Solomon: the son of David who builds God’s temple

Solomon: the son of David who builds God’s temple

Open your Bibles with me to 2 Sam 7.  Today we bring our series to a close.  We have been studying types and shadows, OT people places and things that illustrate NT realities.  We have been especially focused on types of Christ.

The past few weeks we saw how God made promises to Abraham and his descendants and chose his descendants to be his very own people, his treasured possession.  They were enslaved in Egypt, God delivered them out of slavery.  In that exodus out of slavery in Egypt, their final destination was the land God promised to Abraham, but because they were rebellious and unbelieving, God caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and only Caleb and Joshua from that generation were able to enter the Promised Land because they believed God.

TABERNACLE IN THE WILDERNESS

During their time in the wilderness, God made a Covenant with Israel and gave them the Law, through Moses, the commandments that the Israelites were to follow as his people.  A great portion of the Law of Moses contained regulations for worship.  God instructed them to build a tabernacle AKA a the tent of meeting.  It was a place where the Israelites would gather for worship and where the priests would perform their ministry before the Lord.  It was a structure that could be taken down and reassembled during Israel’s travels through the wilderness.  If you are curious about the dimensions and the appearance of the tabernacle or the tent of the testimony you can read about that in Ex 25-27.

GOD’S PRESENCE FILLED TABERNACLE

Then in Ex 40 we read of God’s presence filling the tabernacle.  Ex 40:34-38  ³⁴ Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

 ³⁶ In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; ³⁷ but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. ³⁸ So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.

The tabernacle was the where God’s presence dwelt.  

WILDERNESS TENTS; PROMISED LAND PERMANENT DWELLINGS

While they were traveling, they all dwelt in tents and lived nomadic, God’s dwelling place, the tabernacle, the tent of meeting was the same; it wasn’t a permanent structure.  Well eventually, after the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, God’s people entered into the Promised Land.  All the people were able to dwell in permanent structures.  But for years and years and years, the Lord’s dwelling remained the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.

HISTORY FROM JOSHUA TO DAVID

Eventually Joshua died and Israel experienced a dark time when everybody did what was right in his own eyes; this period is known as the time of the Judges.  You can read about these times in the book of Judges.  Eventually Israel asked for a king so they could be like all the other nations around them, but in essence this was a rejection of God as king.  So God gave them a king; Saul.  He was okay for a while and then things just got ugly and eventually God removed Saul from office and gave the throne to David.  That is the context of our passage at hand.  David is king over Israel.

2 Samuel 7 ¹ After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ² he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

 ³ Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”

David is known as being a man after God’s own heart.  We see a glimpse of his heart here as David, as a king, dwelling in a nice palace took to heart that he was dwelling in a palace of cedar but the ark of God was still dwelling in a tent.  David expressed this to Nathan the prophet and Nathan said, whatever you have in mind, do it; God is with you.

 ⁴ That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:

So God didn’t have a conversation directly with David.  God spoke to Nathan.

 ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. ⁷ Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

So God did command them to build the tabernacle but He never commanded the Israelites to build him a temple.

 ⁸ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. ¹⁰ And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning ¹¹ and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

   “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 

Now this is ironic.  David had intended to do great things for God, but God is now talking about doing great things for his people and specifically for David.  I will make your name great.  Wicked people will not oppress my people.  

And in my opinion the coolest thing about this is David wanted to build a house for God, but God says no, David, I will build your house.  David wanted to build a physical temple for God to dwell in; God promised to establish David’s name and his family.  David wanted to build God’s house, but God was building the house of David.

   “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 

VERSE 12 ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 

Now, David wanted to build a house for the LORD, but God said that David would not.  It would be David’s son who would build the house for God’s dwelling.  God said He would raise up David’s offspring to succeed him and that God would establish his kingdom and that he would be the one to build a house for God’s name and God would establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Now we have here a beautiful promise of the Messiah.  We have a prophecy that is ultimately Messianic but not exclusively messianic.  God is telling Nathan to tell David that though David wants to build a house for God, it will be the son of David who builds the temple for God to dwell in.

We find this fulfilled in Solomon, who was literally the son of David who literally built a physical temple for God’s presence to dwell in.  Solomon was in this way a type of Christ.  Christ is the antitype, the substance the fulfillment, the reality.  Solomon was the son of David who built the temple of God foreshadowing Jesus who was the son of David who built the temple of God.

So let’s look at how this unfolds in the Scriptures.  Let’s look at this son of David who was to build the temple of God.  Let’s look how this is manifest in type in Solomon and then in antitype in Jesus.  

FIRST OF ALL, IN SOLOMON

Who is Solomon?  David, though he was a man after God’s own heart, made a huge mistake.  He had an affair with Bathsheba and the offspring of that relationship was his son Solomon, who succeeded him on the throne.

Flip over to 1 Kings 8 with me.  Solomon did indeed build a temple for the LORD.  At the beginning of 1 Kings 8 we find that they made a multitude of sacrifices in honor of the newly built temple and the priests brought the ark of the covenant from the tent of meeting into the temple.  That’s where we pick up in verse 12…

1 Kings 8: 12-21 ¹² Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; ¹³ I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

 ¹⁴ While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. ¹⁵ Then he said:

   “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. 

So we see declared by Solomon himself in the Scriptures that God has fulfilled his promise to David:  that he, Solomon, the son of David would build the temple for God.  He continues:

For he said, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’

 ¹⁷ “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’

 ²⁰ “The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ²¹ I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt.”

God fulfilled his words spoken to David through the prophet Nathan.  David’s son would build the temple.  Solomon, the son of David, built God’s temple.  This foreshadowed Jesus Christ, the son of David who built God’s temple.

Now as we move from the shadow to the substance, as we move from the type to the antitype I want to remind you that we move from the physical/natural to the spiritual.

NOW, THAT WE ESTABLISHED SOLOMON, THE TYPE, ONWARD TO JESUS as the son of David who built God’s temple.

First of all, how exactly is Jesus the Son of David?  Wasn’t David dead like 1000 years?  And wasn’t Jesus the son of Joseph (or so it was thought) but he was actually the son of God.  How was Jesus the Son of David?  

Open with me to the first verse of the NT.  Matthew 1:1  A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.

So we can see very clearly that the bible’s usage of the term son of David doesn’t mean that David was his daddy any more than Abraham was David’s daddy.  What this verse means is that Jesus is a descendant of David and David was a descendant of Abraham.  So the idea carried in the term “the son of David” is the descendent of David.  That is exactly what Jesus was.  So in this sense, in the Biblical sense, Jesus is the Son of David as Jesus is a descendant of David.

WE SEE THIS ALL THROUGH THE GOSPELS.

Matthew 9:27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Matt 12:22-23 ²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

They call him the son of David.  Jesus is the son of David.

