Behold, Your King is Coming (II)
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
We began to look at this account last Lord's Day, this account known as the triumphal entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem, just four days before He would be suspended between heaven and earth, impaled upon Calvary's cross, before He would offer Himself up as the Lamb who would take away our sins. And last Sunday, we focused primarily on the manner of His coming into the city, and we saw together that He came as a king. He came as the king. The way that He rode in spoke of the fact that He was Israel's king, just as Zechariah the prophet prophesied in Zechariah 9:9. This is how He rode into the city.
John tells us, the Holy Spirit, through John, presents it to us this way, verse 15: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt." So He rode in on that colt that had never been ridden before, reserved for royalty, reserved for a king, and so the way He rode in spoke of Him as the king who is to come, the king of Israel.
The way the crowd were treating Him as well. We saw that last Lord's Day, laying down their garments in front of Him, laying down palm branches in front of Him, gathered together with this great exuberance, great rejoicing, and crying out, Hosanna! Salvation has come! Salvation is here! And this spoke of Him as the king of Israel, and it bothered the Pharisees so much—so much—that they called upon Jesus to rebuke His disciples, tell them to stop! This isn't right! And Jesus said that if these were to be silent, even the rocks would cry out. No way to silence this. This is fitting. This is proper. This is right.
So Israel is without excuse, because the very way that Jesus comes into the city cries out from God, behold, your promised King. This is your promised King. He came as the king, and He came also, we saw together, as the deliverer. Zechariah says, rejoice, but the Holy Spirit, through John here in this account, interpreting Zechariah 9:9, says, “fear not”. “Fear not”. Your fears now are able to be removed. Your sins will be now forgiven, gone, dealt with, the wrath of God averted for all of those who put their trust in this promised King. For all of those who look at this King as their Savior, you will be forgiven. The wrath of God, which is due you, is averted.
He comes to deliver them from the wrath that is coming by the shedding of His own blood. He comes as the Lamb. He comes as God's Passover Lamb, our Passover Lamb. We talked last time about how the very day that He entered Jerusalem, the 10th of Nisan, was the day of the Passover lambs were selected. And He rode in, and as He rode in on His colt, no doubt before Him, lambs being driven into the city of Jerusalem, behind Him, around Him, and here He is, the Lamb of God, the Chosen One who would save us, making His way into Jerusalem, not coming under any illusion of national repentance and faith in Him as Savior, but rather coming knowing fully—fully well—that He's making His way to Calvary, to die.
Indeed, this is the reason why He's come. He's come to give His life a ransom for many. He's come to lay down His life for the sheep, the manner of His coming.
This morning, I want us to begin with the 16th verse and see the meaning of His coming, the meaning of His coming. The Bible says, verse 16, "These things His disciples did not understand at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things, that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him." John tells us something very interesting here, very interesting. He tells us that the disciples, and John was among them, that the disciples took part in all of this. They're with Him. They took part in all of this, they witnessed all of this firsthand experience.
This was something that they witnessed firsthand, but at the time that it was happening, they did not understand it. They had no clue. They didn't understand what was happening. They never really perceived. They never really grasped. They never really understood what was happening, what was really happening, until after the death and the resurrection and the glorification of Christ. And what this means is that the Holy Spirit of God, at a later time, gave them insight into the events that they were a part of at an earlier time.
It's the Holy Spirit sort of saying, do you know what you witnessed? Do you know what you were a part of? Do you know what you participated in? And He gave them insight. He gave them understanding. This happened just as the Lord Jesus, by the way, said it would happen. In John 14 and verse 26, we'll get to this verse, Lord willing, in the future, Jesus said, "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." And when the Holy Spirit is given, He will interpret for you what you have seen. He will shed light on what you have heard. He will bring it to your remembrance, and He will make sense of it for you. He will enable you to grasp it, to understand it.
That's what the Lord is doing as John writes this gospel. The Lord is giving him insight. This is done under inspiration, under the guidance, the superintending guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is not the only place, by the way, where you see the Lord opening the scriptures to His disciples after the event that they participated in. Turn with me to Luke chapter 24, that familiar account. This is fascinating. You find an example of this after the resurrection of Christ, before His ascension.
All of this information was there in the scriptures for them. All of this was there for them to understand, to get it, but they didn't get it. They didn't understand it. They didn't perceive it. And the Lord had to open their eyes. It just didn't dawn on them just like this in the future. It wasn't like something, oh, you know, oh, oh, oh, we get it now. No, it wasn't like that. The Lord Himself opened their understanding so that they could perceive these things.
Look at verse 13, "And behold, two of them"—Luke 24:13—"Behold, two of them were going that same day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. And they were conversing with one another, with each other, about all these things which had happened. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus Himself approached and was going with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, 'What are these words that you are discussing with one another as you are walking?' And they stood still, looking sad."
By the way, have you ever had someone ask a question that just makes your jaw drop? That's sort of a sort of thing that happened here. Jesus asked this question, and they just stand still, and they just look at Him, and they look sad.
Verse 18, "And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, 'Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?' And He said to them, 'What things?' And they said to Him, 'The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a mighty prophet in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us astounded us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and not finding His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also said. But Him they did not see.'"
“And He”, the Lord Jesus, “said to them, 'O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.'" In other words, if you just understood the scriptures, if you just understood the scriptures that you have in your hand, you would know. You would know what's going on.
Verse 26, "'Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?' Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." Wouldn't you have loved to have been in on that conversation?
“And they approached the village”, verse 28, “where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.’ So He went in to stay with them, and it happened that when He had reclined at the table with them, He took bread and blessed it. And after breaking it, He was giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?’ And they stood up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven of those, and those with them, who were saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.’ And they were relating their experiences on the road, and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread.”
Back to John 12. In the same sort of way, beloved, the disciples didn't understand what they were witnessing on this day, when Jesus rode in the city of Jerusalem. They didn't understand, they didn't get it, they didn't know, until later, when the Holy Spirit opens to their understanding exactly what they had been a part of.
Do you realize, beloved, do you realize something very similar to this is happening down to our own day? Do you realize that? That there are people every day exposed to the power and the working of the Spirit of God. There are people who are exposed to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, but what they see and what they hear is completely lost on them. Even to this day, they see, but they do not perceive. They hear, but they do not understand, they do not comprehend, until that day—until that day that the Lord brings them salvation.
