Date of message: 19 April 2003
Subject: The Feasts of Passover
Shalom, Boker-tov (good morning),
Last Sunday, 13 April 2003 (10 Nisan Hebrew calendar), marked the beginning
of the holy Feast of Passover for the Jews all over the world and to the
Christian and Catholic Church, it was also commemorated as Palm Sunday,
the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives on a donkey
and the people rejoiced with songs of celebration.
In Exodus 12: 3 - 6 we read: -
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.
4. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor
next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according
to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb.
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."
The Israelites were to take a lamb under the age of one year and keep
that lamb within the household. Imagine the children getting excited because
they can get to play with the lamb at will all day long within the house
and when night fell, they can even bring that lamb to bed with them. This
was to carry on until the fourteenth day of the month which meant the
lamb became part of the family for five wonderful days.
But then hearts were broken on the evening of the fourteenth day. The
father of the household was to take the lamb and at the threshold of the
door to the house, he was to kill that innocent lovely lamb and to take
its blood and to apply on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the door.
It must have had brought much grief to all members of the family as they
watched the father kill that lamb.
Exodus 12: 7, 22 - 23: -
7. And they shall take some of the blood and out it on the two doorposts
and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
22. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is
in the basin (threshold), and strike the lintel and the two doorposts
with the blood that is in the basin (threshold). And none of you shall
go out of the door of his house until morning.
23. For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He
sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass
over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to
strike you.
After the lamb had been killed and its blood drained and smeared on the
doorposts, the father then proceeded to roast the lamb and to hold the
seder meal for his family. During the seder meal, the account of how the
Lord delivered His people from Egypt was to be retold by the head of each
household.
Till the present day, the Jews had certain traditions which were done
during the seder meal but which they could not explain. As part of the
meal, three pieces of matzah bread (or cracker) will be placed on the
table and in an upright position. In the course of the seder meal, the
head of the household will take the middle piece, break it in half, cover
one of the halves with a white napkin and hide it somewhere in the house.
The children will then be instructed to search for the hidden piece and
a reward will be given to the one who finds it. Custom has it that the
hidden piece, if not found earlier, shall remain hidden until the third
day when the head of the household will then reveal it to the family.
Jesus entered Jerusalem on the tenth day of Nisan and He was daily in
the Temple teaching the people and healing the sick. Daily He exposed
Himself to the scrutiny of the religious teachers and yet He was without
sin and He held His own. Just as the father's heart ached when he had
to thrust his knife into the lamb and to kill it, the Father's heart broke
when He killed His own Son as a sacrifice for our sins. The family only
had the attachment with the lamb for those five days but to God, His Son
Jesus was with Him from eternity and the emotions ran high.
The blood of the lamb was marked on the two doorposts, on the lintel above
the door and on the threshold of the doorway and if we were to join the
points together, this formed a cross - joining the two places on the doorposts
will form the horizontal bar of the cross and the blood on the lintel
joined with the blood on the threshold to form the vertical bar of the
cross.
Jesus became the Sacrificial Lamb on the cross on that first Good Friday
nearly two thousand years ago and He fulfilled the Feast of the Passover.
The children of Israel were instructed to recount the escaping from Egypt
after that first Passover Feast and now we have the breaking of the bread
and the giving of the wine (or the Holy Communion as is known in some
churches) to remind the Church of the death of Christ Jesus on the cross
for our salvation.
The blood on the door (two doorposts, lintel and the threshold) was a
sign to the Lord that the household within had placed their trust in the
covenant and when the Lord saw the sign, He came into the household and
protected the family from the angel of Death for where the Lord is, Death
cannot prevail.
Today, the Lord recognizes His own by the Blood of our Lord and Savior
Christ Jesus and when He sees Jesus' Blood over our lives, He comes right
in and He lives within us and have fellowship with us and where He is,
Death cannot withstand. At the cross, Death was defeated for us Believers
and we go on forever with Him. Jesus promised us in John 5: 24, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who
sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has
passed from death into life."
The Church calls this day "Good Friday" because the outcome
far exceeded the sorrow felt. Jesus could, at any time during His life,
decide that He had enough and that He desired to return home to the Father
and He would have been permitted to do so; but thanks be to the Lord He
did not do so. Instead He chose the road to Calvary, the road that lead
Him to certain death, even death on the cross, the most cruel form of
torture ever known to man.
Have you received Jesus into you heart? All that is needed is for you
to believe in Jesus, the One Who had died for you and taken away your
sin and He will come into your heart and give you eternal life. By believing
in Jesus and receiving His Holy Spirit into our lives, God confers on
us the position of sons and daughters in His Family, special positions
reserved for those whom He loves dearly. (John 1: 12)
The Lord cannot lie. For Him, whatever He speaks come to pass and He had
promised us in the Bible that those who have put their trust in Him will
not be condemned but have passed from death into life (Romans 8: 1).
Pray this simple prayer of faith and invite Him into your heart and immediately
you will experience the peace coming your way.
Our Heavenly Father, thank you that You are sovereign, and in full control
over everything that is happening around us. Right now it may not seem
so but I want to thank you that You love us so much You sent Your only
Beloved Son Jesus into this world to take our place and to die for all
our sins. Thank you for the timely reminder of Your love for us at this
time of Good Friday and Easter.
Lord Jesus, thank you that You came, You obeyed the Father, You died for
all on the cross, You conquered death and You rose again on the third
day. Thank you that You became that Sacrificial Lamb for us and because
of Your death, the judicial righteousness of the Father had been satisfied.
And now, because of Your death and resurrection, we, who believe in You
as our Lord and Savior, will no longer have to die but we receive Your
eternal life. Thank you for coming into my heart and making my heart Your
home.
Thank you that what You have accomplished for us on the cross has qualified
me to become a child of God the Father. Thank you that I am now eternally
forgiven, greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved and completely
protected in the Lord and in Your most precious Name, Yeshua Ha' Meshiah,
I pray. Amen.
If you have prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the Family
of the Father (and it is a very large universal family). It is important
that you are not alone facing your personal trials but that you can obtain
good help wherever you are. Why not take the time to find your own local
Christian family (local church) and worship the Father together? You will
be greatly encouraged when you meet together to worship the Father, for
fellowship and for the study of the Word of Christ.
Start receiving the blessings of the Father as you walk with Him in faith.
It is your inheritance in Christ and He wants you to start enjoying these
blessings right now and there is more from where they come from.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all
your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26
Have a blessed week ahead, Shavrou-tov
Shalom,
Andrew L W Lee
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