Although it is not specific about timing, for scripture to be internally consistent, it's obvious that "The Last Supper" was on the first day of "The Passover". One account of The Last Supper begins with this passage:
John 13:1 "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him..."Judas was there! As he sopped his bread it became known; Judas would betray Jesus. At the Passover sedar Jesus "KNEW that his hour was come"! Jesus knew that Passover was the time God had selected for him to save mankind by his own vicarious death. Jesus was the Lamb who shed his blood for the salvation of mankind. It was and had always been necessary that people have faith on the power of the blood:
Hebrews 9:12 "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"This scripture explains that by the blood of Jesus mankind can be saved! His blood redeems us. As sinners we're in a prison. We have wronged our fellow man and disrespected the authority of God. We are sentenced to die and at the cross we stand. Our penalty is death by crucifixion! However, Jesus steps forward and says " I will pay the price with my own blood to save this wretched criminal". Then Jesus went to the cross and I'm freed! Somebody's blood must be shed for the salvation of sinners:
Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."Remission is when the guilt of sin is removed from the sinner and the sins placed on the shoulders of Christ. That's what happened on the cross. Furthermore, under The Law the remission of sins had ALWAYS been by the blood! Before Jesus came mankind had been under The Law., but even then, salvation was by the blood. The blood of animals which "sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh". It was not the blood of the animals which provided redemption, but it was a picture of the blood of Christ. Somehow, I believe by the Voice of The Word, mankind was told about God's own birth and death and the patriarchs knew their faith was in Jesus! When they celebrated the sedar, Jews at that time were commemorating Jesus' Last Supper!
Now for the Passover. It's a Jewish period beginning this year at nightfall April 3. Jews use a lunar calendar so the date for Passover is different each year, but for 2015 that's tonight. Jews all over the world will celebrate the sedar, but it is not a commemoration of The Last Supper for them! With the rejection of Jesus' sacrifice, Jews no longer remember what he was to do, but only that God saved the Jews from Egypt and Pharaoh.
According to scripture, Egypt always represents bondage, because the Jews were enslaved in that nation. Sin is represented as bondage throughout The Bible. Therefore, Egypt represents sin in scripture. Likewise, Pharaoh represents a picture of Satan. The Jews were saved from sin (Egypt) and from destruction by the devil (Pharaoh). How was this done? The final act which offered the hope of salvation for the Jews (representing all mankind) was culminated at the Passover.
The Passover:
Exodus 12:5 "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever."
The lamb without blemish, the male, represents Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God! The time for the sacrifice was given to the Hebrew people using the lunar calendar. It was when the moon is in a certain position. That position corresponded with the time of The Lord's Last Supper!
The "whole congregation" will kill the Lamb in the evening. This represents that all men are responsible for sin. It wasn't only the Jews who killed Jesus, it was everybody. The Egyptians caused God's wrath, but the Jews executed the lamb. Likewise, sinners (symbolized by Egypt) convicted Jesus and the Jews all had their hand in his crucifixion. Since Pilate washed his hands of the dirty deed, and had a right to, it was the Jews who essentially killed the Lamb, but it was because of all mankind.
The blood of the lamb shall be sprinkled on the doorpost and upper post of the houses of all the Hebrew people. Although the Jews were the ones who killed the lamb, they were the ones to be protected by the blood shed by the Lamb. Any of those Hebrews who were gathered in the home protected by the blood were safe! Their firstborn would not be die by God's judgement. The blood on the doorposts represents the Lamb's blood on the cross at Calvary! The doorposts and the upper post formed a type of cross, signifying how the Lamb's blood would be shed for the redemption of mankind!
Jesus was God's firstborn. Rather than the Hebrews losing their firstborn, God gave his own in our place! God administered justice on the Egyptians (sinners), but the Jews were saved by the blood of the lamb! Moses knew that what he was doing was celebrating Jesus because God spoke with him! That was The Word, Jesus, speaking!