Matthew 22:42  “What do you think about the Christ ? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied.  Jesus asks a very generic question: whose son is the Messiah?  Christ.  The son of David.  They were expecting the messiah to be the son of David.  They had good reason to, from the Messianic implications in our main text 2 Sam 7 to the rest of the prophecies found in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and so forth.

The Jews were expecting the Christ to be the Son of David.  That is exactly who Jesus was – the son of David who was to build God’s temple as foreshadowed in Solomon.

So now that we have established that Jesus is the son of David, in what sense does he build God’s temple?  In a spiritual sense.  Remember that as we go from Old Covenant to New Covenant we go from the natural/physical to the spiritual.  We go from physical circumcision to spiritual circumcision of the heart.  Physical sacrifices to spiritual sacrifices.  As we go from type to antitype as we go from shadow to substance we go from physical/natural to the spiritual.  

WE GO FROM PHYSICAL TEMPLE TO SPIRITUAL TEMPLE.  Jesus was trying to prepare people for this during his ministry.

Flip over to John 4.  Jesus and his disciples were traveling through Samaria.  Jesus encountered a Samarian woman at a well.

John 4:19-26  ¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”  (that’s where the temple is – that’s where God’s presence dwells)

 ²¹ Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

 ²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

 ²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

Jesus, is speaking to a Samaritan woman.  She says the Samaritans worship on this physical mountain.  The Jews say we must worship on that physical mountain in physical Jerusalem.  At that physical temple.  Jesus says, the Jews know what’s up…but the time is here when we won’t have to go to a physical mountain a physical temple to worship but true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth.  OC to NC shadow to substance physical to spiritual.  The old temple that Solomon built that got destroyed and was now rebuilt is being superseded by a spiritual temple that the Son of David the messiah now here is building.

Jesus is the messiah, the son of David who builds God’s temple, the Messianic temple, the new covenant temple, the spiritual temple.

Flip back a couple chapters to John 2 and we can get a better idea of this new covenant temple.  John 2:13-22  ¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

 ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”^[b]

 ¹⁸ Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

 ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

 ²⁰ The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

So we see that Jesus is calling His body the temple.  

We also see in the Scriptures that his body is the church.  

Eph 1:22-23 ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

So Jesus calls his body the temple.  The Holy Spirit inspired Scriptures claim that the church is his body, thus the church is the temple.

So back to our antitype.  Jesus is the Son of David who builds the temple.  So if the temple is his body which is the church, thus the church is the temple, that means that Jesus builds the church, which is the temple, thus fulfilling his role as antitype, the son of David who builds God’s temple.  Is that true?  Does Jesus build the church?

Look with me at Matt 16: 13-18 ¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

 ¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

   ¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 ¹⁷ Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Jesus is the builder of his church.  His church is the temple.  What is the foundation for this temple?  A rock.  You don’t want to build a structure on sand.  How is this rock identified?  Peter.  A human being.  This isn’t a literal temple.  It is a spiritual reality.  God’s church is the temple, built not with human hands, but by Jesus himself.  

THIS TEMPLE IS MADE UP OF HIS PEOPLE.

Eph 2:19-22 ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

So we have even further clarified the fact that the new covenant temple of God is a temple built on the foundation of the apostles, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone and believers joined together as stones that make up this magnificent dwelling place for the spirit of God.

1 Pet 2:4-5  ⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Peter declares the same reality.  The old is passing away and being replaced by the new.  The old was physical/natural.  The new is spiritual.  You, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house.  This temple built by this Son of David is not a physical temple.  It’s not a man-made temple made up of literal stones.  It is a spiritual temple made up of living stones who are the people of God.

So as we can see Solomon is a beautiful expression of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the true son of David who builds the true temple.

Jesus is indeed greater than Solomon!  Solomon was great.  His kingdom was great.  His wisdom was great.  His temple was great.  Solomon was great.  But as always with types and shadows, the antitype is far greater, vastly superior and more glorious than the type.

Matt 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Jesus is indeed greater than Solomon!

Solomon, in his wisdom was also foolish in his many wives and other such follies.  If there was such a thing, the foolishness of Jesus would be wiser than Solomon’s wisdom.

Solomon was clothed in splendor, but Jesus is arrayed in majesty among the lampstands.  His hair is white like wool.  His eyes are like blazing fire.  His voice like the sound of rushing waters.  He holds the seven stars in his right hand.  A double edged sword protrudes from his mouth.  His face is like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  Solomon was clothed in splendor, but Jesus is clothed in majesty more majestic than Solomon could ever dream of.

Solomon’s kingdom was great, but Christ’s kingdom is far greater as it is a kingdom of everlasting righteousness.  His kingdom is advanced not by the sword, but by the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel.  His kingdom is characterized not by an eye for an eye but turning the other cheek and going the extra mile, doing to others what you would have them do to you.  It is characterized by humility, integrity, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, honesty, hospitality, sincerity, and purity.  And Christ, our king reigns on his throne gloriously.  Solomon’s kingdom was great, but Christ’s kingdom is far greater.

Solomon’s temple was great.  He had it built from the mighty cedars of Lebanon.  1 Kings 5:13-18 ¹³ King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, ¹⁶ as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen. ¹⁷ At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. ¹⁸ The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.  Solomon’s temple was magnificent.  But it was inferior to the messianic temple in that it was geocentric and that it was built with human hands.  It was of this world, so to speak.  It was magnificent indeed, but you had to go to Jerusalem to see it.  It was geocentric; it was limited only to the land.  And it was built by human hands.  Thus it was fallible and destructible.  It was indeed destroyed in 586 BC at the hands of the Babylonians.  They rebuilt it only to have it destroyed again in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans.  However, the temple built by Jesus, the Son of David, is not a temple built with human hands but is a spiritual reality, a spiritual temple built by the Lord Jesus himself and it will never be destroyed.  Not even the gates of Hades could prevail against it.

We are that temple.  Think about what that means.  

TYPES EXIST TO TEACH US.  

Animal sacrifices were put in place to help humans understand the gravity of sin, the penalty of sin the fact that sin must be punished and atoned for and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.  So there was a sacrificial system in place throughout the OC age in which God’s people constantly made bloody sacrifices.  Those sacrifices were a picture of what the blood of Jesus would ultimately do.  

In the same way, the temple was a picture.  It and before it the tabernacle existed to show in a physical way that the glory of God could not fully dwell with man and that there is a veil of separation between the Most Holy place where God dwells and the rest.  The fact that only the high priest could enter in and only after various ceremonial washings and cleansings and only with blood painted a picture of the fact that God is Holy and cannot dwell with that which is unclean, lest he destroy them.  These are concepts illustrated by the types and shadows of the OC that help us grasp the realities that we have in the NC in Christ.  

We are that temple.  Thus, we have been made clean, otherwise God could not dwell with us or within us.  But the reality is that God’s glory does dwell with us and within us because Christ has made us clean.  Christ has made us holy.  He has made us fit to be a temple in which God dwells by his Spirit.