That day, when the Lord removes the scales from their eyes, and then the lights are turned on. Then those things that they heard, but did not hear prior to this, now they understand. And the things they saw, but they did not see before, now they are able to perceive with the eyes of faith. It happens all the time. It happens all the time when someone is saved. They look back and they say something like this: Oh, you know, I heard the gospel. I sat Sunday after Sunday and I heard the gospel, but I never really heard it. But I never really heard it. And I saw the working of the Holy Spirit, but I never recognized that working for what it was.
Let me put it this way, beloved. There's a depth of truth present in these events that we're reading about. There's a depth of truth there that the people who witnessed these things did not grasp, did not understand at the time. And that even now as we read these things, even today as we read these things now, as we're doing this together, we won't understand the depth of truth that is present apart from the enlightening work of the Spirit of God. We won't.
One of the things they didn't understand at the time we began looking at last Lord's Day is that Jesus was entering Jerusalem, not just as the King, but also as the Passover Lamb of God. And I want us to think about this, the meaning of His coming, the Lamb of God. We need to get a hold of this. We have to understand something about the Passover if we are to understand the meaning of His coming. So with that in mind, please, let's go back to Exodus 12. And this is really important for us because He came in not only as the King of Israel, He came as the Passover Lamb on that day when the lambs that sacrificed are being selected. Behold Him, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
You know the feast we keep reading about here, for example, it says in verse 12, by the way, of John 12. “On the next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast”, the feast talked about is the Jewish Passover, followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so we need to understand that. So Exodus chapter 12, you remember, the Passover has to do with the way that God, Yahweh, delivered the children of Israel out of their bondage there in Egypt.
Look at verse one. We're going to read, by the way, quite a few verses. So stay with me, read with me, follow with me. And this is absolutely important. And it is for our edification, it's for our profit. So this is really important.
Exodus 12, verse one: "Now Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year to you.'" So this is now Nisan in our calendar, March, April. "'It is to be the first month of the year to you. 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. 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. Your lamb shall be a male without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. 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. And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roast it with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 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. 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. 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. 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. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. Now on the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be done by you. You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your places of habitation you shall eat unleavened bread.’
“Then Moses called for the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Bring out and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the doorway of his house until morning. And Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and He will see the blood on the lintel and on the doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And you shall keep this event as a statute for you and your children forever. And it will be when you enter the land which Yahweh will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this new slavery. And it will be when your children say to you, 'What is the meaning of this new slavery to you?' that you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to Yahweh who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but delivered our homes.'" And the people bowed low and worshiped.
Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”
Verse 29: "Now it happened at midnight that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Then Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go, serve Yahweh, as you have spoken. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have spoken, and go, and bless me also.'"
That's the Passover.
Keep your thumb here, and I want us to briefly go to Leviticus 23, but keep your thumb here. You want to come back to this.
Verse four: "These are the appointed times of Yahweh, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Passover of Yahweh. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month, there is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days, you shall bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work."
Back to Exodus 12. Here's what I want us to notice. I want us to notice some things, some of the details about the Passover. First of all, from this portion, first of all, a lamb—notice with me—was to be selected according to each man's need. A lamb was to be selected according to each man's need. There was an individual element to this. There was an individual element to this.
Notice it says in verse four, notice what it says: "Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest 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." So there's an individual element involved in the Passover. Even though it involves families and it involved the children of Israel as a whole, there's still this individual element—”according to what each man should eat.”
Secondly, notice with me, the lamb was to be a young male, a year old, the Bible says, without blemish—without blemish. Verse five: "Your lamb shall be a male without blemish, a year old."
Thirdly, the lamb was to be selected on the tenth day of the month, the tenth of Nisan, and then kept until the fourteenth day of the month. Verse three says, "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 father's household, a lamb for each household.'" Verse six: "And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month."
The fourth thing I want us to notice together is that the lamb was to be killed at twilight. The lamb was to be killed at twilight. Verse 6b: "Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight"—at twilight of that fourteenth day. Literally, in the Hebrew text, it is "between the evenings," twilight—between the evenings.
Now, there's some discussion as to what exactly that meant. Some say it had to do with the descent of the sun towards sunset, somewhere between 3 and 5 p.m. Some say it was from the setting of the sun until dark. But all of the evidence points to the former one to be the way to be taken. Because one, number one, it allowed time for all of those lambs to be sacrificed. And also, we know from Josephus, the Jewish historian, who tells us the Passover lambs at the time of Christ were being sacrificed at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon. And by the way, that is when Jesus released His Spirit, when He gave up the Spirit and died—3 in the afternoon on the fourteenth of Nisan. Exactly the time when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed.
Fifth, the blood of the lamb was to be applied to the house where the lamb was eaten. Verse 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. In which they eat it."
Six, the lamb was to be roasted and eaten along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Verse 8. The bitter herbs are a reminder of the slavery in Egypt and the bitterness of it. And someone might ask, why unleavened bread? Why unleavened bread?
Pastor MacArthur was asked that question, and here's his answer. Quote, he said, "I'm not a baker now, but I know a little bit about unleavened bread. That's about all. I won't try to make any, but I can describe it a little bit." He says, "Bread is made out of dough. And of course, when you make a batch of dough, if you were to take out a piece of the dough, you don't bake the dough, you just keep one little piece. It sours. The next time you make bread, you put that sour dough in it, acts as a leavened bread. It causes it to rise and we eat leavened bread. Leavened bread is bread and unleavened bread is crackers. That's about a close parallel you're going to get. It's flat," end of quote.
Now, in those days, Israel normally, according to Hosea 7:4, they normally ate leavened bread. They ate bread that was rising. They would enjoy that. That was their regular bread. But unleavened bread was enjoined upon them because they were what? In a hurry. They were in a hurry. God was saying, make the bread of haste because you've got to get out of town. You've got to get out of there. Don't take the time to let your bread rise. Bake it, eat it, you're going to leave. You're going to go. And that was done at Passover.
So in the memorial to the Passover in Egypt, when they made their bread in haste and got out of there, in memorial to that, God said, whenever you celebrate Passover, whenever you look back and remember what God did in Egypt, as a memory that you left Egypt in haste, in hurry, and didn't have time for your bread to rise, you eat unleavened bread. And so if you wonder why, why was it unleavened? Well, they didn't have time for their bread to rise. It was in haste that they left. Remember that you're to eat it in haste.
