This is the fourth part in the Bible study series: Six Steps to Passover. In the Old Testament the Israelites were commanded to eat a lamb as part of their Passover observance. Jesus made a dramatic change in how His followers were to keep this important ceremony. In the fourth study in this series, we’ll explore why Jesus commanded His disciples to drink wine and eat bread in commemoration of Him as the Passover Lamb.
[Gary Petty] Please bow your heads. “Father in heaven we come before You and we, we just come before You in awe that You have created us; that You love us; that You help us; that You guide us. We thank You for this Book. There is so much for us to learn. We can study this Book our whole lives and never get everything that You want us to learn out of it. So we come before You with humility, Father, knowing that we don’t know everything; asking for guidance and help. We ask You to help us to work through Your Scriptures so that we can understand it; guided by Your Holy spirit and, Father, that we want to be constantly, not only growing just in knowledge but to how that’s applied so that we become more and more Christ like all the time. We are getting ready for the Passover so we ask You to please guide and direct us in another study here as we continue these six studies on the Passover that we can all come to a deeper understanding of what the Passover really means in our relationship with Christ; our relationship with You and how, Father, it is so important for us to realize what this shows You are doing in our lives. So, we ask for Your guidance, Your direction, and we ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well this evening we are going to talk about Biblical types. What a type is, or a Biblical type – it’s a term used to describe an historical person or place or thing that reveals the qualities of that person, place, or thing; reveals a greater person, place, or thing. Just to show you an example, there is a place in Peter where Peter talks about how the eight people being saved at Noah’s time, in the ark, is a type of baptism. And he calls it, he says, “baptism is the anti-type”. In other words, it’s the opposite. It’s what this is a less example of this because, of course, Noah and his family were physically saved. Baptism is all about spiritual salvation.
You and I talk about types all the time on the Holy days. Think about the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement we always study how the High Priest, once a year, would go into the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was a type of the throne of God. It was a place that was considered holy. It was where the glory of God would come and fill that place but it was just a type of something greater.
When they took a lamb and they killed it, or the goat, one goat, and they killed that goat, you know, it was a type of Jesus Christ. The goat taken out into the wilderness was a type of Satan. So these types all represent something even more profound but in themselves, there is something profound about them, especially to the people who do the type. To Noah and his family, being the eight people in the ark was reality. But as Peter looked back that reality was a type of something greater.
We are going to talk about the Passover tonight as we continue this series on the Passover. And we’re going to talk about the types of the Passover. We’re going specifically talk about bread and wine. Bread and wine are actually part of a greater concept in terms of the types of the Passover. What I want to do is I want to look at the first Passover. I want to look at some massive changes that took place, very important changes in how the Passover was kept in Deuteronomy, and then I’m going to look at what Jesus did. When we do, what we will see is we’ll discover the types that are in the Exodus Passover; the types that are contained in the Deuteronomy Passover, and how those types are much more profound today. They are actually showing us a greater reality. Going through the Red Sea or being saved at night back in Exodus because you put the blood of the lamb on a doorpost that was reality to them. But as great as that reality was, that is a type of an even greater reality that you and I experience when we keep the Passover. So we’re going to look at some types.
Let’s go back to Exodus 12 and I’m just going to pick out a few verses here. This is where the Passover is instituted.
V.2 “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”
V. 3 “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:”
So the tenth day of the first month of the Hebrew calendar they would take a lamb. Now it goes on to explain how this lamb has to be without blemish, in Verse 5.
V.5 “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:”
It had to be a male. You could take it from the sheep or the goats. And they were going to take this lamb, according to Verse 6, and they were to keep it until the 14th. So the original Passover was centered around an animal and the things that would happen but the picking of this animal, and what they would do with this animal, was absolutely fundamental to the concept of “passing over”. That they would be “passed over”, that something would not happen to them. And on the 14th of the month they would take this and, as it says in Verse 6:
V.6 “ And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”
V.7 “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
V.8 “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.”
