The Passover Cross, Part 1

This morning, this Palm Sunday as we approach Easter next week, I want to take you to scripture this week and next in preparation for reflecting upon what Christ has done on the cross for you and for me. This morning, I am going to take you to an old testament passage; the passage of the Passover, the night Israel was delivered from slavery to Egypt. In the passage from John that we just read, the Passover of the Jew was referenced. If we truly want to understand what Easter is about and the significance of that statement to the Passover, we have to begin by looking at the Passover.

Next week, we are going to come back to this Passover passage in Exodus and show the connection between this passage and the cross of Christ. I am going to attempt to draw some parallel’s and show how the Passover deliverance is a picture pointing forward to Christ.

My prayer is that you will strive to be here for both messages as they are linked and connected and will seem incomplete without each other.

With that in mind, let’s go to Exodus chapter 12 where we will spend the rest of the morning.

Outline

Big Idea: Christ is the true Passover lamb whose blood provides deliverance for all who believe.

Larger Context

Immediate Context

Passover Lamb - Exodus 12:1-6

Blood of the Lamb - Exodus 12:7-14

Purification - Exodus 12:15-20

Command for Future Generations - Exodus 12:14; 24-48

Deliverance - Exodus 12:29-51

Sermon Body

Context

Exodus 12

Before we read this passage, let’s summarize the context, the background of where we have been and where this chapter falls in the flow of events happening.

If you recall, Abram (descended from Noah) had a son named Isaac. Isaac had twin sons named Jacob and Easu. Jacob, the younger twin, stole the birthright and blessing from their father Isaac and had to flee for a number of years. He finally was led back home and restored to his brother and family.

It was during a wrestling match with God the night before Jacob was to meet Esau and his coming army, that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

God blessed Jacob, the younger son, and through Jacob, God would bless the world. Jacob had 12 sons, his favorite two sons being Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of his favorite wife, Rachel (the younger sister of Leah).

Joseph, being favored by his father, did not bode well his with 10 older brothers. To top it off, Joseph was given two dreams from God that revealed his brothers and father would bow before him and ultimately serve him.

Jealousy overtook the brothers, they sold him into slavery and he ended up in Egypt. Through a series of events , Joseph ended up the second in command in Egypt, second only to Pharoah. During the years of famine that God revealed to Pharoah, Joseph moved his entire family to Egypt, to the land of Goshen in order to better care for them.

There they lived for many many years. Eventually, Joseph died and the Pharaoh under whom he served died and the new ruler did not know Joseph or the Israelites, feared them because they were so many in number and become frightened that they might rise up with Egypt’s enemies and attack Egypt.

Therefore, out of fear and pride, he enslaved the Israelites and oppressed them terribly. The Israelites cried out to God for deliverance from this oppression and God prepared a deliverer in Moses to come and deliver His people out of slavery and bondage.

He sent Moses and his brother Aaron to speak to Pharaoh and get Pharaoh to release them. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would refuse. God did this in order that he might send 10 plagues on the nation of Israel in order to show his superiority over the pagan gods of Egypt and over the rulership of Pharaoh.

That context brings us to chapter 12.

Prior to this 9 plagues, all terrible, have been released upon the land of Egypt, decimating and destroying it. Each one targeting Israel’s gods and exposing them as fakes.

There is one final plague to come. And that is chapter 12.

Immediate Context

Plague 10

So, as we begin this chapter, the context we begin with is…

· Last of 10 Plagues – Passover

· Nation of Israel slaves in Egypt

· Israel has no power or ability to free themselves

That is the context. Now, let’s read together. As we read, I want to develop the Passover Lamb, Blood of the Lamb, Purification, and a Command for Future Generations

Let’s begin with the Passover Lamb

Passover Lamb - Exodus 12:1-6

Exodus 12:1-3

At the beginning of this last plague, Moses and Aaron tell the people of Israel that they must do something.

They will be told to take a lamb into their household. But they are told to do it on a very specific day.

