The Passover and Passion weeks

Abraham and Isaac - Genesis 22

God will provide himself a lamb

Genesis 22:3-8 “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac, his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham, his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:

God promised to supply the Lamb who would be the final sacrifice. John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God.”

 

Passover instructions - Exodus 12:3- 6

Chose the sacrifice

: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 a house:” 

On the tenth day of Nissan, each family was to choose a lamb to be the substitute for his family.

Make sure the sacrifice is sufficient

:4 “And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.”

The lamb was chosen based on the size of the family and neighbors were invited into the home in order that the lamb would not be wasted. It needed to be used to feed all the people involved in the Passover.

Make sure the sacrifice is acceptable to God

: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:”

The chosen lamb became a pet and was cared for, examined for any flaw that might render it unacceptable for sacrifice. It had to be spotless with no imperfections.

Offer the sacrifice

: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.” 

The Passover lamb was killed in the evening.              

Apply the blood of the sacrifice

: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.” 

The blood of the sacrifice applied to their homes signified that they believed in God’s way of salvation through the shed blood of a perfect sacrifice.

 

Holy Days - Leviticus 23:1-8

Sabbath, Passover and Unleavened Bread

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day, ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.”

The Passover festival was to be celebrated for seven days of which the first and last were holy days. This was followed by another holy day, the feast of unleavened bread.

 

Sixty-nine weeks – Daniel 9:25

Messiah the Prince

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

            This verse gives us the calculation for the appointed time that Messiah would come as our saviour. It provides us with the date that Jesus would enter Jerusalem as Messiah. Four days later He was rejected and crucified. The Decree was issued March 14, 445 BC

• 69 weeks of 7 biblical years   Biblical year equals 360 days according to the time of Noah ( Genesis 7:11 date to Gen 8:4 date was 150 days or 5 months)

• 483 biblical years of 360 days equal 173,880 days from the decree brings us to Palm Sunday, Nissan 10, 31 AD

 

Anointed Savior – John 12:1-3

Jesus at Bethany

“Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”

            Jesus was anointed as king on Saturday, Nisan 9 just before He entered into Jerusalem where he as examined until the fourteenth.

 

Passion Week Sacrifice - Matthew 21:1 to 27:50

Chose the sacrifice

“And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”

Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the road covered with palm branches and was hailed as the King of the Jews. In fulfillment of Scripture, he was the chosen Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

 

Make sure the sacrifice is sufficient

Matthew 21:18 “Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 

Jesus blood was sufficient to meet the needs of redemption.

Matthew 21:23 And, when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people, came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?”

Matthew 22: 15 “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, What thinkest thou?”

Jesus taught in the temple and was examined by the religious leaders in the throne authorities and yet was found without any sin. Jesus was found to be sinless and without fault. Pilate speaking of Jesus said, “I find no fault in Him.”

Make sure the sacrifice is acceptable to God

Matthew 23:1-2 “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying…”

God Declared “this is my beloved son whom I am well pleased.”

 

The Crucifixion – Matthew 27

Offer the sacrifice

Matthew 27:45-50 ”Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed,

and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”

 

A lamb, the lamb, your lamb Lamb killed between 3-6pm

            The Jews did not kill Jesus. The Romans did not kill Jesus. Our sins did not kill Jesus.  Jesus yielded His life at the same hour that the High Priest was killing the Passover Lamb in the Temple. Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, was sacrificed for each of us. The veil in the Temple split from top to bottom to allow us access to God through Christ in prayer.