And by the way, that's the seventh thing that I want us to notice. The lamb was to be eaten with haste—with haste. We were told in verse 11, it was to be eaten with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. And God promised that He would be at work in this. He would pass through the land of Egypt that night, and He would strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And whenever the blood had been applied, He tells us, He would watch over, and He would pass over, and watch over so that death would not actually come into that home. Those homes would be spared from the plague.
Look back, back to John 12, back to John 12. Now I want to see the connection. What I'm saying to us, based on the word of God, last Sunday and today, is that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, when He rode into the city of Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan, He was entering not only as the promised King of Israel, but as the Passover lamb, the true Passover lamb that was pictured in the Passover that we just read about in Exodus 12. Behold the Lamb of God.
Now stop for a moment and think about it. Think about the Passover in Exodus 12. Isn't that a strange way to save people? I mean, why all the ceremony? Why? Why the careful selection of the lamb? Why? And why does the lamb have to be unblemished? Why does God want this to be a memorial practiced throughout the generations? Why would the blood of an animal, a lamb, would be instrumental in delivering the people who believe God and actually did what He told them to do? Why? Why would God choose to save His people that way?
The answer is because that was pointing to something far, far, far greater. This was simply an object lesson, an object lesson. This was something just to teach them, to give them faith in the One who was going to come to die for their sins, to die for our sins. Jesus was being pictured all the way back then. What happened in Exodus 12 was a giant arrow pointing to the Lamb of God.
Stephen Charnock, Puritan preacher, recognized that. Listen to what he said, and I quote, "'And indeed, if we consider all the circumstances in the institution, they seem not worthy of the wisdom of God.'" Let's just stop for a second and let that sink in. He said, you know, if you just looked at the Passover without the Lord Jesus, it wouldn't be worthy of the wisdom of God, it wouldn't. If you were to look at the Passover without Jesus.
He goes on to say, "'Nor are capable of having any reason rendered for them, if they be not referred to some other mystery, and what can that be but the Redeemer of the world represented thereby? Why should so much care be in the choice and separation of a lamb? What virtue had the blood of a poor animal to secure the house, and the life of the firstborn against the sword of a strong and an invisible angel?'” I love this. “'Was the sprinkling of blood upon the post a necessary mark for the angel, as though he had not understanding enough to distinguish between the houses of the children of the Israelites and the Egyptians?'” And he goes on to say, “'How can we think God should appoint so many ceremony in it, lay such a charge upon them for the strict observation of them, if he designed it, not as a prop to their faith, a ground to expect a higher and spiritual deliverance by the blood of the Messiah, as well as a test of their obedience and a memorial of their temporal deliverance.'" End of quote.
And he's right, he's right. It wasn't just about the temporal deliverance, it was pointing to a greater deliverance to the Lamb of God whose blood would deliver us, those who believe in Him, who would deliver us, redeem us, and keep us from the wrath of God. I know he's right, because God's word says he's right. Isn't that what we read in Hebrews 10, for example? Really, Hebrews 10, 10 and 12: "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but He”, Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God."
And last week we read 1 Corinthians 5:7. Paul writes, "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." That settles it, doesn't it? He's the fulfillment of the picture. He's the substance. All of that was the shadow. He's the substance. He is our Passover lamb.
And think with me about how the Lord Jesus was pictured in the Passover. Think with me. All of those things that we noticed together from the account in Exodus 12. Jesus was the lamb chosen, set apart for Passover, and chosen not by us, but by God for us. God said, I will provide a lamb. And He did. He did. And Christ died in the prime of His life. He was without blemish, without any sin, without any deceit. There was nothing to be found wrong or blemished in Him. He was the Lamb of God, a lamb without blemish.
This is why God told the Israelites, find a lamb without blemish, because it was pointing to the sinless Son of God. He was presented to Israel on the tenth day of Nisan, and He died on the fourteenth day of Nisan at three o'clock in the afternoon, just when the lambs were sacrificed. And only those to whom His blood is applied will be delivered from the wrath of God, just like the blood had to be applied on the doorpost, on the lintel, in order for those people to be spared.
So the shed blood of Jesus must be appropriated. That is, we must trust in Him by faith, embrace Him by faith. His blood applied on our behalf. Now I want to underscore this, beloved, all those for whom Christ died will be saved. All those for whom Christ died will believe, will appropriate His death on the cross for them, and the reason why they will is the sovereign God who gave these people to His Son before time and sent His Son into the world to redeem them is the same One who will do that monergistic work of regeneration in their hearts, granting them through the new birth repentance and faith in Jesus.
Everyone for whom Christ died will apply that blood—so to speak—to their house, their life, their soul. Everyone for whom Christ died will trust in Jesus. They'll be saved.
Isn't it a glorious thing, beloved, to know why you have believed? Isn't it? Isn't it? That you can't ascribe your faith to yourself? That you can't say, "I'm a believer today because I was smarter than somebody else"? "I'm a believer today because I had a softer heart than someone else"? "I'm a believer today because I was just somehow more naturally wise than another person"?
No. No, no, I'm a believer today because God in His grace saved me. He did a work in my soul that brought me to His Son, and now I understand that I was actually given to His Son before I was ever born, and Christ came into this world to give His life a ransom for many to save His people from their sins—Christ our Passover Lamb.
And another way that Jesus fulfills this picture is they didn't just sacrifice those lambs, they ate them. They ate them. And they were to so take note of who was in the household that nothing was left over. Right? That's what they were told. The lamb was to be completely what? Consumed. Christ is not just our sacrifice, beloved, He is our feast. He is our feast, He is our food, His blood is our drink, His flesh is our meat. We live on Him. What a glorious Savior we have. We live on Him. He satisfies our souls. He is our satisfaction. Not only He's our sacrifice, but He's our feast, and His death for us results in a people who spiritually have left Egypt, and now we're ready to travel for God.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 5 for a moment. I know you've seen it. I trust you understand, but I want us to see it again—again—how Paul applies this in a very practical way to the Corinthian fellowship. Here they are allowing sin to go on in the congregation, and he says to them in verse 6, "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 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. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
How do you celebrate the Passover? Not with the leaven of sin, but with unleavened bread, sincerity, and truth. We are a people, beloved, who have been redeemed by the grace of God, by the shedding blood of the Lamb of God, redeemed out of Egypt, and now we are walking with God, leaving Egypt behind in haste, ready to walk with God. This is who we are. This is how we're to live.
