I went to Pastor Hines Sermon Audio site to hear something on the Lord’s Supper. I decided to post the following 13-minute podcast because it provides understanding that connects the Passover with the Lord’s Supper and the New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ.
I was particularly interested in improving my understanding of the Lord’s Supper, as I am discovering that my anxiety about this sacrament is typical among believers that do not rightly understand Christ’s work, believing that they have to be sufficiently worthy to partake of the bread and wine….
This brief podcast provides some foundational knowledge upon which one might build a biblical understanding of the relationship between the Passover, the Lord’s Supper, and the gospel.
Furthermore, those who think that God had a different way of salvation for Israel than He does for the church, will benefit from hearing Pastor Hines show the unity inherent in God’s plan of redemption: the Passover is only one ‘type’ or ‘foreshadowing’ event in the Old Testament; such events picture Christ and His gospel, which has been the only way of salvation from the fall of Adam and Eve to date.
[The Ark; the Tabernacle; the sacrificial system of Leviticus… are other pictures of Christ and His gospel, the Way of grace through faith. Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.]
Christ Our Passover – Pastor Patrick Hines
Texts: Exodus 12; 1 Corinthians 5:7 [will be inserted where it is discussed below; the version, LSB]
Highlights [all bracketed statements; emboldening and underscoring are mine]:
- The Passover is the ultimate picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
- Jesus was identified by John the Baptist a couple of times as, ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’
- It was during the Passover celebration that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper; it was during the Passover festival that Jesus was crucified
- Why is there a direct connection in scripture between the Passover, the cross and the Lord’s Supper?
- 1 Corinthians 5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed
- Exodus 12:1 Now Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. 4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to apportion the lamb. 5 ‘Your lamb shall be a male, without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
- Pastor spoke briefly about the qualification of ‘without blemish’
- Exodus 12:6 ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 ‘And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs
- Unleavened bread signified the haste with which they were driven out of Egypt, and the bitter herbs were symbolic of the affliction they suffered in Egypt
- Verses 9-14: Israel was instructed on how to eat the Passover lamb and what to do with it’s blood: [verses 9 and 10, regarding preparation of lamb were omitted; emboldened words below were emphasized by pastor Hines]
- Exodus 12:11 ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Passover of Yahweh. 12 ‘And I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am Yahweh. 13 ‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there shall be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a perpetual statute
- THE SACRIFICE OF THE BLEMISH-FREE LAMB WAS A ‘TYPE,’ A FORESHADOWING OF THE COMING OF JESUS
- AT NO POINT was anyone actually forgiven of their sins via the sacrifice of animals, because it was not an animal that sinned against God
- ANIMAL SACRIFICE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ACTUALLY PREFIGURED THE FINAL SACRIFICE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
- THE LORD’S SUPPER is a table for a meal to remember His one sacrifice
- We do not have an alter on which to sacrifice; we instead, have a table
- “Do this in remembrance of Me”
- We remember the FINISHED work of the Lord Jesus
- We take the Lord’s supper to commune with His body and blood to our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace
- How does the above communicate the gospel?
