A Life Worthy

Tag: Passover

  • One-a-Day Thursday 4/17/14

    Note:  This week, I am sharing from my devotional book Easter: Beyond the Bunny.  I hope you find it valuable as you prepare your heart for Resurrection Sunday.

    The Thursday Before Easter

    Jesus, Our Passover Lamb

    number 1The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.  No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt (Exodus 12:13).  

    He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).

    After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11).

    You sin.

    If that’s news to you, well, there you go.  At least you’re in good company—pretty much everyone.

    That sin gets between you and God and messes up your relationship, just like lying, cheating, or whatnot hurts any relationship.  The Old Covenant had a means for dealing with sin and restoring your relationship with God.

    Death.

    Don’t like that part?  Well, I don’t blame you, but there it is.  As Paul says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23)  When Adam and Eve first sinned, death was the result.  God took an animal, killed it, and used the skin to cover their nakedness…their sin.  From that point on, animals were sacrificed to atone, or make up for, man’s sin.

    Why would God want us to kill animals, and how does that make up for doing bad things?  By itself, the idea doesn’t seem to make much sense.  But think of it in context.  God used the sacrifice—the physical death—of innocent animals to remind us that sin causes spiritual death in us.  And it couldn’t be just any animal—it had to be your best.  Woe unto you if you brought leftovers to the Lord of the Universe.

    The Passover Lamb was a particularly special sacrifice.  It reminded the people of their rescue from slavery.  When God broke Pharaoh’s will and forced him to release the Hebrews, he did it by sending an angel to put to death the firstborn of all Egypt.  To spare his people from this nightmare, God had them kill a lamb—a perfect lamb, without any defect—and sprinkle its blood on the doorposts of their house.  The Lord promised to “pass over” those houses sprinkled with blood.  The Jews continue to celebrate the Passover as a most holy day.

    As we saw yesterday, Jesus brought a new covenant.  As he celebrated Passover with his closest friends, he said he was instituting, “A new covenant, in my blood.”  You see, the old covenant was limited in its power.  The blood of an animal could temporarily cover a man’s sin, but it could never remove it.  A man’s blood was useless, because the sacrifice had to be perfect, and no man was perfect.

    Until Jesus.

    Jesus lived a sinless life, and thus was the one man in all of history who did not need to offer a sacrifice.

    So he offered himself as the sacrifice.

    For us.

    There is no way to adequately explain Christ’s sacrifice; certainly not in these few words.  My Bible covers it in about 2000 pages, and I still don’t fully get it.  So let’s rest in these words from Paul:

    God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in

    him we might become the righteousness of God.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

    In Christ, you are righteous; in him, you are righteousness.  I can’t get my brain around that, but I know I want it.

    Do you want it, Beloved?

    Then take it.

  • One-a-Day Monday 4/14/14

    Note:  This week, I am sharing from my devotional book Easter: Beyond the Bunny.  I hope you find it valuable as you prepare your heart for Resurrection Sunday.

    number 1The Monday before Easter

    The Cleansing of the Temple

    …for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me (Psalm 69:9)

    Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;

    For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7b).

    “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which still bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?  Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?  But I have been watching!” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 7:9-11).

    Jesus entered the city and went up to the temple.  It was Passover, the biggest holiday of the Jewish year, so the joint was really jumping.  Many people had come from a long way away to be part of the celebration.  Rather than transport all the animals you would need for the various sacrifices, it was normal and acceptable to buy what you needed when you got to Jerusalem.  The customary practice was for vendors to set up shop at a convenient place near the temple.

    What Jesus saw when he arrived was dramatically different. The vendors had their booths and tables set up in the temple itself.  They were operating in an area called the Outer Court, the only place in the temple where non-Jews could come to worship God.  There they were, selling animals and changing foreign currency into local currency, and just generally carrying on noisy business, all while people were trying to worship.

    Jesus was furious.  He knocked over the tables and chased the vendors out of there.  John even says that Jesus made a whip and used it to drive the blasphemers away.  He yelled at them, saying, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers!’”

    This is not the meek and mild Jesus we think of from Sunday School flannel boards.

    He is not holding a lamb on his shoulders.

    He does not have little kids crawling all over him.

    He is not happy.

    This is the Messiah, the Lion of Judah.  This is a man of righteous integrity, protecting the purity of his father’s house.

    Do the insults of those who insult God fall on you?  There are a lot of people out there who mock Jesus, and this is a prime season for them to do it in.  Does that bother you, Beloved?  What are you doing about it?  Do you stand for Christ in your daily world?  Look, I’m not calling you to grab a whip and chase the heathen out of town—but if you do, please send me pictures and I’ll post them.

    There is no sitting for Christ.  You stand, or you fall.

    Stand for him today, Beloved.