He goes on and talks about how they are to be prepared. That night they had to eat this in a house. This is real important. You could not say, “Well, you know, what I’d really like to do is to go down to the local tavern and put some blood on the doorpost there and sit around with my buddies and eat this lamb.” You had to be in the house. It went on to say you must even be dressed a certain way.
They had to have their sandals on; they had to be dressed for a journey. It says, “…have your staff in your hand…”
You and I keep the Passover slightly different than this. Why? You say, “Well of course, we do what Jesus Christ did, …” but we need to understand the types here, specifically the type that has to do with the lamb.
So we know what happened. They did this. In fact if you read through all of Chapter 12, what you will see is that even the Passover lamb itself is called the Passover. It’s called the Passover sacrifice. So you have an event that is called the Passover. You have a day that is called the Passover, you have a lamb that is called the Passover. They took that blood; they had to kill the lamb, after it was set aside for four days. They took the blood; they put it on the doorpost and that night the Lord passed over them. Because of the blood of that lamb they were given a special privilege. Any Israelite that did not put the blood of that lamb on their doorpost, their firstborn died.
You know what if you’re an Egyptian and you say, “You know what? These Israelites, every time they predict something, it happens.” So that night you had some chicken for dinner and you take some chicken blood and you put it on your doorpost. Your firstborn died. It had to be very specific in how it was done; how the lamb was chosen; how the lamb was killed. And they had to be in their houses that night and, of course, well we do know, they were passed over. Something that happened to everybody else did not happen to them.
There was something else that was very important about it and we have to remember this, too. They had to be circumcised. People have a misconception about circumcision. We’ll actually come back to circumcision a little bit later. That circumcision is entirely an issue of the Old Covenant, the Sinai Covenant.
I want you to think about this for a minute. What covenant were they under? They weren’t under the Old Covenant. They weren’t under the Sinai Covenant. The Sinai Covenant hadn’t been made yet. They were under the Abrahamic Covenant. What was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant? You had to be circumcised. God told Abraham all your generations must be circumcised.
Genesis 17:11 Genesis 17:11And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant between me and you.
American King James Version× “And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.”
So, here they were. God had not brought them to Sinai yet. The Sinai Covenant hadn’t been created, or hadn’t been given to them. They had not received the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. They are still under the Abrahamic Covenant and they must be circumcised or they could not partake of the Passover. No stranger could take of the Passover unless he was circumcised. So that is another important issue that is a very important type of what we do today and how we do it.
We know what happened. They were passed over. They left Egypt. They went through the Red Sea which is a type of baptism, another type of baptism. Remember the anti-type is a greater reality.
Now, as they go out across the dessert they are given instructions of what is going to happen when they go into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 16. We have another set of instructions here. When Deuteronomy 16 comes along they are still involved in the Abrahamic Covenant. There are promises that you and I receive through the Abrahamic Covenant. But they are also involved in the Sinai Covenant. And the sign of the Sinai Covenant, by the way, is circumcision. That shows if your males are circumcised, your family’s a participant in the covenant. And he says, “Now when you go into the land, here is how you will keep the Passover…”
Deuteronomy 16:1 Deuteronomy 16:1Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover to the LORD your God: for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night.
American King James Version× “ Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”
V.2 “Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover…” notice now the Passover is a celebration. But it is also an animal. It is a sacrifice, “unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.” Wait a minute , “the place where He chooses to put His name.” Suddenly it was supposed to be done in a specific place. We know what happened. Wherever they set the tabernacles, where they did the Passover; eventually you have Solomon’s temple.
At the time of Jesus, at the time of Herod’s temple, people were coming by the hundreds of thousands. For Jews to be able to go to the temple once in a lifetime, if you were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, once in a lifetime, to keep the Passover in Jerusalem. Why? Because that was THE place. Notice what it says, V. 6. Look at Verse 5.
Deuteronomy 16:5 Deuteronomy 16:5You may not sacrifice the passover within any of your gates, which the LORD your God gives you:
American King James Version× “Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:”
Think about what a major change that is from that Exodus Passover. They had to eat it in their own homes. Now they are told you are not supposed to eat it in your own homes.
V.6 “But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.”
