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Meet the Real Jesus:

He Is the Lamb of God

Palm Sunday was the largest public introduction of Christ’s ministry. He rode in like a king. He arrived upon on a prophesied donkey, accompanied by crowds crying for God to save them through their Hosannas.

But as the week wore on those cries turned to crucify Him, and their deliverance by a powerful king was turned into the ignominious death of the apparently weak and helpless Jesus: which was God’s plan all along. Welcome to our three part series called: Meet the Real Jesus. At each stop along the way for the next week that we will share, we will see Jesus revealed:

Today, on Palm Sunday, we can see Jesus arriving as the Lamb of God.

At the end of this week on Good Friday, we can see Jesus facing the Wrath of God.  

Then, next Sunday on Resurrection Day, we can see the Jesus rising as the Son of God.

As you turn in your Bibles to John 12, by the wonder of our inspired copies of God’s Word, we can watch each detail of that day nearly 2,000 years ago recorded flawlessly for us by God Himself, and sent as an eyewitness testimony so that we too can see and believe. Join me now as we:

Witness that Day

Today, God invites us to see to the events of the Triumphal, Palm Sunday entrance of Christ. Please stand with me as we read John 12:12-19 (NKJV):

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
The King of Israel!”

14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”

Pray

The Real Jesus is the Lamb of God

Lifted Up to Save Others: Jesus was “lifted up” as Moses foresaw 1,500 years earlier in Numbers 21.8 (cf. John 3.14) with the brazen serpent. THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

Pierced & Pained: David saw 1,000 years before Calvary that Christ would be “pierced” in His hands and feet, His garments were “divided” and His clothing was won by “casting lots” as Psalm 22.2, 4, 16-18 records. THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

Bruised for Other’s Iniquities: He was “bruised” as Isaiah saw 700 years before in chapter 53.5-6 “for our iniquities”.

Cut off for Others: In the 5th Century BC Daniel 9.24 we are told that Messiah would “be cut off” as a substitute, and not for Himself.

Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection is the supreme expression of each of God’s attributes: His omnipresent goodness, His omnipotent love, His omniscient wisdom, perfect righteousness, and unfailing mercy. The Cross on which the Lamb of God died, is where God had been directing Jesus to go since before Creation[1].

Revelation 13, and though it’s at the end of the Bible, takes us even before Scripture and before creation, Revelation 13 says that Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, meaning that the plan for the death of Christ was precreation. This is not a good idea gone bad. This is what has been planned from eternity past. The cross alone provides the penitent believer in Christ with the forgiveness of all his sins forever and the promise of eternal heaven and eternal joy.

This is where God has been taking Him, as well as all redemptive history, since before time began.

Now as we come to chapter 14, again I remind you it is on Wednesday night that we find our Lord. He has been on the Mount of Olives looking back on the temple ground on the eastern side of Jerusalem. And He has just completed His great teaching on His Second Coming to establish His Kingdom. That is finished now. Jesus ends the day then with the disciples, talking about His Second Coming and His Kingdom. Meanwhile, meanwhile, the leaders are intent on planning and pulling off His murder. How out of touch with reality are they?

As the account in chapter 14 unfolds, we see the different players and the first ones we meet are the religious leaders. But before we can look at them in verses 1 and 2, we’ve got to back up a moment and identify the one who is orchestrating everything by His providential power, and that is none other than God. That’s implied in the opening statement. “Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away.” That is not incidental information. It is the purpose of God that on that Passover in A.D. 30, on the fourteenth of the month Nisan, at the very hour when the Passover lambs were being slain on the Passover, three in the afternoon, Jesus would die. That’s pretty specific.

God’s plan was that in A.D. 30, Nisan 14, on the Passover on Friday at three o’clock in the afternoon, or about that time, when all the Passover lambs were beginning to be slaughtered, the true Passover would die. Jesus died at three o’clock on that Friday at that Passover. What makes it interesting is, that is exactly the time the leaders didn’t want to have to kill Him. That was the last time they would have wanted to murder Him, but that was God’s time and they frankly were not in charge. It’s so important for you to see this because all the way through, we’re going to acknowledge the unseen hand of God in every single detail.

Now there were three main feasts the Jews celebrated; the Feast of Pentecost, which was kind of a firstfruits, Feast of Booths, they’re remembering the wandering in the wilderness, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, you remember, commemorated the exodus when they made the Unleavened Bread left Egypt. These were celebrations to commemorate past events in their history.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was seven days long and commemorated the Unleavened Bread in the exodus back in Exodus chapter 12 verses 15 to 20. It was held on Nisan 15th to the 21st, that would be around April right at this time of the year. Originally it was during barley harvest, according to Exodus and the book of Deuteronomy. The fourteenth was the day before. The day before the Unleavened Bread was Passover and that was the order they appear in verse 1. The Passover is on the fourteenth, starting the fifteenth and running for seven days, the Feast of Unleavened Bread because you remember that when they left Egypt, prior to their leaving with their Unleavened Bread, there was the Passover. Kill the lamb, put the blood on the doorpost and the lintel and the angel of death will Passover you. And they were celebrating God’s salvation of them in Egypt with their Passover. They still do it, it’s the Jewish Seder.

Passover, by the way, comes from a Hebrew word pesach which means to jump over because the angel of death jumped over their blood-splattered houses in Egypt. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was then connected to the Passover so that they were terms used interchangeably.

God’s purpose, now let’s follow this, God’s purpose was to have the Lord Jesus…listen…eat the Passover with His disciples on Thursday night. Listen to this timetable.

On Thursday night when the Galilean Jews celebrated Passover, and we’ll say more about that tonight, and that Passover celebration would go into midnight and beyond, so late Thursday night they’re having the Passover, they’re in to Friday. The plan was to have Jesus arrested very early in the morning, tried in the morning, which was illegal, sentenced in the morning and crucified in the morning and die at three Friday afternoon and be in the grave before six cause He had to be three days in the grave. What an amazing timetable. And then rise again Sunday.

If you got all these people together and try to organize that, you couldn’t pull it off, that kind of precision timetable. Mark identifies the fact that the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away. It’s still Wednesday. Friday is the day for Jesus to die. This is God’s plan…this is God’s plan. Jesus even said in John 10:18, “No one takes My life from Me, I lay it down myself.” And you remember when He was hanging on the cross and He said, “It is finished, and He died,” they were shocked? The reason they were shocked was He screamed at the top of His voice before He died, and if He had the air in His lungs to scream at the top of His voice, He had enough air to survive.

Many times His death was sought, many times. But His enemies were never able to kill Him. Go back to chapter 3 in Mark and verse 6, you see an illustration of it there. But go back even before that, go back to the first time His life was sought by Herod who decided that he wanted to kill Him while He was still an infant. By the time he got the information, he knew that this child who he saw as a threat to his throne was under the age of two and so he sent his soldiers into the region around Bethlehem and massacred all the male children two and under. But he missed Jesus because an angel had come to Joseph and warned him about this massacre and told him to flee to Egypt and not come back until Herod was dead.

Very early in His ministry in Nazareth, He went into the synagogue to preach, according to Luke 4, and because He indicted the people for their sinfulness, literally the people in His own hometown who had known Him all His life tried to throw Him off a cliff because His teaching so offended them. But He passed out of their midst and they didn’t even realize it.

On another occasion, recorded in the fifth chapter of John, He went to the pool of Bethsaida near Jerusalem and He healed a crippled man and He did it on the Sabbath which infuriated the leaders. And it says the Jewish leaders were seeking all the more to kill Him because He was breaking the Sabbath and He was calling God His Father and making Himself equal with God. They would have killed Him right there on that Sabbath or the next day, but they were unable.

In John 17:25, there’s an interesting statement about Jesus. It is this. He is called there with a title, maybe you never saw as such, but here was the title by which He was designated. He became known as “The man whom they are seeking to kill.” The man whom they are seeking to kill. You don’t even use a proper name. He’s just the man they’re seeking to kill.

In John 7, the temple police were sent to kill Him, to arrest Him that they might execute Him. They returned empty handed. They were stunned by His power and authority and all they could do was mumble that they never heard anybody speak like Him. There are probably many more attempts on the life of Jesus that aren’t recorded for us in the gospels, but recorded or unrecorded, every one of them failed because it wasn’t His time…it wasn’t God’s time for the Lamb to be slain. The Lamb would be slain at the Passover on this year on that day. The very details of the schedule were set.

Luke 22:22, Jesus said, “The Son of Man goes as it has been determined.” In Acts 2:23, “Determined by the foreknowledge of God.” The predetermined foreknowledge of God. Divinely decreed to die at the Passover when the lambs were being slain because He was the Lamb of God whose death would take away the sin of the world.

Philip explained to the Ethiopian that Jesus was the Lamb predicted by Isaiah. Isaiah said He was like a lamb led to slaughter who before His shearers says nothing, Acts 8. Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthian 5:7, “Christ is our Passover,” meaning our Passover Lamb, “who has been sacrificed for us.” It was Peter who said that the unblemished Passover Lamb was foreknown before the foundation of the world and that we were not redeemed by silver and gold, but by the precious blood of the Lamb without spot and without blemish. John said that the Lamb that was slain was worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. All the Bible before and after sees Christ as the sacrificial lamb.

Palm Sunday was the launch of Holy Week or Passion Week in the events of Christ’s life.

Palm Sunday is also the start of the inexorable march to the Cross.

Palm Sunday is the fulfillment of Daniel 9 & Zechariah 9’s prophecies.

Palm Sunday was Jesus Christ proclaimed by multitudes as the promised King of the Jews.

But, more than all of those truths, there is one more. It is bigger, greater, and more deeply touching our lives today than any of the other elements of Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday is when we see Jesus, the Real Jesus as the promised Lamb of God, who came to take away the sin of the world. Chapter 12 of the Gospel by John is just a continuation of chapter 1. When Jesus is first introduced to us in this Gospel by John we see a title that describes Christ’s coming from Genesis through Revelation as the Lamb of God.

Turn back to John 1 with me as we look at what was really happening at Palm Sunday. Jesus knew that the Hosannas were mostly empty words, He knew the crowds would thin, the praises turn to murderous threats, and as His disciples fled, that He would be cruelly mocked, beaten, scourged, crucified, murdered, and then hastily buried in a borrowed tomb.

In John 1:29, the last and greatest of all the OT prophets gives the introduction we need to understand the depth of what we see on Palm Sunday. John points at Jesus Christ and explains that He is the One who has been promised, foreshadowed, and longed for all these centuries.

The Lamb of God promised, the Lamb of God slain; the Lamb of God selected on Palm Sunday. Heb 13:20-21

Real Jesus is the Lamb of God:

He is reflected in Passover; in Abraham & Isaac; in the skins that clothed Adam & Eve in the Garden. God clothed them in the blood-shed garments that only God could give them.

Watch the development in the scope of the sacrifices and the Focus upon Christ.

