Contributed by Barry Drake
Passover
Parallels
March
21st, 2010
We are quickly nearing the day when pastors and Bible
teachers will be standing to proclaim the greatest news ever given. Christ is risen! He has risen
indeed! But before we get to that
lesson, we have two more lessons about the Passover from Exodus 11 and 12.
Today, from another perspective, I want to tell you about the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus from the OT, from the Jewish perspective of
Passover. I love Passover.
Many of you have seen the movie Prince of Egypt. Well, our movie today is titled: Moses, the
Prince of Israel. Now look closely with
me and you will see the Good News of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world.
Can you name the first nine plagues? They were: water to blood, frogs, gnats,
flies, livestock disease, boils, hail, locusts and total darkness. And last week our lesson was on One More
Plague, the death angels and the death of the first born. We studied the Passover meal, the lamb
without blemish and the blood of that lamb on the door post. The meal was of roasted lamb with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs.
Today,
the parallels of Christ and the Passover.
Not only is the Exodus a great story, it is cram-packed
with meaning. Though there are many, I
want to only share four parallels from the OT story to Jesus Christ and the
message of the gospel.
1.
As Israel was in Bondage to Egypt, so Man is
a slave to Sin.
A.
For 430 years, the Hebrew people served the
Egyptians. They had no choice. Everyday they made bricks, built pyramids and
served their masters. If they disobeyed
they were beaten. If they rebelled, they
were killed. Such is the life of a
slave.
B.
Each of us was born into this world as a
slave to sin. As Billy Graham has often
said, “We are all sinners”. We sin
because that is our job description.
Have you read your job description lately? Did you even know you had one? Romans
3:10 says, “As it is written, there is none righteous, no not
one”. We have to be taught to be good
but we do evil naturally.
C.
We can NOT simply stop sinning. Have you ever got on a diet only to get off
again? Have you ever started an exercise
program and abandoned it? More
importantly, have you ever tried to clean up your life and miserably
failed? See what I mean?
D.
We cannot stop sinning because by nature we
are slaves to sin. Turn again to Romans,
this time read chapter 6. It is all
about being a servant or slave to sin but now we are free from that.
E.
Just as the Hebrew people could not just
leave Egypt, we cannot simply leave our
sin. The Hebrews needed God to deliver
them. We need God to deliver us from
sin.
2.
As the Firstborn of
Egypt died, so Death comes to All
Men.
A.
God promised that the firstborn in Egypt
would die. It was a “sure thing”. This time of year we are all reminded of two
certainties of life: death and taxes.
B.
As sure as the firstborn died in
Egypt, death comes to all. Do you remember what the Bible says in
Hebrews 9:27? “And as it is appointed for men to die once,
but after this the judgment”. The word
“appointed” means “appointment”. We all
have an appointment with death. Some
have an early appointment, some have a late appointment but never forget that we
all have an appointment. The poet John
Donne put it this way; “Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolleth for thee”.
W.C. Fields was famous for,
among other things, the drunken character he played. When he was on his deathbed, a friend came to
visit him and was surprised to find him reading the Bible. The friend asked, “What in the world are you
doing reading the Bible?” W.C. Fields
replied, “I’m looking for loopholes”.
Well friend, there are NO loopholes.
We all die. I will die and you
will die. Some sooner,
some later. The question is “Are
you ready?”
Death is inescapably tied
to sin. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is
death”. We sin by nature. What we EARN from our sin is death. Physical death? Sure.
But eternal death too.
The Kilgore, Texas, News-Herald
reported a motorist removed unconscious from his wrecked car and carried to a
nearby gas station. Then he came to,
opened his eyes and began to struggle violently. Eventually he was subdued and taken to a
hospital. When asked why he struggled so
to get away from his rescuers, he explained.
They had taken him to a SHELL station and someone was standing in front
of the “S”.
3.
As the Blood of the Lamb
saved the Hebrews, so the Blood of Jesus Saves
us.
