JESUS CHRIST OUR PASSOVER

These words were emphatically spoken almost 2000 years ago by John the baptizer in the presence of his disciples near the bank of the river Jordan.

The disciples hearing what he said, were startled! Swiftly, they looked in the direction John was facing, eyes searching, finding, and then focusing on the Man who was looking directly at John as He made His way toward him.

This was the moment in time for John! As far back as he could remember, John had been told by his parents and others of his miraculous birth and the purpose for it. He had learned that his special mission in life was to prepare the way of the LORD (Luke 1:5-25, 67-80; John 1:23).

John had never met Jesus Christ; but he had been given A SIGN to look for that would clearly identify Him (John 1:31).

Seeing casually at first this Man approaching him, his eyes suddenly fastened on Him for he saw by His very presence that this was no ordinary man! His whole being emanated charisma, authority and purpose!

Though He had no outward looks about Him that would single Him out, yet His physical presence was one that would attract attention from mankind (Isaiah 53:2). And John instantly recognized it.

Jesus came up to John, and said that he was to baptize Him. John realizing who He was tried to prevent this, but Christ explained to him that this would be necessary for them both to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:13-15).

Jesus had never sinned; therefore there was no need for repentance, but only to be baptized for the example He would set for all of mankind to follow when the time would come in human life for the Father to begin drawing each one to Him through His beloved Son Jesus Christ (John 13:15; Matthew 3:13-17; John 3:16; 6:44)).

They then entered the waters of the river Jordan and there John baptized our Savior. It was at that time that John then saw THE SIGN that did reveal beyond all doubt that this was indeed the Messiah (John 1:32-34).

This was the beginning of the three and one/half year ministry of Jesus Christ, that would end with His crucifixion and death on the tree – to make possible the taking away of the sins of the world by the sacrifice of Himself.

The utterance of John was an allusion to what we find written many years before by one of God’s prophets that was fulfilled right after the conclusion of the last Passover service that Jesus Christ and His disciples partook of in 31 A. D.:

"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" (Isaiah 53:7).

Can we picture in our minds a man taking a sheep in his arms; then holding it’s head up with one hand and with the other hand holding a sharp knife, swiftly cutting it’s throat? He continues to hold it while it’s lifeblood spills out on the ground. It then goes limp in his arms. Life is no more! It is now dead.

Some years ago I drove over to a man’s home. After parking, and then knocking on the door, he heard and came from around back of his home. Then he said to me, "We are about to kill a goat; would you like to see us do it?" I replied, "No!" I could not handle it.

Though Christ was pictured as a sheep, He was God in the human flesh and experienced with great intensity all the feelings that we as human beings do in life. His life would not end as quickly and mercifully as a sheep, and didn’t!

As much as possible, try to visualize what He experienced during the long, torturous hours following the Passover service until His final breath was drawn in merciless death. Long, long, hours of suffering with no one to show any mercy or comfort Him. He was all alone (Psalm 22:1-21; Isaiah 53:3).

Though it is beyond the limit of our mental and emotional ability to grasp and feel, there is the need to bring as much as possible this picture into our minds with real vivid comprehension. The effort needs to be made in order to understand what the SACRIFICE of Jesus Christ made of HIMSELF – and what it should really mean for you, for me – and all of humankind!.

Jesus Christ was the TRUE LAMB OF GOD who voluntarily gave His life in much the same way as does a defenseless sheep – for you and for me! (Hebrews 10:5-10). A sheep that is put to death suffers very little; but Christ experienced beyond human comprehension, horrible agony and suffering to the full at the hands of brutal, sadistic, and very hardened soldiers!

WHY? WHY? WHY? These are the questions that often form in our minds when we try to picture and think about His long, drawn-out, torturous death. The answer can be found in many Scriptures, but perhaps one best summarizes all of them:

"For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever [comes to] believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

It is beyond human ability to fully grasp the LOVE that Christ expressed for humankind, for you and for me, but is made known through that very small morsel of unleavened bread, and minuscule amount of wine, that we put into our mouths during the Passover service.