But there is a practical aspect to this, I believe.  In 1 Cor 6, Paul touches on this concept of the body being the temple.  1 Cor 6:19-20 ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Our Body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  This is the dwelling place of God.  The temple Solomon built was to honor God.  Temples were built to honor gods and to worship them there and put them on display.  Other nations built temples to their gods Baal or Dagon in order to worship them and pay tribute to them and to honor them.  In a certain sense it was a my god is greater than your god kind of thing.  The purpose of the temple, ultimately was to honor God.  

If that physical temple built by human hands of the shadow world was intended to honor God, how much more the spiritual temple that is the true substance, the reality, the fulfillment.

Our body is the temple.  Christ is the chief cornerstone, built upon the foundation of the apostles, we like living stones are joined together to make up the temple of God.  Let us honor God with this temple.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Joshua: Jehovah saves!

Joshua: Jehovah saves!

Open your Bible to Genesis 12.  We’ve been walking through the OT looking at types and shadows, OT people, places and things that foreshadow realities that are found in the NT.

You may notice that we keep coming back to the promises God made to Abraham.  That’s because the Bible keeps coming back to the promises God made to Abraham.

This morning we are going to camp out on a new one (haven’t looked at in depth yet): The Promised Land.

Genesis 12:1-7 ¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

 ² “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, 
   and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

 ⁴ So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

 ⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” 

GOD PROMISES THE LAND & REITERATES THE PROMISE

So here we have the promise of the Land.  God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendents.  Again, Jehovah promises the land in Gen 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

God promised to give that specific plot of land to Abraham’s descendents, the Israelites.  

Fulfilling this promise was a process that began with raising up Moses and delivering the Israelites out of Egypt.  After Israel came out of Egypt it was a journey to the Land.  The Land God promised them was the final destination.  However it wasn’t a quick trip.  They had to make their way through the desert.  That journey took 40 years to make.  Didn’t need to, but it did.  This was a 40 year period also known as the wandering in the wilderness.

Turn with me to Num 13.

DURING THIS TIME THEY SENT SPIES TO EXPLORE THE LAND

Numbers 13:1-2 The LORD said to Moses, Send some men to explore the land of Canaan which I am giving to the Israelites.  From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.

So God sent 12 men, one leader from each tribe to explore this promised land and bring back a report about it.

Numbers 13:26-33 ²⁶ They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

 ³⁰ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

 ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ³² And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. ³³ We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

So God has promised to give Abraham’s descendants this Land.  Here are Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites.  They are almost there.  They have been delivered out of slavery they are making their way towards this land flowing with milk and honey.  They sent some men to spy out the land and give a report.  

Now think about this.  Imagine that God promised your ancestor that you and all your relatives were going to inherit Australia.  Could you just go to Australia and say, “hey just wanted to let you know, I am the heir of this land.  God promised my ancestor that I would take this land as my inheritance.  So yeah, here I am.  Would the people of Australia then go, oh…well, by all means, we will just move out so you can have it?  NO.  They would say, ummm…I don’t think so.  This is our land; go find your own.  Israel was told that they would inherit a land that was already established and inhabited – inhabited by those way bigger and stronger than they.  The only way the Israelites were going to possess this land is by going to war with the inhabitants of that land and taking it from them.  The Canaanites weren’t just going to leave.  They would have to go to war.  But that would require a miracle; it would not be humanly possible for the Israelites to defeat these people.

So the consensus of the spies: we cannot do it.  Those people are huge; they make us look like grasshoppers.  Let’s not take it.  How soon God’s people forget his mighty works.  

Hello…where are you right now?  The wilderness, with no food or water, it’s hot.  How did you get there?  We walked and rode donkeys and camels.  No, how?  Where were you before this?  Egypt.  What were you doing in Egypt?  Eating and drinking and making babies.  What else?  Slave labor.  So you were slaves.  Did Pharaoh just let you go?  Well…not at first.  Eventually.  What changed his mind?  First God turned the water of the Nile into blood.

So God turned water into blood but he can’t deliver these Canaanites into your hands?

Okay, so then Pharaoh let you go?  No, then God sent a plague of frogs.

Okay, so then Pharaoh let you go?  No, then God sent a plague of gnats.

Okay, so then Pharaoh let you go?  No, then God sent a plague of flies.  Did you have flies?  No, only the Egyptians.

So God can control the frogs and gnats and the flies and make sure that the Egyptians are plagued with flies and you aren’t but he can’t deliver the Canaanites into your hands?

Okay, so then Pharaoh let you go?  No, then God killed the livestock of the Egyptians but spared our livestock and then he plagued them with festering boils and then with hail and locusts and darkness and then he killed all of their firstborns but not ours.

So God did all that – he did all those miracles, but you don’t think he can deliver the Canaanites into your hands?

Oh yeah…and he parted the red sea so that we walked through on dry ground.

After all they had seen God do in Egypt, they lacked faith that He could give them victory over their enemies and deliver them into the land.  How easily God’s people forget His mighty power.  Well yeah, he did do that, but this is different.  No; it’s not.  He promised he would deliver them into your hands; he promised Abraham that his descendents would inherit the land.

Yeah, but the people in the land are huge and that means it’s gonna be impossible.  Exactly.  If you were taking the land from a bunch of little wimps big deal.  You could boast about that.  But the fact that you are going to march up against some huge dudes and take their land, well now that would take a miracle and that can only happen by the hand of God and that can only result in His glory and honor…not your own.  God promised that which was impossible for man so that God would receive the glory.

So the majority of the explorers of the land lacked faith and saw conquest over these giants to be an impossible feat even though God had just done miracle after miracle after miracle.

However, 2 of these 12 spies did not lack faith.  They had full faith that Jehovah could deliver on His promises.  If we keep reading in our text into 

Numbers 14…

 ¹ That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. ² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

 ⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

So we see a glimmer of hope in these 2 men Caleb and Joshua.  They believe God.  They believe that God will make good on his promises and deliver their enemies into their hands and give them the land he promised them.

But because that generation acted in unbelief God did not allow that generation to enter the land.  Numbers 32:13  The LORD’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.

In Deut 1, Moses recaps a lot of Israel’s history from the book of Numbers.  In Deut 1:34-38 ³⁴ When the LORD heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: ³⁵ “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”

 ³⁷ Because of you the LORD became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. ³⁸ But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.

This Joshua, one of the 12 spies, Moses’ assistant succeeds Moses in leadership of the people.  God does not allow Moses to lead the people into the land, but gave that privilege to Joshua.

This Joshua is a type of Christ.

We see all kinds of types and shadows in our context.  Just about all Christians will agree that these are types, but may differ on the nuances of their fulfillment.