God is telling Moses and Aaron that this month, this day will be significant and special. He is establishing for them something that he will command they keep and remember for generations.

Up until this point, the plagues have just been sent by God and nothing has been required of the people yet. They have not had to take any action, or do any specific thing. They have just been sitting back and watching as God struck Egypt with one plague after another. Some affected all of Egypt, others affected only the Egyptians and did not touch the people of Israel. This last plague is different.

A New Calendar is established

And with it comes a marked change. This will now mark the beginning of a year for them.

What is God doing here, is God creating an all new calendar and starting a new cycle of days? Was this to be the NEW start of their year? Or is this something else?

Jews had two types of calendar years, Civil (law, legal), and religious calendar.

IVP Bible Background Commentary

Exo_12:1-11. calendar. This event established Abib (later called Nisan) as the first month in the religious calendar of Israel. By the civil calendar, Tishri, six months later, was the first month, and thus the month that “New Year's Day” was celebrated. The Israelite calendar was a lunar calendar with periodic adjustments to the solar year. Abib began with the first new moon after the spring equinox, generally mid-March, and went through mid-April.

God is establishing a religious calendar to mark all their sacred feasts and remembrance which would soon be established upon their leaving Egypt and fleeing into the wilderness. This is God establishing the foundation for that entire system.

God is establishing for the people a remembrance and an action that is to be remembered and honored for generations to come.

This first act, this most important act which will be commanded to be remembered and honored for generations to come, starts on the tenth day of the first month of this new religious calendar year. On that day, they are to take a lamb into the house.

A lamb is adopted

Exodus 12:3-4

Four days before the meal, they were to prepare by choosing a lamb for the meal.

Douglas Stuart noted that at its heart, the passover is a meal. Like some of our modern American holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, they are celebrations that generally revolve around a meal. These meals require preparation, sometimes even days ahead of time.

The passover was just such a celebration.

The choosing of this lamb MUST include the process of determining how much each person will eat so that the entire lamb is consumed in one sitting.

If a family was too small to consume an entire lamb themselves, they were to combine with another family.

Everyone was to eat and ALL of the lamb was to be eating at the single meal. No leftovers. No extra.

Why?

One answer is that this instruction is setting the precedent for Israel, now and for future generations that this celebration is to be a SHARED celebration. This meal, this remembrance is to be remembered in such a way that COMMUNITY is established and that this remembrance is to be done as a whole nation, done together. SO, if a smaller family cannot eat a whole lamb themselves, they join together so that as one community, one nation, they are remembering.

God was instructing them to remember in a way that thwarted isolation and individualism.

A second reason, perhaps one of even greater value is this. Douglas Stuart noted.

Exodus (1) Guidance for Preparing and Eating the Passover (12:1–11)

But the greater value is in preparation for the Messiah. The Messiah was to be one body, broken for all, symbolically eaten by all, in order to help believers in the New Covenant keep aware of their unity as members of the one body. Partial consumption and fragments left over do not appropriately symbolize that body and that unity. The ultimate purpose of the Old Testament Passover instruction is to point forward to Christ, to the purpose of his death, memorialized in the ritual of the Lord’s Supper that now replaces the Passover, and also to the unity of those accepted by him as his people, his body.

The symbolism and pointing forward to what this meal symbolizes, of what this passover points to, this is likely the greater reason why they are given the specific instructions that they are given.

This sharing of the meal and the eating of the whole animal is a critical part of the passover meal or else God would not be so specific about it.

It is about community AND it is about the picture of THE PASSOVER LAMB who offers his whole self in our place on the cross.

God goes on to give them specifications on what the lamb was to be like.

As he gave them instructions regarding the feast, he got more specific about what type of lamb was to be required.

Exodus 12:5-6

The lamb was to be without blemish, innocent, spotless.

God commanded and demanded perfection, blamelessness, holiness from the lamb.