V.7 “ And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.”
You are to go back. You are to go back home after the sacrifice. Major change isn’t it. And it is interesting that the Passover wasn’t done away with when the Sinai Covenant was instituted. But it was administered differently. It went through a massive change of administration. Why? Because they had gone from God working through these families in an individual way to God working with a nation. Passover was a national observance. It was a national observance and you now had a priesthood. There was no physical, Levitical priesthood in Exodus 12 . By the time of Deuteronomy 16 there is. So they begin to keep it differently. But notice the main type is still a lamb and you must eat this lamb. Why? Because every bite you take you are supposed to remember what happened in Exodus. What happened in Exodus was what? They were passed over. So they understood. They were keeping a type but it was of something greater that had already happened in the past. It was a type year after year, century after century; they kept the Passover as a type of the past. Now as time went on they also understood that it was something to do with the future too. In the Jewish community today it still has something to do with the future. I am going through here. We’re looking at the Biblical record here.
Jesus comes along. Luke 22 . I told the guys at the beginning I only have three hours’ worth of material so I’m picking and choosing where I’m going to go here.
V.8 “And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.”
V.9 “And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?”
Now remember people are flooding in. This is the night, late in the day of the 13th of Abib. They had to keep it on the 14th, right? The 15th is a Holy day. So the 13th He is saying, “Go, get it ready because at twilight tonight we are going to keep…” it is very specific what He says we’re doing, “… we’re going to keep the Passover.” That’s what they went and they did.
Luke 22:10 Luke 22:10And he said to them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he enters in.
American King James Version× “ And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.”
V.11 “And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?”
V.12 “And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.”
V.13 “And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.”
Now, the word “Passover” is used in this little passage an awful lot of times. There is a very important point that is being made here. That is what Jesus did with His disciples at the beginning of the 14th is the Passover. There is always, in my 50 years of being in the Church of God, there is always debate on when was the Exodus Passover in relationship to how we’re supposed to keep the Passover today. And, as we go through this, the anti-type is always greater than the type so it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. What we have here is an example because He is doing something very important.
V.14 “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.”
V.15 “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:”
V.16 “For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
V.17 “ And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:”
V.18 “For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.”
V.19 “And he took bread,” now that is part of the meal. Something else happens here now, “and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
It is this bread and this second cup that becomes the focal point. “Eat this because this is Me. You’re doing this as a symbol. This is a type of Me.” Now they had to be confused by this . “What’s that mean?” “Take this as a type of Me.”
V.20 “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
What Jesus is saying, remember your great, great, great ancestors, how they kept the Passover? They ate a Passover lamb, sacrificed for them so that the Lord would pass over them and save them. And they were to eat it in their houses, staff in hand, sandals on their feet. You don’t do that anymore. You know they didn’t do that anymore at this time. Why? You know how the disciples kept the Passover? Like it said in Deuteronomy. They kept it like it said in Deuteronomy. Because that was the law; that’s what the law said to do. They came to Jerusalem. Notice that Jesus and the disciples didn’t keep the Passover someplace else. They came to Jerusalem, just like it said in Deuteronomy 16. What He’s telling them, “Okay, you’re not going to do it like this anymore.” He’s not doing away with the Passover, but Deuteronomy didn’t do away with the Exodus Passover either. But it sure changed the way it was done. He says I am making a new covenant. They knew what the New Covenant was. They had read about the New Covenant all their lives in Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Deuteronomy and the Messiah coming. They knew about that. They knew who He was. And He said, “This is it guys.”
It would take a while for them to figure out that they wouldn’t be eating a lamb anymore. Well, I can’t say that. I don’t know how long it took them to figure it out. But the church at this point stopped eating lamb. The church at this point took on a whole new set of symbols because they were not celebrating ancient Israel’s freedom from Egypt anymore.
