There are many kinds of sermons. One is the kind you hear from ministers on Sunday mornings. Another is what Saint Francis of Assisi was referring to, when he said, "Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." Saint Francis, who lived in the thirteenth century, understood that those of us who claim allegiance to Jesus Christ are constantly preaching – by our words, by our attitudes, by our conduct, by our choices. And so we ought to be continually examining our lives to make sure that the message we are proclaiming is the gospel. By God’s enabling power, we should seek to live so that the sermon others hear and see in us is indeed the good news. That’s a very powerful kind of preaching. And this morning, we’ve heard still another kind of preaching, the beautiful sermon in song that the choir has gifted us with. The words and the music, and the spirit in which the cantata was presented, all expressed very eloquently what we have come here to celebrate – the fact that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and that therefore, so shall we.
In the time we have remaining, I’d like to make my own contribution to our worship by talking about Easter, a Christian holiday, but by way of Passover, a Jewish celebration. Most of us realize that there’s a link between Passover and Easter – from the accounts in the gospels, we know that Christ was crucified at Passover, and that the Last Supper he shared with his disciples was a Passover meal. We know that the date of Easter varies from year to year. That’s because it always coincides with Passover, which is scheduled according to the Jewish lunar calendar. But you may not realize that the connection between Passover and Easter runs much deeper than this; that Easter is actually the fulfillment of Passover. The Bible tells us that Easter is the reality, of which Passover was only a picture; a kind of advance preview. The same is true for all of the Jewish feasts and festivals. As the apostle Paul writes, concerning all the ceremonies and celebrations of the old Testament:
"These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." – Colossians 2:17
The Passover celebration was a shadow of things to come. The real meaning of Passover is found in Christ; and specifically, in the events of Good Friday and Easter. This is made explicit in several New Testament passages; for instance, First Corinthians 5:7, which says that,
". . . Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." – 1 Corinthians 5:7
Now, with that in mind, let’s look at Passover and consider some of the ways in which it foreshadows the work of Christ. You’ll remember that the first Passover was observed when Israel was about to be delivered from slavery in Egypt. God had spoken through Moses, demanding that Pharaoh release his people, but in spite of a series of devastating plagues, Pharaoh refused to do so. And so now, in preparation for the final and most terrible plague, the death of every first-born, God gives Moses specific instructions for how the Israelites are to be saved. Listen as I read from Exodus chapter twelve:
"The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ’This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 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. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 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. 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. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 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.
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. 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.’" – from Exodus 12:1-13
The first thing I’d like you to notice is that the lamb was a substitute. If you were an Israelite, and you wanted your household to escape death when the angel of the Lord passed by, you had to kill an innocent creature. You had to show that you had done so by smearing its blood on the doorway of your house. If you did that, then the Lord would accept the life of the animal in place of the life of your first-born child. In the same way, Christ gave his life as our substitute. As Peter writes,
"it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." – 1 Peter 1:18-19
This idea of substitution; of Christ being condemned, and suffering and dying in our place, is fundamental to the Christian faith. Because in contrast to every other form of religion, we hold to a gospel of grace; a gospel of God’s unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor. We are forgiven; but not because our so-called "good" deeds outweigh our bad ones. We have eternal life, but not because we do our best to live up to a moral code. On the contrary, we know that our good works are insufficient; that we constantly fail to meet God’s perfect standard of holiness; and that we deserve, not acceptance and approval from God, but rather rejection and condemnation. No, our hope is not based on anything we have done, or could do, but entirely on the fact that Jesus Christ, the sinless lamb of God, gave his life in exchange for ours; that by his blood, he paid the penalty for sin on our behalf. As Paul puts it,
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." – Galatians 3:13
Because of our sin, we owed a debt we could not pay. But Hallelujah! Christ paid a debt he did not owe – by going to the cross, and enduring the wrath of God in our place. He was, and is, our Passover lamb.
The second thing I’d like to point out is that, in order to escape judgment; in order to receive the saving benefits of the lamb’s death, the Israelites had to exercise faith. They had to place their confidence in the Word of God, as it came to them through Moses. And they had to demonstrate that faith by doing what God instructed them to do. If you were an Israelite, and you heard what God had commanded through Moses, but decided to ignore it, your first-born would die, just like those of the Egyptians. Your own good works wouldn’t save you. Your identity as a Jew, a descendant of Abraham, wouldn’t save you. Only a personal faith in God, expressed in following the commandment, would save you.
Recently, when the American troops were preparing to invade Iraq, they dropped millions of leaflets from helicopters, telling the Iraqi soldiers how to avoid being killed. There were specific instructions on how to lay down their weapons, and how to approach the coalition forces, in such a way as to indicate that they intended to surrender. The leaflets contained a promise that those who did so would be treated humanely. Those who believed in the promise, and who acted on that belief by surrendering in the prescribed manner, were saved. Those who did not lost their lives. And you and I are in the same situation as the ancient Israelites, or the Iraqi soldiers. God has given us a promise – that if we trust in Christ for salvation, we will be saved. If we confess our sin; if we give up all attempts to earn forgiveness by our works of self-righteousness; if we humbly accept as a free gift what God has offered us through Christ, then we will be saved. But if we ignore God’s Word, or if we try to approach him on any other basis than faith in Christ, we will be lost. As Paul writes,
"all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." - Romans 3:23-25
That’s what we must do, and without delay. In the passage from Exodus, we read that the Israelites were instructed to eat the Passover in haste, "with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." In other words, they had to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment’s notice. In the same way, you and I have to be ready. You don’t know when Christ may return; you don’t know whether your next breath may be your last. Are you ready? Are you prepared to meet the Lord? If not, then I invite you to put your faith in Christ, the lamb of God, and to receive from him forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, even today, even this morning.
(For this and other sermons in .rtf format, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