  1. Genesis 4:4 = Jesus was pointed to as the Lamb for the individual, by Abel. Jesus can only save individuals.
  2. Genesis 22:8 = Jesus was prophesied to be the Lamb that God would provide, and God did so on the very same spot (Mt. Moriah) as
  3. Exodus 12:3 = A Jesus was pointed to as the Lamb for the whole household, by the Passover. Jesus Christ was exemplified in the Passover Lamb. Like that Lamb Jesus was the first born and a male, He was spotless and innocent, He was slain as a substitute.
  4. Leviticus 16:17 = Jesus was pointed to as the Lamb for the nation, by the Day of Atonement. Jesus has the power to transform nations.
  5. John 1:29 = Jesus was pointed to as the Lamb for the world, by John the Baptist. Jesus died a death sufficient for every sinner who will ever live on Earth.
  6. Isaiah 53:7 = Christ personified
  7. John 1:29 = Christ identified
  8. Revelation 5:6-14 = Christ magnified 
  9. Revelation 22:1 = Christ glorified

First, in Gen. 4, we have the Lamb portrayed in the firstlings of the flock slain by Abel in sacrifice.

Second, we have the Lamb promised in Gen. 22:8 where Abraham said to Isaac, “God will provide himself a lamb”.

Third, in Ex. 12, we have the lamb slain and its blood applied.

Fourth, in Isa. 53:7, we have the Lamb personified: here for the first time we learn that the lamb would be a Man.

Fifth, in John 1:29, we have the lamb identified, learning who He was.

Sixth, in Rev. 5, we have the lamb magnified by the hosts of heaven.

Seventh, in the last chapter of the Bible we have the Lamb glorified, seated upon the eternal throne of God, Rev. 22:1.

Once more; mark the orderly development in the scope of the sacrifices.

In Gen. 4 sacrifice is offered for the individual -Abel.

In Ex. 12 the sacrifice avails for the whole household.

In Lev. 16, on the annual Day of Atonement, the sacrifice was efficacious for the entire nation.

But here in John 1:29 it is “Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” – Gentiles are embraced as well as Jews!

Additional support for a Monday triumphal entry is found in the Mosaic requirement that sacrificial lambs for Passover were to be selected on the tenth day of the first month (originally called Abib but after the Exile called Nisan) and kept in the household until sacrificed on the fourteenth (Ex. 12:2–6).

In the year Jesus was crucified (whether taken as a.d. 30 or 33), the tenth of Nisan was the Monday of Passover week. If Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphally on Monday, He was received into the hearts of the Jewish people as a nation much as a family received the sacrificial lamb into the home. In so doing our Lord would have fulfilled the Passover symbolism even in that small detail, being received by His people on the tenth of Nisan. Continuing that perfect fulfillment, He was then crucified on Friday the fourteenth of Nisan, as the true Passover Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world.[2]

DAY EVENT REFERENCES

Sunday

  • Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
  • Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19

Monday

  • Jesus clears the temple
  • Matthew 21:12, 13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45, 46

Tuesday

  • Jesus’ authority challenged in the temple
  • Matthew 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8
  • Jesus teaches in stories and confronts the Jewish leaders
  • Matthew 21:28-23:36; Mark 12:1-40; Luke 20:9-47
  • Greeks ask to see Jesus
  • John 12:20-26
  • The Olivet Discourse
  • Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21:5-38
  • Judas agrees to betray Jesus
  • Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10, 11; Luke 22:3-6

Wednesday

  • The Bible does not say what Jesus did on this day. He probably remained in Bethany with his disciples

Thursday

  • The Last Supper
  • Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:2P-25; Luke 22:14-20
  • Jesus speaks to the disciples in the upper room
  • John 13-17
  • Jesus struggles in Gethsemane
  • Matthew 26.-36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46; John 18:1
  • Jesus is betrayed and arrested
  • Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14-43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12

Friday

  • Jesus is tried by Jewish and Roman authorities and disowned by Peter
  • Matthew 26:57-27:2, 11-31; Mark 14:53-15:20; Luke 22:54-23:25; John 18:13-19:16
  • Jesus is crucified
  • Matthew 27:31-56; Mark 15:20-41; Luke 23-26-49; John 19:17-30

Sunday

  • The Resurrection
  • Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20,1- 18

Good Friday—some of us it’s the day Jesus was crucified— we all know the details. We all know that Jesus was crucified at 9 am and hung on the cross till 3 pm. Remember it was dark and we remember that finally at the end of those 6 hours on the cross as Jesus hung there those last 3 hours in total darkness He cried out IT IS FINISHED. But the Bible says Jesus was THE LAMB. And the Bible tells us which lamb He was. Let me share with you the background to Christ’s crucifixion to explain this.

On day Christ[3] died on the Cross-for our sins, we know it was the fourteenth day of A’ bib, A.D. 33. How do we know that? Because Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross at the exact same moment that the Passover lamb was offered.

At the third hour (9:00 A.M.), Israel’s high priest tied the Passover lamb that had been chosen to represent the nation— remember on Passover one lamb represented the whole nation and the High Priest dressed in his special garments took the rope and let that little lamb at precisely 9 am it said according to their rules and tied the little lamb to the great altar in the center of the Temple and prior to that—of the Tabernacle and at 9 am that lamb that was to represent the entire nation of Israel walked in front of the watching people and was tied to the altar where it awaited it’s death for 6 hours. At exactly 3 pm that priest would lead that lamb up that had stood there for 6 hours and at 3 pm he would cut its throat, drain it’s blood and it would die. Think about it at 9 am as the high priest was leading in that little lamb to tie it to the altar, Jesus Christ was roughly pushed down on a cross of wood and with carpenter’s tools His hands and His feet were nailed at the exact time the little lamb was led to the altar and tied. At 3 pm when that little lamb was led up to be slain, Jesus Christ lifts His blood splattered head and thunders out from the cross through the darkness “It is finished!” (John 19:30) –three words in English but one word in Greek- tetelestai. The whole work of redemption was finished but it was exactly against the backdrop of the Passover lamb coming to the altar, waiting six hours and after 6 hours at precisely twilight which began at 3 pm the Passover lamb was slain and Jesus died. (if it was totally dark do you think things went on normally in Jerusalem and in the Temple??) Isn’t it a coincidence that those events took place exactly at the same time. Well it’s not a coincidence as we’ll see from our Scripture this morning. (here you went to this paragraph on page 5)

On Calvary’s stark mountain, God the Father, the final High Priest of all creation, placed His holy hand on the head of His only begotten Son. At the same moment that the high priest on earth placed his hand on the head of the sacrificial lamb and slit it’s throat, God the Father placed His head on the hand (oops you switched head and hand) of Jesus Christ and accepted His sacrifice and when God said it was acceptable Jesus Christ cried out It is finished. He had suffered the weight for our sin. Well when the total sin of the world had descended on Jesus and He was barely able to lift His blood spattered face toward Heaven yet He shouted in triumph it is finished— Jesus was the Lamb of God.

Jesus as the Lamb of God summarizes God’s Word completely.  It is the greatest summary of Who Christ WAS, What HE DID, and how we participate. This morning the panorama of Scriptures cries out to us: You can summarize the whole Old Testament by one verse.

  • In the Old Testament the question was, “Where is the lamb?” (Gen. 22:7) In fact the whole Old Testament is caught up with where is the Lamb. All the sacrifices, the millions of animals that were slain, all the birds and all the goats and all the rams and all the bulls never got rid of sin. It just painted another layer over the rust of sin. And when Isaac being led up to Mt. Moriah the same spot on which Jesus was crucified— when Isaac was led up there he asked his father where is the lamb? Abraham said God will provide the land and the whole Old Testament is the Jewish people looking for the lamb. You know what the Gospels are?
  • In the four Gospels, the emphasis is “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:29) This is our text this morning. Behold the Lamb, He’s here! You know how the Bible ends? The book of Revelation finds everyone who received Jesus Christ as their lamb to take away their son (oops this is what you said on the tape- “son”) they’re gathered around the throne and they’re looking at the Lamb of God who still bears in His hands, His side and His feet and on His head the marks of His crucifixion. He has the marks of dying in our place. He is the Lamb slain, He still shows the suffering He had for us and it says through out all eternity, all of us who have received Christ as our lamb will forever be saying, “Worthy is the Lamb!” (Rev. 5:12) that was slain for my sins.

The people of Israel were familiar with lambs for the sacrifices. At Passover, each family had to have a lamb; and during the year, two lambs a day were sacrificed at the temple altar, plus all the other lambs brought for personal sacrifices.

  • Those lambs were brought by men to men, but here is God’s Lamb, given by God to men! Big difference between the lambs of Jewish ceremony and the Lamb of God.
  • Those lambs could not take away sin, but the Lamb of God can take away sin. Those lambs were for Israel alone, in fact when that priest hauled that little lamb up and tied it to the altar it was only to cover for Israel’s sin. The rest of the world as it were could not have any atoning grace for them through that sacrifice. But when Jesus Christ was crucified the scriptures say he wasn’t crucified inside the Temple rather He was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem. Why? God put Him out there so the whole world could access that sacrifice. That’s why He is the Lamb of God. Let’s read our text and pray and ask God to deeply ingrain in our hearts—

Now read with me John 1:29. This is John the Baptist speaking: 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Not the Jewish Passover that just covered Israel, not just the daily provision for covering the people’s sin; this is God’s lamb provided by God for the world who has the ability to not cover and sweep under the carpet sin but to get rid of it forever. Look at Him- THE LAMB OF GOD! Who is Jesus ? The Lamb of God. Let’s bow together.

Father in Heaven I pray that everyone of us before we leave this room this morning would answer the question is Jesus the Lamb of God for me? Have I fulfilled what Your Word says Jesus Christ was? He was the Passover lamb and only for those who would obey, who would take the blood, who would apply the blood, who would hide within the shadow of the blood, who would eat the roasted lamb, only those were saved. This morning we have a lot of people who like to look on Passover as it were. They love to carry around the bowl of blood. They love to see the lamb roasted but they’ve never splattered the blood, they’ve never eaten the lamb. They are just observers, they are not partakers. Lord Jesus you spent so much of your ministry warning religious people that they weren’t born again. I pray this morning for all the church goers who are here this morning that each one would examine whether or not Jesus Christ is their lamb. Whether they have placed their hand on His head and said my sins are on You, Lord Jesus. Whether or not they have knelt beneath the sprinkling of His blood for cleansing from sin and whether or not they have partaken personally of You Lord Jesus. O we thank You for Your salvation but we thank you not just we can know about it but we can participate in it. And those who have we shall gather forever worshipping the Lamb who was slain for us whom we partook of His great salvation. Open our hearts to this truth. May You Lord Jesus in a real and powerful way be the lamb who is our lamb this morning. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.