A.
Try to imagine what it must have been like
for those Jewish families that first Passover night. Imagine the unsettled feeling as you stood
and ate the lamb, the bread and the bitter herbs. Imagine the fear and apprehension that was in
the air. Imagine the silent prayers
prayed by mothers for their first born sons.
Imagine as they huddled together as the darkness grew. And then at midnight as the cries from the
Egyptian women were hear as they found their firstborn sons dead in their beds,
just like Moses said it would be.
Imagine as again and again Jewish parents checked again and again on
their own children and breathed a prayer of gratitude to God. The blood had been applied and they were
spared.
B.
Some 1,500 years later, a prophet named John
was preaching about the coming Kingdom of God.
He baptized people as they repented of their sins. As he looked up from the river, he saw a man
coming toward him and he knew exactly who he was. John then answered the question asked by
Isaiah at the alter that his father had build; “Father,
where is the lamb?” John said,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
C.
The Bible says, “…without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).
Can you believe that some would actually take the blood out of the
Bible? Remember the story of Adam and
Eve and their sin in the garden? When
they sinned against God, an animal (probably a lamb) was killed and it’s blood shed so they could have a covering for their
nakedness. Something had to die. Something had to shed blood to pay the sin
price.
D.
This is why people offered animal sacrifices
in the OT. Lev. 17:11 says, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I
have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the
blood that makes atonement for one’s life”.
E.
However, no matter how many lambs were
killed, the blood of lambs could never really take away our sins. Hebrews
10:4 says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and goats could take away sins.” Remember what John the Baptist called
Jesus? “The Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world!” All those
precious little lambs that were killed represented Jesus. They were a picture of Jesus on the
cross.
F.
Just
as the blood of the Passover lamb saved the Hebrews from physical death, the
blood of Jesus, “the Lamb of God”, saves us from spiritual death.
G.
Why do we celebrate Easter instead of
Passover? Passover looked forward to
what Jesus accomplished at Easter.
Passover is the picture. Easter
is the reality. Just typing this brought
tears to my eyes and an indescribable joy to my hearts. I’ve been saved by the Blood of the Lamb of
God and my sins, which were many, have been forgiven and washed away. Thank you Jesus.
H.
1 Peter
1:18-19, “…But you were saved from
the useless life. You were bought, not
with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of
Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb”.
4.
As the Hebrews were saved by applying the Lamb’s Blood, so we are
saved by applying Christ to our lives.
A.
What would have happened if the Hebrew
household had failed to apply the blood to their doors? Their firstborn would have died just as the
Egyptians. But they did, they applied
the blood. They responded in FAITH. Hebrews
11:28 says, “By faith Moses kept the Passover and the
sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch
them”.
B.
The Hebrew people had no precedent (model,
guide) for such an action. No one had
ever done anything like this. It must
have seemed absurd (ridiculous). We had
2000 years of changed lives as precedent for us.
Little
Philip
Philip
was born with Down’s syndrome. He
attended a 3rd grade SS class with several eight year olds. The children did not really accept Philip
with his differences. The Sunday after
Easter the teacher brought egg shaped pantyhose containers to class. Each child was to take an egg and go outside
on that lovely spring day, find some symbol of new life and put it in the
egg. After running about the church
property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed
the containers on the table. Surrounded
by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a
flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh. Then one
was opened, revealing nothing inside.
The children exclaimed. “That’s stupid.
That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t
do their assignment.” Philip spoke up,
“That’s mine”. “Philip, you don’t ever
do things right!” the students retorted.
“There is nothing in it!” “I did
so do it” Philip insisted. “I did do
it. It is empty because the tomb was
empty!” Silence filled the room. From then on Philip became a full member of
the class. He died not long afterward
from an infection that most normal kids would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of 8 year olds
marched up to the altar, not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher,
each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.
He is not here. He is risen., yes, risen indeed.
Praise His holy name.