I love watching the Ten Commandments every Passover season. And we talk about Israel leaving Egypt and we talk about those things because it is part of the history of the Passover. But, when you and I take that Passover, we are not celebrating what the Israelites celebrated for thousands of years; what the Jews still celebrate today. We’re not celebrating that! They’re celebrating – unknowingly – what we’re doing. They are the types. We’re celebrating the anti-type. They celebrated the killing of an animal for physical freedom from slavery. You and I celebrate the killing of the Passover, the real Passover. Right? The REAL Passover. Not the type of the Passover. So here we have the institution of the New Covenant Passover.
I want you to notice the Passover is not done away with. We still keep the Passover. His disciples still kept the Passover. Jesus didn’t do away with the Passover anymore that Deuteronomy 16 did away with the Passover. But He did say the symbols are going to change because those types are beginning to be fulfilled. “This is the Lamb because I am the Lamb. I am the Passover. I am the Lamb.” I wonder, you know at that moment, they couldn’t have understood that because they didn’t even know He was going to die yet. Peter gets his couple of swords and says, “Yeah, come on, we’ll take on whoever comes. Maybe this is where the Messiah - the fire comes out of His mouth, He burns up the armies or something – but we’ll do this”. They were shocked. You’re going to do this in remembrance of Me.
So let’s start looking at some differences now between the three Passovers we’re talking about, okay? (Reference to a dry erase marker: Maybe you can see orange. Mr. Myers said don’t do what he does. He pulls the top off and starts talking, forgets he has it off, then turns around and it’s dry.)
We have Exodus Passover. We have the Deuteronomy Passover. We have the New Passover, right? As I mentioned before, when we do the BT Daily’s, they won’t let me write on the chalk because no one can read what I write. Now let’s talk about the lamb.
Exodus Passover: they kill the lamb.
Deuteronomy Passover: they kill the lamb.
This had to do with what? Passing over, right? Kill the lamb for Passover. They were passed over. This looked back to the time that they were passed over. We, though, celebrate 1 Corinthians 5:7 1 Corinthians 5:7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
American King James Version× . And we do it on the night He did it. And we try to do it in the way that the New Testament church did it. Why?
Because they pictured what we are doing. We don’t picture what they did.
Understand that. The Old Testament Passover in Exodus, in Deuteronomy. Besides you can’t keep the Exodus Passover in your home, with your staff in your hand. You know why? Deuteronomy 16 made it illegal. Right? Deuteronomy 16 says you have to go the place where I set My name and you have to eat it and then you go home afterwards. So you can’t do it that way. And then there’s no temple anymore so we can’t do Deuteronomy 16 anymore. But we have the way that we do it.
1 Corinthians 5:7 1 Corinthians 5:7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
American King James Version× “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:”
We don’t kill anything but we are commemorating Christ as Passover. This event pictures this event, not vice versa.
So, the Passover lamb is a person. It’s not an animal. It’s a person. It’s still a date. It’s still the 14th of Abib. It’s still a date. The date didn’t change. How it’s done changed because now we know that Passover lamb was a type of the very Son of God who was sacrificed for us. That little statement there is amazing. In fact, what I find interesting about 1 Corinthians 5:7 1 Corinthians 5:7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
American King James Version× is he is talking to a Gentile church. For them to understand what he said would take a massive understanding of the entire Old Testament. Which means that the Apostle Paul expected the Gentiles, who were converting to Christianity to study and know the Old Testament? If they did not know the Old Testament, then “What’s a Passover?” “What’s leavening have to do with anything?” See what I mean? They had to have a massive understanding. This shows that the Old Testament was taught in the New Testament church because Corinth was a Gentile church. Very few of the instances or the examples in here would apply to Jews in 1 and 2 Corinthians . They all apply to Gentiles.
These two Passovers had a meal. Of course they had a meal. You had to eat a lamb, right? 1 Corinthians 11.
1Corinthians 11:17 “Now in” (giving these instructions), Paul says, “this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.”
V.18 “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.”
V.19 “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”
V.20 “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.”
What do you mean? Did the Lord sit down with His disciples and have supper on that night? He says, “Now you are not to come together.” They are coming together in a place which is similar to Deuteronomy 16. They are coming together in a place but not a central place. It is not Jerusalem. It’s wherever the people are coming together as a church. Wherever they come together as a church, he says:
V.21 “For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.”