Now, please turn to I Corinthians 5:7. I’ve mentioned the Passover so many times—for some people as soon as you mention anything from the Old Testament they get a little uneasy and I want to show you what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7—very powerful verse: 7Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. That’s a very powerful verse. It says that all of the 8 offerings that Israel was to offer—the Levitical offerings—all 8 of them were fulfilled in Christ but one offering portrays what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross above all others and that one was the PASSOVER! Have you pondered the significance of the Passover? Have you thought about why it is that Jesus was crucified at Passover? Why Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper from the Passover meal? Why the Apostle Paul told the church that Jesus Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. It didn’t say He died on the cross it said He was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb of God. And then he goes on in verse 8: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Wonderful! Well let’s back up to Isaiah 53 and I’ll explain it real quickly this morning. We are going to back up through the Bible, OK? Go to Isaiah 53 then we’ll end up in Exodus 12. What we’re looking at is John’s explanation of Jesus by 7 titles.

  1. Jesus is The Word (John 1:1–3, 14)
  2. Jesus is The Light (John 1:4–13)
  3. Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:15–28, 49)
  4. Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29–34)

And Jesus Christ is revealed in John’s Gospel for us to believe on for life as the Lamb of God. Paul explains to us which lamb he is—he is the Passover Lamb. Now here’s why He has to be the Passover Lamb, look at Isaiah 53:6—one of the classic verses in the Bible about Jesus Christ’s work and it says this:   

6All we like sheep –this week I noted that there are 1,062,000,000 sheep alive on this planet today—I’m talking about the kind that make wool suits—they count them you know and they keep track of them but out of the billion on this planet God uses sheep to portray what we are like as humans and it says this—all those billion sheep have something in common they all are what humans are like—they have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord says spiritually He had to lay on Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb the iniquity of us all.
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

What does it mean to be like a sheep that goes astray? Well several things: GO TO PAGE 10…

Jesus the Lamb Summarizes God’s Word

Jesus as the Lamb of God summarizes God’s Word completely.  It is the greatest summary of Who Christ WAS, What HE DID, and how we participate. This morning the panorama of Scriptures cries out to us: You can summarize the whole Old Testament by one verse.

In the Old Testament the question was, “Where is the lamb?” (Gen. 22:7)

In fact the whole Old Testament is caught up with where is the Lamb. All the sacrifices, the millions of animals that were slain, all the birds and all the goats and all the rams and all the bulls never got rid of sin. It just painted another layer over the rust of sin. And when Isaac being led up to Mt. Moriah the same spot on which Jesus was crucified— when Isaac was led up there he asked his father where is the lamb? Abraham said God will provide the land and the whole Old Testament is the Jewish people looking for the lamb.  

In the four Gospels, the emphasis is “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:29)

This is our text this morning. Behold the Lamb, He’s here! You know how the Bible ends? The book of Revelation finds everyone who received Jesus Christ as their lamb to take away their son (oops this is what you said on the tape- “son”) they’re gathered around the throne and they’re looking at the Lamb of God who still bears in His hands, His side and His feet and on His head the marks of His crucifixion. He has the marks of dying in our place. He is the Lamb slain, He still shows the suffering He had for us and it says through out all eternity, all of us who have received Christ as our lamb will forever be saying, “Worthy is the Lamb!” (Rev. 5:12) that was slain for my sins.

Contrasts Between The Lamb of God and other Lambs

The people of Israel were familiar with lambs for the sacrifices. At Passover, each family had to have a lamb; and during the year, two lambs a day were sacrificed at the temple altar, plus all the other lambs brought for personal sacrifices.

  • Those lambs were brought by men to men, but here is God’s Lamb, given by God to men! Big difference between the lambs of Jewish ceremony and the Lamb of God.
  • Those lambs could not take away sin, but the Lamb of God can take away sin. Those lambs were for Israel alone, in fact when that priest hauled that little lamb up and tied it to the altar it was only to cover for Israel’s sin. The rest of the world as it were could not have any atoning grace for them through that sacrifice. But when Jesus Christ was crucified the scriptures say he wasn’t crucified inside the Temple rather He was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem. Why? God put Him out there so the whole world could access that sacrifice. That’s why He is the Lamb of God. Let’s read our text and pray and ask God to deeply ingrain in our hearts—

Now read with me John 1:29. This is John the Baptist speaking: 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Not the Jewish Passover that just covered Israel, not just the daily provision for covering the people’s sin; this is God’s lamb provided by God for the world who has the ability to not cover and sweep under the carpet sin but to get rid of it forever. Look at Him- THE LAMB OF GOD! Who is Jesus ? The Lamb of God. Let’s bow together.

Christ Our Passover

Now, please turn to I Corinthians 5:7. I’ve mentioned the Passover so many times—for some people as soon as you mention anything from the Old Testament they get a little uneasy and I want to show you what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7—very powerful verse: 7Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. That’s a very powerful verse. It says that all of the 8 offerings that Israel was to offer—the Levitical offerings—all 8 of them were fulfilled in Christ but one offering portrays what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross above all others and that one was the PASSOVER! Have you pondered the significance of the Passover? Have you thought about why it is that Jesus was crucified at Passover? Why Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper from the Passover meal? Why the Apostle Paul told the church that Jesus Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. It didn’t say He died on the cross it said He was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb of God. And then he goes on in verse 8: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Wonderful! Well let’s back up to Isaiah 53 and I’ll explain it real quickly this morning. We are going to back up through the Bible, OK? Go to Isaiah 53 then we’ll end up in Exodus 12.

And Jesus Christ is revealed in John’s Gospel for us to believe on for life as the Lamb of God. Paul explains to us which lamb he is—he is the Passover Lamb. Now here’s why He has to be the Passover Lamb, look at Isaiah 53:6—one of the classic verses in the Bible about Jesus Christ’s work and it says this:   

6All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord says spiritually He had to lay on Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb the iniquity of us all.
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

What does it mean to be like a sheep that goes astray? Well several things: GO TO PAGE 10…

Why Are We Like Sheep?

But[4] why does God call us His sheep? It may be, however, because sheep are the most helpless creatures known in the world of zoology.  They always lose their way.  In the amazing aggregation of entertainment and instruction that modern man calls the circus, we have seen almost every known animal perform, but we have never seen a trained sheep.  A dog or cat, all the farm animals, and everything that can be caught in traps, may be taught to perform for the amusement of man with the apparent exception of the sheep. 

Perhaps the Lord God, considering the utter helplessness of the human family, just shook His head and said, “We will call them sheep.”

Sheep Are Utterly Helpless.

I don’t know if you realize that but you can’t get a sheep to find its way to the food on its own- without a guide. Though there be pasture within easy reach, the sheep is apparently incapable of finding it for itself.  It must have a guide. In fact I read everything I could find out about sheep this week. It’s amazing- sheep are totally incapable of feeding themselves, cleansing themselves, defending them selves and getting any where. They are truly— I mean you’ll never see a sheep doing tricks in a circus. They are untrainable. They are totally as the people say, dumb. So God, looking at stupid, lost humanity, said, “All they like sheep have gone astray.”

Sheep Are Among The Dirtiest Animals Associated With Man. 

The natural tendency of wool in its raw and wild state is to pick up any defilement with which it comes into contact.  There is a very unpleasant odor that is natural to the sheep. In fact we went to visit a family this week that raises sheep—nothing to do with this sermon but they said we want to show you our two sheep. This one we cleaned and this one we didn’t. The one looked like a walking clod of cow manure. I could tell which one they hadn’t cleaned. The other one looked like a q-tip—it was all fluffy and light and I realized that sheep can’t clean themselves even if they tried- they’re totally unable to clean themselves. The dirtier they are the more helpless they become. In fact I read it weighs them down—if they get near water they just sink in they just go to the bottom because they’re so full of dirt and the water just— the gravity pulls them down. So sheep, which are helpless and dirty and need cleansing can’t cleanse themselves. Look at Isaiah 53:6- all of us are like sheep. What does that mean? We are helpless, we can’t defend ourselves, we’re dirty. Sheep pick up any filth they get near. Doesn’t that sound like people? Sheep are totally incapable of cleansing themselves. All of us are like sheep, we’ve gone astray and we’ve turned to our own way. You know it doesn’t matter what sin it is, all of them have their root in one common denominator. We want to do it our way. That’s the sin of mankind and all those iniquities the Lord had laid on Jesus, the Lamb of God. Another thing about sheep is:  

Sheep Has The Greatest Need Of Cleansing. 

So God looked at pitiable humanity, foul and unclean, bearing the marks of their passage through centuries of sin, and said, “We will call them sheep.”

Sheep Are Totally Incapable Of Self-Cleansing.

The dirtier a sheep gets, the more helpless it becomes.  In this respect it seems to be below the hog.  Many times we have seen a pig rubbing its person against the lower railing of the fence, scratching off the caked mud – but a sheep, never.  So God looked at poor faulty humanity and said, “If We don’t clean them, they’ll never be cleansed.  We will call them Our sheep.”

Sheep Are Often Suffering Hurt And Pain.

In fact this one sheep book I read says: Every time we have skinned the carcasses of many of them, but we have never seen a sheep pelt that was unscarred or unbruised. Why- because they are abused? No- because they are so delicate that any bump bruises them. That’s why this author says they spend half their days bleating because of physical distress, and the rest of their time bumping into something else to hurt themselves again. And so the only way to rescue God’s sheep that are headed to destruction was for God to come down and to show them the way out and to take all their collective sin and clean them off and to take it Himself. That’s why it says in Isaiah 53:5:

 5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

That’s why Jesus is the Lamb of God. Without natural joy because of the tenderness of their constitution, they become the perfect type of man. They are dependent, and must always be provided for.  Indeed, their only alluring quality is their very helplessness.

Now let’s turn to Exodus chapter 12 and that’s where we’re going to end up this morning. I want to just sketch for you some of the facets of the Passover so that you can determine in your mind whether or not Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God for you. Whether or not you have partaken in the sacrifice He made for you. Whether or not He had cleansed you. Whether or not He is guiding you. Whether or not you have the life. Because remember

but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:31)

What do you believe? You believe that He is your lamb.

The Passover feast speaks of redemption. Messiah, the Passover Lamb had to be slain for sin and He had to die in God’s plan on Passover so that when the little lamb was being led to the altar, the Lamb of God was being nailed to the Cross.

Seven Feasts

The seven Jewish feasts also became the outline for Jesus’ ministry. It is amazing how precisely Jesus fulfilled the feasts that had been celebrated for more than 1,450 years.

