02/11/13

Jesus the Passover Lamb

Ezra 6:20 - For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.


Yesterday I had sent a message on the day of preparation, the day Jesus died and I had one sister message me with regards to the confusion between the High Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath and the day of preparation. Today as I prayed and asked God for a message for today I received Ezra 6:20, looks like there are others who are yet not clear on this topic and thus God wants to drive it further. Let me be simpler this time.

We know the book of Moses is a shadow of what Jesus Christ did for Jesus said this (John 5:46). Jesus was called the Lamb of God because He is our sacrificial lamb, the first born (since He existed from the beginning) who was sacrificed for our sins.

According to the book of Moses the Pascal lamb need to be bought 5 days before in the house and kept under observation for any blemish. Secondly this lamb was killed the evening before the Passover and the blood of the Pascal lamb (or goat as mentioned in the book of Moses) was applied on the outer side of the post of the door of the house so that death passes them.

Note firstly the Pascal sacrifice was killed the evening of the day before the Passover and Jesus fulfilled this. Secondly death was not defeated but just passed them. Thirdly people needed to purify themselves to be party to the Passover.

Many may not get the second and the third points.

Let me address them in the reverse order

Point number 3: To be part of the Passover the Jews had to dress in a particular fashion and prepare many things. They also were to recollect their bondages and realize how God delivered them from them. We know we all are sinners and only God can forgive our sins, thus to have our sins forgiven we need to come to God. But the irony is our sins separate us from God and become like a wall between us and God. Jesus by doing the later former, meaning performed the sacrifice done after sins were forgiven even before we are forgiven made a way for us to come before God and thus get our sins forgiven. We are declared righteous even before we are forgiven and made righteous. For this we need 2 things one is faith and the other thing is rejection of our sinful nature and acceptance of the nature of Christ, then only we can go by the path Jesus made for our sins to be forgiven and become righteous.

Preparation day is the day of purification and true purification is not about cleaning oneself but about surrendering to God and letting God clean us. People do this grave mistake of being sorry for their sins. We need to realize however sorry we may be for our sins we cannot do anything about it thus we are still doomed. Judas Iscariot too was sorry of what he did but still he was doomed and lost, being sorry and killing himself did not help him. If he had realized how wrong he was and had gone to Jesus he would have been forgiven and his soul would not have been lost. More than being sorry for our sins we need to be sorry for sinning and come to God, meaning rejecting the nature that caused us to sin and put on the nature of Christ (who is the visible image of God).


Now coming to point number 2: The sacrifice of Jesus saves us from death but does not defeat death. We need to realize the mission of Jesus did not end at the crucifix, for Jesus kept telling His disciples about the coming of the Comforter / Helper / Spirit of Truth who would bring them to the Truth, comfort them and help them walk in the Truth therefore He needed to go (be sacrificed).

By our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are saved from Hell, but Judgment Day still hovers over us. After death we will rise from the Grave (a spiritual level not earthly grave) on the day Christ comes again and come before the Judgment Throne (not a real throne) where the Son of Man - Jesus Christ would judge us, not as God but as man and the Holy Spirit would help Him make right judgment. To defeat death Jesus gave us His Spirit so that by the working of the Holy Spirit Truth abides in us and the sinful nature in us be overcome. That is when sin will be defeat and death defeated.

Now clearing about the Passover and the Pascal Lamb let us come back to the dates.

Thursday was the day of preparation (the day the Pascal sacrifice was offered)
Friday the Passover (High Sabbath)
Saturday the Sabbath
Sunday the resurrection

Some scripture do not clearly distinguish between the High Sabbath and the Sabbath therefore the matter does not easily stand out unless one compares all the Gospel references along with the books of Moses.

At the time of Jesus' crucifixion since the High Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath was one after the other the Jews had to prepare for both the days before the High Sabbath. That is why they have to not only prepare the Pascal preparation (prepare ourselves) but also prepare the lamps (witness Christ) at the same time. We cannot say first I will become perfect as Christ and them tell people or witness Christ to others. As we are growing in Christ we need to witness the little of Him in us.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord You said the people will see but not understand what they see. Their ears will hear but yet they will not understand what they hear. This will happen because their hearts are fattened. Lord we pray for your grace on them that they do not fatten their hearts. That they surrender to your Spirit, such that their ears will hear and understand; their eye will see and understand and they come to know You and your mighty deeds...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference ]
John 5:46 - For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

John 1:29 - On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!

1 Corinthians 5:7 - Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, Christ:

Exodus 12:1-24
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite 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.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Luke 22:1-2
1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death; for they feared the people.

Matthew 26:17 - Now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where wilt thou that we make ready for thee to eat the Passover [unleavened bread]?

John 19:31 - The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day [Passover], (for that Sabbath day [holiday] was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

John 19:14-18
14 And it was the preparation of the Passover [High Sabbath], and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

Mark 16:1 - And when the sabbath [weekly Sabbath] was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

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