Passover 2013

       Today is a most important day for the Christian.  What happened exactly 1983 years ago on today's date? On our calendar it is March 25th, but on the Biblical or Jewish Religious calendar it is Nisan 14. Do you remember what happened on Nisan 14? On that day, Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the Passover.

     
       If Christ was crucified in 30 A.D. then today marks the 1983rd anniversary of the day God the Father took the sins of those He had given to Christ before the foundation of the world and placed them on Christ. There on the cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ suffered the fullness of the wrath of God for the sins of His people. He became our substitute just as the Passover lamb became the substitute for the first born in Israel so long as the lamb's blood was spread on the door posts and lintel of the house.

     
       About a year ago I did a study of the Feasts or Divine Appointments of the LORD as seen in Leviticus 23. All I wish to do is remind us of what Christ accomplished on that day. I would like to show you some verses from Exodus 12 and then from the New Testament and show you how our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fulfilled the Passover.


Exodus 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.


       At the time God told Moses this it was the month Nisan which was the 7th month on the Jewish Calendar. Now it will be the 1st month of the year for them.


Exodus 12:3-6
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.


       On the 10th day of Nisan they were to select a male lamb of the first year without spot and without blemish and they were to examine it until the 14th day to make sure it was a perfect lamb.


Luke 19:28-44
28 ¶ And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.
29 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
30 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.
31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.
32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?
34 And they said, The Lord hath need of him.
35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.
36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
41 ¶ And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.


       Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass on the 10th of Nisan. For the next 3 days He would stand in the temple and teach and be examined and questioned by the Pharisees who tried with all that was in them to cause Christ to stumble but to no avail for He proved He was the perfect Lamb of God. In the end it was Pilate, who after questioning Christ, could find no reason to crucify Him.


Exodus 12:6 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.


       The English phrase, “in the evening” as seen in verse 6 is translated from the Hebrew phrase, “between the evenings.” This phrase suggests a point in time between the sun’s declining in the west and it’s setting (3:00pm).


       Years later in Israel when the Temple was built by Solomon, the day was divided into quarters. The quarter between 12:00 noon and 3:00pm was called the minor evening oblation, while the time between 3:00pm and 6:00pm was called the major evening oblation. Therefore, the phrase “between the evenings” means the time between those two periods which would indicate the specific time of 3:00pm.


       At 3:00pm according to the Scriptures, the father of the family would take the lamb and lay his hands on it and say a prayer which in Hebrew is called the “Semicha.” By doing this the father solemnly attested that this sacrifice was his lamb and that it met the requirements of God. It was going to be offered in his name and the fruits of the sacrifice would be upon him and his family. Then he would cut it’s throat, draining the blood into a basin. He would then take hyssop and dip it in the blood and spread some on each door post and then over the top lintel over the door. The mother of the family would then take the lamb and roast it (Exodus 12:7-9) over an open fire while she prepared a special meal.


      Notice the timing of the events of Jesus Christ’s death. At some point after 6:00pm on the 13th of Nisan (which is now technically the 14th or the Passover), His disciples asked Him where they should go to observe the Passover.


Mark 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?


       Go on to read how Christ told them exactly where to go and prepare. There in an upper room Christ and His disciples observed the Passover. It was during this meal that Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper and shortly after they completed the Passover meal they left and went to the Garden of Gethsemane. At some point after midnight, Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ and brought a mob to take Christ to Ciaphas the High Priest to be tried on the grounds of blasphemy. The trial lasted the remaining hours of the early morning before the sun came up. It was at this time that Peter denied Christ three times before the rooster crowed.


       At about 6:00am the events of Matthew 27:1 took place. From 6:00am until around 9:00am, Christ was taken to Herod and then to Pilate where He was condemned to die on the cross of Calvary. According to Mark 15:25 it was the third hour (9:00am) when they crucified Him. From then until the sixth hour (12:00pm) Christ hung there for the world to see the wrath of God for sin.


       Then something happened. According to Mark 15:33-34 at the sixth hour (noon) there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (3pm). It was during this time of darkness that God the Father placed the sins of His people on Christ and crushed Him with the full force and fury of His wrath for those sins. It was during this time that Christ cried out “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

       Never before had the Father and the Son been separated, but now because of the Holiness of God and because He is a just God who must deal with sin, God poured out His wrath on and turned His back on Christ. Just as the Passover lamb was roasted over a fire, Christ suffered the full wrath of God for the sins of His people.


       At exactly 3pm, the time when the Passover Lamb was to be slain and his blood put on the door posts and lintel, after Christ had drunk the cup of the wrath of God, He said, “It is finished,” and He gave up the ghost…He voluntarily laid down His life for His sheep.


       He perfectly fulfilled the Passover. He indeed was the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. His blood was shed for the sins of those whom had been given to Him before the foundation of the world. His blood covers them in the same way the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt covered the those elect in Israel. In this way the Passover pointed the Israelites to the Messiah. The only problem was their eyes were blinded so they could not see that Christ indeed was the Messiah. This was done to allow the Gentiles to be grafted into the vine. One day that veil will be removed and Israel will see that Jesus Christ is indeed the Messiah, the One the Passover was a picture of.