Were You There?

Exodus   •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  1:05:27
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Before God sent His Son Jesus, He sent pictures of what Jesus would be like and what He would do. By doing this God provided us with a picture book on redemption. God did this so that when His Son did come, people might know Him, accept Him, and thus be saved. If they rejected Him, they would be without excuse.
The Passover lamb and its ritual is one of the finest pictures of Jesus Christ that there is.
Last week we notice the detailed instructions given to the children of Israel concerning the lamp that was to be sacrificed in the place of the first born.
On the 10th day they are to select a lamb, 12:3a.
They are to have a lamb for a family unit, 12:3b-4.
The lamb is to be without blemish, 12:5a.
The lamb is to be a male of the first year, 12:5b.
The lamb is to be separated, 12:5c.
All these things were done because these were the pictures of God's Lamb that was to come. Children love picture books. Here was God's picture book for them. Today we turned to observe this lamb as it is appointed to death.
1. The lamb is to be killed.
The death of the lamb was not natural or accidental. It was to be slain. It was to be deliberately put to death. It was then to be sacrificed or slaughtered. After the action was finished, that perfect, spotless lamb lay lifeless at the feet of its executioners. It had been slain by their hands.
All of this was done as a prepicture of God's Lamb that was slain at the hands of men. Peter on the day of Pentecost, exclaimed:
Acts 2:22–23 NASB95
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
“He was spotless and set apart from by God, but you took him and have slain him. This was the work of your hands and reveals that the killing was premeditated.” Christ himself predicted that he would be slain (Luke 9: 22). When John sees this One in revelation, he saw …
Revelation 5:6 NASB95
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
God's Passover Lamb is a slain lamb; He was not stoned, nor did He die a natural death. He was slain at the hands of men and He bears these marks for all eternity.
2. The lamb is killed on the 14th of Nissan between the evenings.
The 14th day of Nissan is the Passover or paschal supper (Leviticus 23:5). The next day was the feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Nissan, and this was a seven-day feast when for seven days unleavened bread was eaten (Leviticus 23:6). The 1st and 7th days were holy or Sabbath days (Leviticus 23:7), in which no work could be done (Exodus 12:16). When Christ died, He died on the 14th day of Nissan. The next day was the 15th of Nissan and being a high day or holy day when no work could be done, those who took down the body of Jesus were forced to hurry in order to complete their work before the Sabbath day came at sundown. Because of this they laid the body in a new tomb in a garden near Calvary because it was near.
This brings us to consider another point. The lamb was to be killed “between the evening.” What does this phrase mean? The very best authorities tell us that the phrase means that period of time between 3:00 and 6:00 P.M. when the sun is going down (Deuteronomy 16:6). Since the Israelites were to keep the lamb up until the 14th and to kill it between the evenings, they will slay the lamb before the 14th came at the declining or setting son of the 13th. This alone signifies the events that actually took place. The lamb was slain between the evenings of the 13th and 14th of Nissan. It was then roasted and eaten that night. On the 14th of Nissan, about midnight, the death of the first born occurred, and the Egyptians immediately forced the Israelites to leave that night in the dark.
The lamb was kept penned up until the 14th day of Nissan, but not through the 14th day. Does this fit into the Passover supper at the time of Christ? It most certainly does. The Passover lamb was sacrificed at the regular time between the evenings at the going down of the sun (Deuteronomy 16:6). All the lambs could be slain only in one place which was at Jerusalem and in the temple area. Since there were thousands of lambs in Christ’s day that had to be slain, these lambs began to be killed just as soon as the sun permitted - about 3:00 P.M. During this season all the courses of priests were present. The offeror would slay his lamb and the priest would catch the blood in a golden bowl and then it was sprinkled before the altar.
The offeror then took the lamb, roasted it with fire, and with the threefold blast of the silver trumpet at about 6:00 P.M., the paschal supper began. This night was the 14th of Nisan, meaning that the lamb was sacrificed between the evenings of the 13th and 14th day of the month. The next day at sundown was the 15th of Nisan when no work could be done. During the paschal supper and all during the next day work could be performed (compare John 13: 29; Mark 15: 46, etc.).
Thus we come to an amazing truth: Christ kept the Passover with his disciples and was sacrificed one day later than all the lambs. Moses broke the type of smiting the rock only one time and he sinned greatly by this act. Christ broke the type and was sinless. Why did Christ keep the Passover with his disciples before he became their Passover sacrifice?