And if we really understand that Christ is our Passover, if He really is our Passover, then we're ready to travel with Him, aren't we? To leave behind our old life, to leave behind the world, the pleasures of sin, and to walk with God, and to live for God.
Back to John 12. So we see the manner of His coming. He comes as a King. He comes as a Deliverer. He comes as a Lamb, the Lamb of God, who takes away our sins. We see the meaning that's bound up in it in His coming, deeper than just what lies on the surface. His own disciples didn't understand the fullness of what they were participating in until later, and now we, with the help, with the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, as we look in the fullness of the revelation that God has given us in His Word, we're able to behold it, to look at it, and see that there's a depth to it, there was a fullness to it. He came not just as the King of Israel, but as the Passover Lamb, our Passover Lamb. And now, blessed be God, we're able to see that.
The third thing I want us to know is, very briefly, the message of His coming. Verse 17 and 18, "The crowd who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him. For this reason also the crowd went and met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign."
Even as He's coming, making His way into Jerusalem, He's coming and there's this expectation there, because those who witnessed the sign, the miracle, just continued to talk about it. They continued to bear witness—the message of His coming. This sign that He had done concerning Lazarus, they continued to talk about it. Some of them have been converted as a result of seeing it. We've seen that in our studies before. But most of the people who were gathered here, with all of this enthusiasm, had no real idea of who Jesus was and why He'd come.
This group largely consisted of those who gave a claim to Jesus because they thought of the temporal benefits that He could provide for them. They thought that He could usher in the age of freedom from Roman tyranny, peace, and prosperity. And their hopes were fueled by those who had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, telling others about the spectacular miracle. In their mind, if Jesus had done this for Lazarus, surely He can meet all of our needs.
Which leads to the last thing that I want us to see in verse 19: the misunderstanding of His coming. So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are gaining nothing." Now stop right there. "You see that you are gaining nothing." Isn't it amazing? They don't cease to amaze you. They still think they're somehow in control. They still think somehow they're in control. You know, fellows, we should have listened to Caiaphas long ago, because we've got nowhere with this tact we've taken. We're going to have to change our strategy.
Do you realize, beloved, that within the sovereign plan of God, the very way that Jesus enters Jerusalem is going to be used by God to goad these evil men into action—to express their evil heart? So they say we must act. We must act. We must do something. Notice how they've misunderstood His coming. "Look, the world has gone after Him."
Remember what they said, what Caiaphas said—actually, what they said and Caiaphas responded to it earlier, in the previous chapter? "If we let Him go”, John 11:48, “like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." And now here they are. Watch Him. They watch Him coming into the city of Jerusalem, and they see the enthusiasm. They see the fervor. And they are coming to the conclusion that what they feared is coming to pass and that He's coming as some political figure and they're going to lose their influence.
They had no understanding whatsoever at all of why Jesus was coming. In fact, we find out from the synoptics that on His way into Jerusalem, He wept. He wept. He wept because how He would have gathered them together, but they would not. They could not see. They did not understand. I wonder, oh, I wonder if the Son of God would weep over you. I wonder. I wonder who's here this morning that He would gather you, but you will not.
Listen, God is sovereign in salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Every person who is saved, it is God's doing alone. But when a man or woman or young person resists the gospel and they are lost, I say to you this day on the authority of the Word of God, it is their responsibility. When someone is saved, it is God's doing. When someone remains in unbelief, it is their own doing—completely, solely.
You've heard the gospel. You've heard the gospel. Christ died for sinners. He's been raised from the dead. The way is open. The arms of the Savior are wide open. The invitation is issued. If you will turn from your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. You will be saved. Now will you come? Will you come? You won't come until you understand. You won't come until God's light has shone in your heart to give you the knowledge of His glory in the face of His Son.
Have you ever come to Christ as your Passover, your Passover lamb? Have you ever seen that if you die in your natural condition, that you will spend eternity in hell? And there is no way out. There are no redos. And that there's the only way—the only way, only way—for your sins, those sins that have brought you under the judgment of God, that there's only one way for your sins to be forgiven. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died for sinners. He died for people just like you.
And would you even today, right now, acknowledge your true condition? And with a broken heart, cry out, O Lord Jesus, I will turn from my sins to follow You, trusting in You and You alone as the Lord who saves. Trusting in Your shed blood, Your sacrifice for the forgiveness of my sins. Trusting in that righteousness that You clothe me with as I believe, as You promised.
Trusting in Your righteousness for a right standing before a thrice holy God. Not trusting in any way whatsoever in myself and my doing to make myself acceptable to God, but placing all of my weight for all of eternity on the doing and the dying of Jesus Christ and Him alone.
I'll tell you today, if just Jesus is not enough to make a man, woman, boy, or girl right with God, then I will perish one day because there's nothing—absolutely nothing—I have to offer. But I'm thankful that He is enough. He is enough. That His shed blood has answered for all the sins of all of those who have ever and ever will trust in Him as Lord and Savior.
And every believer can say, I have trusted and so I'm saved. I love Him because I'm saved. I see Him for who He is because the Holy Spirit has worked salvation in my soul. Have you ever understood? Have you ever come to Him? We said it last week, when someone really understands the gospel, grasps the gospel by the enablement of the Spirit, they don't come to Jesus reluctantly. They don't come to Jesus half-heartedly. They don't come to Jesus with reservations. They run to Him. They see who He is and they run to Him—flee from the wrath that is coming.
Where do you run if you flee from wrath? Where do you run? You run to the One who delivers you from wrath, Jesus Christ. You run to Him. Have you ever run to Him, holding nothing in your hands, with nothing to offer, just running with your poor, broken life, knowing that He'll receive you as you are, but He won't leave you as you are? Have you ever come to Him? Even today, even right now, you can look to the Lamb of God and be saved.
And those of us who have been saved, oh, how we should bow low. How we should live for Him. He gave His life for us. He called us out. That's what the church means, the word ekklēsia—called out—to leave the Egypt of the world and to walk with God and to shed and leave the leavened bread of sin and to live for Him. Is that too much to ask? Behold the Lamb of God.
Oh, how you and I, with a renewed, resolute heart, that we would say, oh Lord, here's my life, body, soul, all of my faculties, mind, heart, will, it's all for You. Oh, how we should bow low and say together, all glory be to God that He has saved such a wretch like me. How we should be like Mary. Here, Lord, You are worth it. I give You my all. I give You the best of me, all of me. My time, my energy, my faculties, my thoughts, my words, my all. I give You my life, this all that I could do.