My view is this:

• Joshua is a type of Christ
• His generation is a type of Christ’s generation
• 40 years wandering in the wilderness is a type of the 40 years between 30 and 70 ad 
• the Promised Land is a type of the kingdom

• JOSHUA IS A TYPE OF CHRIST

• He foreshadows Christ in his name.  
• Joshua is the English rendering of the Hebrew Yeshua.  So in Hebrew they would have called Joshua Yeshua.  Christ’s name in Hebrew was also Yeshua.  The reason we say Jesus Christ is because the NT was written in Greek and so we went from the Hebrew Yeshua to the Greek Iesoos, then transliterated that into Jesus.  Same name.  in Hebrew Yeshua, in Greek Iasoos in English Joshua.  In fact, Heb 4:8 reads in the NIV If Joshua had given them rest, where the KJV reads If Jesus had given them rest.  It’s the same name.
• The name means Jehovah saves.  Names have meanings.  This particular name is particularly glorifying to God and His power to save.  Not only can God save, but only God can save.  If a nation falls it is because the Lord has done it.  If a nation is delivered it is because the Lord has delivered it.  If men are saved it is because the Lord has done it.  It is Jehovah who saves.  Man doesn’t save himself.  There is no salvation in man.  Salvation is in Jehovah and Jehovah only.  Jehovah saves.  We find this reality expressed in the beautiful name and work of our beautiful Savior, Yeshua, the Messiah and foreshadowed in the name and work of Joshua, the type of Christ.  It was Jehovah who saved Israel and delivered her enemies to her.  It was Jehovah who trampled their enemies underfoot and caused the walls of cities to collapse.  It wasn’t the trumpet.  It was Jehovah, who is mighty to save.  Jehovah saves.  That is what Joshua means.  That is also the name of our Messiah our Christ.  That is the first way we see Jesus foreshadowed in Joshua.
• Another way Joshua foreshadows Jesus is that under him Jehovah reigns as King.  Under Joshua’s leadership, Jehovah was the king of Israel; and under Jesus’ leadership Jehovah is King of Israel.
• JOSHUA BROUGHT GOD’S PEOPLE TO THEIR INHERITANCE, into the Land where they find freedom and rest
• Moses (who represents the Law) could not bring God’s people into the promised Land, so also, the Law cannot bring people to the righteousness of God
• Moses succeeded by Joshua as Law succeeded by grace
• Jesus also brings God’s people into their inheritance, the heavenly Canaan, the Kingdom.
• JOSHUA’S GENERATION IS A TYPE OF CHRIST’S GENERATION
• Deuteronomy 1:35  “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers
• Psalm 95:10  For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.”
• Luke 11:29  As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.
• Matthew 17:17  “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”

• 40 YEARS IN WILDERNESS IS A TYPE OF TRANSITION FROM AGE TO AGE
• The Israelites were in the age of slavery under the yoke of Egypt.  This 40 years was a transition from slavery in Egypt to freedom and rest in the promised Land.  They had been delivered, but didn’t fully have freedom and rest until their enemies were conquered and they were securely in the Land.
• The generation of Jesus were in the age of the Law, the OC age, which Galatians 4 identifies as slavery.  Rev 11 identifies 1^st century Jerusalem as figuratively called Sodom and Egypt.  So the 40 years between 30 and 70 ad was a time of transition from the old age, called slavery in Egypt to the new age of the kingdom.  At the cross, they were delivered, but didn’t fully have freedom and rest until their enemies (which were at that point the unbelieving members of their own household) were conquered and Jerusalem and her temple fell in 70 AD.
• 1 Cor 10 YLT

 ¹And I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

 ²and all to Moses were baptized in the cloud, and in the sea;

 ³and all the same spiritual food did eat,

 ⁴and all the same spiritual drink did drink, for they were drinking of a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was the Christ;

 ⁵but in the most of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn in the wilderness,

 ⁶and those things became types of us, for our not passionately desiring evil things, as also these did desire.

 ⁷Neither become ye idolaters, as certain of them, as it hath been written, `The people sat down to eat and to drink, and stood up to play;'

 ⁸neither may we commit whoredom, as certain of them did commit whoredom, and there fell in one day twenty-three thousand;

 ⁹neither may we tempt the Christ, as also certain of them did tempt, and by the serpents did perish;

 ¹⁰neither murmur ye, as also some of them did murmur, and did perish by the destroyer.

 ¹¹And all these things as types did happen to those persons, and they were written for our admonition, to whom the end of the ages did come.

• PROMISED LAND IS A TYPE OF THE KINGDOM
• Inheritance of the Land in Joshua
• Leviticus 20:24  But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.
• That inheritance of the land was simply a type of the ultimate inheritance of God’s people: the kingdom
• Inheritance of the saints is kingdom
• Colossians 1:12  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
• Matthew 25:34  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

APPLICATION

As his name indicates, Jehovah saves.  Only Jehovah saves.  Buddha doesn’t save.  The gods of Hinduism don’t save.  Acts of self righteousness don’t save.  Jehovah saves.  He saves by providing purification from sins by the blood of His own son Jesus Christ.  That is good news.  Trust in Jehovah for your salvation, because as Joshua’s name indicates, Jehovah saves.  Meditate on that.  Share that with others.

Further, without faith it is impossible to please God Heb 11:6.  We see this in the life of Caleb and Joshua.  They lived like they really believed that Jehovah is the one who brought plagues on Egypt and delivered Israel with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm splitting the red sea that his people might cross over on dry ground.  Nothing is impossible with our God, we can certainly take the land from these giants.  Let’s live with the faith of Joshua.  His God is our God and nothing is impossible with our God.  Let’s live with that kind of faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Like Joshua, let’s stand up for what is right regardless of what everyone around us is saying and doing.  Even God’s people err.  Joshua and Caleb were 2 of 12 spies.  The other 10 of those 12 spies who were God’s people did not act in accordance with the truth and their words and actions did not reflect faith in Jehovah.  Yet, Caleb and Joshua stood up for what was true and noble and right.  Let’s be like Joshua and Caleb and in the midst of a world that is believing and behaving in ways that are not in line with the truth let us stand up for what is true and noble and right.  You who have been saved by Jehovah’s mighty hand have the Holy Spirit’s convicting, you have the word of God, you know in your inner conscience what is right.  Believe and act on those convictions.  Those 12 men were leaders of the people.  10 of them were not right.  That’s a huge majority.  Their example before the people was wrong.  Dustin and I are your leaders.  We’re humans.  There may be times when Dustin and I are wrong.  We may say, think, do wrong.  At that point, don’t follow either one of us down a path that you know is wrong.  Test our teaching by the word of God.  Test our actions by the word of God and act on your own convictions as the Spirit guides you.  Like Joshua and Caleb let us love God enough and have enough faith and enough courage to stand up for what is true and noble and right even when those around us don’t, even when God’s people don’t, even when the majority of God’s people don’t, even when your leaders don’t.