The fact that He did He clearly reveals in Luke 22:13-15:
Luke 22:13–15 NASB95
And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover. When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
The key to why is found in John 13-17. All of the teaching in the Upper Room Discourse and the High Priestly Prayer of our Lord gives the significance as to why Christ ate the Passover and died afterward on the 14th of Nissan just before the 15th and high day. He deliberately broke the type by one day in accordance with the will of God. Moses broke the type because of selfishness; Christ because of selflessness. Moses was concerned with Moses and he was angry; Christ was concerned with His disciples and even us, and He was full of love and compassion. Moses sinned and could not enter into the promised land because of this one act (Numbers 20:12; Deuteronomy 2:23-29; 32:48-52); Christ did not sin but operated in the will of the Father.
Think of what it would have been like had not Christ kept the Passover with his disciples, giving them the Lord’s Supper and teaching them the great truths of the gospel of John, chapters 13 through 17. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He who not only sets up the type, but then is able to fulfill it one day late and still be guiltless. None but God could do either. None but God Himself could set up the type and none but He could change one minute aspect of it and be blameless. The reason is because He is Lord of the types even as He is of the Sabbath. As the Sabbath is subject to Him and not He to the Sabbath, so the type is subject to Him and not He to the type. Few have ever realized what the Scriptures teach on this subject, and they have missed this glorious truth here.
Before we move on to the last point this verse tells us concerning the death of the lamb, notice that this lamb was killed once again “between the evenings.”
This time during the day that the lamb was sacrificed was fulfilled perfectly and completely by the Lord. As we have said, “between the evenings” refers to that period of the day between 3:00 o'clock and 6:00 o'clock in the evening. It was the time, according to Deuteronomy 16:6, literally, “at the going down of the sun.”
Mark tells us:
Mark 15:25 NASB95
It was the third hour when they crucified Him.
The third hour of the day was Jewish time for 9:00 A.M. Then:
Mark 15:33 NASB95
When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Then:
Mark 15:34 NASB95
At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
It was shortly after this that Jesus expired, fulfilling the exact time of the day for the death of the Passover sacrifice.
3. The lamb is to be killed by the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel.
The wording shows that when that lamb was slain, every member of the family that was later to abide under its blood in partake of its flesh was there causing its death. The lamb was killed by the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel. Every person who was to be saved by its blood and partake of its flesh was directly responsible for this act. They acted through their representative--the head of the family.
So it was with Christ. It was the cry of the people, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” that forced Pilate to so act when he was determined to free Him. Thus Peter addressing the people of Israel says to them:
Acts 2:23 NASB95
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
And again in Acts 2:36:
Acts 2:36 NASB95
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Later speaking to the Sanhedrin who acted as the representatives of the people, Peter says:
Acts 4:10 NASB95
let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.
Israel was there, the Sanhedrin were there, but over and above this, I was there and so were you, and everyone who appropriates this sacrifice to themselves was there. I was there joining in this dastardly deed. The Lamb died because I crucified and killed Him. The act was mine and mine alone. Paul says in Romans 5 then not only did Christ die for us while we were sinners (verse 8), but also “while we were hostile” (in verse 10) which shows our active opposition to Him and His death even for us.
This same picture is portrayed in Isaiah 52 - 53 which is the cry of the believing remnant who are living at the return of Christ. God is going to give them the spirit of grace and supplication (Zechariah 12:10), and their eyes will be opened. Then it will be that these who live at the return of Christ will realize that they were there at the crucifixion of Christ, joining in the mockery and this deed, yet never realized what God was doing (Isaiah 52:2-12).
So in spiritual reality we were there when our Lord was crucified. We crucified him.
‘Twas I that shed the sacred Blood,
I nailed him to the Tree;
I crucified the Christ of God,
I joined the mockery !
Of all that shouting multitude,
I feel that I am one;
And in that din of voices rude,
I recognize my own!
Around the Cross the throng I see,
Mocking the Sufferer’s groan;
Yet still my voice, it seems to be,
As if I mocked alone. -- author unknown.