Let's pray.
John tells us, the Holy Spirit, through John, presents it to us this way, verse 15: "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt." So He rode in on that colt that had never been ridden before, reserved for royalty, reserved for a king, and so the way He rode in spoke of Him as the king who is to come, the king of Israel.
The way the crowd were treating Him as well. We saw that last Lord's Day, laying down their garments in front of Him, laying down palm branches in front of Him, gathered together with this great exuberance, great rejoicing, and crying out, Hosanna! Salvation has come! Salvation is here! And this spoke of Him as the king of Israel, and it bothered the Pharisees so much—so much—that they called upon Jesus to rebuke His disciples, tell them to stop! This isn't right! And Jesus said that if these were to be silent, even the rocks would cry out. No way to silence this. This is fitting. This is proper. This is right.
So Israel is without excuse, because the very way that Jesus comes into the city cries out from God, behold, your promised King. This is your promised King. He came as the king, and He came also, we saw together, as the deliverer. Zechariah says, rejoice, but the Holy Spirit, through John here in this account, interpreting Zechariah 9:9, says, “fear not”. “Fear not”. Your fears now are able to be removed. Your sins will be now forgiven, gone, dealt with, the wrath of God averted for all of those who put their trust in this promised King. For all of those who look at this King as their Savior, you will be forgiven. The wrath of God, which is due you, is averted.
He comes to deliver them from the wrath that is coming by the shedding of His own blood. He comes as the Lamb. He comes as God's Passover Lamb, our Passover Lamb. We talked last time about how the very day that He entered Jerusalem, the 10th of Nisan, was the day of the Passover lambs were selected. And He rode in, and as He rode in on His colt, no doubt before Him, lambs being driven into the city of Jerusalem, behind Him, around Him, and here He is, the Lamb of God, the Chosen One who would save us, making His way into Jerusalem, not coming under any illusion of national repentance and faith in Him as Savior, but rather coming knowing fully—fully well—that He's making His way to Calvary, to die.
Indeed, this is the reason why He's come. He's come to give His life a ransom for many. He's come to lay down His life for the sheep, the manner of His coming.
This morning, I want us to begin with the 16th verse and see the meaning of His coming, the meaning of His coming. The Bible says, verse 16, "These things His disciples did not understand at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered these things, that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him." John tells us something very interesting here, very interesting. He tells us that the disciples, and John was among them, that the disciples took part in all of this. They're with Him. They took part in all of this, they witnessed all of this firsthand experience.
This was something that they witnessed firsthand, but at the time that it was happening, they did not understand it. They had no clue. They didn't understand what was happening. They never really perceived. They never really grasped. They never really understood what was happening, what was really happening, until after the death and the resurrection and the glorification of Christ. And what this means is that the Holy Spirit of God, at a later time, gave them insight into the events that they were a part of at an earlier time.
It's the Holy Spirit sort of saying, do you know what you witnessed? Do you know what you were a part of? Do you know what you participated in? And He gave them insight. He gave them understanding. This happened just as the Lord Jesus, by the way, said it would happen. In John 14 and verse 26, we'll get to this verse, Lord willing, in the future, Jesus said, "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." And when the Holy Spirit is given, He will interpret for you what you have seen. He will shed light on what you have heard. He will bring it to your remembrance, and He will make sense of it for you. He will enable you to grasp it, to understand it.
That's what the Lord is doing as John writes this gospel. The Lord is giving him insight. This is done under inspiration, under the guidance, the superintending guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is not the only place, by the way, where you see the Lord opening the scriptures to His disciples after the event that they participated in. Turn with me to Luke chapter 24, that familiar account. This is fascinating. You find an example of this after the resurrection of Christ, before His ascension.
All of this information was there in the scriptures for them. All of this was there for them to understand, to get it, but they didn't get it. They didn't understand it. They didn't perceive it. And the Lord had to open their eyes. It just didn't dawn on them just like this in the future. It wasn't like something, oh, you know, oh, oh, oh, we get it now. No, it wasn't like that. The Lord Himself opened their understanding so that they could perceive these things.
Look at verse 13, "And behold, two of them"—Luke 24:13—"Behold, two of them were going that same day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem. And they were conversing with one another, with each other, about all these things which had happened. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus Himself approached and was going with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, 'What are these words that you are discussing with one another as you are walking?' And they stood still, looking sad."
By the way, have you ever had someone ask a question that just makes your jaw drop? That's sort of a sort of thing that happened here. Jesus asked this question, and they just stand still, and they just look at Him, and they look sad.
Verse 18, "And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, 'Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?' And He said to them, 'What things?' And they said to Him, 'The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a mighty prophet in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us astounded us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and not finding His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also said. But Him they did not see.'"
“And He”, the Lord Jesus, “said to them, 'O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.'" In other words, if you just understood the scriptures, if you just understood the scriptures that you have in your hand, you would know. You would know what's going on.
Verse 26, "'Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?' Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." Wouldn't you have loved to have been in on that conversation?
“And they approached the village”, verse 28, “where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.’ So He went in to stay with them, and it happened that when He had reclined at the table with them, He took bread and blessed it. And after breaking it, He was giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?’ And they stood up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven of those, and those with them, who were saying, ‘The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.’ And they were relating their experiences on the road, and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread.”
Back to John 12. In the same sort of way, beloved, the disciples didn't understand what they were witnessing on this day, when Jesus rode in the city of Jerusalem. They didn't understand, they didn't get it, they didn't know, until later, when the Holy Spirit opens to their understanding exactly what they had been a part of.
Do you realize, beloved, do you realize something very similar to this is happening down to our own day? Do you realize that? That there are people every day exposed to the power and the working of the Spirit of God. There are people who are exposed to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, but what they see and what they hear is completely lost on them. Even to this day, they see, but they do not perceive. They hear, but they do not understand, they do not comprehend, until that day—until that day that the Lord brings them salvation.
That day, when the Lord removes the scales from their eyes, and then the lights are turned on. Then those things that they heard, but did not hear prior to this, now they understand. And the things they saw, but they did not see before, now they are able to perceive with the eyes of faith. It happens all the time. It happens all the time when someone is saved. They look back and they say something like this: Oh, you know, I heard the gospel. I sat Sunday after Sunday and I heard the gospel, but I never really heard it. But I never really heard it. And I saw the working of the Holy Spirit, but I never recognized that working for what it was.