It is with this in mind that each of us should seriously consider ourselves, and our total unworthiness, in order to properly understand, discern, and then partake of the symbols of His sacrifice in A WORTHY MANNER.

Very few grasp the depth of what the SYMBOLISM represents of the BREAD, AND THEN THE WINE, that God’s people partake of during the Passover Service!

When I look back over my past life and consider the laws of God I have transgressed, I sometimes flinch, knowing I deserved all that Jesus Christ suffered, and more; and then ask myself, "How could Jesus Christ ever forgive me, and continue to forgive me as I so often stumble in my life?"

I suppose every truly converted man and woman have thought about these things and asked themselves the very same question. The answer is very humbling, and also heart-warming to know that God loved us that much! How truly wonderful is Jesus Christ!

With these things in mind, our hearts should be filled with praise, honor and glory that belongs to the Father, and to Christ, for Their awesome and incredible love and mercy for all!

To better grasp the fullness of the meaning of the statement that John made of Jesus being THE LAMB OF GOD WHO WOULD TAKE AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD, it will be necessary for us to read of the real lambs that were slaughtered by each family in Israel and it’s life blood smeared over each side of the door and its lintel to save their own physical lives when the death angel passed through Egypt killing all the first-born in Egypt.

After being in bondage for many years, the sufferings of Israel grew and their groaning came up before God in heaven. He then chose Moses to deliver them from it and take them to the Promised Land – a land filled with milk and honey (Exodus 2:23-25;3:6-10).

First, they had to experience IN PHYSICAL TYPE deliverance from sure death through the BLOOD OF A NEWLY SLAIN LAMB!

God gave specific instructions to Israel through His prophet, Moses, that were to be carried out to the very letter if their lives were to be spared:

"Speak to all the Congregation of Israel, saying, "On the 10^th day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, … a lamb for a household ... Now you shall keep it until the 14^th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall KILL it at twilight (or dusk) ... And they shall take some of the BLOOD and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses ..." (Exodus 12:3-7).

"... it is the LORD’S PASSOVER. For I will PASS THROUGH Egypt that night, and will STRIKE ALL THE FIRSTBORN in the land both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENT. I AM THE LORD (1^st Commandment). Now the BLOOD will be A SIGN FOR YOU on the doors where you are. And WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU; and the PLAGUE (of death) shall NOT be on you to destroy you WHEN I STRIKE THE LAND OF EGYPT! (12:10-13).

After these specific instructions, Moses then tells them something they had better not do if they value their lives:

"... And none of you shall GO OUT OF THE DOOR of his house UNTIL morning" (Exodus 12:21-24)

All these things Israel was commanded to do in the land of Egypt at the time of that Passover, but have a much deeper and greater meaning for all of us as Christians, in this, our day of salvation. This was what John the baptizer was making reference to when he said in the presence of others, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of he world!"

John was alluding to the time when the true Lamb of God was to be slain – His life to end by THE POURING OUT of His life’ blood that would make possible the saving of life from the second death; as were the Israelites lives saved in Egypt by having the blood of freshly slain lambs over the doorways of their homes. The blood of each physical lamb was to represent THE LAMB OF GOD WHO WAS TO COME, and would enable all who were under that blood to be saved from death.

With this in mind, it is very important that we consider very seriously the reminder by the apostle Paul to the Corinth Church of what Jesus said to His disciples during that last Passover service.

Those words were deeply imbedded in Paul’s mind, and thinking of what some of these people were doing by turning the Passover service into a drunken pot-luck feast, he was then led by God to strongly correct, and emphasize the vital importance of understanding the meaning of those symbols, and what they should mean to them, and to all of God’s people of all time:

"Therefore whoever EATS this bread (= His body), or DRINKS [from] this cup (wine = blood) of (symbolizing) the Lord IN AN UNWORTHY MANNER will be GUILTY OF THE BODY AND THE BLOOD of the Lord, ... For he who eats and drinks IN AN UNWORTHY MANNER, EATS AND DRINKS JUDGMENT on himself, NOT DISCERNING THE LORD’S BODY (I Corinthians 11:26-27, 29).