V.22 “What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.”
We’re not coming together to eat this big lamb meal anymore. Because Jesus said, “Now that you’re going to know what the Passover really means, it is how God is going to pass over you for eternity. How God is going to apply the blood of a real Passover, that will allow mercy to pass over you for eternity, we’re going to change the symbols some.” He said, right? This is the New Covenant. The bread and the wine. It still symbolized eating a Passover but it symbolizing eating a person. No wonder, when Jesus first started teaching this, back before His death, it says, “many of His disciples left Him.”
John 6:66 John 6:66From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
American King James Version× “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
You’re going to celebrate eating Me. Interesting enough one of the reasons why Christians were persecuted by the Romans is because they said they were cannibals. They get together once a year and they eat somebody. Well no wonder they persecuted them. They were also Atheists. They denied all the gods but this guy, Jesus. That’s how the Romans interpreted it. We killed Him so they don’t have any god. They could say, “Well we worship the god of the Jews.” They Jews would say what? “No they don’t.” So the Romans said they were Atheist cannibals. We should persecute these people. They get together and eat somebody. We are told not to eat a meal. Verse 23 says:
1Corinthians 11:23 “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:”, on the same night.
We know exactly when we are supposed to do this. Like I said, all the other arguments and charts and grafts really don’t make any difference. People are shocked when I say that. They say, “Look at my chart of the Exodus Passover or the Deuteronomy Passover,” and my answer is “I don’t care.” Why? Well if you want to discuss history it might be interesting but that has nothing to do with the covenant I have with God. I keep the Passover: yes. I keep it on the 14th: yes. And I do it exactly like the Passover says to do it. Everything else is intellectual discussion. He says, “…on that night, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread,
V.24 “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
He didn’t say “Do this in remembrance of coming out of Egypt”, did He? Because I am passing over you because of this sacrifice. “Do this in remembrance of Me….”
V.25 “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”
V.26 “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
The Passover was about killing an animal. This Passover is about death. All three of these are similar in that sense. They are about death but they are about life. Something dies so people may live. Something dies so that people may live. That is consistency in all three of these Passovers.
The bread is His body. You do eat the symbol of a lamb at the Passover because you eat the symbol of the Lamb of God when you take that bread. That’s His body that you’re eating symbolically because He is the Lamb of God. That’s what John the Baptist called Him, “Behold the Lamb of God…”.
John 1:29 John 1:29The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
American King James Version× “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
This is The Lamb. All these millions and millions and millions of lambs that were killed over the years of the Passover services, they were all just types of The Lamb. And The Lamb came. He said, “Here is how I wish to be honored.” This is what makes the Passover so important. The Lamb of God says, “This is how I wish, for those who recognize Me as the Lamb of God; who recognize Me as the Passover; this is how I wish to be remembered. I wish my death to be remembered this way.” Now we also know, as Paul said, that if He wasn’t resurrected we’re, of all people, most miserable as we’re commemorating it would be meaningless. He died and we’re all lost in our sins. But we get together that night and we eat that symbol of His body to represent His death.
The blood of the Lamb is important. We have this meal but now we have bread (referring to the diagram). No meal. Bread. (Can you see that, by the way? Can you read it in the back? Okay. Good.) Let’s look at the blood for a minute. (I guess they can. Unless they were all being nice.) This blood had to be put on a doorpost, right? You spread it. So we have blood. Here the blood was at the temple. Vats of it. Now, by the way, at the time of Jesus they all came to Jerusalem but they all didn’t get their lambs to the temple. There were too many. There was just no way to get all the lambs there so they brought them to Jerusalem and people killed their lambs. Lambs were being killed all over the place because they couldn’t get them all to the temple. There were too many people. They estimated up to a million people came into Jerusalem and it was already a fairly large city. Just to bring lambs, can you imagine the flocks that were coming into Jerusalem at the time of Jesus? They were herding in thousands. Tens of thousands of sheep and goats and they were slaughtering them that day. It started on the evening and went all day long. In the temple they began to kill them in the afternoon, the next afternoon, about 3:00 p.m.