The Hebrews were to eat of the flesh of the lamb in the night. That's why Passover starts at night. The Lord's Last Supper was an evening meal! Coincidence? God planned it this way! Jesus said:
Luke 22:19 "And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me."Compare Jesus's Last Supper with the Passover meal; what's called the sedar meal:
Exodus 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.It is the bread without leaven that was eaten at the Passover meal. At The Last Supper, Jesus body was represented by unleavened bread! Nor a coincidence! Then why was it said at the Passover:
Exodus 12:14a "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations ..."Jews do this by the sedar meal. At the Eucharist Christians do this "in remembrance of him". We remember when Jesus first "knew" of his own death. However, I submit that at the Passover sedar, The Word (Jesus) knew about his own future sacrifice! In fact that was God's plan from the beginning and The Word knew it all along! Likewise, so did Moses!
The Passover represents the salvation of mankind! Here we see that:
Exodus 12::13b "...when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you..."The blood here on the doorposts represents the blood spilled on the cross. The blood of The Lamb! When God saw that blood shed, those who applied the blood to their own doorposts (heart, household), God's justice will "pass over you" and you shall be saved! The plague (death) shall never destroy you. You shall be saved! Saved from what? The plague... eternal death! With salvation from the plague, the Jews were born again! The covenant God made with Abraham was kept. Likewise, God made a covenant with us. It was by grace; the same grace shown to the Hebrews at The Passover!
Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."At The Passover, the blood redeemed the Jews. However, they had yet to be saved! The Pharaoh (the devil) chased after them. Many wanted to turn back and could have. Possibly many did! However, the Jewish people were protected from harm when they escaped Pharaoh. As they passed through the Red Sea, opened by God's grace, they were actually "safe" from death by Pharaoh!
Likewise, when we accept the blood redemption of Jesus, we "shall be saved". Just like the Jews who had faith and sprinkled the blood on their own doorposts and have hope, we too have hope of salvation:
1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."No, we're not saved yet! Pharaoh is still pursuing us relentlessly. His desire is to take us back to Egypt to serve him still. Pharaoh will never give up! Baptism is our way of saying "I believe that Jesus was resurrected"! It's our way of saying "God put a barrier between Pharaoh and us with the sea." The sea represents baptism! However, even after the Pharaoh's presence was no longer an issue, some Jews still looked back. The spirit of Pharoah and the lusts of Egypt was still in the hearts of most. They wanted to go back to Egypt (sin) rather than trust God!
Baptism puts "water" between us and actual harm by Satan. However, we still have memories of what's in Egypt. Pharoah still tempts us from beyond the sea. We have the "hope of salvation:", but we must finish the race. Pharoah still chases after us. We must continue always to trust in Jesus. With our trust we have the "hope of salvation" and the minute we die we will, if we are Christians, be beyond Satan's reach! We shall be saved at the instant of death! Jesus will pluck us from death by Pharaoh!
However, God didn't pass over the Egyptians. Just as they paid the price of their sins, with the loss of their firstborn, those whose sins are not covered by God's first born will die an eternal death.
Yes, today is "Good Friday"! It's "good" for mankind because God was good to us! Only God is "good" and Jesus is God. It's "Jesus' Friday" because "Good" died for us that day. Sunday we celebrate Easter. Jesus was raised from the dead and we celebrate this day in demonstration that we believe that Jesus was resurrected! According to scripture belief in the resurrection of Jesus is necessary for salvation!
Romans 10:9b "...and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."It's not only belief that Jesus lived and died, but that he still lives, that we have the hope of salvation! With the escape from death through the Red Sea, the Hebrew people had hope. They had the belief that their nation would live again! That happened. Israel became a great nation, died the first death, and now they are again resurrected (1948).
However, unlike the Jews, our hope has been placed on the redemption that has happened while they still await! Why wait on what is?
While they wait for Jesus to be born, we celebrate his being alive! That's what Easter is about! That's why they're still celebrating Passover and us Easter.
No comments:
Post a Comment