- The blood of the Lamb, the death of the Lamb, is what the Angel of the Lord would see, signified by it’s blood on the door post
- In those households, where this was done correctly, everyone in the house was spared from the penalty of the plague, the death sentence
- IT WAS NOT, the blood of the lamb, PLUS: sincerity or works of piety of the people in the household
- IT WAS, IF THE LORD SEES THE BLOOD, THEN HE WILL PASS OVER THAT HOUSE
- That is why, in the NT discussion of the Passover foreshadowing the death of Jesus, the NT speaks of us being saved from God’s wrath against sin through the blood of Christ
- Romans 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him
- So, the wrath of God came upon Christ, our Substitute
- 1 Corinthians 5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed
- So, in a real sense, the Passover has been fulfilled
- The Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover
- He is the Passover of all God’s people, through all the ages of time, those who were looking forward to His coming and atoning work; and, like us, those who look back for those things
- Our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for us, and those who trust only in His shed blood, and in His finished work, the Lord’s wrath will Passover us as well
- God’s judgment will not fall upon us because it already fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ
- Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith
- He redeemed us from our own disobedience to the law
- Consider the absurdity of the following: if some of the Israelites had said, let us prick our fingers and squeeze out some blood to mix with that of the sacrificial lamb before we place it on the doorposts
- That is to say: OUR SUFFERING AND OUR WORKS PLAY NO ROLE IN SAVING US FROM GOD’S JUDGMENT AND WRATH
- The INCARNATION of God; the Lord Jesus Christ in the manger, is the ultimate testimony to human helplessness and sin, and human inability, to contribute anything to our own salvation
- That is the case, even with God’s grace
- That God added to Himself a human nature and came into this world and entered into that broken covenant of works; that God had made with Adam and with Adam’s posterity, that is the ultimate demonstration that we CAN’T contribute anything to our salvation
- We do good works because we are saved, not in order to become saved or to stay saved
- It is the work of Christ alone that saves us, just like with ancient Israel, when the Angel of the Lord came to each house, it was only if there was the blood of an unblemished lamb on that house would it be passed over
- There is surely a day of final judgment coming, and those who are covered in the blood of Christ; those that are relying on the finished work of Christ, the wrath of God will pass over them
- Those who are not relying on anything they have done: they are not relying on their own goodness… [charity work; tithing; church attendance; alms giving; Bible study…]
- Pictures of the gospel are all over the Old Testament, but this passage in Exodus 12 that we have been discussing is one of the clearest examples
- John the Baptist’s recognition of the Lamb of God:
- John 1:29 On the next day, he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
- [To recap: Who takes that sin away via sacrifice of Himself, as the final sacrifice in that long line of animal sacrifices that foreshadowed Him]
- The lamb that was slain, whose blood was applied to the doorposts, caused the Angel of the Lord to pass over those houses, so their firstborn would not be slain
- That lamb could not bring about forgiveness of sin, because that animal did not sin against God
- God had to take upon Himself, a true body and a reasonable soul, a full human nature, in order to substitute for us and to take that punishment away
- That is why salvation is BY GRACE ALONE THROUGH FAITH ALONE, because it is only the death of the Lamb of God, His blood, that forgives us of all of our sins: past, present and future
- And it is only His righteousness, that gift of righteousness that He achieved by His perfect obedience [imputed to us at justification] that can meet the requirements of the holiness of God
- That is why salvation is by faith alone, apart from works, because our works cannot withstand the scrutiny of God’s holiness
- The only righteousness, and the only suffering that has the merit necessary to meet the requirement of God is that which was suffered and that which was produced by the Lord Jesus Christ alone
- That is why salvation is by faith alone, so that it would be by grace alone
- The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:
- John 1:36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
- John the Baptist understood that this is the One that the Passover feast pointed to; all those lambs that were sacrificed year after year, for the households of Israel
- All those sacrifices were pointing to this Man that came, who would not be sacrificed every year [as in the Passover feast] or again and again [as by the RCC]
- But by one offering, has perfected forever, those who are being sanctified:
- This Man, The Lord Jesus Christ, is the fulfillment of the Passover
- [Verses from Hebrews, that state the above, are inserted below these points for those who would like to read them]
- Remember, it was the blood of the lamb; not the blood of the lamb plus some blood from the mother, father, children…; or some good intentions, sincerity…
- It was simply the blood of the lamb that the Angel of the Lord looked for on the doorposts that caused Him to pass over that house
- It is the same now, so repent, trust in the finished work of the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Hebrews 10:10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE PUT AS A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16 “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says, 17 “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
[The LSB used capital letters in the text above; I emboldened and underscored certain parts]
The following Sermon-Audio link is to other teaching by Pastor Hines on the Lord’s Supper, Baptism…:
The following link is to the YouTube site, Christian Sermons and Audio Books video page. It is included because this site is where I became acquainted with Pastor Hines. CS&AB is an excellent site for providing biblical sermons, readings… from past and current preachers, theologians who teach the Bible, not trendy messages that tickle ears….