Observant Jews know what Passover is about. How could they forget? "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Those are the words spoken by the youngest child at every Passover celebration, to begin the retelling of the story.....how the Hebrews (back before they were "Jews") were slaves in Egypt. How God sent plague after plague against Egypt, but Pharaoh would not release them, until finally, God destroyed Pharaoh's firstborn son, along with every firstborn of every person and every animal in the nation.....except those of God's own people.
How did the Death Angel know to pass certain people by? They were the ones marked. God told them what to do: Take a male lamb or goat kid of the first year into each home. Keep it a certain number of days. On the designated night, kill the lamb and roast it whole, over fire. The blood from the lamb was to be splashed on the door frame of the house. Everyone was to eat the lamb with bitter herbs -- to remind them of the bitterness of their life before they were set free. And while they were eating, the Death Angel began his grim journey through Egypt, taking away the breath of life from every firstborn.....except those in the homes marked by the blood of the lamb.
When his child died, Pharaoh drop-kicked every Hebrew out of Egypt that selfsame day.
Time passed. Year after year, the Hebrews observed Passover. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Year after year, Hebrews heard the story of their liberation from slavery to the Egyptians. They remembered.
Then, one day, a prophet appeared in Israel. John was a Nazirite. He had long hair, long beard. He wore clothes woven of hair, and a leather belt, and he lived out in the desert. He began to call his people, the Jews, to repentance. And people came to him, to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.... a baptism of repentance.
One day John was with a handful of his disciples, teaching them, when another man came walking up the path. John looked up at the other man for a moment, then cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" And John's disciples got up and followed after the other man. That man was Jesus of Nazareth.
A Jew would know what a lamb was for. A lamb was the sacrifice that was killed every spring at Passover. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" The lamb was the sacrifice; the lamb's blood was what made the Death Angel pass us by. We were saved, we were set free, because of that splash of blood that marked us. When John said Jesus was "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," it was not an honorary title, it was a statement of purpose. Later, when he was facing his own death, Jesus would tell Pontius Pilate, "to this end was I born." To this END... He came to die.
Jesus taught. Jesus was an example to us. Jesus corrected the hypocrites who were too powerful for anyone else to speak a word of correction to them. But all of that is a side-issue. The primary purpose for which Christ was born -- for which he came into this world -- was to die.
He knew this his whole life. If you read the gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- all the way through, you will see that Jesus began to be irritable toward the end. He seems to become impatient with his followers' petty disagreements. They just didn't get it. The one time he was explicit in describing how he would soon die, Peter rebuked him! Jesus turned around, and saw the other disciples listening, and he rebuked Peter! This is where the well-known phrase "Get thee behind me, Satan!" was spoken. Jesus knew how easy it would be....not to die. All he had to do was give the word.
But that would mean consigning us all... every single human being, those alive then, those who had died and were waiting in Sheol, those who would be born one day, including us..... to eternal damnation in the pit prepared for Satan and his angels. Satan would like nothing more. So when Peter rebuked Jesus for saying he would soon die, Jesus knew that was the one temptation constantly before him, probably the only one that mattered. But if he gave in to that temptation, the whole world would be lost, and his lifelong mission would be for nothing. He rebuked Peter before all the others, leaving it abundantly clear that his path was determined, and he would not turn aside. He would not live on, he would not continue to teach, he would not marry and have children, he would not become a respected (albeit eccentric) member of society. He would not enjoy a good life....
He would hold to the course, for "to this end" was he born. He was the Lamb. Not the lamb of Enoch the sheepherder, which would be slaughtered for the Passover meal. He was the Lamb of God. His blood would not just protect from physical death; his blood protects us eternally. It marks us as the people of God.
So, against everyone's advice, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, for -- as he told his disciples -- where else would a prophet die? He went up to the place where his enemies, the rulers and religious leaders of the Israelite nation, were as thick as hornets in a hornets' nest. He went, even though he knew one of his followers would betray him. And there he was slain.
It was Passover. Somehow, the religious leaders missed the significance. They went to the Roman governor asking that Jesus' body be taken down from the cross so they could celebrate their Passover in peace. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Whether through ignorance or by choice, they simply didn't get it.
Every Passover, every year, down through the centuries, had pointed to this Day. The Lamb of God was slain, as a sacrifice for sins. His blood -- not the blood of a little sheep -- brings remission of sins. His blood -- not the blood of a little goat kid -- covers us and protects us from eternal damnation. The Death Angel passes us by.