Finally, we have rest and freedom in Christ.  Enjoy it.  Now don’t misunderstand me.  When I say we have freedom in Christ, that doesn’t mean we have freedom to sin it means we have freedom from sin.  You are not under the law.  The pressure to try to earn God’s favor by your own actions has been done away with because we have God’s favor in Christ.  Rest in Christ.  Just as Joshua gave the people rest in the land from their enemies, Jesus gives us true rest in the kingdom, as he has done the work.  We have a Sabbath rest in Jesus.  Rest in him and enjoy freedom in him.

Don’t look back to Egypt and try to put yourselves under the yoke of a law that has been abolished for centuries.  We are drawn to legalism because it feels productive and it feeds our pride and makes us feel righteous.  We want a list.  When I was in youth ministry I got a lot of questions from people like: is it okay to go to clubs?  Is it okay to date?  Is it okay to drink?  We want the checklist of do’s and don’ts.  But the real litmus test for NC believers in Christ who have been delivered out of slavery is not is this allowable per a written code?  But will this be showing love to God?  Legalism chokes the life out of a believer.  Again, the freedom we have in Christ is not a license to sin but a freedom to serve God in love as a child of God.  

The Bronze Serpent: look and live

The Bronze Serpent: look  and live

We have been walking through the OT looking at some different types and shadows, various people places and things that point forward to greater realities to be found in the NT.  We have putting a special emphasis on types of Christ.   

We have seen God promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, that all nations would be blessed through him.  We saw that he did indeed have a son, Isaac, who was a type of Christ.  Isaac had two sons: Jacob and Esau.  Jacob was renamed Israel and Israel had 12 sons, who became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.  God chose the descendants of Israel to be his very own people, His treasured possession.  By the beginning of the book of Exodus, God’s people, the Israelites were enslaved to the Egyptians.  God raised up His servant Moses to lead them in deliverance them from slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.  We saw that God brought plague after plague after plague on the Egyptians and then eventually the plague of the death of the firstborn in which God’s wrath passed through Egypt but Passed Over the Israelites.  We looked the Passover Lamb as a type of Christ in that it was to be a male without defect, none of its bones broken, eaten by God’s people, sacrificed in the process of delivering God’s people from slavery and its blood covered over God’s people protecting them from his wrath while it remained on His enemies.

God, thus, brought His people Israel out of Egypt as promised.  That is where we find Israel in today’s text.  Let’s open our bibles to Numbers 21.  

Recall last week how we saw that God delivered on his promises made to Abraham.  One of the promises God made to Abraham was to give his descendants a certain portion of land-the Promised Land.  Our context is the wilderness wanderings of Israel, the 40 years they spent wandering in the wilderness between slavery and freedom & rest.

Today I’m reading out of ESV – consistent translation.

Numbers 21:4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." 6 Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." 9So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

RECAP of what we just read

The Israelites were in the wilderness.  Growing impatient they grumbled against God.  God sent fiery serpents (NIV – venomous snakes) among them.  The serpents [Hebrew Nahas – nayhays: snake or serpent; Greek – ophis: snake or serpent] were fiery [sarap - sayrayp: which can also be translated as poisonous or venomous].  When they were bitten by these venomous serpents, the venom coursed through their veins, entering their blood stream, running to the very core of their being, their heart, which pumped this venom throughout their members.  Their every member was affected by this venom.  V6-many of the people died.  The result of this serpent bite was death.  The people that did not die, those who wanted to live could do nothing in their own power to save themselves.  They told Moses, we have sinned.  We spoke against the LORD and against you.  Pray to the LORD that he take away the serpents from us.  So Moses prayed for the people.  And the LORD gave Moses the remedy for the venomous snake bite.  He told him to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole; anyone who was bitten by the venomous serpents who looked to the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole would live.

We might have the tendency to criticize the Israelites.  

God just brought them out of slavery with miracle after miracle, showing special favor to them as his people, making a distinction between them and Egypt.  Parting the Red Sea for them to pass through and now they are grumbling and complaining.  After all that shouldn’t they have a very God-centered mentality and focus, but we see that it is self-centered and they are focused inwardly.  What a bunch of stiff-necked and rebellious, obstinate and disobedient wretches!  

It is easy to look at the context and think that way, but in reality, these Israelites represent who we are by nature.  Therefore, in a certain sense we actually find ourselves in the text, represented by these: self-centered grumblers.

In a certain sense:

• we find ourselves in this text
• we find our condition in this text 
• we find our remedy in this text

We find ourselves in this text

NOT LITERALLY.  Now by this I don’t mean that we were literally there.  And hopefully you know me well enough to know that I paid attention to the pronouns and they refer to God, Moses and the Israelites some 3500 years ago.  So we don’t find ourselves in the text literally, but we do in a certain sense find that those in the text, their state of being very much corresponds with us, who are by nature: self-centered grumblers.

JOURNEY WITH ME INTO THE TEXT.  Go with me to the wilderness.  Imagine yourself there.  Our fellow Israelites are complaining that the food is crummy.  There was better food in Egypt.  There is no water out here.  The Nile River was in Egypt – an endless supply of fresh cold water.  There is no comfortable place to sleep.  There were at least living quarters in Egypt.  Somewhat valid complaints, right?  Know what our complaints are?  There’s no wifi, HiDef TV, no iPods.  Doesn’t it always feel like we could find something to complain about, no matter how good we really have it?  

So, we’re hot, we’re hungry and thirsty and cranky.  You lash out against our leader, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?”

Drastic Measures to shift focus and straighten priorities

Then God sends something our way that’s a little more critical than how crummy the food is.  Perhaps He can get our focus off of ourselves for a second or two.  We have been bitten by a venomous viper.  We have the poison of a fiery serpent coursing through our body and people who are in the same condition are dying all around us.

The lack of gourmet food and the lack of water and the abundance of heat suddenly became moot points because we have now been bitten by poisonous snakes and the venom of the viper is coursing through our veins.  

Sometimes the LORD does drastic things in order to shift people’s focus.  You may be annoyed at your spouse and their snoring or the way they don’t roll the toothpaste tube or that they use all the toilet paper and don’t replace it, or that he leaves the toilet seat up, but if he or she were to get in a wreck and end up in ICU on the verge of death your grumblings will cease fade into the background as her very life is on the line.  Focus shifts and priorities are straightened in the midst of such tragedies.  

That is the very thing that God has done in our text.  Israel complained about the food and water and so God gave them something worth complaining about.  Bitten by fiery serpents, venomous vipers, poisonous snakes.  No doubt painful, probably irritating, perhaps itchy, accompanied by hallucinations?

First response not God-centered

I would set forth that it is quite likely that our first response would not have been a God-centered one.  What can I do to remedy this situation?  Then after realizing that we can do nothing to save ourselves, we would have likely looked to the physicians among us, first.  Is that not our unfortunate tendency?  How often do we as humans look to our right and to our left first?  How often do we look horizontally before we look vertically?  Once we have exhausted all of our earthly resources, then, “I guess all we can do now is pray.”  We tend to go to God as a last resort rather than a first response.  Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort.