  • Passover speaks[5] of redemption. Messiah, the Passover Lamb, has been slain for us. He died on Passover (as God’s Lamb),
  • Unleavened Bread speaks of sanctification. He was set apart. His body would not decay in the grave. He was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread (as the Bread of Life), and He rose on the third of the Jewish festivals which is called:
  • Firstfruits, which always speaks of resurrection. Death could not hold her Foe. On the third day, Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave. He arose on the feast of First fruits when Jesus came out of the grave—He became the first fruits of those who will be raised to life and death will not hold them. Then–
  • He sent His Spirit on Pentecost so His followers could begin “harvesting” those who would believe. Remember 3000 on the day of  Pentecost believed and then 5000 later and on and on but at Pentecost God was showing that though His Spirit had to depart the Temple in the Book of Ezekiel because of apostasy His Spirit came down on the Day of Pentecost to inhabit the new Temples, the bodies of those who are trusting in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  can be a powerful reminder to Christians that they have become the dwelling place for God’s Spirit- His Temple. Those events are past, those are sign posts that point to events. Every time Jewish Passover comes and by the way if you like to relate to the Bible look at your calendar and look for the Jewish feast of Passover that’s on all secular calendars because they’re all politically correct and you’ve got to have Rommadan and the Passover and Christmas and all the other stuff but look there because the Jews still follow the Biblical calendar. Remember the Roman Catholics broke from that and they said we will not celebrate the Jewish feasts because they’re gone and they have no use and they can all die, it doesn’t matter because God’s got the Church now. But if you want to understand when Christ was crucified—He was crucified on Passover so look on the calendar and you’ll always be right there. Easter doesn’t have anything to do with Passover any more. But those are past events- Passover, Unleavened Bread, First fruits and Pentecost— those talk about things that have happened. But there are still three more Jewish feasts— there are 7. The next one is:
  • Rosh Hashanah (the trumpet call to judgment). Isn’t that interesting? What does it say the Second Coming of Christ will be? With the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God. Rosh Hashanah is sounded with trumpets—that’s the next event. When the trumpet starts God’s Church exits this world and Gods judgment falls on this world. That’s a future event and the Jewish feast of Rosh Hashanah in a very real way points toward the Second Coming of Christ for His Church and the beginning of the Tribulation time. Next of the 7 feasts is:
  • Yom Kippur (judgment day)—isn’t that a description of  the Tribulation– the judgment day? That will be completed at Christ’s return though He has already fulfilled some elements of these two feasts.
  • then the last of the Jewish celebrations in fact the favorite one of all Jews is called Sukkot.  We call it the Feast of Tabernacles and that’s when they have a big party. It’s the biggest time of the year and they love it. For two weeks they live outside in these booths and party and eat and all and this is what the Jews describe Sukkot as: the most joyful celebration that they could ever imagine. They celebrate living water, light and the presence of God. Now let me ask you. How is Heaven described?

And what comes after the final judgment? Heaven! The new Promised Land! Sukkot is the feast that celebrated the Promised Land, God’s deliverance, living water, and God’s blessing.  Sukkot is a feast that will be fully realized in heaven. There will be living water (Revelation 7:17), the eternal presence of God (Revelation 21:22), and the unending light (Revelation 22:5). What is Sukkot? Living water, light and the presence of God. What is Heaven? Rivers of living water, unbroken presence of God and the life that never ends. Think about this: God uses the feast that portrays the greatest joy humans can know and He said that’s what Heaven is going to be like forever and that’s the last feast and that’s where we’re headed. No wonder some Jewish Christians (and some Gentile ones, too) celebrate Sukkot. So Jesus- crucified on Passover takes those who trust in His sacrifice to Heaven. Now let me start in Exodus chapter 12 and I’m going to——you can just mark these down—I’m going to go through them real quickly. It says:

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; -that’s why I said Passover is the first of the feasts of Israel which God gave to them which He calls the feasts of the Lord but it was the start of their year and so- 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Passover was to start everything out. 3 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. Now let’s think about this—the sacrifice God wanted was a lamb, OK? That’s easy—Jesus is the Lamb of God. Secondly it says in verse 5: 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. So it had to be a special spotless lamb, a male, of the first year, and unblemished. Now Jesus Christ—He was special—the only begotten of the Father. The spotless— no sin was found in Him. Remember at His trial when He stood before every one— Herod, Pilate, Sanhedrin, the ruling council, he stood before all of them and everyone agreed— what? No Fault. I mean even people that had not known Him His whole life couldn’t find one thing that he’d ever done wrong. When He was a little boy, even when he was a young man, you know in youth, in teen years, never did anything wrong. He was spotless, He was special. Continuing in verse 6: 6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Do you remember what we studied a few weeks ago on Palm Sunday? Do you know why it is Palm Sunday? Because on the 10th of month of Aviv the Hebrew month which is called Nisan in the Babylonian calendar— on that month on the 10th day the lamb was supposed to be brought in to the home and on the 14th of the month it was to be slain. That’s why Jews had to pick their Passover lamb on the 10th but they did not slay it until the 14th. (you just said that?) Now look at what it says- 6 Now you shall keep it until the SIDE ONE ENDED HERE AND SIDE TWO STARTED HERE: Did you get it— verse 3 on the 10th day? Why? So they could start liking it. After the first service someone ran up to me and said you know what? That was so clear to us—they live on a farm and the had a sweet little farm animal born and that animal was with them for several days and then somehow it fell into the watering pan face down and it drowned and they said their kids just wept and wept. You know what the mother said? It’s just like that Passover lamb—you get a little lamb that’s all cleaned up and sweet and young and with the family and they will love it like a pet. And then when it dies they will sorrow and Jesus Christ offered Himself to the children of Israel to love and then He was offered and slain as a lamb that was not guilty. Well continuing—it is also it says in verse 6 at the end you shall kill it at twilight. When does twilight begin? 3 pm. When is the evening? At 6 pm. So twilight was the hours before evening. Remember their days start at 6 pm to 6 pm and so at sunset, 6 pm, a new day started. And so before sunset from 3 pm on that lamb was to be slain. Then it says this—look at verse 46—there’s something else about this lamb: 46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. –Isn’t that something about Jesus? Jesus was the Lamb a special lamb, a spotless lamb, He was set apart for 4 days He was sacrificed, died on the cross, He was sacrificed specifically at 3 pm just like the Passover lamb and scripturally— not one of His bones was broken—isn’t that amazing? Jesus was our Passover Lamb. But I want you to see what they were supposed to do—look at verse 7—this is one of the most moving parts for me— Now remember what Passover is about. Some of you have to refresh your minds. The children of Israel were captive in Egypt. They were surrounded by their enemies who were trying to kill them- by killing the first born (???) and all that stuff— Moses came in as a deliverer and God told Moses the way you get delivered is that I will lead you out and don’t worry about the details. So the plagues come and then the final plague was the death angel and God says you will not escape the Angel of Death unless you do— look at verse 7: 7 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. Two things here- they had to fulfill the Passover requirements which were pick a lamb, kept it for four days, put your hands on the head of it and confess your identification with it, slay it, collect the blood in a bowl, skin the lamb, roast it and take the blood and put it on the doorposts. Did you know that family could have gotten a lamb just like they were supposed to on the 10th of Aviv and if they hadn’t killed it on the 14th the death angel would have killed their first born. If they had not collected the blood, the death angel would have killed their firstborn on the 14th on Passover night. If they had collected the blood and left it in the bowl, the death angel would have killed their first born. Do you see they couldn’t partially obey? They couldn’t know enough to have a lamb; They couldn’t know enough to just kill the lamb; They couldn’t know enough to just collect the blood— they had to obediently do two more things: #1- take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they #2- eat it. If they didn’t eat the roasted lamb and if they didn’t put the blood on the door posts the death angel would have gotten them. You know what I think— in America there are a lot of people walking around—they’ve got the lamb, they’ve got the blood in the bowl and they’re walking all around and they know all the facts but they have never personally applied the blood and hid inside the house in the protection of the sacrifice of Christ. What does that mean? It means they’ve never partaken of Jesus Christ personally. That’s why it says in verse 7 eat it. You have to partake, you can’t just be with the family, you can’t just watch them do it. You can just see what they do, you can’t just marvel at them, you got to partake of it. Do you know what the blight is today? I was in the largest Christian college in the world. I was on staff there for years—you know what the biggest problem we had? Children of Christian families that had never gotten saved. They knew everything about the Lord, they knew all the verses, they won all the awards, and it just had never entered them. They had not partaken of Christ. They were trying to be a Christian on their own and they were so empty and helpless and frustrated because they couldn’t do it. How do they do it? They partake- verse 7—hide beneath the shadow of the blood—in other words say Jesus Christ—You died for my sins, not just the world, mine and I personally receive You. I like Charlotte Elliot’s testimony—she wrote Just as I Am. Out of my weakness, sorrow and strife, Jesus I come, Jesus I come. Into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus I come to thee. I come to You. I partake of You. Interesting what it says here in verse 8: 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. That’s speaks also of salvation. Did you know there’s a sorrow that comes in our salvation. We are sorry for our sin. Have you ever had a child come to you and they did something wrong and they go I’m really sorry I did that. Do you think they are? No—they’re just saying it because they’re suppose to. There’s something about when we are aware of our sin it smites our heart. That’s what the bitter herbs were about– the sorrow for their sin. Also it doesn’t stop there it says in verse 9: 9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire–its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning – don’t wait—what does the writer of Hebrews say? While you hear His voice don’t harden your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Don’t wait. Over the years of ministry I’ve met people that say yeah, yeah, that’s really good I’m going to wait until I’m old and ______________I’m going to have a life of fun and just before I die I’m going to get that. You know what the Lord says? Most likely it will be too late because you will have hardened your heart one to many times. So what is Jesus is our Passover Lamb mean?

#1 it means Jesus is the only hope we have. He is the only one who is the specific sacrificial lamb set apart spotless who was sacrificed for us. That’s the fact- but the Passover was not effective unless you partook of the blood that was put on the door post and stayed in side of that house and ate the Lamb.

This morning are you trusting that Jesus Christ sacrifice has taken your sins away? And have you personally received Jesus Christ. Your family can sit around the table and eat the lamb but if you didn’t you were not protected. You must partake of Him. There’s something about the Passover that brings salvation down to a personal interaction, relationship, a personal intimate knowledge of the sacrifice of Christ. The question to you: Is Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who was slain for you? Let’s bow before Him. As we bow I ask you to just do what the Apostle Paul says, examine yourself whether you’re in the faith— whether or not this morning you are resting beneath His blood.

Father in Heaven THE TAPE ENDED HERE.

In our text we find that the Gospel is neither a discussion nor a debate,” said Dr. Paul S. Rees. “It is an announcement!”  For this reason Mark wasted no time giving that announcement, for it is found in the opening words of his book. The word gospel simply means “the good news.”  To the Romans, Mark’s special target audience, gospel meant “joyful news about the emperor.” Keep in mind that John did much more than preach against sin; he also proclaimed the Gospel. The word preached in Luke 3:18 gives us the English word evangelize (“to preach the Good News”). John introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and told people to trust in Him. John was only the best man at the wedding: Jesus was the Bridegroom (John 3:25–30). John rejoiced at the opportunity of introducing people to the Saviour, and then getting out of the way. So John the voice for God, proclaimed to all who would listen,

  • the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” is the Good News that God’s Son has come into the world and died for our sins.
  • the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” is the Good News that our sins can be forgiven, that we can belong to the family of God and one day go to live with God in heaven.
  • the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” is the announcement of victory over sin, death, and hell (1 Cor. 15:1–8, 51–52; Gal. 1:1–9).