ISAIAH 53
Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is 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 sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was on him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one 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 opens not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul to death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
I hope you all have a good Passover tonight, and a joyous Resurrection Day on Sunday. Be sure to watch for the third of the four "blood moons" Saturday morning. The lunar eclipse will be visible throughout the United States, although totality will only be visible in the western half of the country and over the north Pacific Ocean. In the eastern time zone, the height of the eclipse will be about 7:30-8 a.m. Saturday. ~ GF
How did the Death Angel know to pass certain people by? They were the ones marked. God told them what to do: Take a male lamb or goat kid of the first year into each home. Keep it a certain number of days. On the designated night, kill the lamb and roast it whole, over fire. The blood from the lamb was to be splashed on the door frame of the house. Everyone was to eat the lamb with bitter herbs -- to remind them of the bitterness of their life before they were set free. And while they were eating, the Death Angel began his grim journey through Egypt, taking away the breath of life from every firstborn.....except those in the homes marked by the blood of the lamb.
When his child died, Pharaoh drop-kicked every Hebrew out of Egypt that selfsame day.
Time passed. Year after year, the Hebrews observed Passover. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Year after year, Hebrews heard the story of their liberation from slavery to the Egyptians. They remembered.
Then, one day, a prophet appeared in Israel. John was a Nazirite. He had long hair, long beard. He wore clothes woven of hair, and a leather belt, and he lived out in the desert. He began to call his people, the Jews, to repentance. And people came to him, to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.... a baptism of repentance.
One day John was with a handful of his disciples, teaching them, when another man came walking up the path. John looked up at the other man for a moment, then cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" And John's disciples got up and followed after the other man. That man was Jesus of Nazareth.
A Jew would know what a lamb was for. A lamb was the sacrifice that was killed every spring at Passover. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" The lamb was the sacrifice; the lamb's blood was what made the Death Angel pass us by. We were saved, we were set free, because of that splash of blood that marked us. When John said Jesus was "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," it was not an honorary title, it was a statement of purpose. Later, when he was facing his own death, Jesus would tell Pontius Pilate, "to this end was I born." To this END... He came to die.
Jesus taught. Jesus was an example to us. Jesus corrected the hypocrites who were too powerful for anyone else to speak a word of correction to them. But all of that is a side-issue. The primary purpose for which Christ was born -- for which he came into this world -- was to die.
He knew this his whole life. If you read the gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- all the way through, you will see that Jesus began to be irritable toward the end. He seems to become impatient with his followers' petty disagreements. They just didn't get it. The one time he was explicit in describing how he would soon die, Peter rebuked him! Jesus turned around, and saw the other disciples listening, and he rebuked Peter! This is where the well-known phrase "Get thee behind me, Satan!" was spoken. Jesus knew how easy it would be....not to die. All he had to do was give the word.
But that would mean consigning us all... every single human being, those alive then, those who had died and were waiting in Sheol, those who would be born one day, including us..... to eternal damnation in the pit prepared for Satan and his angels. Satan would like nothing more. So when Peter rebuked Jesus for saying he would soon die, Jesus knew that was the one temptation constantly before him, probably the only one that mattered. But if he gave in to that temptation, the whole world would be lost, and his lifelong mission would be for nothing. He rebuked Peter before all the others, leaving it abundantly clear that his path was determined, and he would not turn aside. He would not live on, he would not continue to teach, he would not marry and have children, he would not become a respected (albeit eccentric) member of society. He would not enjoy a good life....
He would hold to the course, for "to this end" was he born. He was the Lamb. Not the lamb of Enoch the sheepherder, which would be slaughtered for the Passover meal. He was the Lamb of God. His blood would not just protect from physical death; his blood protects us eternally. It marks us as the people of God.
So, against everyone's advice, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, for -- as he told his disciples -- where else would a prophet die? He went up to the place where his enemies, the rulers and religious leaders of the Israelite nation, were as thick as hornets in a hornets' nest. He went, even though he knew one of his followers would betray him. And there he was slain.
It was Passover. Somehow, the religious leaders missed the significance. They went to the Roman governor asking that Jesus' body be taken down from the cross so they could celebrate their Passover in peace. "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Whether through ignorance or by choice, they simply didn't get it.
Every Passover, every year, down through the centuries, had pointed to this Day. The Lamb of God was slain, as a sacrifice for sins. His blood -- not the blood of a little sheep -- brings remission of sins. His blood -- not the blood of a little goat kid -- covers us and protects us from eternal damnation. The Death Angel passes us by.
ISAIAH 53
Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is 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 sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was on him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one 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 opens not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul to death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
I hope you all have a good Passover tonight, and a joyous Resurrection Day on Sunday. Be sure to watch for the third of the four "blood moons" Saturday morning. The lunar eclipse will be visible throughout the United States, although totality will only be visible in the western half of the country and over the north Pacific Ocean. In the eastern time zone, the height of the eclipse will be about 7:30-8 a.m. Saturday. ~ GF