So we have blood. Door post for passing over. We have wine here as the symbol of blood. But it’s interesting. This blood was put on so people could see it (the door post). This blood ran in buckets so people could see it (sacrifices at the temple). This symbol of this blood is odd in the way that the Bible uses it. Revelation 1 because this would seem to be so bizarre unless you understand the true meaning of it.
Revelation 1:5 Revelation 1:5And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
American King James Version× , cutting into the middle of a sentence here but you’ll see why . “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”
Do you think if you washed anything in blood? You put something in blood; it becomes the color of blood, right? And yet, here we have this wine, blood, washing which has to do with the whole idea of forgiveness; that we are washed of our sins.
There was no idea here that God forgave them of sins, by the way. Now there was the idea of grace here, by the way. That’s why they were told to do this in Deuteronomy. Why? Look back. Remember. Your forefathers could not get out of Egypt. They couldn’t fight their way out. They couldn’t buy their way out. They had no way out. They were going to die in slavery. They had no way out of this. It was only through the power of God that they came out and they were reminded of that every year. Every year. This is how. We look back to this. This is why we’re the people of God because God did this and it all has to do with God. So this has to do with grace. And this has to do with grace (pointing to the diagram. And this has to do with grace (pointing to the diagram). You can’t do this yourself. You can’t wash yourself in your own blood. You can’t. So there is another consistency that runs through all three of them.
Now a fourth sort of symbol that I’m going to look at here is that the Passover was a memorial of God’s deliverance from slavery. Right? Slavery. They literally came out of slavery and, if you read Deuteronomy 16 , they were to look back on how God took them out of slavery. And every year during this time we are reminded of what Paul says in Romans 6, 7, and 8 : “slaves to sin”. We did a BT program today where we talked about baptism. And you know there is this thing in Christianity that has evolved to believing that as long as you get on your knees or just cry out, or in your mind say, “Jesus I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and please come into my heart.” And you read that little sinner’s prayer, you’re automatically saved. And that is a remarkable insult to God who sacrificed Jesus as the Passover and it is a remarkable insult to Jesus Christ. And the reason why is God is interested in more than simply forgiving you. He is interested in freeing us from slavery. He’s interested in freeing us from slavery. See if you really understand the Passover, you get this. These people were slaves and they kept the Passover. We were slaves. We’re not slaves. Thousands of years later they’re still keeping the Passover as a commemorative what? Commemorative what? “We were slaves!” Commemorating “we were slaves!”
We are not slaves. You are Mine if we are forgiven and we continue to be just what? We’re the same person we were the day before we were baptized? We’re still slaves. Now all of us, by the way, still fight the slavery of sin but that’s because, what the Israelites found out is you could take the Israelites out of slavery. It was hard to get the slavery out of the Israelites. It’s the same way with us. God is taking us out of sin. It’s hard to get the sin out of us. So we still fight this battle. But this is so important. On that night that type: we take that blood because He is passing over us. Why? Well He’s taking away the eternal death penalty. Why? Because He wants to take us out of Egypt. Now you get a whole new set of types that go into the Days of Unleavened Bread: Pharaoh, Satan, right? We have Red Sea: baptism. We have unleavened bread/leavening. They are all types. Remember they are all types. This is why you can spend; you can make yourself sick cleaning out your house for the Days of Unleavened Bread and still miss the entire purpose of the Days of Unleavened Bread. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t clean out our houses for the Days of Unleavened Bread. I’m not saying that. I’m saying that if that’s all we do, you know, I know people who threw away their toaster ever year because they can’t get all the crumbs out. But these are all types of a greater understanding we’re to learn which is, for one thing, trying to get all the crumbs of sin out of your life. It takes more than us to do that. So I’m not doing away with the type. These are types that we are supposed to keep. What I am saying is understand that a type is something representing a greater reality. The greater reality is sin coming out of us. So that’s a whole new set of types. We won’t go into the unleavened bread types. That’s a whole new set of types.