Why? Because as we will see in but moments, that lamb would be slaughtered as a means to provide a covering for their sin and a protection from the final plague to come. The perfection of the lamb, the sacrifice which would serve as their salvation, was paramount. It serves to show God demands of perfection, His love of Holiness, His inability to tolerate sin, and the necessity of a perfect sacrifice for salvation and deliverance.

I am often struck with the holiness of God. The utter perfection and sinlessness of our divine and eternal creator. With every passing day, I grow more grateful and appreciative of this great God’s holiness.

Could you imagine an eternity where sin was tolerated or even loved? Imagine the pain, the heartache, the brokenness that results from sin. The relationships that are destroyed, injured, and impaired.

No, I am glad that we serve a God who demands perfection and holiness. I am glad we serve a God who loves perfection, sinlessness, and who punishes sin.

I am thankful for a God who has disciplined sin in my own life, giving me a deeper hatred of it and a deeper desire to walk in righteousness! It is because God is this, that I can know God better, love God deeper, and serve Him more fully.

I love that God demands perfection. I love what the demand for a perfect lamb reveals about the person of God.

In addition to become without blemish, it had to be a one year old male.

Not given a specific reason for the age...

BUT

Younger animals would typically have been healthier, less age and healthy related issues.

Some have commented that perhaps because Christ was younger (30’s) when he died, that the youngness of the lamb could have been related to Christ’s young age

Whatever the reason, we are told it had to be a one year old male.

Male - for a couple reasons....

Practically - They would want to keep the females for breeding

Analogously - Christ was male

AND

It was to be kept until the 14th day of the month. From the 10th, to the 14th day, these lambs were a part of the home. They were attached and invested into the life of that lamb. This would likely be even more true of the children.

I know that four days isn’t a long time, but it is enough time to build an attachment to the little thing, especially for your animal lovers.

Why though? Why would God require this? It’s not like we do this with the rest of our food. Bring them into the house, live with them for four days before we kill it and turn it into dinner? Why do this with the Passover lamb?

Because it makes the cost of forgiveness, the cost of salvation more real, more deeply felt, more richly understand, and more intimately appreciated.

Salvation may well be free to us…but it is not free. It cost someone something to provide forgiveness/freedom. It cost God His Son’s own life.

This connection would show the significant consequences of sin, the cost of sin. It always affects the ones we love and hurts the innocent.

It makes the cost of salvation seem real, personal, and relevant. Just like Adam and Eve in the garden had to see the animals slaughtered and their blood spilt on pure ground in order to cover their nakedness and sin, so the nation of Israel, so we need to see the devastating cost of sin.

We will see next week how this is a picture of Christ on the cross for us. Do you ever imagine it was hard for God to see His own son die on the cross? Do you ever imagine that was hard?

This developed affection before the slaughter is intended to show the devastating cost of sin. It is to help make the cost of sin and the cost of redemption, deliverance, and forgiveness real.

Therefore, before the slaughter of the animal on the 14th day at twilight, they are to house this animal.

Let me ask us something this morning? Does the truth depth of the cost Christ paid for you to be sitting here this morning mean anything to you? Don’t say anything, don’t nod your head. Think about your thoughts, desires, attitude, beliefs, opinions, and deeds. Do they reflect a true realization of the cost to wipe away your sin?

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of a profession from my lips, from other profession Christians lips of understanding the cost of our salvation and forgiveness and then seeing lives that are filled with selfish, arrogant living that does not reflect a love for God, a submission to his commands, or a mind that is formed and balanced around his word.

When we experience the cost, feel the cost, have to pay the cost, it causes us to take more seriously the thing obtained from paying the cost.

Take a teenager who is given his first car. He did not have to pay for it, did not have to work for it, did not have to earn it. Take the college student who had his way paid by his parents or even on scholarships. There is a tendency to treat the car, the college education a little more lightly, carelessly, and slothfully because they did not experience the pain, the sweat, the toiling, the disappointment, the failure, the blood and tears that go into obtaining those things.