Let me put it this way, beloved. There's a depth of truth present in these events that we're reading about. There's a depth of truth there that the people who witnessed these things did not grasp, did not understand at the time. And that even now as we read these things, even today as we read these things now, as we're doing this together, we won't understand the depth of truth that is present apart from the enlightening work of the Spirit of God. We won't.
One of the things they didn't understand at the time we began looking at last Lord's Day is that Jesus was entering Jerusalem, not just as the King, but also as the Passover Lamb of God. And I want us to think about this, the meaning of His coming, the Lamb of God. We need to get a hold of this. We have to understand something about the Passover if we are to understand the meaning of His coming. So with that in mind, please, let's go back to Exodus 12. And this is really important for us because He came in not only as the King of Israel, He came as the Passover Lamb on that day when the lambs that sacrificed are being selected. Behold Him, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
You know the feast we keep reading about here, for example, it says in verse 12, by the way, of John 12. “On the next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast”, the feast talked about is the Jewish Passover, followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so we need to understand that. So Exodus chapter 12, you remember, the Passover has to do with the way that God, Yahweh, delivered the children of Israel out of their bondage there in Egypt.
Look at verse one. We're going to read, by the way, quite a few verses. So stay with me, read with me, follow with me. And this is absolutely important. And it is for our edification, it's for our profit. So this is really important.
Exodus 12, verse one: "Now Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'This month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year to you.'" So this is now Nisan in our calendar, March, April. "'It is to be the first month of the year to you. 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. 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. Your lamb shall be a male without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. 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. And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roast it with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 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. 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. 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. 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. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. Now on the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be done by you. You shall also keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your places of habitation you shall eat unleavened bread.’
“Then Moses called for the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Bring out and take for yourselves lambs according to your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the doorway of his house until morning. And Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and He will see the blood on the lintel and on the doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And you shall keep this event as a statute for you and your children forever. And it will be when you enter the land which Yahweh will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this new slavery. And it will be when your children say to you, 'What is the meaning of this new slavery to you?' that you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to Yahweh who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but delivered our homes.'" And the people bowed low and worshiped.
Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”
Verse 29: "Now it happened at midnight that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Then Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, 'Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go, serve Yahweh, as you have spoken. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have spoken, and go, and bless me also.'"
That's the Passover.
Keep your thumb here, and I want us to briefly go to Leviticus 23, but keep your thumb here. You want to come back to this.
Verse four: "These are the appointed times of Yahweh, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Passover of Yahweh. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month, there is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days, you shall bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work."
Back to Exodus 12. Here's what I want us to notice. I want us to notice some things, some of the details about the Passover. First of all, from this portion, first of all, a lamb—notice with me—was to be selected according to each man's need. A lamb was to be selected according to each man's need. There was an individual element to this. There was an individual element to this.
Notice it says in verse four, notice what it says: "Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest 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." So there's an individual element involved in the Passover. Even though it involves families and it involved the children of Israel as a whole, there's still this individual element—”according to what each man should eat.”
Secondly, notice with me, the lamb was to be a young male, a year old, the Bible says, without blemish—without blemish. Verse five: "Your lamb shall be a male without blemish, a year old."
Thirdly, the lamb was to be selected on the tenth day of the month, the tenth of Nisan, and then kept until the fourteenth day of the month. Verse three says, "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 father's household, a lamb for each household.'" Verse six: "And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month."
The fourth thing I want us to notice together is that the lamb was to be killed at twilight. The lamb was to be killed at twilight. Verse 6b: "Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight"—at twilight of that fourteenth day. Literally, in the Hebrew text, it is "between the evenings," twilight—between the evenings.
Now, there's some discussion as to what exactly that meant. Some say it had to do with the descent of the sun towards sunset, somewhere between 3 and 5 p.m. Some say it was from the setting of the sun until dark. But all of the evidence points to the former one to be the way to be taken. Because one, number one, it allowed time for all of those lambs to be sacrificed. And also, we know from Josephus, the Jewish historian, who tells us the Passover lambs at the time of Christ were being sacrificed at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon. And by the way, that is when Jesus released His Spirit, when He gave up the Spirit and died—3 in the afternoon on the fourteenth of Nisan. Exactly the time when the Passover lambs were being sacrificed.
Fifth, the blood of the lamb was to be applied to the house where the lamb was eaten. Verse 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. In which they eat it."
Six, the lamb was to be roasted and eaten along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Verse 8. The bitter herbs are a reminder of the slavery in Egypt and the bitterness of it. And someone might ask, why unleavened bread? Why unleavened bread?
Pastor MacArthur was asked that question, and here's his answer. Quote, he said, "I'm not a baker now, but I know a little bit about unleavened bread. That's about all. I won't try to make any, but I can describe it a little bit." He says, "Bread is made out of dough. And of course, when you make a batch of dough, if you were to take out a piece of the dough, you don't bake the dough, you just keep one little piece. It sours. The next time you make bread, you put that sour dough in it, acts as a leavened bread. It causes it to rise and we eat leavened bread. Leavened bread is bread and unleavened bread is crackers. That's about a close parallel you're going to get. It's flat," end of quote.
Now, in those days, Israel normally, according to Hosea 7:4, they normally ate leavened bread. They ate bread that was rising. They would enjoy that. That was their regular bread. But unleavened bread was enjoined upon them because they were what? In a hurry. They were in a hurry. God was saying, make the bread of haste because you've got to get out of town. You've got to get out of there. Don't take the time to let your bread rise. Bake it, eat it, you're going to leave. You're going to go. And that was done at Passover.
So in the memorial to the Passover in Egypt, when they made their bread in haste and got out of there, in memorial to that, God said, whenever you celebrate Passover, whenever you look back and remember what God did in Egypt, as a memory that you left Egypt in haste, in hurry, and didn't have time for your bread to rise, you eat unleavened bread. And so if you wonder why, why was it unleavened? Well, they didn't have time for their bread to rise. It was in haste that they left. Remember that you're to eat it in haste.
And by the way, that's the seventh thing that I want us to notice. The lamb was to be eaten with haste—with haste. We were told in verse 11, it was to be eaten with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. And God promised that He would be at work in this. He would pass through the land of Egypt that night, and He would strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And whenever the blood had been applied, He tells us, He would watch over, and He would pass over, and watch over so that death would not actually come into that home. Those homes would be spared from the plague.