A fifth point, make sure you have all. The Passover lamb is number 1. Eating of a meal is number 2. The blood of the lamb is number 3. The Passover was a memorial of God’s deliverance from slavery, number 4. Number 5: People had to be circumcised to take the Passover.
Now, I’ll say this and then I’ll show you what I mean. We still believe that, under the New Covenant Passover, there is a certain type of circumcision that is still required. To take of that bread and to take of that wine (so all the women are saying, “Boy am I glad I’m not a man right now.”). Let’s go to Colossians 2 Verse 11 ; speaking here of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 2:11 Colossians 2:11 In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
American King James Version× “In whom also ye are circumcised…” he’s talking, here in Colossae, to Gentiles, “with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”
V.12 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
Boy, that’s a whole Bible study of two verses. It would take us, to tear that apart, would take a whole Bible study. The point he’s making though is that you still have to be circumcised but it’s in the heart. Now you say, “Where in the world did he get that?” Starting clear back in Deuteronomy they were told “…there will come a time when I will no longer circumcise you in the flesh but I will circumcise you in the heart.”
Deuteronomy 30:6 Deuteronomy 30:6And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
American King James Version× “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”
Jeremiah, Ezekiel both talk about the New Covenant, where “I will circumcise your heart.” This is why; by the way, we are so strict that you should not take the Passover unless you are baptized. Because taking the Passover and not being baptized is as wrong as taking the Passover in Exodus 12 or Deuteronomy 16 and not being circumcised. So we actually believe there is a law of circumcision that still exists today. But the old circumcision was a type of a greater reality. We must be circumcised in the heart and the expression of that circumcision is to be baptized, have hands laid on you, and receive God’s spirit. Now you are now what? When you are baptized, you receive God’s spirit; you are now a participant in the New Covenant. As a participant in the New Covenant, you must seek to keep the Passover in the way that the Passover said to keep it. And so we meet on the night that met. We eat bread and drink wine just like He said to do it in remembrance of Him as what? The Passover. And that is why that bread and that wine is so important because you are taking in, symbolically, the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Sixth point. And this one is something to really think about here. This has to do with the wine and the bread also. In these two Passovers the lamb was killed very quickly. They made a science out of killing that lamb. That animal was not supposed to suffer. I find it fascinating that God used animal sacrifices but you find no place where He had people torture an animal. It’s against His nature to torture things. It’s not the way He is. So, quick, quick, right? Here’s something that there are no types for this. There are no types for Passover torture. There is zero type here and here for this (referring to examples on the dry erase board). Doesn’t exist. God wasn’t going to have them to that. I don’t know even how God would explain that, that our sins are so horrible that He would be tortured. Well, you say, “The Romans did that.” He’s our Passover who died for us. “Well the Jews did that.” He’s our Passover who died for us.
Mr. Myers said something today in one of the programs today that was very profound. He said, “If you were the only person on the face of the earth, you’re it. Christ had to die for you. So you killed Him just as much as anybody else.” I killed Him just as much as anybody else. That’s a hard concept. But He tells us about it in Isaiah 52 and 53 . He tells us that He’s going to be tortured but He doesn’t have any type for that. There is just none. It’s just too gruesome. He does tell us what sin is like and it also tells us what God thinks of sin.
You know the greatest proof that God didn’t do away with His law? This (pointing to the board). Why would you do that? Just do away with the law. Just do away with it. If you have the power to make the law, you have the power to do away with the law, right? The greatest proof in my mind that God did not do away with the law is this, that all this was a type of this. For thousands of years people celebrated what we do. They looked forward and they didn’t even know it. They thought they were looking back. And all this here.
There’s one other element that’s not here and not here, but here (pointing to the diagram on the board). Now think about it. Because you all know it. What is it? You’ve just got to think about it. It’s there. Everybody will go, “Oh yeah.” What is it?
“Resurrection”. No, no. I mean an element of… it’s something we do that there is no… yeah resurrection. Because the Passover had nothing to do with the resurrection. You have to go to the wave sheaf for that, okay. So, you’re right it’s not here because it’s part of the wave sheaf.