"FOR THIS REASON many are weak, and sick among you, and many sleep" (Margin: are dead, Verse 30).

To enable us to grasp the importance of understanding those symbols that would enable us to take the Passover in a worthy manner, it is necessary for us to think back to our memories of the original Passover in which all Israel was spared from death by smearing the blood of the slain lamb over the doorways of their individual homes.

Then we couple that with what Jesus Christ, THE TRUE LAMB OF GOD, did when He permitted the leading Jews to turn Him over to the Romans to put Him to death though the horrors of crucifixion.

The crucifixion of Christ lasted for six long hours and involved the struggle for the breath of life, experiencing extreme agony, sickness, fever and chills; then to end it, a Roman soldier slammed a spear into His side! Christ screamed with the pain of it; and the remaining blood in His body poured out, and – God died! (Matthew 27:50; Isaiah 53:12).

THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST

When we really think about the absolute necessity of all the families of Israel having TO KILL A PHYSICAL LAMB AND THEN BRUSH THE BLOOD OVER THE ENTRANCE TO THEIR HOMES TO SAVE THEIR LIVES, the Spiritual significance of the BLOOD OF THE TRUE LAMB OF GOD that is SYMBOLIZED by the WINE should not escape us!

Those people would have died had they not had the BLOOD OF A LAMB over the doorway entrance into their homes. Also, had they left their homes before morning, would have ended their lives as well.

At present there are three Church of God eras that exist in this end-time. They are the Churches of Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Revelation 3).

God reveals the Church era of Sardis is virtually dead (Revelation 3:1).

He also reveals that only those in the Philadelphia Church era have the promise of protection during the great tribulation IF each one endures faithfully while holding to the TRUTH of God and the testimony of Christ (Revelation 3:8, 10).

Then, there is the Laodicea Church era. It is a self-righteous Church who feel they have it all and in need of nothing! God makes know to them in that writing unless they repent of their self-righteousness and lukewarmness, and of keeping Christ the True Lamb of God outside of their minds and hearts, they will have to win their salvation through repentance while experiencing horrible deaths in the Great Tribulation (Revelation 3:14-19; Matthew 25:1-13).

It is sad that any number of the corporate Churches of God do not use the true Passover ceremony that God led His late apostle to put together from Scripture many years ago. Instead, they have accepted the revised ceremony by the apostate leader who replaced him. As the result, they do not truly discern the Lord’s body.

God loves this Church and He pleads with them to repent NOW, and let His life-saving BLOOD cover their sins by OPENING THE DOOR OF THEIR HEARTS TO HIM – much like the Israelites of old unknowingly welcomed Christ into their homes through the door by smearing the BLOOD OF A LAMB that represented Him over the entrance to their homes. Notice the pleading of God to His people:

"Behold, I stand AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK. If anyone HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR; I will COME IN to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).

The families in Israel were WARNED not to go out of their houses until morning light! The analogy applies to us today. We are to remain in the house that Christ is building with His Church (Hebrews 3:6, 12). To remain inside, we must always KEEP THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST OVER OUR MINDS AND HEARTS as was over the doors of the homes of Israel!

Continually, we are to keep ourselves separate and apart, and thus unspotted, from the world, its customs and ways! God speaks of it as a Babylonish system!

Babylon of old has spread its poisonous system into all nations in one manner or another, especially so in the Christian world, and also in the Churches of God as we can clearly see in the letters to the Churches (Revelation 2). God speaks to all of us not to be involved with it:

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, lest YOU SHARE in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities" (Revelation 18:4-5).

Prophecy reveals that because of the abominable ever-growing sins of this world, God is going to bring upon it terrible sufferings that will end in the death of billions; and He wants to spare us from the plagues that will come upon them.