Look back, back to John 12, back to John 12. Now I want to see the connection. What I'm saying to us, based on the word of God, last Sunday and today, is that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, when He rode into the city of Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan, He was entering not only as the promised King of Israel, but as the Passover lamb, the true Passover lamb that was pictured in the Passover that we just read about in Exodus 12. Behold the Lamb of God.
Now stop for a moment and think about it. Think about the Passover in Exodus 12. Isn't that a strange way to save people? I mean, why all the ceremony? Why? Why the careful selection of the lamb? Why? And why does the lamb have to be unblemished? Why does God want this to be a memorial practiced throughout the generations? Why would the blood of an animal, a lamb, would be instrumental in delivering the people who believe God and actually did what He told them to do? Why? Why would God choose to save His people that way?
The answer is because that was pointing to something far, far, far greater. This was simply an object lesson, an object lesson. This was something just to teach them, to give them faith in the One who was going to come to die for their sins, to die for our sins. Jesus was being pictured all the way back then. What happened in Exodus 12 was a giant arrow pointing to the Lamb of God.
Stephen Charnock, Puritan preacher, recognized that. Listen to what he said, and I quote, "'And indeed, if we consider all the circumstances in the institution, they seem not worthy of the wisdom of God.'" Let's just stop for a second and let that sink in. He said, you know, if you just looked at the Passover without the Lord Jesus, it wouldn't be worthy of the wisdom of God, it wouldn't. If you were to look at the Passover without Jesus.
He goes on to say, "'Nor are capable of having any reason rendered for them, if they be not referred to some other mystery, and what can that be but the Redeemer of the world represented thereby? Why should so much care be in the choice and separation of a lamb? What virtue had the blood of a poor animal to secure the house, and the life of the firstborn against the sword of a strong and an invisible angel?'” I love this. “'Was the sprinkling of blood upon the post a necessary mark for the angel, as though he had not understanding enough to distinguish between the houses of the children of the Israelites and the Egyptians?'” And he goes on to say, “'How can we think God should appoint so many ceremony in it, lay such a charge upon them for the strict observation of them, if he designed it, not as a prop to their faith, a ground to expect a higher and spiritual deliverance by the blood of the Messiah, as well as a test of their obedience and a memorial of their temporal deliverance.'" End of quote.
And he's right, he's right. It wasn't just about the temporal deliverance, it was pointing to a greater deliverance to the Lamb of God whose blood would deliver us, those who believe in Him, who would deliver us, redeem us, and keep us from the wrath of God. I know he's right, because God's word says he's right. Isn't that what we read in Hebrews 10, for example? Really, Hebrews 10, 10 and 12: "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but He”, Christ, “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God."
And last week we read 1 Corinthians 5:7. Paul writes, "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." That settles it, doesn't it? He's the fulfillment of the picture. He's the substance. All of that was the shadow. He's the substance. He is our Passover lamb.
And think with me about how the Lord Jesus was pictured in the Passover. Think with me. All of those things that we noticed together from the account in Exodus 12. Jesus was the lamb chosen, set apart for Passover, and chosen not by us, but by God for us. God said, I will provide a lamb. And He did. He did. And Christ died in the prime of His life. He was without blemish, without any sin, without any deceit. There was nothing to be found wrong or blemished in Him. He was the Lamb of God, a lamb without blemish.
This is why God told the Israelites, find a lamb without blemish, because it was pointing to the sinless Son of God. He was presented to Israel on the tenth day of Nisan, and He died on the fourteenth day of Nisan at three o'clock in the afternoon, just when the lambs were sacrificed. And only those to whom His blood is applied will be delivered from the wrath of God, just like the blood had to be applied on the doorpost, on the lintel, in order for those people to be spared.
So the shed blood of Jesus must be appropriated. That is, we must trust in Him by faith, embrace Him by faith. His blood applied on our behalf. Now I want to underscore this, beloved, all those for whom Christ died will be saved. All those for whom Christ died will believe, will appropriate His death on the cross for them, and the reason why they will is the sovereign God who gave these people to His Son before time and sent His Son into the world to redeem them is the same One who will do that monergistic work of regeneration in their hearts, granting them through the new birth repentance and faith in Jesus.
Everyone for whom Christ died will apply that blood—so to speak—to their house, their life, their soul. Everyone for whom Christ died will trust in Jesus. They'll be saved.
Isn't it a glorious thing, beloved, to know why you have believed? Isn't it? Isn't it? That you can't ascribe your faith to yourself? That you can't say, "I'm a believer today because I was smarter than somebody else"? "I'm a believer today because I had a softer heart than someone else"? "I'm a believer today because I was just somehow more naturally wise than another person"?
No. No, no, I'm a believer today because God in His grace saved me. He did a work in my soul that brought me to His Son, and now I understand that I was actually given to His Son before I was ever born, and Christ came into this world to give His life a ransom for many to save His people from their sins—Christ our Passover Lamb.
And another way that Jesus fulfills this picture is they didn't just sacrifice those lambs, they ate them. They ate them. And they were to so take note of who was in the household that nothing was left over. Right? That's what they were told. The lamb was to be completely what? Consumed. Christ is not just our sacrifice, beloved, He is our feast. He is our feast, He is our food, His blood is our drink, His flesh is our meat. We live on Him. What a glorious Savior we have. We live on Him. He satisfies our souls. He is our satisfaction. Not only He's our sacrifice, but He's our feast, and His death for us results in a people who spiritually have left Egypt, and now we're ready to travel for God.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 5 for a moment. I know you've seen it. I trust you understand, but I want us to see it again—again—how Paul applies this in a very practical way to the Corinthian fellowship. Here they are allowing sin to go on in the congregation, and he says to them in verse 6, "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 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. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
How do you celebrate the Passover? Not with the leaven of sin, but with unleavened bread, sincerity, and truth. We are a people, beloved, who have been redeemed by the grace of God, by the shedding blood of the Lamb of God, redeemed out of Egypt, and now we are walking with God, leaving Egypt behind in haste, ready to walk with God. This is who we are. This is how we're to live.
And if we really understand that Christ is our Passover, if He really is our Passover, then we're ready to travel with Him, aren't we? To leave behind our old life, to leave behind the world, the pleasures of sin, and to walk with God, and to live for God.
