The Red Heifer and Passover Lamb
Easter 2024 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 33 viewsThe message explores the rich symbolism and theological significance of two sacrificial animals within the Hebrew Scriptures: the Red Heifer (Numbers 19) and the Passover Lamb (Exodus 12). Understanding these Old Testament sacrifices enriches our faith, offering a deeper appreciation for Jesus’ sacrifice. They call believers to embrace the purification and redemption freely offered through Christ and encourage a life of gratitude and service in response to His ultimate sacrifice. Learn more with the message: The Red Heifer and Passover Lamb
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Knowing the past to understand to future.
Knowing the past to understand to future.
Happy Palm Sunday.
The day we celebrate with the first believers Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem
The beginning of the most important week ever took place on the earth.
1 As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples,
2 and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.
3 “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.”
4 They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it.
5 Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
6 They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it.
8 And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.
9 Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David;
Hosanna in the highest!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.
This was not only Jesus marking the beginning of His Journey to the Cross, but it also is the fulfillment of Biblical prophesy.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
And the bow of war will be cut off.
And He will speak peace to the nations;
And His dominion will be from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah gave this prophesy Between 520-518 BC
500 years before Jesus fulfilled his words.
Incidently, this passage of Scripture is where the founding fathers of Canadian federation got our Motto
“A Mari Usque Ad Mare”
amari uskway ad mari
From sea to sea
Canada was formed under God’s dominion and our founding fathers wanted every Canadian to know this.
“and His dominion will be from sea to sea”
So Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, to the cheering of people declaring Him to be the anticipated Messiah,
Going to restore the the Kingdom of David
sitting on the throne and removing them from the burden of the Roman occupiers.
You see for the Jewish people....in their minds
The Messiah was going to be just like David.
He would rule over them just as any other earthly King
He would bring them into freedom, and prosperity.
Just like judges were raised up in the OT to set the people free.
The Messaiah was going to begin His earthly Kingdom.
This was a common theme in the Old Testament
A bad leader would take power, leading them away from God in into His wrath
God would raise up a godly leader to lead the people back to Him
This cycle went on and on for 1000’s of years.
but there was always the hope their Messaiah would show up and install His Kingdom that would never end,
That’s why they celebrated Jesus
They believed He was the promised one
That He would save them from the Romans and restore Davids Kingdom to its former glory.
But these desires to make Jesus their King, came to a crashing halt
their plans were absolutely crushed only a few days later.
as Jesus was hung on a cross and then laid in a tomb.
But Jesus had other plans
When Jesus was questioned by Pilate, and asked “Are you King of the Jews?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
This time when the Messaih came it wasn’t to set up an earthly Kingdom for the people of Israel.
but rather, as John the baptist Prophesied
“to be the passover lamb that takes away the sins of the world”.
Yes Jesus established His Kingdom on the earth, but His Kingdom expands as His people obey Him,
One day Jesus will return, and establish His Kingdom fully on the earth.
Just like the crowd 2000 years ago was expecting
The BIble descibes this as the 1000 year reign
and many Christian simply know it as the Millennium
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
You see the Religious leaders were anticipating a Messiah that would do somthing like this
Yes this passage in Rev was written after these events
but from old Testament scriptures the Jewish people were expecting the Messiah to come in this way.
scriptures like
1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
4 “He will not be disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance,
And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron,
You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ”
For Christians today we can see How Jesus fulfiled these prophesies.
we have the New Testament especially the Gospels and Hebrews which deal with these matters
But for Jews who do not beleive Jesus is Messiah, its mainly becuase they have a belief that the Messiah would be a political leader
a ruler of all the nations
which Jesus did not present at that time!
They were and are, looking for a physical saviour, but Jesus had much bigger plans than that.
He wanted to redeem our souls
Passover Lamb
Passover Lamb
For Christians we believe Jesus is the Passover Lamb
drawing parallels between the sacrificial lamb slaughtered during the Jewish Passover and Jesus Christ's role in our salvation.
Just as the blood of the Passover lamb protected the Israelites from the final plague in Egypt,
We believe that Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross serves as atonement for sins,
granting believers eternal life and freedom from spiritual bondage.
This parallel underscores our belief in Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and the centerpiece of God's redemptive plan for humanity.
Since Jesus was our sacrifice, we no longer have to sacrifice cows and goats
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John the baptist recognized Jesus as the lamb of God
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Exodus tells us the qualification for the lamb
5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
Peter then describes Jesus as the Lamb
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Jesus only had to die once
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Because Christ was offered once the writter of Hebrews says animal sacrifice is no longer required
1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,
“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired,
But a body You have prepared for Me;
6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.
7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(In the scroll of the book it is written of Me)
To do Your will, O God.’ ”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law),
9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their heart,
And on their mind I will write them,”
He then says,
17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds
I will remember no more.”
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Jesus died to to fulfill the requirements found in Romans
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
All the animal sacrifice in the OT was due to the penalty of sin.
But Jesus died to fulfil this payment
He appeased the wrath of God
Once and only once.
The Red Heifer
The Red Heifer
However for the non messianic Jew they still hold fast to what we know as the Old Testament requirments of sacrifice.
even though sacrifices in Jerusalem stopped almost 2000 years ago
Roman troops are stationed in Jerusalem and abolish the Jewish high priesthood and Sanhedrin.
