked in our time- that is what happened to Christ on the cross. Its confirmed in 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.” This is called propitiation, and its a word that the feel good churches don’t like because it means that on the cross- Christ had sinned. From the perspective of His Father, in the moment, Christ was the most sinful person ever to walk the face of the earth, because every sin that every believer past present and future had ever committed was thrown onto Him in that moment. Habakkuk 1:13 “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” and Matthew 27:45 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.”

But why? Why did this need to happen, why couldn’t God just forgive our sins? That's a question that a lot of Christians struggle with, and it all comes down to one thing. God is all loving, which was the motivation behind Him coming down and dying for us, but God is also Just. Justice MUST be served to those who are sinful. This is not a contradiction- its symbiosis. Because God’s love reveals that in God’s Justice He would rather face the consequences of our actions that live apart from us, and Gods Justice reveals that the consequences of that love is God’s suffering for us.

But that is not the end of the story- not even close because the next part is the part that we celebrate today- the conquering of death.

Death Has Been Defeated

Remember what I said before entered the world when mankind rebelled against God? Disease, death, hunger, thirst and mourning- these no longer bind us, and THAT is the Goodnews.

Disease

Christ came and while on earth He healed those who suffered from ailments. The blind saw, and mute spoke and leapers were given new life. This is nothing compared to what Christ did on the cross though. More on that in a moment.

Hunger

John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.””

Thirst

John 7:37–38 “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ””

Mourning

Matthew 5:4 ““Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Death

1 Corinthians 15:55 ““O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?””

Because of what Christ did, and Christ being God incarnate- mankind has the opportunity to come to God. Christ revealed God to us and Salvation is obtained through Him and Him alone for the glory of God. The continuation of that in our lives after we come to Him is Christ actively living in us- so at no point in time (even the good works done after Salvation) can we ever rightly claim that we are to blame for it.

Christ fulfilled what man broke and made it new- and I’ve said before that this has always been God’s plan, and we can very clearly see that if we just understand the Gospel and then reread the Old Testament through its leans'. Paul summarizes this Gospel message we just talked about in Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Another way to say this is we are saved because of God’s Mercy on us, by trusting in Christ’s plan for us and nothing else. There is no way to earn it, there is nothing we can offer to it- in fact to believe we can earn it in anyway is a dangerous road to follow because Paul says in Romans 11:6 “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Meaning if we count it to us, there is not grace offered to us.

Old Testament Depictions of Salvation in Christ

For the members of my family that have seen me preach before- this is the part where you’re going to rehear information that I've shared hundreds of times before. But- its cool stuff so I am going to share it again.

When we see New Testament theology being taught in the Old Testament in images and stories we call them depictions and they give us insights into how God’s plan has not ever changed. Now, there are thousands of these, for the sake of time- I have chosen by favorite 4.

Abraham and Isaac

Genesis 22 “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah,…”

Now when atheists hear this story they think ‘wow religious people are insane to think the Abraham was a good father,’ and Christians don’t usually know how to respond other than that this was a depiction of what the Father gave in His son for mankind. However, this is actually two depictions rolled into one, and once you see that it is obvious how Abraham actually was not a bad father at all in trusting God.

When we think of this we often think that Abrahams faith was tested in that He placed God above his love for his son- but that isn’t entirely true. In Genesis 21:12 “But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” So, Abrahams faith was actually being tested not in placing is faith above his sons life, rather it was being testing on Abrahams trust in the resurrection. Abraham knew that no matter what happened on the top of that mountain- God was going to fulfill this promise of giving Abraham grandchildren through Isaac. We are shown how this is fulfilled in Christ when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:12–28 “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”

All the way in Genesis we are told about God resurrecting His Son.

Canaan

The story of Israel conquering the land of Canaan, what we call the Promised Land. More Specifically, I want to talk about Israel conquering Jericho. This depiction starts about 40 years before Israel actually began conquering the land of Canaan, as they stood on the boarder of the Jordan river looking across into what was supposed to be their new homes. For context here, Israel had just traveled up out of Egypt and had just spent 2 years in the wilderness while Moses, their leader, recieved the law from God. During that time God provided them manna from heaven to feed them, and when the people complained about the manna, God sent meat from heaven to feed them. These people are the same people whom two year prior had witnessed God divide the Red Sea for them so they could walk safely away from those trying to persecute them. These same people sent 12 spies to survey the Promised Land to see what means they would need to take in order to conquer the land. The report that 10 of those spies gave shows us just how little faith they had in their saving God’s ability.

Numbers 13:33 “And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.””

These 10 faithless spies turned this entire generation of Israel against God, all because they had their sights set on what they were capable of doing. So God, being Just, did no allow this faithless generation to enter into the Promised Land. Essentially saying ‘you want nothing to do with the land, then the land will have nothing to do with you,’ He then set the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all that generation had died off. This shows us right off the bat how we are saved, by faith alone, but our Promised Land is far greater then the Promised Land that Israel was looking into. As said in Hebrews.