Back to John 12. So we see the manner of His coming. He comes as a King. He comes as a Deliverer. He comes as a Lamb, the Lamb of God, who takes away our sins. We see the meaning that's bound up in it in His coming, deeper than just what lies on the surface. His own disciples didn't understand the fullness of what they were participating in until later, and now we, with the help, with the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, as we look in the fullness of the revelation that God has given us in His Word, we're able to behold it, to look at it, and see that there's a depth to it, there was a fullness to it. He came not just as the King of Israel, but as the Passover Lamb, our Passover Lamb. And now, blessed be God, we're able to see that.
The third thing I want us to know is, very briefly, the message of His coming. Verse 17 and 18, "The crowd who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him. For this reason also the crowd went and met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign."
Even as He's coming, making His way into Jerusalem, He's coming and there's this expectation there, because those who witnessed the sign, the miracle, just continued to talk about it. They continued to bear witness—the message of His coming. This sign that He had done concerning Lazarus, they continued to talk about it. Some of them have been converted as a result of seeing it. We've seen that in our studies before. But most of the people who were gathered here, with all of this enthusiasm, had no real idea of who Jesus was and why He'd come.
This group largely consisted of those who gave a claim to Jesus because they thought of the temporal benefits that He could provide for them. They thought that He could usher in the age of freedom from Roman tyranny, peace, and prosperity. And their hopes were fueled by those who had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, telling others about the spectacular miracle. In their mind, if Jesus had done this for Lazarus, surely He can meet all of our needs.
Which leads to the last thing that I want us to see in verse 19: the misunderstanding of His coming. So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are gaining nothing." Now stop right there. "You see that you are gaining nothing." Isn't it amazing? They don't cease to amaze you. They still think they're somehow in control. They still think somehow they're in control. You know, fellows, we should have listened to Caiaphas long ago, because we've got nowhere with this tact we've taken. We're going to have to change our strategy.
Do you realize, beloved, that within the sovereign plan of God, the very way that Jesus enters Jerusalem is going to be used by God to goad these evil men into action—to express their evil heart? So they say we must act. We must act. We must do something. Notice how they've misunderstood His coming. "Look, the world has gone after Him."
Remember what they said, what Caiaphas said—actually, what they said and Caiaphas responded to it earlier, in the previous chapter? "If we let Him go”, John 11:48, “like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." And now here they are. Watch Him. They watch Him coming into the city of Jerusalem, and they see the enthusiasm. They see the fervor. And they are coming to the conclusion that what they feared is coming to pass and that He's coming as some political figure and they're going to lose their influence.
They had no understanding whatsoever at all of why Jesus was coming. In fact, we find out from the synoptics that on His way into Jerusalem, He wept. He wept. He wept because how He would have gathered them together, but they would not. They could not see. They did not understand. I wonder, oh, I wonder if the Son of God would weep over you. I wonder. I wonder who's here this morning that He would gather you, but you will not.
Listen, God is sovereign in salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Every person who is saved, it is God's doing alone. But when a man or woman or young person resists the gospel and they are lost, I say to you this day on the authority of the Word of God, it is their responsibility. When someone is saved, it is God's doing. When someone remains in unbelief, it is their own doing—completely, solely.
You've heard the gospel. You've heard the gospel. Christ died for sinners. He's been raised from the dead. The way is open. The arms of the Savior are wide open. The invitation is issued. If you will turn from your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. You will be saved. Now will you come? Will you come? You won't come until you understand. You won't come until God's light has shone in your heart to give you the knowledge of His glory in the face of His Son.
Have you ever come to Christ as your Passover, your Passover lamb? Have you ever seen that if you die in your natural condition, that you will spend eternity in hell? And there is no way out. There are no redos. And that there's the only way—the only way, only way—for your sins, those sins that have brought you under the judgment of God, that there's only one way for your sins to be forgiven. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died for sinners. He died for people just like you.
And would you even today, right now, acknowledge your true condition? And with a broken heart, cry out, O Lord Jesus, I will turn from my sins to follow You, trusting in You and You alone as the Lord who saves. Trusting in Your shed blood, Your sacrifice for the forgiveness of my sins. Trusting in that righteousness that You clothe me with as I believe, as You promised.
Trusting in Your righteousness for a right standing before a thrice holy God. Not trusting in any way whatsoever in myself and my doing to make myself acceptable to God, but placing all of my weight for all of eternity on the doing and the dying of Jesus Christ and Him alone.
I'll tell you today, if just Jesus is not enough to make a man, woman, boy, or girl right with God, then I will perish one day because there's nothing—absolutely nothing—I have to offer. But I'm thankful that He is enough. He is enough. That His shed blood has answered for all the sins of all of those who have ever and ever will trust in Him as Lord and Savior.
And every believer can say, I have trusted and so I'm saved. I love Him because I'm saved. I see Him for who He is because the Holy Spirit has worked salvation in my soul. Have you ever understood? Have you ever come to Him? We said it last week, when someone really understands the gospel, grasps the gospel by the enablement of the Spirit, they don't come to Jesus reluctantly. They don't come to Jesus half-heartedly. They don't come to Jesus with reservations. They run to Him. They see who He is and they run to Him—flee from the wrath that is coming.
Where do you run if you flee from wrath? Where do you run? You run to the One who delivers you from wrath, Jesus Christ. You run to Him. Have you ever run to Him, holding nothing in your hands, with nothing to offer, just running with your poor, broken life, knowing that He'll receive you as you are, but He won't leave you as you are? Have you ever come to Him? Even today, even right now, you can look to the Lamb of God and be saved.
And those of us who have been saved, oh, how we should bow low. How we should live for Him. He gave His life for us. He called us out. That's what the church means, the word ekklēsia—called out—to leave the Egypt of the world and to walk with God and to shed and leave the leavened bread of sin and to live for Him. Is that too much to ask? Behold the Lamb of God.
Oh, how you and I, with a renewed, resolute heart, that we would say, oh Lord, here's my life, body, soul, all of my faculties, mind, heart, will, it's all for You. Oh, how we should bow low and say together, all glory be to God that He has saved such a wretch like me. How we should be like Mary. Here, Lord, You are worth it. I give You my all. I give You the best of me, all of me. My time, my energy, my faculties, my thoughts, my words, my all. I give You my life, this all that I could do.
Let's pray.
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