The title of the following video at the YouTube site, Ligonier Ministries, was,
The Passover: Dust to Glory with R.C. Sproul [Links to Ligonier are at end of post]
Narrative from Ligonier’s YouTube site regarding the video in this post:
“The Passover is a day of central importance in Israel’s history. To bring about the redemption of His people from slavery in Egypt, God provided them a means of escaping the wrath He would pour out on the land. The blood of a lamb was to cover the doorposts of Israel’s dwellings, displaying God’s merciful protection of His people from the judgment to come. In this message, R.C. Sproul discusses the significance of the Passover and how it foreshadows the redemption accomplished by Jesus, the Lamb of God.”
This is part three of my series that aims at showing the intimate connections between the Old and New Testaments because of the covenants God made with Abraham, Moses and Christ.
This post was not planned when I started this series, but the video came to me in my YouTube feed today, because I subscribe to Ligonier’s YT channel. The video is extremely relevant to the thesis of my series. In it, Sproul speaks of typology and says much about Gods wrath and His mercy that can be seen in the Passover and in the New Covenant.
Teachers like Sproul help Bible students realize that there has only every been one means of salvation since the fall in Genesis 3; and that means is by the grace of God in Christ. That is a point which the apostle Paul makes clear in Galatians, also see Romans 4 and Hebrews.
Highlights points are below the 24-minute teaching video:
HIGHLIGHT points [any bracketed statements, underscoring or emboldening are mine]:
- The content of the Bible, especially the Old Testament (OT), has to do with God’s revelation of His wrath and judgment
- We embrace His revelation of mercy and redeeming love; but reject His revelation of wrath and judgment
- In the New Testament (NT), the Greek word translated to our English word ‘judgment,’ is a Greek word from which we get the English word Crisis
- A crisis is a moment of decisive judgment that can affect all that follows
- One of the great crisis moments in OT history was the Passover
- In the drama of the Passover, we see redemption and judgment
- That is, it was a crisis because there were two sides, mercy and wrath
- God’s grace and wrath were manifested simultaneously
- The theme of judgment and mercy/grace occurring simultaneously can be seen throughout OT
- For example, at the fall, God clothed Adam and Eve, they were also cursed
- Sproul read Exodus 11:1a
- Exodus 11:1 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here
- He noted that there had been a contest between the sovereign ruler of Egypt and the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth
- This contest culminated in this last plague wherein God sent His angel of Death to slay every firstborn child and animal in Egypt as stated in Ex 11:1b-5
- The ten plagues had progressed in intensity to this point
- Today, as modern Jews celebrate the Passover, it is a custom for the youngest child at table to ask the following question:
- Deuteronomy 6:20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’ [He did not cite this scripture, but stated the same question]
- It is commonly overlooked that the redemption that was celebrated by Israel, was a redemption from the judgment of God
- The biblical history of redemption; the whole drama of salvation, is a salvation by God and a salvation from God
- That is, it is a salvation wrought by God, from the wrath and judgment of Almighty God
- The underscored words were emphasized by R C during his lecture:
- Exodus 12:1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. [NKJV]
- We cannot understand the drama of redemption in the NT without understanding what occurred in the Passover and the Day of Atonement [Leviticus 16]
- Those passages inform NT Calvary:
- John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
- That is, the whole idea of Christ being the Lamb of God is linked all the way back to the Passover
- [In other words, the Passover is an OT Type of Christ, the first post of this series explains typology]
- In the Exodus 12 above, God instituted the Passover; therein, the lamb was slain as God’s provision to His people to protect them from His coming wrath/judgment
- R C emphasized the underscored words in the following passage:
- Exodus 12:6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.