Still with me in the wilderness…we started out self centered looking to self finding that we could do nothing to save ourselves.  Then we looked to others and they had nothing to offer.  And now, finally, we look to God.  Now God has our attention and we cry out to Moses, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us."

By nature, we tend to think and live and operate no differently than these self-centered grumblers.  So often we look to self and at times it is necessary that God do something drastic to cause an awakening in us to move us to repentance and cause our focus to shift from self to Him.

Thus, we find ourselves in the text.

Further, we find our condition in the text.

We find our condition in this text

These Israelites have been bitten by the serpent, their heart infected by the venom.  The venom of the serpent had infected them.  It is in their blood.  It has gone to their heart and affected who they are at the very core of their being.  Their hearts are now pumping the venom of the snake bite through their members.  The result: death was imminent.  They could do nothing to remedy themselves.  They were in need of salvation.

This represents our condition well.  We too, have been affected by a serpent.  Our hearts are affected by the poison of this serpent and the result of that is death.  We, like the Israelites are unable to do anything to save ourselves from this death and are in desperate need of salvation.

In our case the serpent is Satan.  Who is it that deceives the mother of the living in the garden in regards to the forbidden fruit?  The serpent.  Gen 3  ¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.   He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" ²And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

The serpent deceived Eve in the garden.  This has affected us as her offspring.  We, like the Israelites have been affected by the serpent.  The venom with which we have been infected is sin.  It has penetrated our hearts and has affected who we are at the very core of our being.  The result of this poison of sin is death.  The wages of sin is death.  Not just physical death, but spiritual death – separation from God.  We can do nothing in and of ourselves to remedy that condition.  We can do nothing to bring reconciliation between us and God, the poison is in us and we can’t remove it.  We are in need of salvation.

We find our condition in the text.

Just as they were affected by the serpent in the wilderness and the venom’s affect on their heart would result in death, so also we, mankind have been affected by the serpent, and the result of the venom of sin on our hearts brings about death.

Just as they were helpless in and of themselves to save themselves from the death caused by the serpent, so are we helpless in and of ourselves to save ourselves from the death caused by the serpent.  We need rescue.

We find our condition in the text.  Affected by the serpent, infected with its poison, death is certain and we need a savior.

We find ourselves in the text; we find our condition in the text and…

We find our remedy in this text

Num 21:8-9 And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.  God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole; anyone who was bitten by the venomous serpents who looked to the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole would live.

Those bitten by the serpent were facing an impending death.  In order to go from death to life, the remedy for the serpent bite is to look to a bronze serpent that had been lifted up on a pole.  Look to the serpent and live!

Do you see our remedy there foreshadowed in this bronze serpent, which was a type of Christ?  In order to go from death to life, make a bronze serpent, lift it up on a pole.  Those who look to the serpent will live.  

John 3:14-16 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  In the same way that the bronze serpent was lifted up in the desert, that all who looked to it for salvation would not perish, but have life, so also the Son of Man was lifted up on a pole and all who look to Him for salvation will not perish but have eternal life.

THIS BRONZE SERPENT IS A TYPE OF CHRIST

The Israelites represent all of mankind, who have all been affected by the serpent.  The venom of sin is within.  Our very nature has been affected.  Surely I was sinful at birth.  In sin my mother conceived me.  Just as Israel faced death as a result of the serpent bite, so also, we, who have sinned, face death as the wages of sin is death.  Just as the Israelites could do nothing in and of themselves to save them from the death they faced, try as they may have, we also can do nothing to save ourselves from the death we deserve.  Just as the remedy for the Israelites’ condition came from God, so also our remedy for our condition comes from God.  Look and live.  As they were to look to the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole, we are to look to Jesus Christ.  Those who looked to the bronze serpent lived.  Those who look to Jesus live.

Though the remedy may sound foolish it is more foolish to ignore the remedy

Imagine again with me being in the wilderness, having been bitten by a serpent, facing death, in desperate need of rescue.  What do we do, Moses?  What do we do?  

Look at a bronze serpent.  Look and live.

“Wasn’t it a serpent who brought this condition upon us?  Now we expect that looking to a serpent will save us?”  Isn’t that foolish sounding?

The answer is yes.  But that is the remedy that God gave them.  That is the prescribed method of salvation from the death brought on by the venomous serpent.

Whether by pride or by their so-called wisdom, imagine how many of the Israelites may have said, “No.  I’m not looking to the bronze serpent.”  Though it sounds foolish, it is such a simple means of salvation that it would be far more foolish not to look to the bronze serpent.

So also today many say, “No.  I shall not look to Jesus,” whether by pride or by their so-called wisdom.  Though it sounds foolish to many that looking to one man dying on a cross 2000 years ago would save them, it is such a simple means of salvation that it would be far more foolish not to look to Christ.

1 Cor 1:18-19 ¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written: 
   "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; 
      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Though the remedy may sound foolish it is more foolish to ignore the remedy.

Today I lift up Christ crucified; look and live

John 3:14-16 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  Today, I lift up the Son of Man, I exalt the Son of Man, I put Jesus on display and lift up His name and proclaim His glory that you may see Him, that you may look upon Him and live.  If you have not looked to Jesus, I urge you to do so.  He is the prescribed means of salvation for the death brought on by the ancient serpent.  Though the remedy may sound foolish, it is more foolish to disregard.  Set aside any pride or wisdom that would keep you from looking to Christ.  Look to Jesus and live.

If you have crossed over from death to life by looking to Jesus, then I urge you with me to lift Him up.

So must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  You must lift Him up.  You must lift Him up by your words; you must lift Him up by your life.  Do not fail to lift Him up, that others may see Him and believe in Him and have eternal life.

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Passover Lamb: the blood shed protects the elect

Passover Lamb: the blood shed protects the elect

JOSEPH TO MOSES

A few weeks ago we met Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Israel who was sold into slavery by his brothers and ended up in Egypt where he rose to 2^nd in power only to Pharaoh.  Due to his favor with Pharaoh all of his brothers and the rest of his family were invited to come back to Egypt and enjoy the best of the land.  Time passed.  The Israelites multiplied and had become numerous – as numerous as the sand on the sea and the stars in the sky.  A new king arose who didn’t know about Joseph and enslaved the Jews and mistreated them.  It was at this time that we met Moses who was a type of Christ the prophet to God’s people, the mediator of a covenant who gave the law from the mount, the one who delivered God’s people from bondage.  

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS IN THE CONTEXT

NUMEROUS DESCENDANTS. Now, before we move forward in the story, I want to call your attention to a couple of things in the context of our study.  The descendents of Israel (who were essentially the offspring of Abraham) had become exceedingly numerous.  Do you recall that God foretold this?  God promised that this very thing would come to be.  I don’t know about you, but that causes me to rejoice in the Lord our God as He is a God of His word.  He is faithful to what He says.  He does what he says.  He is trustworthy and reliable.  God said to Abraham in Gen 15:5 “Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  God says to him elsewhere, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” (Gen 22:17) We see the fulfillment of that very thing in Ex 1:6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.  God is a God of His word.  He is faithful to what He says.  He makes promises and fulfills them.  He is trustworthy and reliable.

