I already discussed a fair amount of out OT passage in Sunday's post, so I'm going to focus on our Luke passage today.
In his sermon God's Preparation for the Final Supper, John MacArthur says...
The notion of the unbelieving and seemingly relentless critics that Jesus died an unexpected death is ludicrous. All the Old Testament pointed toward His death. All the events of His life pointed toward His death. He repeatedly promised that He would die in Jerusalem at the hands of the leaders of Israel. And that He would rise again the third day. He planned every detail of His life to unfold in perfect accord with the will of His Father.
The Father had designed the plan. The Spirit empowered the plan. And Jesus enacted the plan, doing only what the Father willed Him to do when the Father willed Him to do it. He was on a divine schedule and He controlled every detail.
Judas agrees to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The chief priests and teachers of the law did not want to kill Jesus during the Passover or arrest Him publicly because they (mistakenly) thought the people would riot. So, during the disciples private Passover celebration would be perfect. They could arrest Him before He could preach even more to the huge crowds celebrating the Passover, hold Him until it was over and the people were gone, and then execute him.
But that was not God's plan or God's timing, so that's not how it went down.
So Jesus entrusts only Peter and John to go make preparations for the Passover and He does so in a way that makes it impossible for Judas to know where exactly it would take place. Jesus could not be arrested before Passover - He needed to celebrate Passover with His disciples and transform it into the Lord's Supper.
Jesus claims emphatically that this would be the last Passover celebration until the kingdom of God comes - until His second coming - where the Passover will once again be celebrated. No longer to point back to the exodus, but to point back to the cross.
From John MacArthur's sermon...
This is the end of the whole ceremonial law, all the dietary laws, all the Sabbath laws, in fact there’s no more Sabbath. Immediately after this, the church starts to meet...when? The first day of the week. This is the end of the ceremonial law. This is the end of all the ceremonies, all the rituals, all the rites, all those social things that separated the people, the Israelite people, from the Gentiles. They’re all gone. The moral law doesn’t change because God doesn’t change.
This is the end of all the rituals. This is the end of all the sacrifices. This is the end of all the altars, all the temple had to offer. This is the end of the priesthood. This is the end of the holy place. This is the end of the Holy of Holies and God would split the curtain from top to bottom and throw it wide open for anybody and everybody to walk in and out. This is the end of everything that they new in all of their religious life that was symbolic. No more ceremonies, no more rituals, no more priests, no more sacrifices, no more altars, no more temple, no more holy place, no more Holy of Holies, it’s all gone. He dies, He rises, they meet on Sunday and they are a priesthood and there is no more sacrifice ever until the Lord institutes some memorial sacrifices and the Passover in the Millennial Kingdom.
Isn't that incredible?!
More interesting stuff..
Passover lambs that week were chosen on Monday the tenth of Nissan, everybody had to pick their lamb on Monday to be sacrificed on the fourteenth. It was Monday that Jesus entered Jerusalem and God picked His lamb and His lamb was slain on Friday for us....
Our Lord Jesus came to die. He knew He would die. He knew how He would die, on a cross being lifted up. He knew where He would die, in Jerusalem. He knew at whose hands humanly speaking He would die, the leaders of Israel and the Roman soldiers. He knew when He would die, He would die on the Passover day in the middle of the afternoon on a Friday in A.D. 30 in the month of Nissan on the fourteenth day as God’s Passover Lamb. He would die at the very same hour Passover lambs by the tens of thousands were being slaughtered. He knew every detail about His coming death.
And so He lived it every day in vivid limitless anticipation. The cross loomed in front of Him every conscious moment of His life. He knew perfectly what the plan was. He knew perfectly where and by whom and when it would happen.
Not only that, He made sure by supernatural power that He orchestrated every act to lead Him to the very hour in which He would die.
He. is. sovereign.
Tomorrow's passage: 1 Samuel 23, Psalm 54, Psalm 63, Luke 22:47-71
2 comments:
Great post, Tammy. I never really understood what Passover had to do with the crucifixion and resurrection until last year. It is absolutely amazing how everything took place according to the prophesies and in order to fulfill the Law. Incredible is right.
I LOVED that sermon from last year!! Totally made me appreciate the whole story so much more!
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