Those who have to work for it, who have to work hard for it, protect it, care for it, guard it, and cherish but they know, understand and feel what it cost to obtain it.

By having to feel the cost of our salvation, by having to have a small glimpse into what it cost, it causes us to cherish our salvation more, work to live it, protect, and make it real.

We need to take this lesson God was teaching to the Israelites seriously. We need to feel the cost of our sins and allow that to drive us to repentance and relationship with God.

So, this Passover lamb, a one year old male, taken in on the 10th day of the month and slaughtered on the 14th, was to be perfect, spotless, without blemish, the best of what they had to offer God.

It had to die, to be eaten, but there is another crucial step that involved the blood of this animal.

Blood of the Lamb - Exodus 12:7-14

Exodus 12:7

The blood of that animal had to be taken and spread on the doorposts and lintel of the houses where they ate.

What is a lintel? The lintel is the upper door post.

The two sides and the upper are to be spread with the blood of the slaughtered ram. The picture being that they are covered, top and sides with the blood the lamb who died and it is because of that blood that was shed and covered you, that you will be spared, because by faith, you listened, believed, and obeyed.

Now, there is nothing special in the doorframe itself. But it is the means by which you come and go, interacting with the world outside your small bubble. What better place than to display your act of faith and trust in God?

Think about it, why do people decorate their front doors? Why do wreath’s and special decor, special knockers, letters, signs, etc adorn may doors in our homes? Because they expose and reveal something of the inhabitants of the home.

The doorways of our homes are the entrance and exit to the larger world around us and it is the means by which the world comes and interacts with us.

This is a logical place to place one’s statement of faith, to place a sign of what is important to us that all the world might see.

Notice as well that this was done BEFORE the meal was eaten.

First things first. Placing priorities where they belong. This blood covers and stands present over the rest of their doings throughout this meal.

It is the blood and the covering of this blood that is really the true point of this remembrance feast.

Blood, this shed blood is the means of deliverance they are now about to experience.

It is the means of deliverance that you and I now dwell under.

Blood is always the demand for sin.

Hebrews 9:22

Blood is the life source of a living being. The demand of sin, the debt of sin, is the very life of the one who sinned.

Romans 6:23 is clear, the wages of sin is death. Take the blood, you take the life of the creature. Life is in the blood. Blood represents life. Life is the demand of sin. Death is the debt owed to God for sin.

The blood of this lamb, slaughtered and splattered on the door frame is evidence that they understand the cost of sin, that it has been paid.

Douglas Stuart

Exodus (1) Guidance for Preparing and Eating the Passover (12:1–11)

one should appreciate the fact that an omniscient God would hardly need a sign to know which people had been faithful to him and which had not. The sign therefore was presumably at least as much for the benefit of those who were to provide it, to require them to undertake an action that involved more than mere ideation, but one demonstrating their confidence in God’s power to kill as well as to rescue.

This was about their faith and trust in God to save them. Not about his ability to locate them in the right houses.

This was about providing a picture of what deliverance and salvation costs.

There is more though...

Exodus 12:8-10

We will see down in verse 11 that they were to eat with a preparedness to leave at a moment’s notice.

Again, this is an act of faith…are they believing that at any moment, God is going to provide deliverance for them?

But because of this, everything, all the instructions they were given were designed to show a state of readiness and preparedness to leave at a moment’s notice.

Roasting over a fire required no set up or clean up, little to no preparation. It was the fasting and simplest way to cook.

Eating raw meat would have been dangerous and boiling it would have taken longer and required more prep, thus the instruction to roast and not boil.

Bitter herbs were the easiest to find and harvest on short notice.

Although not fully explained here, the significance of the bitter herbs represent the bitterness of their slavery and would be representative of their repentance from sin. It stood as a reminder of where they had come from, what God had delivered them from, and would serve as a picture of their own repentance before God. At least that was the intent. We know like in many things, how one can perform the practice while the heart is not engaged and far away. But God intended it to be a picture. He intended it to be a reminder and an outward picture of an internal reality.

