The Trustworthiness of the Bible

Genesis 15:12–17 NKJV

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

It’s a meal for the road

Exodus 12:1–11 NKJV

Now the Lord 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 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 the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

But this is more than a meal. The blood on their doors is the people’s salvation

Exodus 12:12–13 NKJV

‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign 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.

God spared them because of the blood.

God commanded his people to celebrate this Passover meal as a yearly memorial Ex. 12:14-20; 24-27

Every year this festival would celebrate how God delivered them from Egypt. Children would learn how God saved and spared his people.

Exodus 12:26–27 NKJV

And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

This meal marked the birth of their nation. Who is Israel? The people rescued by God from Egypt. and the Passover reminded them year by year that they were a people - the only people - whom God freed from slavery and made his own.

This is why only Israelites could eat

Exodus 12:43 NKJV

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.

If a foreigner wanted to eat, he had to become an Israelite (submit to the Mosaic Covenant).

Exodus 12:47–48 NKJV

All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.

The Passover defined the people. - their identity and their membership

Generations would hear

Exodus 13:8 NKJV

And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’

Deuteronomy 26:5–8 NKJV

And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.

Every generation was to say “This Passover is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. This redemption wasn’t just for them; it is for us, now.”

So at the Exodus God saved a people through a blood sacrifice; he freed them from slavery and made them his own. On the night of that deliverance he gave them a meal to celebrate ever after. This meal defined the people.

Jesus sealed God’s promise with his blood

he celebrated the passover with the disciples

Luke 22:14–15 NKJV

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

but he changed the meal into something new; this new meal would not look back to Egypt, but to the deliverance God accomplished on the cross

Luke 22:14–15 NKJV

When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;

the passover was usually a family meal; by doing this with his disciples, Jesus was turning friends into family. His family are those who receive his sacrifice.

Luke 22:19–20 NKJV

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

the cross is planned. Jesus will give his body

He is establishing a new covenant

Matthew 26:26–28 NKJV

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 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 covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

this is not about the transformation of the things

he is tying these things (bread/wine) to the new covenant. they are like a wedding ring to the wedding vows

we are commanded to do it in remembrance

Luke 22:19 NKJV

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

This meal defines God’s people as the ones who have received his sacrifice. They are the ones who should partake of it and no one else.

when we take communion

why we take communion

who takes communion