Christ is knocking at the door of the innermost being of His people desiring to come in and blot out the sins through the precious blood of Jesus Christ and restore the relationship before it is too late.

Why? Why? Why, did Jesus Christ permit the Roman soldiers to remove His clothing and then bend His bared body over a small thick stone pillar about three feet tall in the courtyard and then tie His hands to the iron rings imbedded in it?

At which time, the trained Roman lictor virtually tore His body apart from his face to the bottom of His legs with his whip that consisted of several strips of leather – the end of each one had a chunk of bone, or a small piece of a iron chain sewn to it (Isaiah 52:14). This was called the halfway death!

This beating was not necessary for the forgiveness and blotting out of our spiritual sins by the BLOOD of Christ, which the wine represents! It has another very important meaning that is made known by the piece of unleavened bread that is eaten before the drinking of the wine during the Passover. The purpose of it is made known by Isaiah:

"Surely He has borne our griefs (margin: Literally SICKNESSES) and carried our sorrows (Margin: Literally PAINS); Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded (Margin: or pierced through) for our transgressions (of spiritual laws), He was bruised (Margin: crushed) for our iniquities (Transgressions of Physical Laws). The CHASTISEMENT for our peace (welfare) was upon Him, AND BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED" (Isaiah 53:4-5).

The horrible scourging was for the purpose of forgiving us of our physical transgressions that would result in the healing of our sicknesses and diseases, and also removing the pain.

This is made very plain in the beginning of Christ’s ministry:

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, AND HEALED all who were sick, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY ISAIAH THE PROPHET, SAYING: He ‘Himself TOOK our infirmities and BORE our sicknesses’ (Matthew 8:16-17).

This is why we are instructed to do the following when we have health problems::

"Is anyone of you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them PRAY OVER HIM, anointing him with oil IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, and the PRAYER OF FAITH will save the sick, and the Lord will RAISE HIM UP ..." (James 5:14-15).

Contrary to that which is believed and taught by many leading evangelists in the corporate Churches of God today, there is such a thing as PHYSICAL SIN! This is WHY Christ permitted Himself to be beaten so horribly in order for the forgiveness and healing due to the transgressions of physical laws.

(There is not sufficient space in this article to explain this in greater detail. If you should like more on the subject – please let us know. At the same time, please read the article on John 6 in this publication by Wayne Carlson. Also, please read: "Does God Heal Today" by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, 1979 edition’; also, "The Mystery of the Ages, pages 211-212.)

The forgiveness of both our Spiritual and physical sins was made known many years ago:

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who FORGIVES all your iniquities (Spiritual), who HEALS all your diseases" (Psalm 103:2-3).

The apostle Peter also summed up both blessings, when he wrote:

"Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed" (I Peter 2:24).

"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, ... " (Revelation 5:5-14).

Here we find Jesus Christ STANDING AND IS REPRESENTED AS BEING IN THE VERY ACT OF POURING OUT HIS BLOOD for the sins of mankind. This strengthens the FAITH, knowing when the sinner comes before God’s throne of mercy and grace he finds a sacrifice there provided for him by God – a continual sacrifice for all time, and the newly-shed blood to blot out his sins.

"As it had been slain" – bearing the marks of His past death-wounds, standing, though bearing the marks of one slain – in the midst of heavenly glory – Christ crucified is still prominent (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:14-16; 9:24-28).

As we enter this Passover season, let each of us soberly and very seriously consider our thoughts regarding the meaning of each of those symbols as we take each one to our lips, and then into our mouths, during this soon-coming Passover service. They mean health and life to all who partake of them in a worthy manner.

At the same time, realize we can never of ourselves make us worthy, but through real repentance for our sins, and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for them, He will makes us worthy.

Think back to the time many years ago when the Messiah was striding toward John, to begin fulfilling His very purpose for being born into human flesh; and then the immortal and emphatic words from John, that speaks to YOU, and me – and all of mankind, for all time:

"BEHOLD! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"

Don Billingsley