CALVARY WAS AT THE EXACT SPOT:

Outside of the Damascus Gate today, behind the Arab bus station is a cliff. This cliff is cut into the side of the Mount Moriah ridge. It was formed by the quarrying of rock used for building Jerusalem over the hundreds of years from David’s time to Christ’s time. This rock faced cliff was called Golgotha or the place of the skull in the Gospels. It was a rock quarry and a place of execution designed by the Romans. It was here alongside of the main road heading to Damascus – that the execution by crucifixion took place. The many travelers in and out of the commercial area of Jerusalem had to pass by this spot on their way in this main gate for the city. To this day the Damascus Gate is still the main entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City. It is the busiest and largest gate of the six gates used to enter the Old City.

In ancient times the rock ridge was unbroken by this quarry. So when Abraham visited Melchizedek in Genesis 14 the ridge of Moriah would have extended all the way from the small city to the highest point to the north – called Mount Moriah. It was here in Genesis 22 that Abraham returned with his only son – Isaac. It was here that he left behind the servants and piled the wood on the back of his son and climbed that ridge to the very top. It was here on Mount Moriah that Abraham offered his only son Isaac – and God intervened. Then God promised that He would provide a lamb. He did so at that moment, but was also promising to Abraham that there on that exact spot the Lamb of God would be offered to bear the sin of the world.

So Golgotha was Moriah. Jesus was crucified on the exact spot that God had promised. In Genesis 22 as we saw Isaac carrying the wood on his back – so Jesus carried His own Cross. As Abraham offered his only son, so God the Father offered His only Son. Even the location was the same, the elevation was the highest, and the picture is amazingly clear this side of Calvary.

CALVARY WAS THE EXACT EVENT:

  • Bruised to Crush: Jesus was ‘bruised in the heel’ just as Eve was promised by God in Genesis 3.15 – FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO! And what a promise!
  • Lifted Up to Save Others: Jesus was “lifted up” as Moses foresaw 1,500 years earlier in Numbers 21.8 (cf. John 3.14) with the brazen serpent. THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
  • Pierced & Pained: David saw 1,000 years before Calvary that Christ would be “pierced” in His hands and feet, His garments were “divided” and His clothing was won by “casting lots” as Psalm 22.2, 4, 16-18 records. THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
  • Bruised for Other’s Iniquities: He was “bruised” as Isaiah saw 700 years before in chapter 53.5-6 “for our iniquities”.
  • Cut off for Others: In the 5th Century BC Daniel 9.24 we are told that Messiah would “be cut off” as a substitute, and not for Himself.

CALVARY WAS AT THE EXACT MOMENT:

Jesus was crucified during Passover week. There were two calendars followed by the Jews in Christ’s time. The northern (Galilean) calendar went from sunrise to sunrise. The southern (Judean) calendar went from sundown to sundown. This allowed for everyone to celebrate all the intricacies of the Passover when the city was overflowing with pilgrims. On that basis the seeming contradictions in the gospel accounts are easily explained.

Being Galileans, Jesus and the disciples considered Passover day to have started at sunrise on Thursday and to end at sunrise on Friday. The Jewish leaders who arrested and tried Jesus, being mostly priests and Sadducees, considered Passover day to begin at sunset on Thursday and end at sunset on Friday. By that variation, predetermined by God’s sovereign provision, Jesus could thereby legitimately celebrate the last Passover meal with His disciples and yet still be sacrificed on Passover day[6].

Why does the Lord ask that this event of the deliverance of His people from Egypt be commemorated so often? Why did He ask that they remember this event for 1,500 years? What did they see as they were celebrating it?

Watch the development in the scope of the sacrifices:

  1. A Lamb for the individual. Genesis 4:4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
  2. A Lamb for the whole household. Exodus 12:3 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.
  3. A Lamb for the nation. Leviticus 16:17 There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. 
  4. A Lamb for the world. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Watch the Focus upon Christ get clearer:

  • CHRIST WAS TYPIFIED: Genesis 4:4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
  • CHRIST WAS PROPHESIED: Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
  • CHRIST WAS EXEMPLIFIED: (only a 1st born, male, spotless, innocent, slain, substitute = saves) Exodus 12:3, 5-6 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. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 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.
  • CHRIST WAS PERSONIFIED: Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
  • CHRIST WAS IDENTIFIED: John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
  • CHRIST WILL BE MAGNIFIED: Revelation 5:6-14 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” 14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
  • CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED: Revelation 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

What was the message of the Passover? It is found in Exodus 12:7 & 13.

  1. GOD’S PLAN IS ALWAYS SPECIFIC: God laid out exactly what He required. There was no deviation allowed. Only those who obeyed the Lord’s specific instructions would be spared.          
  2. Are you aware God only accepts things done His way?
  3. GOD’S PLAN IS ALWAYS SACRIFICIAL: It was a violent shedding of the life’s blood of a defenseless lamb. Use the BLOOD of an innocent, spotless lamb that was poured out. Catch it in a bowl and apply it to the door posts. 
  4. Are you amazed that He sacrificed Himself for you?
  5. GOD’S PLAN IS ALWAYS SUBSTITUTIONARY: Paint it on the door posts as the reminder that a lamb was identifies with that family and it was slain. This was true of all the homes that wish to be spared the horrors of God’s wrath. In our world we tend to think of ourselves as unique and individual. We share however in 99% of all we are and do, a commonality with all other humans. Jesus identifies in every way with us and shares all but sinfulness with us. He gave Himself for us. He took our place!     
  6. Is it an overwhelming reality to you that someone died instead of you?
  7. GOD’S PLAN IS ALWAYS SUFFICIENT: All who hid behind the shadow of that bloody sacrifice were protected from God’s wrath.    
  8. Are you trusting in the only sufficient protection from the wrath of God?
  9. GOD’S PLAN IS ALWAYS SEPARATED: No leaven could go with them. They were to clean it all out and throw it away. F.B. Meyer compares this with our constant adversary of self. “The leaven must stand for the selfness which is characteristic of us all, through the exaggerated instinct of self-preservation…serving the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We are by nature self-confident, self-indulgent, and self-opinionated; we live with self as our goal, and around the pivot of I our whole being revolves.”[7]                       
  10. Is the sacrifice Christ made for you enough to make you avoid all that grieves Him?

“Let me remind you of the eternal facts: Grace was never intended to be a license to sin. Extending forgiveness to anyone without demanding change in their conduct makes the grace of God an accomplice to evil. To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” He expected her to change. He still expects transformation.

The heavenly Father decreed that any Jew eating leavened bread (made with yeast) during this period should be cut off from the people. Why was His judgment so strong? Because in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, leaven is a metaphor for sin. Leaven represents the pride and arrogance that lead men to feel they have no need of God.

  • Pride is an acid that turns the finest fruit bitter.
  • Pride is a shallow and superficial weed that grows in all soils, without need of water or care. It consumes and destroys every living thing it overshadows.
  • Pride is a swelling of the heart filled with ego and self-importance.
  • Pride raises you above others until you look down on them.
  • Pride is the basis of racism that divides the church and America. There is no white church, black church, brown church, or yellow church in Scripture. There is only the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ.
  • Pride is a cancer that rots the soul. A man infected with pride needs nothing…not even God!

Picture a scene with me, if you will: Imagine a Hebrew participating in the Exodus. He has watched the hand of God peel back the edges of the Red Sea so His people could walk across on dry ground; he has seen Pharaoh and his army drowned as the waters crashed back to their rightful place.

Our Hebrew traveler has watched God bring water from a rock; he has followed the pillar of cloud by day and been comforted by the sight of the pillar of fire by night. Moreover, he has heard Moses explicitly state-on several occasions-that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has commanded that leaven shall be put away during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

What if our imaginary Hebrew decides to have a nice little yeast roll for lunch? What does his rebellious action suggest? By today’s standards of gross immorality, eating leavened bread during this festival week would be considered laughably unimportant. Yet God commanded that any person who ate leavened bread during this feast should be stoned to death. Think of it!

What’s God saying here? He’s saying He has zero tolerance for sin! This is a message America has forgotten. We have become a nation of drugs, divorce, drunkenness, abortion, pornography, incest, and homosexuality. We are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. We snap our fingers at God as if He were a cosmic bellhop. But God never changes! God has always poured out His wrath on people and nations who refuse to confess their sin.

Why does God hate sin? Because sin is man’s declaration of independence of God. This sort of arrogance exists in the church; it’s contagious and it’s cancerous. Just like yeast, sin puffs us up. Paul felt led to warn the early church, “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6 NKJV). His point? A “little” pride will destroy your marriage, your church, our nation, and your soul. The message of this feast? Redemption is to be followed by a holy life and right living. We may not be immediately punished for disobedience as the Israelites were, but we will pay the price for sin. There is a payday! [8]

Paul tells us to pay attention to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Why? Because this feast teaches us that  God has zero tolerance for sin.

  • Do you want God’s blessing upon your life? Then hunger and thirst for righteousness! Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33 NKJV).
  • Do you want God’s protection? Live a righteous and pure life! “The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,” wrote the psalmist “and His ears are open to their cry” (Ps. 34:15 NKJV).
  • Do you want God to provide for your children? Live a godly life! In Psalm 37:25, the psalmist assures us, “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread” (NKJV).
  • Do you want God to answer your prayers? Live righteously! “The LORD is far from the wicked,” Solomon wrote, “but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (Proverbs 15:29 NKJV). James assures us that the prayer of a righteous man avails much (5:16), and the psalmist adds a warning: “If I regard iniquity [sin] in my heart The Lord will not hear” (Ps. 66:18 NKJV).[9]

Jesus was from Galilee so He celebrated the Passover meal like all the Galileans, the night before the Jerusalem based scribes, priests and Sanhedrin. So the first half of the 256,000 lambs that were probably slain that year were slain with His. The blood was poured down a pipe that drained into the Kidron Valley and was washed by the Brook Kidron down into the Dead Sea. It was probably still stained red by all that blood when Jesus crossed the brook and went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

After Christ’s late night arrest, Peter’s denials, and a night in the prison of Caiaphas as the early morning light began to dawn, hundreds and then thousands began to line up with their lambs.

Allow you minds to retrace the events of[10] Passover the day Christ was crucified. Levites have just opened the doors of the Temple so that the crowds can enter to offer their sacrificial lambs.

At 9 AM – this was the specified time and at that exact moment three events took place.

  1. While Israel’s high priest was tying the Passover lamb for the Nation to the Temple’s altar awaiting its sacrifice, and
  2. Each head of household takes a knife and prepares to slaughter the lamb that must be sacrificed for his family –
  3. AT THAT VERY MOMENT, outside the city walls of Jerusalem, Jesus was being nailed to a cross to hang, and bleed. For six hours both the lamb at the altar and Jesus the Lamb of God awaited death.