Bread without yeast could be made rapidly.

The inclusion of the inner parts means that it was gutted simply and roasted rapidly as opposed to the usual full butchering and separation of all the organ meats.

The entire preparation was designed to be done with a sense of readiness to depart at a moments notice.

They were to eat it all and whatever was not edible or left, had to be burned. Nothing could remain till morning.

Again, this is a statement of faith....we are expecting deliverance by morning. We are trusting God to deliver us and provide for us.

In addition, I believe there is the imagery of salvation requiring everything.

God expects ALL on the altar of sacrifice for sins. There is nothing that can be left out. In the sacrificial system that would later be established, the whole animal was to be burnt on the altar for the forgiveness of sins.

When it comes to repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation, God demands, not part, but ALL OF OUR LIFE AND BEING to be given to Him. God expected all of the lamb to be eaten what was not eaten was to be burned.

This flies in direction contradiction to much of our modern, western thinking as it pertains to Christianity and salvation. We think we can add God to our lives and give him the parts we are comfortable giving while keeping other parts to ourselves. We think we can transform our thinking in some areas while keeping other ways of thinking to ourselves.

When we come to God for salvation, in repentance and faith, we need to understand that God expects ALL of us! He demands our whole life, our blood, our body, our mind, our heart, every part of our being be given to Him on the altar. Which means, everything, our mind, our thoughts, our opinions, our beliefs, our heart, our desires, our dreams, our pleasures, our comforts, our hobbies, our strength, our every action, our every deed, our everything needs to be given to God, to please God, to honor God, to glorify God, to serve God, and to be made like Christ.

God established a visible and physical picture of this early on through the demand of the whole lamb being given to God, being burnt on the altar, being used for God, in its entirety.

But there were a few more requirements…

Exodus 12:11-13

Deliverance was about to come. They were to eat with their belts fastened, their sandals on, staff in hand, in haste, believing God was about to bring about the final act of deliverance. Remember this is 10 of 10 plagues. The first nine covered a span of time. This did not all happen overnight. Egypt had been under siege by God for a period of time and Israel stood by watching, not knowing when the final act would come and they would be finally delivered.

But now they were being told that one more plague was coming, and after this final plague, God would deliver them from the Egyptian slavery and oppression.

This final act of eating in this manner bore the idea of readiness and faith. They were to eat, being prepared, trusting God that He was going to do as He said, and deliver them from the Egyptian oppressors.

To prepare the food, eat the food, and be prepared to leave on a moments notice, they revealed their readiness to obey and their faith in God to deliver as He promised.

This was about faith and obedience.

Do you and I live expectantly like this? Ready for Christ’s return?

So, having slaughtered the lamb, spread its blood over the doorpost, prepared the meal and eaten in haste, and making ready to leave, they revealed an obedience to God and faith in Him to carry out His plan.

And having done this, they would be spared the final plague when the Passover angel came.

Here is the flip side of that. If any chose to NOT believe and obey and did not follow these instructions, specifically with the blood, they would lose their firstborn, regardless of they were of Egypt or Israel.

This last plague made no distinction between Egypt or Israel. It made a distinction between those who obeyed and showed faith through slaughtering the lamb or not. Those who put blood on the doorpost would be spared, those who did not, would not be. Simple as that.

The greatest judgment, the final plague was a plague conditional upon obedience and faith.

With this final act, this final plague would come salvation and deliverance. This aspect of faith and obedience, of blood and sacrifice is a powerful picture of a future salvation, deliverance which God would provide through His Son Jesus Christ. And this we will see next week.

The blood stands as the sign of faith, of repentance, of obedience. When the angels sees the blood, it acknowledges the faith and obedience that put it there and passes over exempting the family within from judgement, saving them from the wrath of God upon them.