The language that the Lord uses in Exodus 12 mentions only about the lamb, in killing it. Nowhere in all of Exodus 12 is there reference made to lambs even though nearly 200,000 lambs were going to be slain this Passover day. God is only thinking of the one Lamb--His Son. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel was to kill it. Man would never have spoken this way, but this shows something of the heart of God. There was only one lamb before God's mind; the Lamb of Calvary.
I was there causing the Lord's death. How is this possible? I don't understand how this can be!
The death of Christ was both spiritual and physical. There was both a spiritual cause and a physical cause. It takes both to cause death. The spiritual cause of death is sin. Without sin there can be no death. When Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, He died spiritually. Fellowship in that moment with the Father was broken. During that time darkness was over the face of the land. During that time the Lord addressed the Father only as God, which term was used at no other time period. At the conclusion of this experience, in agony He cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
This is the spiritual cause for death. My sins caused Him to die. In this regard it must be realized that had Christ died for no one but me, and I would have alone been saved by His death, His sufferings would not have been lessened one bit.
But besides the spiritual death with the spiritual cause, there is a physical death with the physical cause. This is true even though Christ had the power to lay down His life and to take it up again. Now if I took part in His being slain, then I caused His death. How did I cause Him to die physically?
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume I, page 489, gives us a possible reason. John tells us that one of the Roman soldiers when he came to Christ and saw that he was dead already, took his spear and pierced the side of the Lord's body, and that when he did so immediately came out blood in water, (John 19:13-34). John goes on to say that he was there and saw this and that which he is witnessing is true for he actually saw it happen just this way.
What is this phenomenon reported to us? Jesus had been dead already. The sword thrust into his side did not kill him. Why then is it mentioned? Dr. Stroud , basing his remarks on numerous postmortems, pronounced the opinion that here we had a proof of the death of Christ being due, not to the effects of crucifixion, but to “laceration or rupture of the heart” as a consequence of supreme mental agony and sorrow.
Usually death by crucifixion lasted two or three days, and death occured from exposure and exhaustion. There were no pure physical reasons why Christ should not have lived much longer than He did on the cross. The other two crucified with Him were very much alive. Furthermore, Pilate marveled that He was so soon dead (Mark 15:44).
In contrast to death by crucifixion, death that was caused by laceration of the heart in consequence of great mental suffering would be almost instantaneous. In such a case, the phrase “of a broken heart” becomes literally true. The lifeblood flowing through the aperture or laceration into the pericardium or caul of the heart, being extravasted, i.e. passing from its normal channel into surrounding tissue, soon coagulates into the red clot (blood) and the limpid serum (water). This accumulation in the heart-sac of the two components of the blood was then released by the spear-thrust of the soldier and were distinctly visible. This act on the part of the soldier becomes, in the providence of God, a postmortem by which we may understand the real cause of the Savior's death.
Could this be right? Was this why, physically, Christ died? What does Scripture tell us?
First, we know that the Lord never puts any of his children through an experience He has not gone through Himself.
Hebrews 2:17-18.
Hebrews 2:17–18 NASB95
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Furthermore, the Old Testament reveals he knows all about a broken heart.
Psalm 34:18.
Psalm 34:18 NASB95
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
He has a special ministry and special closeness to those who have broken hearts.
Psalm 51:17.
Psalm 51:17 NASB95
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 147:3.
Psalm 147:3 NASB95
He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
Yet there is even more than this. Scripture tells us directly the state of the heart of our Lord on the cross.
Psalm 22:14.
Psalm 22:14 NASB95
I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.
Psalm 69:20.
Psalm 69:20 NASB95
Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none.
Psalm 109:22.
Psalm 109:22 NASB95
For I am afflicted and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.
All had a part in breaking his heart. None—not one--gave any comfort. All joined in slaying the lamb. I was there, and I joined in and did my part. I killed Him, yet He loved me and gave Himself for me.
He died of a broken heart for you,
He died of a broken heart;
Oh, wondrous love! For you, for me--
He died of a broken heart. - - T. Dannis.
This was recognized even by John Newton in the 17th century. He wrote:
I saw One hanging on a tree
In agonies and blood,
who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near his cross I stood.
Sure never til’ my latest breath
Can I forget that look:
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins his blood had split,
And helped nail him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave me,
Which said: “I freely all forgive:
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayest live.”
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest Hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seeks my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now is filled.
That I should such a life destroy—
Yet live by Him I killed!
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