At 12 Noon as the thousands of individual lambs continue to be brought into the Temple, the sky darkens, and the crowds inside the Temple grow silent and pensive. Only the lights of the temple torches illumined the darkened courtyard. The flickering lights shined off the pavement wet with the blood of thousands of lambs. This was the

  • In the dark, while the stones of the Temple courtyard run red with the blood thousands of lambs and goats, the Lamb of God spills His life’s blood outside the city.
  • While the father in each household slaughters a lamb for the sake of his family, God the Father slaughters His holy Lamb for the sake of all who would accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

At 3 PM or exactly the ninth hour, the high priest ascended the altar in the temple and sacrificed the lamb for the Nation. Unstopped by the unusual darkness that had covered the land for three hours, he carefully places his hands on the head of the lamb, and slides a razor sharp knife across its innocent throat spilling its life blood.

  • At that moment, barely able to lift His blood-spattered face toward heaven, Christ’s words thundered out over the city of Jerusalem in triumph, It is finished!” (John 19:30).
  • At that moment on Calvary’s stark mountain, God the Father, the final High Priest of all creation, placed His holy hand on the head of His only begotten Son, allowing the sin of the world to descend upon Jesus. As Paul tells us

What wondrous love!

What amazing grace! Never forget it.

Passover reminds us that the precious blood of the Worthy Lamb of God — purchased our redemption.

Sing with me a song of worship to Christ our Passover Lamb:

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain 
THERE WAS A FULL SALVATION TO SEEK:

  • God’s offer was Salvation – He gave the ones who would listen the only solution to avert the disaster of the Death Angel’s sword.
  • God’s plan was Substitution – He detailed a simple act of taking an innocent, spotless lamb to die in the place of the family members.
  • God’s method was the Sprinkling of Blood – in the dark, a sprinkle of blood on the door posts was all it took to find protection.
  • God’s promise was Sufficient – it included deliverance from death, provision of all needs for life, and the hope of a land of promise flowing with milk and honey. All this with a personal guide to assure safe arrival!

So what does the Lord want us to remember tonight? THE PASSOVER. And what does that teach us? About our REDEMPTION? THERE IS A FINAL, DARK PLAGUE TO FEAR. It is UNSPEAKABLE, UNAVOIDABLE, UNSTOPPABLE,  and UNEXPECTED. Sounds just like Hell and the wrath of God facing unrepentant sinners today. Remember that Jesus says!

THERE IS A FULL SALVATION TO SEEK: God’s offer was Salvation; God’s plan was Substitution; God’s method was the Sprinkling of Blood; and God’s promise was Sufficient. Sounds like simply receiving the gift of God in Christ! So Exodus[11] 12 gives us the thrilling story of the Passover, the clearest Old Testament picture of our individual salvation through faith in the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In this chapter is the basis for calling Christ the Lamb of God, Christ our Passover, and the many tender references to His crucifixion as the death of our own Passover Lamb. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us (I Corinthians 5:7.  God said that the first-born in all Egypt should die.  It would have fallen on the Hebrews, too, had they not killed the paschal lamb and been protected by its blood of redemption (Exodus 12:12,13). The message of the Passover is found in Exodus 12:7 & 13.

  • SPECIFIC: Only those who obeyed the Lord’s specific instructions would be spared.
  • SACRIFICIAL: Put the BLOOD of an innocent, spotless lamb that was poured out, caught in a bowl and applied.
  • SUBSTITUTIONARY: Paint it on the door posts as the reminder that a lamb was identifies with that family and it was slain. This was true of all the homes that wish to be spared the horrors of God’s wrath.
  • SUFFICIENT: All who hid behind the shadow of that bloody sacrifice were protected from God’s wrath. The bloody cross of Calvary casts a narrow shadow in today’s sinful world. All who step by faith into that place of refuge are eternally saved from God’s wrath upon sin. And, they can begin to enjoy His abundant life forever.

Pictures of Christ: The Unleavened Bread (13:3-10)

The heavenly Father[12] decreed that any Jew eating leavened bread (made with yeast) during this period should be cut off from the people. Why was His judgment so strong? Because in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, leaven is a metaphor for sin. Leaven represents the pride and arrogance that lead men to feel they have no need of God.

  • The Bible says, “God resists the proud. ..” James 4:6 NKJV) and “These six things the LORD hates. ..a proud look” (Prov. 6:16-17 NKJV).
  • Pride was Nebuchadnezzar surveying his kingdom and saying, “look what I’ve done.” The result of pride was Nebuchadnezzar on his hands and knees eating grass in a cow pasture.
  • Pride is an acid that turns the finest fruit bitter. Pride is a shallow and superficial weed that grows in all soils, without need of water or care. It consumes and destroys every living thing it overshadows. Pride is a swelling of the heart filled with ego and self-importance. Pride raises you above others until you look down on them. Pride is the basis of racism that divides the church and America. There is no white church, black church, brown church, or yellow church in Scripture. There is only the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ. Pride is a cancer that rots the soul.
  • A man infected with pride needs nothing…not even God!

Picture a scene with me, if you will: Imagine a Hebrew participating in the Exodus.

  • He has watched:
  • the hand of God peel back the edges of the Red Sea so His people could walk across on dry ground;
  • Pharaoh and his army drowned as the waters crashed back to their rightful place.
  • God bring water from a rock;
  • God lead 3 million as they followed the pillar of cloud by day and been comforted by the sight of the pillar of fire by night.
  • Moreover, he has heard Moses explicitly state-on several occasions-that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has commanded that leaven shall be put away during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
  • What if our imaginary Hebrew decides to have a nice little yeast roll for lunch? What does his rebellious action suggest? By today’s standards of gross immorality, eating leavened bread during this festival week would be considered laughably unimportant. Yet God commanded that any person who ate leavened bread during this feast should be stoned to death.
  • Think of it! What’s God saying here? He’s saying He has zero tolerance for sin! This is a message America has forgotten. We have become a nation of drugs, divorce, drunkenness, abortion, pornography, incest, and homosexuality. We are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. We snap our fingers at God as if He were a cosmic bellhop. But God never changes! God has always poured out His wrath on people and nations who refuse to confess their sin.
  • If our country does not have a time of national repentance, America will experience the wrath of God on her economy, on her land’s ability to grow food through floods and scorching heat, and on her children, who will continue to march into captivity to drugs, gangs, sexual diseases, and Satanism. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” (Ps. 33:12 NKJV)-that verse does not describe America.
  • Why does God hate sin? Because sin is man’s declaration of independence of God.  Hear me! You don’t break God’s law. ..God’s law will break you. Such arrogance is hard to imagine, yet it exists all around us, just as it flourished even among the religious leaders in Christ’s time. Jesus said, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6 NKJV). This sort of arrogance exists in the church; it’s contagious and it’s cancerous. Just like yeast, sin puffs us up.
  • Paul felt led to warn the early church, “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6 NKJV). His point? A “little” pride will destroy your marriage, your church, our nation, and your soul. The message of this feast? Redemption is to be followed by a holy life and right living. We may not be immediately punished for disobedience as the Israelites were, but we will pay the price for sin. There is a payday!

To admire the sacrifice of Jesus we need t remember what He did for us. PP Bliss well reminds us in his hymn, “Hallelujah What a Savior”.

  • ‘Man of sorrows!’ what a name
    For the Son of God who came
    Ruined sinners to reclaim!
    Hallelujah, what a Savior!
  • Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
    In my place condemned He stood,
    Seal’d my pardon with His blood;
    Hallelujah, what a Savior!
  • Guilty vile, and helpless we,
    Spotless Lamb of God was He;
    Full atonement! can it be?
    Hallelujah, what a Savior!
  • Lifted up was He to die,
    ‘It is finished,’ was His cry;
    Now in heav’n exalted high,
    Hallelujah, What a Savior!
  • When He comes, our glorious King,
    All His ransomed home to bring,
    Then anew this song we’ll sing,
    Hallelujah, what a Savior!

As we look into the book of Revelation remember we see that it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  All the Bible is now combined into one majestic picture of the Lamb of God.  He who the prophets foretold, the priest portrayed, and John the Baptist pointed to who stood unknown in the midst of men – is now shown to be the center of the plan of God for this last segment of time before time shall be no more. 

We are at the Throne of Judgment for the Universe. On the Throne is the JUDGE of all.

How can I experience His inexhaustible peace, His eternal calm in the presence of the Ancient of Days, seated on the Judgment Throne of the Universe? What will happen to me because of all my failures and sins?

Finding peace at the judgment of God by recognizing my unworthiness and guilt before His holy Throne, and recognizing by bowing and worshiping, the utter worthiness of the lamb as my substitute.

         Chapter 5 is in two parts:

         1.  v. 1-5 the unworthiness of mankind

         2.  v. 6-14 the worthiness of lamb

our desperation:

The utter unworthiness of mankind

(v. 1-4)

v. 1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  The Book – what is it?  Official document that declares the climax of human history.

  • Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
  • Ezekiel 2:9-10 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.
  • Dan. 12:8-9 although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
  • This scroll before God’s Throne represents Christ’s “title deed” to all that the Father promised Him. Jesus because of His sacrifice on the cross. “Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen [nations] for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession” (Ps. 2:8).
  • It is the deed for the Heir, the One who has the right to take the earth. In New Testament times Roman law required that a will had to be sealed seven times, to protect it from tampering. As you rolled it up, you sealed it every turn or so for seven times. The seals were not to be broken until after the person whose will it was had died.

only Jesus is heir to the title deed of the universe!

v. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”

jesus alone is worthy to be our redeemer.

v. 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

  • Rom. 3:10 none righteous
  • All of Adam’s race is fallen. No one is worthy among all the Pharoahs, Caesars, Khans, generals, dictators and emperors. They and all their subjects have failed to measure up to God’s standard…  All die and turn to dust…

All of humanity falls short of God’s glory

v. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.

our Redemption hangs totally upon Jesus,

we have no other hope!

his perfection:

admiring the perfect sacrifice of Jesus

v. 5-7

  1. the identification of Jesus is perfect: he triumphed over sin, death and the devil!

v. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

  • Lion – Genesis 49:9-10 Judah is a lion’s whelp;  From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
  • Root of David – Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 61:1
  • Overcome – it is finished!  Cross, Jn. 19:30

Jesus Christ is the “Heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2). He is our beloved “Kinsman-Redeemer” who was willing to give His life to set us free from bondage and to restore our lost inheritance

  • Leviticus 25:23-46  25 ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.

In Ruth 1:1-4:22 we find the Kinsman Redeemer had to be: Related closely to the one in need, willing to take the responsibility to redeem and able to pay the price of redemption. Only Jesus meets all the qualifications:

  • Jesus became one of us taking human flesh, so He is our close Kinsman Redeemer.
  • Jesus loves us and is willing to lay down His life for us, so He is our willing Redeemer.
  • Jesus paid the price of our sin with His own body and blood, so He is our  Abundantly Able Redeemer.
  • the  location of Jesus is perfect: he is perfectly positioned

6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

  • Jesus is in Heaven as our Mediator.
  • Jesus is in the midst of the Throne room of God.
  • Jesus stands before the Throne omnipotent ‘all authority’.
  • John continues his description of the scene around the throne: “the seven Spirits of God” (v. 6). That does not teach that there are seven Holy Spirits. Rather there is one sevenfold Spirit, described in Isaiah 11:2 as (1) the Spirit of the Lord, (2) the spirit of wisdom, (3) the spirit of understanding, (4) the spirit of counsel, (5) the spirit of strength, (6) the spirit of knowledge, and (7) the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
  • The description of the Lamb (Rev. 5:6), if produced literally by an artist, would provide a grotesque picture; but when understood symbolically, conveys spiritual truth. Since seven is the number of perfection,
  • Jesus is omnipotent. That means He has perfect power (seven horns),
  • Jesus is omniscient. That means He has perfect wisdom (seven eyes),
  • Jesus is omnipresent. That means He is perfectly present (seven Spirits in all the earth).
  • All three are attributes of God. So, the Lamb is identified as God the Son, Christ Jesus!