STRANGERS MISTREATED AS SLAVES. Another thing that I want to call your attention to in our context is that the Israelites were strangers in a country not their own and they were mistreated as slaves.  This isn’t just how things happened to turn out.  This isn’t some big surprise and this isn’t coincidence.  The Sovereign God of the universe decreed that it would come to pass.  God said to Abraham in Gen 15:13-14 "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.   We see the fulfillment of this very thing in Exodus 1:11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

GOD WAS FAITHFUL IN HIS PROMISES TO ABRAHAM.  Abraham’s descendants were the Israelites who were exceedingly numerous in number, strangers in a country not their own and mistreated as slaves by the Egyptians.  God brought to pass the very thing that he said he would bring to pass.  God is a God of His word.  He is faithful to what He says.  He makes promises and fulfills them.  He is trustworthy and reliable.

Does it not give you great joy to know and serve such a trustworthy God?  Our God is not impotent but OMNIpotent.  He is not only powerful enough to bring about the thing which he decrees, he is all powerful.

Now look what God told Abraham next.  He said Gen 15:13-14 "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.”

GOD IS 2 FOR 2.  ADDED 2 PROMISES – 4 FOR 4?

So we have seen their increase in numbers and their enslavement as strangers in a land not their own.  Thus far God is 2 for 2.  He’s batting 1.000 as far as fulfilling these specific promises to Abraham.  Now we see God has added to His promises: to punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward Israel would come out with great possessions.  Let’s see if God can keep up his hitting streak and go 4 for 4.  God is a god of His word.  He does what He says he will do. He is faithful.  Let’s see how this plays out.  Let’s watch this story unfold as we see God punish the nation they serve as slaves and bring them out with great possessions.

Turn with me to Exodus 11.  As you do I’m going to paraphrase the plot that has building since chapter 2.  

God saw the misery of His people because of their slave-drivers and was concerned about their suffering so he called Moses to deliver them from this bondage.  God had appeared to Moses manifest as a burning bush and spoke with him (Ex 3).  God gave him the ability to perform signs and wonders in order to authenticate his leadership (Ex 4).  

God told Moses to go and speak with Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go so that they may worship me.  

Exodus 4:21  The LORD said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Exodus 7:3  But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt

Then God sent on Egypt a plague of blood.  All of the water in Egypt was turned into blood.

A week passed.  God had Moses return to Pharaoh and say let my people go that they may worship me.  If you don’t I will plague your country with frogs.  FROGS EVERYWHERE.  Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron pray to God to take them away and that they could leave.

Exodus 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

God, being a God of His word, being faithful to what He says, truly did harden Pharaoh’s heart.  God does what He says He will do.  He is faithful.  He is trustworthy.

After the plague of frogs, God sent other plagues:

• GNATS
• FLIES
• LIVESTOCK
• FESTERING BOILS
• HAIL
• LOCUSTS
• DARKNESS (felt)

Look at the mighty hand of God!  If this story is familiar we can hear this and gloss over it.  Look at these mighty acts, this display of the power of our God.

After all of this, Pharaoh would not let God’s people go.

Let’s pick up in Exodus 11:1 and read the account of the last plague that God sent on Egypt.

 1 Now the LORD had said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold." 3 (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.) 

Remember God’s promise to Abraham 400 years earlier.  I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward they will come out with great possessions.  We have already seen God punishing that nation (plagues) now we see God on the brink of delivering on his promise to bring them out with great possessions.

 4 So Moses said (TO PHARAOH), "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

 9 The LORD had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt." 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

So God is bringing the final plague on Egypt before rescuing His people as He had promised to Abraham 400 years earlier.  Remember, God is a god of His word, one who is faithful and true.  God tells Pharaoh that He will strike down (kill) all of the firstborn sons in Egypt, even those of the cattle.

Let’s continue reading into chapter 12.  This is where things get very interesting, so pay close attention to the language.  Exodus12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take A LAMB for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old MALES WITHOUT DEFECT, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must SLAUGHTER THEM at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of THE BLOOD and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they ARE TO EAT THE MEAT roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's PASSOVER. 

 12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will BRING JUDGMENT on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will PASS OVER YOU. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. 

God is going to destroy all of the firstborn sons in Egypt.  God commanded the Israelites on the 10^th day of that month to:

• Slaughter a lamb

• male
• without defect

• to eat of it
• and smear some of its blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes of their homes.
• God will pass through Egypt and strike down the firstborns of the Egyptians, but PASS OVER the homes covered by the blood of the lamb.

Did God need the blood? Was He unsure who was Israel and who was Egypt?  V13 a sign for YOU…not Him.

 14 "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD -a lasting ordinance. God had just told them what they were to do on the 10^th day of the month; He is now telling them that they will celebrate this event year after year after year as a lasting ordinance in remembrance of God’s deliverance. 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat—that is all you may do. 

 17 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is an alien or native-born. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread." 

 21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. 23 When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. 

 24 "Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' 27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' " Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. 

God commanded them to take time every year to have a ceremony in order to celebrate and remember what God did when He passed over the homes covered by the blood and struck down the Egyptians.

 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. God did what He said He would do.  He is faithful and trustworthy.  He said He would pass through the land and strike down the firstborns of the Egyptians and He did.  Our God is faithful.

 31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me." 

 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!" 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

God is a god of His Word; He is faithful to what He says.  He told Abraham in Gen 15 that his descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will COME OUT WITH GREAT POSSESSIONS.”  God is a god of His Word; He is faithful to what He says.  As He told Abraham, they came out with great possessions as the Egyptians gave them whatever they asked for.  Our God is faithful.

 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough they had brought from Egypt, they baked cakes of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. 

 40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.

Now, the LORD had commanded the Israelites to celebrate and remember this yearly.  He is about to give some regulations regarding their Passover celebrations.  Listen carefully to these regulations in the text:

 43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover:
      "NO FOREIGNER IS TO EAT OF IT. (Only Israelites) 44 Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it. 

 46 "It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. DO NOT BREAK ANY OF THE BONES. WHY?  Odd?  47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. 

 48 "An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it. 49 The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you."

 50 All the Israelites did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

RECAP OF ALL THUS FAR

God’s people were enslaved to Egypt and mistreated.  God, came to the rescue of His people.  He told the Israelites to take a lamb, a male lamb without defect.  Not one of its bones were to be broken.  They were to slaughter the lamb and apply its blood to their houses.  They were to consume it and leave none of it till morning.  God was going to pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians.  As He went about He would PASS OVER the households where the blood of the Passover Lamb had been applied.  Those which were covered by the blood of the lamb were saved.  Those who were not covered by the blood of the lamb died.  They faced the wrath of God.  As God had previously stated to Abraham, He punished the nation they served as slaves and they came out with great possessions.  God then commanded that every year they were to hold a feast in remembrance of the Passover to celebrate the fact that God rescued His people from slavery.

