Our Promised Redemption

PPHC – 12/16/07 A.M.

I. The Passover Lamb (Exod. 12:1-13)

A. Instructions (1-4)

1. Don’t know how the Lord communicated to Moses: an audible voice, vision, or an impression.

2. There was to be one lamb per house (families merging if needed).

3. Note: the first ordinance of the Jews from God was a domestic service (family).

a. No nation has ever been prosperous or permanent without a strong emphasis on the home.

· Ancient Rome: Destroyed, not because of the enemy, as much as the failing of the family.

b. God has built his nation upon families.

B. Characteristics (5,6)

1. Four days before the Passover, each household was to select a lamb.

a. One year old male lamb without blemish.

C. Application (7)

1. The lamb was to be killed.

2. Its blood sprinkled: on the door post and on the lintel of the house of the Israelites.

· It was not enough to shed the blood; it had to be applied. (Even for the Israelites)

· Personal application – It is not enough for me to know that the blood of Christ was shed for me; a Savior provided is not sufficient; He must be received.

3. A lamb for a house…It was personal.

D. Protection (12,13)

1. Important to note: God’s eye was not on the house...It was on the blood

2. Also note: God’s eye was not only those within the house; it was on the blood.

· May have been descendants of Abraham, circumcised, walking blamelessly…It was not on their heredity, their uprightness, nor their good works which guaranteed their deliverance.

· God’s eye was on application of the blood to their home.

II. The Day of Atonement – (Lev. 16:29-34; 17:11)

A. Characteristics (16:29-34)

1. The Day of Atonement: the most solemn day of the entire year for the Jewish people.

a. A day of humiliation. A day they recognized their sins and the need for cleansing.

2. The high priest would make atonement for the people…In the Holy of Holies.

a. They had to depend on someone else to approach God for them.

· Personal application: Now, because of the blood of Jesus, we may go continually, and even dwell, where the high priest could only go once per year.

3. The priest had to make atonement for the tabernacle, the sanctuary, and the altar…along with the people.

a. Note: Imperfection was plainly written on holy things…affected by the sins of Israel.

b. But as far reaching as this sacrifice might have been, it had to be repeated every year…Not counting, all the sacrifices slain on the altar during the year.

· Personal application: Yet, because of the Sacrifice of Calvary, there is no limit to the application of His atoning death.

B. Purpose (17:11)

1. William G. T. Shedd Dogmatic Theology – “Atonement means to ‘cover over’ so as not to be seen. Thus the suffering of the substituted animal had the effect of the covering over the guilt of the real criminal and made it invisible to the eye of a holy God.”

a. As noted in the O.T. writings:

· Ps. 51:1, 9 – “Blot out my transgressions...Hide thy face from my sins..”

· Is. 38:17 – “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back…”

· Micah 7:19 – “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

III. Christ’s Sacrifice Prophesied (Is. 53:1-12)

· Isaiah spoke of a report (message) delivered to the people.

A. Despised (1-3)

1. It was a message of love, joy, and glory. It sounded so good that people had difficulty receiving it.

a. Because the message was centered in the lowly, exalted Servant of Jehovah.

1. He was referred to as “the arm of the Lord” – an emblem of divine power.

2. Is. 52:10 He was made bare “in the eyes of all the nations.”… Yet they had not realized it.

2. Isaiah referred to Jesus’ youthful days as a “tender plant”

a. Normally, roots are not expected to fare well in dry ground…But Isaiah said He would grow.

· “He had no beauty in the way of external splendor, which it was expected the Jewish Messiah and the coming King of Israel would assume. There were no robes of royalty own His person, no diadems sparkled on His brow, and there was no spectacular retinue in His train. He was of humble rank, poor in this world’s goods, and without imminent associates. He had disappointed the expectation of His nation and was not the Prince that they desired.”

Dr. James M. Gray

3. Israel deliberately rejected Him. (“forsaken”)…even His disciples left him in his darkest hour.

B. Afflicted (4-6)

1. The prophet predicted that the messiah would experience the common lot of man.

a. It can be summed up in three words: suffering, sin, and death.

· Jesus fulfilled this prophecy: he bore the griefs, carried the sorrows, died for the sins of man.

C. Slain (7-9)

D. Satisfied (10-12)