- He emphasized: Lamb’s blood smeared on doorposts of Israelite homes; that was a sign for the Angel of Death to alert Him to Passover that home because it was protected by God from His wrath/judgment
- The above symbolizes the entire drama of NT redemption
- That is, in the NT, it is the blood of Christ, “the Lamb of God”
- Those people marked by the blood of the Lamb are those who escape the outpouring of God’s judgment at the end of the world
- Part of the reason that we struggle with the idea of divine judgment is that we really do not believe that God has appointed a ‘day’ in which He will judge the world [see Acts 17 for Paul’s words on that matter]
- Yet, it is a motif woven throughout both testaments that the God who created this world will terminate it via a supreme ‘crisis’ on a specific Day [Acts 17]
- On that day, all human beings will go before Him to be judged: those who are covered by the atoning blood of the Lamb of God will be spared from experiencing His wrath/judgment
- God visited Pharaoh with His just wrath
- We tend to see vengeance as wrong; but in scripture, God says Vengeance Is Mine
- [Example: Deuteronomy 32:39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. 40 For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, “As I live forever, 41 If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. 42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” 43 “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”]
- [Some other references based on words in verse 41: whet: Psa_7:12; Isa_27:1, Isa_34:5-6, Isa_66:16; Eze_21:9-15, Eze_21:20; Zep_2:12 I will: Deu_32:35; Isa_1:24, Isa_59:18, Isa_66:6; Mar_1:2 them that hate: Deu_5:9; Exo_20:5; Rom_1:30, Rom_8:7; 2Ti_3:4 ]
- Because we tend to disbelieve that God will come with wrath/judgment, it is important to see this judgment in the Passover and to note the following:
- That God came in Warrior mode, to protect His people and to simultaneously pour out His wrath and judgment on Pharaoh
- [R C seemed to imply that such judgment is another example of a type that we can be sure of, as scripture records them, as types are pictures of future events that will unfold in God’s plan of redemption]
- Other elements of the Passover supper:
- The Exodus is a once-for-all event, never to be repeated in OT history
- Only once did God deliver His people from this particular type of bondage and form them into a nation
- He did, later deliver them from captivity
- But as far as being a paramount event of redemption, it was not repeated
- In the NT, Calvary has not been repeated
- Regarding each of the above, however; God has given rituals via which we are told to ‘remember’ and to celebrate His work
- Exo 12:14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
- He wanted His people to sit down with their children and celebrate this event; to remember the event and never forget what He had done for them [as in Deut. 32:39 above]
- R C cited examples form scripture wherein God stated, upon gathering His people: I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob… the God who brought you out of the land of Egypt
- The purpose of the Passover celebration, then, was that God’s people would never forget what He had done
- The Passover celebration was very important to Jesus
- NT records show His deep passion and longing to celebrate the Passover
- As they celebrated the Passover, which had been celebrated in a manner prescribed by God since the Exodus, Jesus changed the wording of the formula and cast a whole new meaning on the keeping of the Passover
- When He took the cup, instead of making a reference to the lamb whose blood was on the doorpost, He said: “This cup is the blood of the New Covenant; this cup represents my blood which is shed for remission of sins”
- He took the unleavened bread and broke it; adding, “this is my body, broken for you, eat ye all of it”
- Jesus was announcing the ultimate Passover: He did for his disciples in the NT, what God did in the OT, telling them to keep this feast forever thereafter
- By keeping the Lord’s Supper, they would show forth His death until He comes again
- As Moses was instructed by God the Father
- In other words, Jesus said: ‘you cannot repeat My atonement, but you can remember it’
- So, there is a direct link in the teaching of Jesus, between the Passover in Egypt and the institution of the Lord’s Supper
- Considering the above, the Passover is not some remote event that took place 4000 years ago in Egypt, but it foreshadows and prepares the world for the ultimate Exodus, which is accomplished by Christ
- Explanation given of some other elements of the Passover:
- Unleavened bread: leaven/yeast is a symbol of corrupeion
- The bread used in the celebration is to be holy, separated, set apart; AS GOD DID WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE OT PASSOVER
- Jesus warned, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees” as their teachings were like poison that could enter into the church and corrupt it
- Wine and bitter herbs were also to be used in the OT Passover; these symbol the double-edged character of the Passover: there is something sweet and something painful
- Those who celebrated the OT Passover were instructed to wear a belt with which they were to ‘gird up their loins’
- Long robes were customarily worn by Israelites, they would have to hike up the robe and secure it with a belt in certain situations: running, war…
- In the NT, we are told to ‘gird up our minds’ to prepare for action
- Passover instructions also included the wearing of sandals and carrying a staff, to be prepared to make haste
Narrative and links from Ligonier Ministries YouTube site:
The Passover: Dust to Glory with R.C. Sproul
Ligonier Ministries LINKS:
Video-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@ligonier/videos
Playlist-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@ligonier/playlists
This message is from Dr. Sproul’s 57-part teaching series overview of the Bible: Dust to Glory. Learn more: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series…