God is pleased with the death of the lamb as a substitute for their own blood owed to Him for their sin.

Temporarily at least. These sacrifices were required continually, annually, daily, as much as needed to appease God's wrath for sin. They appeased God temporarily but a need for a better more permanent sacrifice was needed.

And that, of course is where we are headed next week. As we will draw the comparison and connection, Christ was the perfect passover lamb.

Big Idea: Christ is the true passover lamb whose blood provides deliverance for all who believe.

It is the reason this series of message is called the Passover Cross.

The richness of this truth and reality is beautiful.

God goes on this passage to give requirements for purification and preparation.

Purification - Exodus 12:15-20

Skip verse 14 for a moment, we will come back to it in a minute. Begin in verse 15.

Exodus 12:15-20

There is a fair amount of repetition, double emphasis in this passage.

But what God is establishing a memorial to be remembered for generations to come. Will touch on this in a moment.

What God is establishing is the feast of unleavened bread.

What is this?

Leaven is yeast. It refers to a fungus that ferments sugars. It is used to cause dough to rise and in other kinds of food productions. It leavens dough, causing it to rise.

Lexham Bible Dictionary

The figurative uses of leaven in the New Testament sometimes imply that leaven was viewed as a corrupting substance (Matt 16:6). Paul twice says that “a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough” (1 Cor 5:6; Gal 5:9). However, Jesus uses it once in a positive way, referring to the change caused by the kingdom of heaven (Matt 13:33).

God used leaven to describe the influence of sin in our lives that ferments and grows, building in our lives and affecting everything we are and do.

In scripture, leaven is associated with sin and evil. 1 Corinthians 5:1-13.

The picture of leaven, or yeast, was intended to serve and show the importance of cleansing and purifying our lives from everything that is repugnant to God and sinful against Him. It is the idea of putting away all manner of life, thinking, acting, and desiring that is contrary to God and his word.

Christ did use it once in a positive sense in Matthew 13:33 but the predominate NT analogy shows it as a negative.

Therefore, seven days prior to this feast of Passover, which is will be instituted as an annual remembrance, all leaven was the be cleansed from the homes. No leaven was to be used, consumed, or touched. As this physical process took place, it was intended to motivate a spiritual cleansing and purification as well in preparation for a scared remembrance of what God had done for them.

It was intended to draw them to God and restore them to right relationship with Him.

Verse 21 shows Moses and the nation of Israel acting in obedience.

Exodus 12:21-23

God gave the instructions, and by faith, Israel responded in obedience.

Now, go back to verse 14 for a minute

Command for Future Generations - Exodus 12:14; 24-28

Exodus 12:14

Now skip to verse 24

Exodus 12:24-28

This was the inauguration of an annual feast to be held in remembrance of this moment of deliverance.

God established this feast, this process to be remembered forever as way to remember and pass on the act of deliverance to their children and their children’s children. It was to be a sacred act in which God’s act of salvation and deliverance was remembered, praised, worshipped, and taught to generations to come in order to teach them about the truth of God, His character, and his works.

God knows us, he knows we are forgetful. He knows we are prone to forget and therefore He established this annual feast that would serve as a constant reminder of who God is and what He has done. At the same time, it would serve as a tool to teach the children about God and about who He is and what he did for them in Egypt.

It was also a means by which this moment in history, its significance could be taught to the future generations. It was a means of passing the truth down so that it would never be forgotten even by generations that did not live through it.

This is the very same feast that was still being remembered in John, the passage we read at the very beginning this morning. The very same message we will return to next week.

God was purposeful in those feasts and remembrances that he established for the nation. They served the purpose of not forgetting, of training, and solidifying the value and importance of truths that should never be forgotten.

And finally, as we conclude for today, let’s complete the narrative of this chapter by reading the fulfillment of God’s deliverance for the people of Israel.