Jesus is the wounded Lamb (v. 6-8). He was promised as the perfect lamb.

In Revelation Jesus is called a lamb (little pet lamb, not big sheep) no less than 28 times!

In Genesis 22;8, 13  a ram was substituted for Isaac, a picture of Christ giving His life for the individual (see Gal. 2:20).

At Passover, the lamb was slain for each family (Ex. 12:3).

Isaiah states that Jesus died for the nation of Israel (Isa. 53:8; see also John 11:49–52).

He was pointed out as the perfect Lamb:

John affirms that the Lamb died for the whole world! (John 1:29)

Peter said 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

The more you meditate on the power and scope of Christ’s work on the cross, the more humbled and worshipful you become.

  • the action of Jesus is perfect: Jesus takes the title deed as the exalted Lord of glory

7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

  • The reception of Jesus is perfect: Jesus hears and keeps all our prayers.

8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Prayers are vital to God

Wonderful, Merciful, Savior

Wonderful merciful Savior, Precious redeemer and friend, Who would have thought that a Lamb could, Rescue the souls of men? O, You rescue the souls of men!

CHORUS: You are the One that we praise, You are the one we adore; You give the healing and grace, Our hearts always hunger for; O, our hearts always hunger for.

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper, Spirit we long to embrace; You offer hope when our hearts have, Hopelessly lost the way, Oh, we’ve hopelessly lost the way (Chorus)

Almighty, infinite Father, Faithfully loving Your own; Here in our weakness You find us, Falling before Your throne; O, we’re falling before Your throne. (Chorus)

Christ’s Early Passovers

 It was for thirty years Jesus followed His family to Jerusalem (Luke 2:41) at each Passover season.

It was Jesus who, as the oldest son[13] was leading at times, and holding in his arms, the lamb which the group from Nazareth wished to sacrifice.

He must have handed over the lamb with a look of intense sorrow in his eyes. In his heart he seemed to be sharing the tragedy of the lamb, while a Levite’s voice was repeating Isaiah’s famous words.

 
Isaiah 53

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so He openeth not His mouth.

He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

When the lamb was handed back after being butchered and skinned for the Passover Meal, its body was slit down the middle and kept open by two pieces of wood— IN THE FORM OF A CROSS.

The lamb slain, the cross of wood, the words from Isaiah – all these powerful pictures hinting of Christ’s destiny must have filled the mind and heart of the boy Christ Jesus. 

Christ’s Final Passover Celebration

Now, move onward through Christ’s life to the events of[14] the Passover during this week we called Passion Week.

 

It was on the Thursday night just before Christ’s crucifixion on Friday. This is also the Thursday night before we celebrate Christ’s death on the Cross Friday, and His resurrection on Sunday.

 

After Christ’s Passover meal He was arrested, kept all of Thursday night until He was taken Friday morning to be tried, abused, scourged, and taken by the Romans to be crucified.

 

During all these events happening to Jesus, out of sight to the crowds, the Levites have just opened the doors of the Temple Friday morning, so that the crowds of pilgrims in Jerusalem can enter, to offer their sacrificial lambs.

Soon it was 9 AM—this was the time specified by God in the book of Exodus, and at that exact moment three events took place.

  1. While Israel’s high priest was tying the Passover lamb for the Nation to the Temple’s altar, where it would stay all day awaiting its sacrifice;
  • Each head of a household was watching a priest taking a knife and preparing to slaughter the lamb that must be sacrificed for their family;
  • IT WAS ALSO AT THAT VERY MOMENT, that outside the city walls of Jerusalem, Jesus was being nailed to the cross to hang, and bleed for six hours. Both the lamb tied at the altar in the Temple, and Jesus nailed to a cross of wood as the Lamb of God—awaited death.

Three hours later, as it came to the hour of 12 Noon: as the thousands of individual lambs continued to be brought into the Temple to be slain by the priests, the sky darkened, and the crowds inside the Temple were startled, and they must have grown silent and pensive.

Think of this moment:

  • While the stones of the Temple courtyard ran red with the blood of thousands of lambs and goats, the Lamb of God spilled His life’s blood outside the city.
  • While the father in each household slaughtered a lamb for the sake of his family, God the Father had also slaughtered His holy Lamb Jesus Christ, for the sake of all who would accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

Then, after three long hours of supernatural darkness, at 3 PM or exactly the ninth hour, the high priest walked through the strange mid-day darkness, ascended the stairs of the altar in the temple, and sacrificed in front of all the gathered thousands, the Passover lamb for the Nation.

  • At that very same moment, barely able to lift His blood-spattered face toward heaven from the Cross—Christ’s voice rose up from Calvary in triumph: “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
  • At that moment on Calvary’s stark mountain, God the Father, the final High Priest of all creation, had placed His holy hand on the head of His only begotten Son, allowing the sin of the world to descend upon Jesus.

That is the message of Passover, that is the truth of redemption, and that is why our Savior, Jesus Christ, was the Lamb of God.

What wondrous love! What amazing grace! Never forget it.

The Passover Lamb Portrayed Christ

The seven Jewish feasts also became the outline for Jesus’ ministry. It is amazing how precisely Jesus fulfilled the feasts that had been celebrated for more than 1,450 years.

Passover speaks[15] of redemption. Messiah, the Passover Lamb, has been slain for us. He died on Passover (as God’s Lamb),

So Jesus- crucified on Passover takes those who trust in His sacrifice to Heaven. Now let me start in Exodus chapter 12 and I’m going to——you can just mark these down—I’m going to go through them real quickly. It says:

Exodus 12:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

-that’s why I said Passover is the first of the feasts of Israel which God gave to them which He calls the feasts of the Lord but it was the start of their year and so, Passover was to start everything out.

Ex. 12:3 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.

Now let’s think about this—the sacrifice God wanted was a lamb, OK? That’s easy—Jesus is the Lamb of God. Secondly it says in verse 5:

Ex. 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

So it had to be a special spotless lamb, a male, of the first year, and unblemished. Now Jesus Christ—He was special—the only begotten of the Father. The spotless— no sin was found in Him. Remember at His trial when He stood before every one— Herod, Pilate, Sanhedrin, the ruling council, he stood before all of them and everyone agreed— what? No Fault. I mean even people that had not known Him His whole life couldn’t find one thing that he’d ever done wrong. When He was a little boy, even when he was a young man, you know in youth, in teen years, never did anything wrong. He was spotless, He was special. Continuing in verse 6:

Ex. 12:6a Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.

Do you remember what we studied a few weeks ago on Palm Sunday? Do you know why it is Palm Sunday? Because on the 10th of month of Aviv the Hebrew month which is called Nisan in the Babylonian calendar— on that month on the 10th day the lamb was supposed to be brought in to the home and on the 14th of the month it was to be slain. That’s why Jews had to pick their Passover lamb on the 10th but they did not slay it until the 14th.

Did you get it— verse 3 on the 10th day? Why? So they could start liking it. After the first service someone ran up to me and said you know what? That was so clear to us—they live on a farm and the had a sweet little farm animal born and that animal was with them for several days and then somehow it fell into the watering pan face down and it drowned and they said their kids just wept and wept. You know what the mother said? It’s just like that Passover lamb—you get a little lamb that’s all cleaned up and sweet and young and with the family and they will love it like a pet. And then when it dies they will sorrow and Jesus Christ offered Himself to the children of Israel to love and then He was offered and slain as a lamb that was not guilty. Well continuing—it is also it says in verse 6 at the end

Ex. 12:6b you shall kill it at twilight.

When does twilight begin? 3 pm. When is the evening? At 6 pm. So twilight was the hours before evening. Remember their days start at 6 pm to 6 pm and so at sunset, 6 pm, a new day started. And so before sunset from 3 pm on that lamb was to be slain. Then it says this—look at verse 46—there’s something else about this lamb:

Ex. 12:46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.

–Isn’t that something about Jesus? Jesus was the Lamb a special lamb, a spotless lamb, He was set apart for 4 days He was sacrificed, died on the cross, He was sacrificed specifically at 3 pm just like the Passover lamb and scripturally— not one of His bones was broken—isn’t that amazing? Jesus was our Passover Lamb. But I want you to see what they were supposed to do—look at verse 7—this is one of the most moving parts for me— Now remember what Passover is about. Some of you have to refresh your minds. The children of Israel were captive in Egypt. They were surrounded by their enemies who were trying to kill them- by killing the first born (???) and all that stuff— Moses came in as a deliverer and God told Moses the way you get delivered is that I will lead you out and don’t worry about the details. So the plagues come and then the final plague was the death angel and God says you will not escape the Angel of Death unless you do— look at verse 7:

Ex. 12:7 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.

Hide Under the Blood & Eat the Lamb

Two things here- they had to fulfill the Passover requirements which were pick a lamb, kept it for four days, put your hands on the head of it and confess your identification with it, slay it, collect the blood in a bowl, skin the lamb, roast it and take the blood and put it on the doorposts. Did you know that family could have gotten a lamb just like they were supposed to on the 10th of Aviv and if they hadn’t killed it on the 14th the death angel would have killed their first born. If they had not collected the blood, the death angel would have killed their firstborn on the 14th on Passover night. If they had collected the blood and left it in the bowl, the death angel would have killed their first born. Do you see they couldn’t partially obey? They couldn’t know enough to have a lamb; They couldn’t know enough to just kill the lamb;

They couldn’t know enough to just collect the blood— they had to obediently do two more things: If they didn’t eat the roasted lamb and if they didn’t put the blood on the door posts the death angel would have gotten them.

You know what I think— in America there are a lot of people walking around—they’ve got the lamb, they’ve got the blood in the bowl and they’re walking all around and they know all the facts but they have never personally applied the blood and hid inside the house in the protection of the sacrifice of Christ. What does that mean? It means they’ve never partaken of Jesus Christ personally.

That’s why it says in verse 7 the second key point: You have to partake, you can’t just be with the family, you can’t just watch them do it. You can just see what they do, you can’t just marvel at them, you got to partake of it.