THE PASSOVER LAMB WAS A TYPE OF CHRIST

Now, based on where we have been, you can probably guess where this is going.  The Passover Lamb foreshadowed Jesus Christ.  The Passover Lamb was a type of Christ.  Christ is the antitype, the fulfillment, the reality, the substance.  1 Cor 5:7b For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.  Christ is our Passover Lamb.  Christ IS our Passover Lamb.  He is the substance.  He is the reality.  The Passover Lamb in Egypt was simply a type, a shadow of the greater Passover Lamb Jesus Christ.

CHRIST SACRIFICED ON PASSOVER

Now when exactly was Christ sacrificed?  Christ was crucified during the Passover.  Matthew 26:2  (Jesus speaking) “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”  Skipping down to verse ¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

 ¹⁸ He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

Christ ate the Passover meal with his disciples that night; it was the Last Supper.  That night after the meal, Judas betrayed him with a kiss and it was then that he was sacrificed.  ON PASSOVER.  Christ, our Passover lamb was sacrificed on Passover.  Coincidence???  I think not!  Fulfillment!

MALE WITHOUT DEFECT

The Passover Lamb is a type of Christ.  Christ is our Passover Lamb.  God told the Israelites in Ex 12:3-5 to choose a lamb, a male lamb without defect, in other words, choose a male lamb that was perfect, one that doesn’t limp, one that isn’t blind, or lame, choose a perfect male lamb, one without defect.  In the same way that the Passover Lamb as to be a male without defect, Christ, our Passover Lamb is a male without defect.  The whole of humanity is defective, TAINTED BY SIN.  Jesus Christ, however, is perfect, without defect, without sin.  1Pet 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  In the same way that God had Israel choose a Passover Lamb that was a male without blemish or defect, Christ is our Passover Lamb without blemish or defect.

NONE OF ITS BONES BROKEN

The Passover Lamb is a type of Christ.  Christ is our Passover Lamb.  God told the Israelites in regards to the Passover Lamb in Ex 12:46 It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.

The Israelites were not to break one of the bones of the Passover Lamb.  That may seem at first glance like an arbitrary detail, but it’s not.  Let’s look at John 19:28 (the context of this passage is the crucifixion – Christ is on the cross) Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 

John recorded these things so that you also may believe.  Do you believe?  Were John’s efforts in vain or do you believe?  Do you believe that Jesus is the Passover Lamb, the male without defect who died on the cross for your sins – that none of His bones were broken.  Do you believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away your sin?  John recorded these things that you also may believe and I pray that you do.

36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,” (footnotes Ex 12:46, Psalm 34:20) 

Now, from what I understand, on the cross, they had a little stump that they could press off of and breathe as they usually died from suffocation.  So they would break their legs so they couldn’t press off and breath anymore, they would suffocate sooner.  They found Jesus already dead, so there was no need to break his legs.  Not one of his bones were broken.  In the same way that none of the bones were broken of the Passover Lamb, none of Jesus’ bones were broken, as Christ is our Passover Lamb.

CONSUMED BY GOD’S PEOPLE

Furthermore the Passover Lamb was to be consumed by God’s people – not the uncircumcised.  Exodus 12:43-48  ⁴³ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover:   “No foreigner is to eat of it. ⁴⁴ Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, ⁴⁵ but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.  ⁴⁶ “It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.⁴⁸ “An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat of it.

In the shadow world, the whole community of Israel was to EAT OF THE PASSOVER LAMB, the uncircumcised were not to eat of the Lamb, but the circumcised were.  In Christ, the substance, we are the circumcision (Phil 3), we are citizens of Israel (Eph 2).  We are to eat of the Passover Lamb.  John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Just as OC Israel was to eat of the Passover Lamb, we are to eat of Christ our Passover Lamb.

The Passover Lamb was sacrificed in the process of rescuing God’s people from slavery. The entire context of our teaching today is based on the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery to Egypt.  In like manner Jesus our Passover Lamb was sacrificed to rescue God’s people from slavery to sin.  Romans 6:20  When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.  Romans 6:22  But now that you have been set free from sin…God’s people once were slaves, but He has rescued them from slavery and freed them from their oppressor.  Christ is our Passover Lamb.  

In the same way that the Passover Lamb was sacrificed in the process of freeing God’s people from slavery to Egypt, Jesus our Passover Lamb was sacrificed in the process of rescuing God’s people from slavery to sin.

Christ is our Passover Lamb.  Finally, perhaps the most obvious correlation you will see between the Passover Lamb and Christ is the shedding of the blood that covers God’s people – protecting them from His wrath.  Those living in Egypt were in position to face death as punishment.  Only those to whom the blood of the Passover Lamb was applied were saved from that wrath.  We, too, were in position to face death as punishment.  For, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death.  But those of us, who are covered by the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb, are saved from that wrath.  John 1:29 The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  Covered by the blood of Christ, our sins are removed and thus we are not under God’s wrath.  The shedding of the blood of Christ, our Passover Lamb covers us and protects us from God’s wrath.

REVIEW; NOT COINCIDENCE

Christ is our Passover Lamb.  The Scripture declares it explicitly.  1 Cor 5:7b

• Christ was sacrificed on Passover.  Coincidence?  I think not!  
• Christ was a male without defect.  Coincidence?  I think not!  
• None of His bones were broken.  Coincidence?  I think not!  
• He declared that God’s people were to eat of Him.  Coincidence?  I think not!  
• He was sacrificed in the process of freeing God’s people from slavery.  Coincidence?  I think not!  
• His blood covers God’s people protecting us from God’s wrath.  Coincidence?  I think not!

I believe all of this was done according to the will of a Sovereign God, that it was predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.  

REALLY HAPPENED BUT FORESHADOWED A GREATER REALITY IN CHRIST

The Passover in Egypt was an event that foreshadowed a greater event to come.  God really rescued His people, Israel from slavery to Egypt.  He really passed over and did not destroy those who were covered by the blood of the lamb.  Yet in doing so, God symbolized a greater Passover, where He rescued His people from slavery to sin, passing over and not destroying those who are covered by the blood of the lamb.  Christ is our Passover Lamb.

Are you covered by the blood of the Lamb?  Have you been covered by the blood of the Lamb?  Sin separates us from a Holy God and makes us His enemies.  Jesus Christ, a perfect lamb without defect is our Passover Lamb and He has been sacrificed on our behalf.  Only His blood can cover us and redeem us, and rescue us from slavery to sin and protect us from the wrath of God.

As Israel of Old, BY FAITH, applied the blood of the Passover Lamb to their doorposts, let us by faith apply the blood of Christ to our consciences that God’s wrath would pass over us and that we would be redeemed and rescued from the sin that enslaves.