Foot washing. That’s why we really need to study the wave sheaf more. It has to do with the resurrection.
Actually you and I are commemorating the resurrection all the time. You know how? When was He resurrected? What day was He resurrected on? The Sabbath. Yeah, there you go. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. When you go to the Sabbath, every Sabbath, you don’t worship and serve a dead Christ. He was resurrected on a Sabbath. The Sabbath has everything to do with redemption. And that’s another Bible study. We’ll have to go through that sometime.
Okay. Foot washing. That’s fascinating too because these events bound these people together. If you were a Jew at Christ’s time you had people in your family who maybe could say, “You know we’ve been keeping the Passover for…” well they couldn’t say for a couple thousands of years because they kept forgetting it. They’d do it and they’d stop it; they’d do it and they’d stop it. But, you know, this was this sort of broken tradition that had gone clear back to here (pointing at diagram). And when they kept it at Jesus’ time they were keeping and celebrating that (pointing). The Jewish Seder is an attempt to celebrate that.
By the way, the Jewish Seder is very interesting. It’s not Biblical. People say, “Should we keep a Seder?” No. Why? Because as part of the New Covenant the Passover tells me how to do it. This is not that complicated. The Passover tells me how to do it. As I understand the Passover is a person. The very Son of God; the Word who became flesh.
Foot washing though is God’s way; it’s just fascinating to me. Somebody has foot washing next time. Who has that? Mr. Myers. Okay. This binds these people together. Here, we’re all bound together because we have to get together. Jesus got together with His disciples that night. It wasn’t something they all alone. Now sometimes you have to keep it alone but the norm is to keep it together. Why? Because that is what Jesus did. He washed their feet. And this reminds us that we’re all under the same covenant just like this reminded them they were all under the same covenant. This reminds us, hey, we are a people. It’s not just me and some other people who get together. We are a people and He brings us together. So the foot washing, that’s a huge thing so it’s going to take a whole lot. Mr. Myers will take two hours to be able to explain foot washing. It’s huge. Christ’s death isn’t a type of the slaying of the lambs. The slaying of the lambs is a type of Christ. The eating of a lamb was replaced by the bread and the wine which is still the eating of the Lamb. It went from eating of a lamb to a symbol of the eating of the Lamb, okay. So that was a massive change symbolizing the very body and the blood of Jesus Christ. We have to take Him in and we have to be washed in His blood. And that’s a powerful image. There was a time when they took the blood of animals and they sprinkled it on people under the Levitical priesthood. Can you imagine if you were standing there and the blood of Christ was being sprinkled on you; was being thrown on you. You say, “Well that’s so horrible”. That’s the imagery that we’re supposed to get – those types. This is the reality you and I live in. What an honor. What a privilege to be born at this time and to be part of this covenant because it has eternal promises. Israel leaving Egypt is a type of us leaving spiritual Egypt: Days of Unleavened Bread.
The Exodus Passover, the Deuteronomy Passover, and the New Testament Passover all reflect God’s work in doing His plan of salvation. They’re all just steps showing the same thing. And you and I don’t live in the completion of this, right? For us, this New Covenant becomes really real. We no longer have to do any types when we’re resurrected. When you and I are resurrected, we won’t have to do any types, we’ll be there. And guess what the rest of the world will be doing during the millennium? They won’t be doing this (pointing); and they won’t be doing… well, there is some indication that they’ll have to be doing this to teach people, okay. So they may be doing killing of lambs in the temple in order to bring people where? Not bring people to here. Bring people to here. The whole purpose won’t be to take them back; it’ll bring them here so they become members of the New Covenant. They understand Christ as the Passover; the bread and the wine; the slavery to sin; the foot washing.
So as we approach the Passover for this year, meditate on all these grand types. You and I still do some types but they’re so much greater than the old types. It’s still the Passover. It’s still the lamb. It wasn’t all done away with when the understanding of it changed dramatically because we live under that New Covenant. A reality is reflected dramatically when you take that bread and you take that wine as a symbol of the Passover Lamb, who is Jesus Christ.