“And it
came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain
called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, “Go into the village
opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has
ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. “And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you
loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”So
those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.
But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you
loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought
him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus
on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was
now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the
disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty
works they had seen, saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of
the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:29-38 NKJV
We
have arrived again at the beginning of the Jewish religious new year,
celebrated this weekend upon the arrival of the first of Nisan. This first month has played a major part in
Old testament as well as New testament history as it contains the first three
feast days appointed by God for the Jewish people. Something I noticed rather
early on in my life as a believer was the fact that a good many teachers of the
Word concentrate solely on the New Testament and seem to avoid attempting to
teach from the Old Testament. When I
thought about that, it seemed strange to me considering virtually all of the
stories I learned in Sunday School came from the Old Testament! Adam and Eve, Noah, Joseph and his coat of
many colors, Moses and the Exodus, David and Goliath, and so many others I can
recall were what became what I could call the equivalent of Bible 101 in my
personal growth as a believer.
Something
I came to appreciate even more, however, was the fact that there was much more
to discover there than just the stories themselves. As I began to look closer, it was amazing to
find that there were many examples of the stories I knew actually being a
prophetic picture of events to come. Now
the formal name for this is called typology, and if you are interested there
are many resources to help you do that, and since you are reading this, it
follows you have a computer so just search typology and see what you can
find. As for now, I simply want to share
one example which, considering the proximity to Easter for the Church, seems
rather appropriate.
When
you begin to study the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, it soon becomes clear
that although there were times when the people attempted to promote Him as
King, He avoided it. A good example is right after the miracle of the loaves
and fishes.
“Then
those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the
Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore when Jesus perceived that
they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed
again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
John 6:14-15 NKJV
Yet
there did come a day when He did choose to present Himself as King, and we find
it revealed in the passage from Luke, which occurred on the tenth of Nisan, the
first month of the Jewish religious calendar which was also the beginning of
what we now call the Passion Week. It
follows that if Jesus arranged it, there must have been a reason for it, so if
we look a little closer we discover that indeed there was. Jesus was in fact following a script laid
out in the Old Testament that we find in the book of Exodus where the first
Passover was ordained and observed by the children of Israel while in bondage
in Egypt.
“Now
the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month
shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to
you. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this
month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his
father, a lamb for a household. ‘And if the household is too small for the
lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the
number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count
for the lamb. ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.
You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ‘Now you shall keep it until
the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ‘And they shall take some of
the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where
they eat it.” Exodus 12:1-7 NKJV
In
hindsight, we see that while presenting Himself as Israel’s King, He also was
presenting Himself as our Passover Lamb on the tenth of Nisan with the
foreknowledge that the Jews would reject Him, and then crucify Him on the
cross. As I read this passage from
Exodus with the Passion Week in mind, it becomes so very obvious what Jesus was
doing for us, the Church, in regards to fulfilling the Law as He said that He
did. Because we choose to believe in His
sacrifice and atonement for our sins, He becomes our Passover Lamb and it is
His blood which saves us from an eternity separate from Him.
A
few days after His presentation, Jesus celebrated the Passover dinner with His
disciples. If you read the account in
Matthew, you will find something Jesus said which seems to be prophetic to the
Church as well.
“And as
they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the
disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. “For this
is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on
until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 26:26-29 NKJV
According
to the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral laws and traditions, Jesus is
waiting for the marriage feast before He drinks from this cup. (Mishnah, Pesahim 7:13) Since we know that the marriage feast takes
place after the rapture, is it possible that Jesus’ statement is actually His
way of telling us that we will drink this cup with Him on a future Feast of
Passover? I personally can’t help but
wonder could this be a clue to the season of the rapture of the Church that we
are so eagerly looking forward to? Considering all of the other signs which
seem to be occurring right now, it would not surprise me at all if this will
prove to be true.
If
you have never made the decision to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for you by
dying on the cross for your sins, there is no better time than right now to do
so. Simply pray to the Father and ask
Him to forgive you for your sins and tell Him you believe that Jesus died for
you. Accept the gift of salvation He has
offered you and you too will drink of this cup of along with Jesus on that
future day when He will invite all of His believers to join Him. Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb who died
for us, delivering us from our sin to spend eternity with Him.
Keep
watching.