Do you know what the blight is today? I was in the largest Christian college in the world. I was on staff there for years—you know what the biggest problem we had? Children of Christian families that had never gotten saved. They knew everything about the Lord, they knew all the verses, they won all the awards, and it just had never entered them. They had not partaken of Christ. They were trying to be a Christian on their own and they were so empty and helpless and frustrated because they couldn’t do it. How do they do it? They partake- verse 7—hide beneath the shadow of the blood—in other words say Jesus Christ—You died for my sins, not just the world, mine and I personally receive You. I like Charlotte Elliot’s testimony—she wrote Just as I Am. Out of my weakness, sorrow and strife, Jesus I come, Jesus I come. Into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus I come to thee. I come to You. I partake of You. Interesting what it says here in verse 8:

Ex. 12:8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

That’s speaks also of salvation. Did you know there’s a sorrow that comes in our salvation. We are sorry for our sin. Have you ever had a child come to you and they did something wrong and they go I’m really sorry I did that. Do you think they are? No—they’re just saying it because they’re suppose to. There’s something about when we are aware of our sin it smites our heart. That’s what the bitter herbs were about– the sorrow for their sin. Also it doesn’t stop there it says in verse 9:

Ex. 12:9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire–its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning

– don’t wait—what does the writer of Hebrews say? While you hear His voice don’t harden your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Don’t wait. Over the years of ministry I’ve met people that say yeah, yeah, that’s really good I’m going to wait until I’m old and ______________I’m going to have a life of fun and just before I die I’m going to get that. You know what the Lord says? Most likely it will be too late because you will have hardened your heart one to many times. So what is Jesus is our Passover Lamb mean?

#1 it means Jesus is the only hope we have. He is the only one who is the specific sacrificial lamb set apart spotless who was sacrificed for us. That’s the fact- but the Passover was not effective unless you partook of the blood that was put on the door post and stayed in side of that house and ate the Lamb.

This morning are you trusting that Jesus Christ sacrifice has taken your sins away? And have you personally received Jesus Christ. Your family can sit around the table and eat the lamb but if you didn’t you were not protected. You must partake of Him. There’s something about the Passover that brings salvation down to a personal interaction, relationship, a personal intimate knowledge of the sacrifice of Christ. The question to you: Is Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who was slain for you? Let’s bow before Him. As we bow I ask you to just do what the Apostle Paul says, examine yourself whether you’re in the faith— whether or not this morning you are resting beneath His blood.

Jesus is the Lamb of Revelation

In Revelation Jesus is called a lamb (little pet lamb, not big sheep) no less than 28 times!

In Genesis 22;8, 13  a ram was substituted for Isaac, a picture of Christ giving His life for the individual (see Gal. 2:20).

At Passover, the lamb was slain for each family (Ex. 12:3).

Isaiah states that Jesus died for the nation of Israel (Isa. 53:8; see also John 11:49–52).

He was pointed out as the perfect Lamb:

John affirms that the Lamb died for the whole world! (John 1:29)

Peter said 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Wonderful, Merciful, Savior

Wonderful merciful Savior, Precious redeemer and friend, Who would have thought that a Lamb could, Rescue the souls of men? O, You rescue the souls of men!

CHORUS: You are the One that we praise, You are the one we adore; You give the healing and grace, Our hearts always hunger for; O, our hearts always hunger for.

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper, Spirit we long to embrace; You offer hope when our hearts have, Hopelessly lost the way, Oh, we’ve hopelessly lost the way (Chorus)

Almighty, infinite Father, Faithfully loving Your own; Here in our weakness You find us, Falling before Your throne; O, we’re falling before Your throne. (Chorus)

Christ’s Early Passovers

 

It was for thirty years Jesus followed His family to Jerusalem (Luke 2:41) at each Passover season.

It was Jesus who, as the oldest son[16] was leading at times, and holding in his arms, the lamb which the group from Nazareth wished to sacrifice.

He must have handed over the lamb with a look of intense sorrow in his eyes. In his heart he seemed to be sharing the tragedy of the lamb, while a Levite’s voice was repeating Isaiah’s famous words.  Isaiah 53

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so He openeth not His mouth.

He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

When the lamb was handed back after being butchered and skinned for the Passover Meal, its body was slit down the middle and kept open by two pieces of wood— IN THE FORM OF A CROSS.

The lamb slain, the cross of wood, the words from Isaiah – all these powerful pictures hinting of Christ’s destiny must have filled the mind and heart of the boy Christ Jesus. 

 My Prayer for You

Father in Heaven I pray that everyone of us before we leave this room this morning would answer the question is Jesus the Lamb of God for me? Have I fulfilled what Your Word says Jesus Christ was? He was the Passover lamb and only for those who would obey, who would take the blood, who would apply the blood, who would hide within the shadow of the blood, who would eat the roasted lamb, only those were saved. This morning we have a lot of people who like to look on Passover as it were. They love to carry around the bowl of blood. They love to see the lamb roasted but they’ve never splattered the blood, they’ve never eaten the lamb. They are just observers, they are not partakers. Lord Jesus you spent so much of your ministry warning religious people that they weren’t born again. I pray this morning for all the church goers who are here this morning that each one would examine whether or not Jesus Christ is their lamb. Whether they have placed their hand on His head and said my sins are on You, Lord Jesus. Whether or not they have knelt beneath the sprinkling of His blood for cleansing from sin and whether or not they have partaken personally of You Lord Jesus. O we thank You for Your salvation but we thank you not just we can know about it but we can participate in it. And those who have we shall gather forever worshipping the Lamb who was slain for us whom we partook of His great salvation. Open our hearts to this truth. May You Lord Jesus in a real and powerful way be the lamb who is our lamb this morning. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.

Ken Ham Shares Gospel

AiG wants the world to know that the Bible is not just a book of religion, or morality, or just a book of spiritual things—although it is all those things. We want people, including future museum visitors, to understand that the Bible is a book of history.

You see, the first book of the Bible relates to us the account of the biological, geological, astronomical, and anthropological history of the universe—and this history is confirmed by observational science in genetics, biology, geology, and astronomy.

Because this history as revealed in the Bible is true, then the message of the Christian gospel (concerning salvation from our sin of rebellion in the first man Adam) is true—that the Son of God stepped into history to become one of us and to die (but as a sinless man) on a cross (because death was the penalty for our sin), was raised from the dead (conquering death), and now offers a free gift of salvation (to live with God for eternity in a New Heavens and earth—with no death) to those who will receive it.

At one stage, a woman acting the part of Mary talks about the Jewish sacrificial system. As you watch this presentation, you’ll become so absorbed with it that it will be as if you’re there. Mary says (in a passionate way):

Our sacrifice always had to be perfect—God required it. I have memories as a little girl, when my family would pick our best lamb from the flock. The priest took his knife and … . It always broke my heart, but my parents insisted that all of us were there. They wanted to make sure we each understood how terrible sin is, and just how much it costs to cover it …

 [In the video, you’ll see Mary and her family watching this beautiful animal—and they see the priest’s knife. The priest holds the lamb up above the altar, and you really sense what Mary and her family must have sensed and experienced as the event broke their hearts.]

One day, after I was engaged to Joseph, I was visited by an angel of God. He told me not to be afraid, and that I was to give birth to a child, and that I should call him Jesus.

I asked how this could be, since I was still a virgin. The angel told me the power of the Most High would overshadow me, and my son would be called the Son of God. Of course, one day I learned that my son would be called something else as well—a lamb.

  1. The first time the gospel was preached was in Genesis 3:15. Right after Adam sinned, which separated himself and all his descendants from our Creator, God revealed He already had a plan to provide a way of salvation for sinners: “ … And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
  2. God further illustrated His redemption plan when he made clothing for Adam and Eve from animal skins: “…Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” This was the first blood sacrifice as a covering for their sin—a picture of what was to come in Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, who would die and be raised from the dead to TAKE AWAY our sin.

As you contemplate this truth, I want you to think about the fact that, as God killed these animals to cover Adam and Eve, He knew that this would happen to the Son of God one day—in fact, knew this before He had created the universe, before there was time, God had predetermined that the Son of God would become a sacrifice for sin so that those who received the gift of salvation could be saved for eternity.

  • Acts 2:23 states: “… Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain … .”

Revelation 13:8 states: “… And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Think about this: before the universe was created, before time existed, before man was created, God knew that we (in Adam) would sin. He knew we would rebel against our Creator. And in the wisdom and love of God, in eternity, He predetermined a plan so that we could receive a free gift of salvation. In eternity, God planned for the Son of God to step into history to provide the ultimate sacrifice—the sinless Son of God would suffer sin’s penalty of death, be raised from the dead, thus providing a way of salvation. Hebrews 10:10 declares: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

  • As you think about the fact that in eternity, God had predetermined the Son of God would become a man to die for our sins, also contemplate these things:

a. When God created the heavenly bodies on day four of creation “for signs and for seasons and for days and years,” (Genesis 1:14), He knew that one of the signs would be for the time the Son of God would become a man, born of a Virgin in a town called Bethlehem.

b. When God made the trees (and all plants) on the third day of creation (Genesis 1:11), He knew that a tree would one day be used for the most evil event of history: when evil men would crucify the Son of God. And yet, by God’s foreknowledge and predetermined plan, this event would occur for the salvation of souls.

c. When God made the land animals on day six (Genesis 1:24), he knew that He would soon sacrifice at least one of those animals because of our sin in Adam—and He knew He had predetermined that this would one day happen to the Son of God, so we could receive the free gift of salvation

d. When God cursed the ground and caused thorns and thistles to grow because of sin (Genesis 3:18), contemplate the fact that God knew that one day, thorns would be used to pierce the brow of His Son as He hung on that tree paying the penalty for our sin. “And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head …” (Mark 15:17).

Doesn’t this all want to make you want to fall on your knees and worship our Creator, praise Him, and continually thank Him for the … lamb slain from the foundation of the world?

And for those of you who have not received the free gift of salvation, God’s Word tells you“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”


[1] Ideas reflected from John MacArthur, April 10, 2011;  Players in the Drama of the Cross, Part 1, Mark 14:1-2, Code: 41-71

a.d. Anno Domini (Lat.), Year of the Lord

[2] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Mt 21:1). Chicago: Moody Press.

[3] Adapted from McQuaid E. , The Outpouring: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel, (Bellmawr, New Jersey: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc.) 1997.

[4] Rimmer, Science, p. 248.

[5]  Kevin Howard, Marvin Rosenthal, The Feasts of the Lord. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997, p.

[6]  John F. MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible, (Dallas: Word Publishing) 1997.

[7] Meyer, Exodus, p.136.

[8]  John Hagee, His Glory Revealed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, 46-47.

[9]  John Hagee, His Glory Revealed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, 25-28.

[10]  John Hagee, His Glory Revealed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, pp. 9-11.

[11] Mears, What the Bible is all about, p. 36-37.

[12] John Hagee, His Glory Revealed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, p. 25-28.

[13]  William Barclay, Jesus of Nazareth. Cleveland, Ohio: Collins World, 1977, p. 61.

[14]  John Hagee, His Glory Revealed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, pp. 9-11.

[15]  Kevin Howard, Marvin Rosenthal, The Feasts of the Lord. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997, p.

[16] William Barclay, Jesus ofNazareth. Cleveland, Ohio: Collins World, 1977, p. 61.

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