Conclusion

Deliverance - Exodus 12:29-51

Read with me beginning in verse 29

Exodus 12:29-51

God kept his promise. He did what He said He would do. He delivered them from slavery and bondage to the Egyptians.

And this is the Passover. This is what the Passover feast that the Jews had to remember each year stood for, reminded them of, and what is spoke to.

God delivered His people. He remained faithful to His chosen nation and He saved them.

All of this is a powerful picture of Christ and the true Passover lamb.

I pray that as we reflect upon this passover event in the life of Israel, I pray that the we come next week ready to see the direct connection to Christ, THE PASSOVER LAMB and that are hearts are filled with devotion and adoration to God for who He is and what He has accomplished for us.

Application and Discussion Questions

In what way(s) does our current study through Genesis enrich your understanding and appreciation for the story of the passover?

Sometimes we can get to the point where a story is just a story. We like it, it is good, but we forget the deeper context, the richer tapestry upon which it is written. Having considered the larger context that led up to their captivity, having related to and studied each character in the narrative out, we can have a deeper connection, a greater investment in the life of the story that enriches for the value of events that take place.

Why does God establish remembrances and ordinances for us to keep?

To help us remember

To deepen our understanding of how those events work into his plan

To strengthen our faith and devotion to God

To help us teach and train the next generation to know and love truth

What is the danger of regular remembrances and ordinances?

They become commonplace and lose their significance, freshness, and life. They can become just another thing we do without truly understanding or valuing that thing.

We can add our own human traditions to them and make those traditions as rock solid as if it were God ordained.

What elements do meal celebrations possess that make them a powerful reminder?

They involve community

They can force us to slow down as they require preparation

Conversation happens over meals

What do you value about the holiness of God?

Why is his holiness THE attribute of attributes?

From his holiness, all of his other attributes flow.

His perfection and sinlessness is the foundation all he does.

How does (or should) God’s holiness affect your day to day life? Be specific.

Should shape our values, what we hold important

Should shape our thoughts and actions. What we think and do ought to be shaped and changed by it.

E.G. - What we spend our money, time, and energy on will be shaped by it.

How do we develop a deeper appreciation for the cost of salvation?

Guarding the influences of our lives so that we are not led far from the cross.

Spending regular unhurried time in the word

Learning to mediate on scripture

Staying firmly fixed in COMMUNITY and being purposeful to encourage one another toward God.

Regularly focusing on and meditating on the cross.

In what way(s) does your life evidence a deep appreciation and humble gratitude for who God is and what He has accomplished for you?

Read Hebrews 9:22. Why is blood the only payment for sin that can be accepted?

Because our sin is so grievous it demands everything our entire lives.

How is your life evidencing faithful expectation in God’s promises?

In what specific ways will our lives reflect it when we are living with an active, present sense of readiness for Christ’s return?

We will be seizing every opportunity to serve and to share the gospel

We will be guarding our time, priorities, and influencers to be sure we do not lose sight of eternity.

Our conversations will often reflect gospel, spiritual topics

Our thoughts and desires will often be meditating and dwelling on spiritual matters.

We will regularly be looking for and seizing opportunities to encourage and build one another up.

We will be desiring and actively seeking deeper understanding and practical application of God’s word

We will be living with a vibrant and passionate prayer life

Why is purification so necessary to be pleasing to God

He is holy and without sin. He cannot be just and good and ignore sin. If we desire to be on good terms with him, we must also exemplify the same level of holiness that he does.

What steps do you take in your life to life pure and righteous before God?

How do we keep from allowing the commanded remembrances from becoming mundane and ordinary, common and taken for granted?

Find new and different ways to celebrate those remembrances

Prayerfully focus through them and even highlight and emphasis different points.

Continue to live in close, intimate community so that we can encourage and assist others to see it fresh and new

Live repentant lifestyles and always keep the reality of our sin close so that the depth of the cross does not lose its meaning.

How are you encouraged and challenged by this look at the Passover? How does it encourage you to look afresh at the cross

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