This becomes known as the Fall of Jerusalem, a conclusive event in the First Jewish–Roman War (the Jewish Revolt),
which began in 66 AD.
and ended in 70 AD,
Roman General Titus, put down the Great Jewish revolt
the Romans destroyed the 2nd temple in Jerusalem and looted its sacred contents.
This ended the religious practice of sacrifice.
as the sacrifice required the Temple
which no longer existed
You may remember me telling you that Rome used pillage of Jerusalem to fund the bulding of Rome mega structures. including the colesium which was build in 72 AD
So why do I bring this up on Palm Sunday.
Well I think it is important to lay the ground work so we can understand where we all in the biblical timeline
The 2nd temple was destroyed in 70 AD
Ending ritual sacrifice for the Jewish people
No temple on the mount currently exists.
therefore no sacrifices can take place
In the last days we can see that a third temple exists in Jerusalem.
1 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.
2 “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.
Interesting to note “The Court” which previously existed in the 1st and 2nd Temple is left out of the third.
And some archeologists tell us where the “court” also known as the court of the gentiles was, is now where the “dome of the Rock” currently resides
According to Muslim belief, the rock above which the dome is constructed is the spot from where Muhammad was taken up into heaven for an encounter with God
It was buillt in the 7th century AD
Muslims beleive this to be one of their most holy sites,
but so do the Jews
anyone see a conflict?
I’m sure you have all heard of the conflict in Israel going on.
On October 7th 2023 hundreds of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel while firing thousands of rockets
according to Humas they took 250 hostages
and the current war revolves around Israel trying to get these hostages back, and secure themselves against Humas aggressions
Hamas commander says attacks are in defense of Al-Aqsa (al-oxa)
What is Al-Aqsa?
The Dome of the Rock is at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque
Another interesting aspect is that half way through the tribulation
the anti Christ will put an end to to the sacrifice
27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”
Well if the prophet Daniel tells us The anti Christ puts an end to the sacrifice 3 1/2 years after the peace agreement
That tells us the sacrifices had to be going on for him to stop them...
But their is no temple
there is no sacrifice
There’s a huge conflict with the Muslims, who currently would never even allow a temple to be built
Religious Jewish leaders have longed for the day to return to the ordinance of God
But there are many obstacles
But its not something they can just start doing again
their religious texts actually lay out the process of what has to happen.
In their minds the temple has to be rebuilt, and prophesy tells us it will
but when?
I don’t know....could start this year or 80 years from now
But allow me tell you something very very interesting
The Jewsih religious leaders (rabbis) know from their scriptures that before the temple could be used it must first be purified.
Well how so you purfiy a temple.
they believe the way it was originally done.
The the sprinkling of the water mixed with ashes from a burnt red heifer.
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed.
3 ‘You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence.
4 ‘Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.
5 ‘Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned.
6 ‘The priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet material and cast it into the midst of the burning heifer.
7 ‘The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening.
8 ‘The one who burns it shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water, and shall be unclean until evening.
9 ‘Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin.
10 ‘The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them.
Since the 1950’s they have been trying to get the perfect Heifer
remember it has to be umblemished, no defects, and never yoked
It must be female
and since its a heifer and not a calf it must be 2 years and 1 month old according to rabinical understanding
It cannot have more than 1 white\black hair, and no split hairs, no ear tags
If you’ve ever been on a farm you know perfect cows are hard to find .. even at 4H clubs
Many times the rabbis have found a suitable red heifer, only for them to develop a defect as they age
making them unsuitable
The Temple Institute, a group advocating the construction of a third temple, reports that five flawless red heifers from Texas arrived in Israel on September 15, 2022
They paid $100k/ea and $250K to fly them to Israel on a ______flight
Since thier arrival in Israel 1 has been disqualified, but 4 still fit the bill
The Milityary spokesperson of Humus came out 100 days after the invasion and stated the primary reason for attacking Israel on Oct 7th 2023 was because of cows...
you heard me right
“bringing of red cows as an application of a detestable religious myth designed for aggression against the feelings of an entire nation in the heart of its Arab identity, and the path of its prophet (the Night Journey) and Ascension to heaven.”
you see in his mind,
Why do you need Red heifers? ....for the purification ceremony
Why do you need the Purification ceremony? to prepare the temple
If you build the temple that will destroy our Holy Site
Call for war!
Why do I bring this up now?
according to Temple Institute rabbis, they hope to carry out the ceremony before Passover 2024.
When is that? April 22 -April 30 2024
So they are saying in less than a month from now.
Well what does this all mean for Christians?
Well for the events in Daniel and Revelations to take place.
The 3rd temple must be built and the sacrifices must be operational.
As stated at the begining, Jesus is our ultimate sacrifice.
Jesus paid for our sins and we no longer have to offer animal sacrifice.
But for the Jew who does not accept Jesus as their Messiah, Its imperitive to rebuild the temple and start the ritual sacrifice again
Only nine heifers have been sacrificed since the time of Moses until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D.
The Rambam, Maimonides, a rabbi born in 1138 AD stated that the 10th Red Heifer ceremony would bring in the Messianic age.
Likewise, many Evangelical Christians believe a Third Temple will be built and subsequently desecrated by the Antichrist before the return of Jesus.
Now with our time remaining, I want to quickly give you my thoughts about where we are at in Biblical prophesy.