Hebrews 4:6–11 “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

Not only is the Promised Land we get greater than the one that Joshua had taken the Israelites into, but it starts not 40 years from now, nor whenever you die. No, our Promised Land starts the day we come to the LORD- so let that day be TODAY.- This is the message we read in Hebrews.

After this faithless generation died off, the people of Israel once again stood at this border, but there was no doubt in their minds about God’s ability this time. That is where the story of Jericho takes place. For some context, I want to talk a little bit about Jericho. Jericho is an archeological land site today, one that has been uncovered.

For some more context, when Israel entered the promised land it was inhabited by evil Pegan worshippers from other nations. God told Israel to conquer the land and to not be afraid because He was going to give the land over to His people. When conquering Jericho, whose primary military power was the fortification, Israel was told to march around its walls and the walls would come crumbling down.

Jericho is a ‘Tel.’ It is an archeological term that is used to describe a city that has been destroyed and rebuild upon the ruins of the old city over and over and over again. Until what you have is a large hill in an otherwise flat field. They would simply put retaining walls around the old city, and build the foundation higher and higher. By the time that Israel went into conquer Jericho this retaining wall sat at about 10 feet in the air. Meaning even if the walls of Jericho fell, they would still have to go about climbing this retaining wall. What we found when we unearthed Jericho is that the walls around the city fell in such a way that it offered a ramp up the retaining wall so that Israel could walk into the city and conquer it. How is that possible?

I think that this ties really well into a parable that Jesus gives us in Matthew.

Matthew 19:24–26 “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””

Believers often time put the emphasis of these verses on the first part when they ask things like “does this mean that having money is bad.” But Jesus seems to be placing it on the back half, speaking a spiritual equivalent to “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for Israel to conquer Canaan.” You might ask “how then, did they take it?” I think Jesus would answer the same way ‘With man it would have been impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The Bronze Serpent

During Israels 40 year exile after refusing to trust in God to conquer the land of Canaan for them, Israel still struggled to have faith in God-

Numbers 21:4–9 “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

Its a normal response to find this strange. How am I about to say that Christ was represented by a Serpent when Satan was the one who embodied a serpent in Genesis- however Christ says this is about him in John 3:13–15 “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

God told us back in numbers the coming way of Salvation- by looking to Christ.

These depictions as I have said, I’ve given them before. They are incredibly helpful is seeing what the Bible Story is all about- it is about Christ through and through. Tim Keller is an author on this topic and he puts it beautifully like this

“Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us. Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal. Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God. Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.” Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us. Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them. Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant. Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert. Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends. Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves. Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people. Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in. Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread. It’s not about you—it’s about him.”

Now when I have done this in the past I have given one more depiction before sharing Tim Kellers findings and then ending my sermon, but today I wanted to do it out of order. Because, today we are taking part in communion, and because today is Easter Sunday- I want to end with the best depiction I have yet to find. But first I really want to drive something home. Because, yes- the Bible is about Jesus and not about you. The is a fact, and we must accept that in humility in order to appreciate the gospel and accept Christ’s Salvation. But, that is just in our perspective- because from the perspective of God; it is about you. Every single thing He has ever done has been in an effort to bring us to a place of submission- whether its in our personal lives or what He did on the cross God wants you. All He asks from you is that you want Him. As long as that is where you heart is Salvation is always and open door to you you just have to accept is. Now for that last depiction.

The Passover Lamb

For those of you unfamiliar with the story of the first Passover, it takes place in the Book of Exodus. This is way before the other two depictions, way back when Israel was enslaved in Egypt. God wanted to set His people free and so He ordered Moses to command the people to sacrifice a Lamb and smear the blood of that lamb over the door of their household. To every person who did not have faith in God’s command, that night the Angel of Death came and took their firstborn child, but to everyone who did have faith, God saved their household. However it was not just as simple as having a lamb killed and its blood smeared. It also had to be eaten, and it had to be prepared without its bones being broken. It also had to be a year old (innocent) and without blemish (perfect.) We are also told that it had to be celebrated yearly after the Israelites left Egypt and we are told why too- to remember that God freed Israel from Slavery. How does this relate to Christ?

John 19:36 “For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”” This verse was given in reference to Jesus after He was beaten and hung on a cross, and it is quoting Exodus 12:46 “It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.” Which is speaking of the passover lambs preparations. Paul saw this connection and writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7 “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

Here is where I was absolutely amazed. The last supper takes place on the Passover, and with all the regulations around the Lamb its interesting that the Gospel writers do not blatantly tell us that they prepared lamb- in fact there is debate in some scholarly groups as to whether or not lamb was even present. What are we told was eaten though? Mark 14:22–24 “And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

This isn’t where it stops though, because the purpose of the Passover was to remember God freeing Israel from their bondage in Egypt; which is the same reason we take communion! John 8:34–36 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Jesus is the greater Passover Lamb, whom we take part in to remember not our freedom from a literal slavery to an Egyptian Pharaoh, but the stronger and more domineering more dangerous slavery to sin in which He freed us from and that is what Jesus did on the Cross!