03-24-13 Caught in the thicket

                                       Hebrews 9:23-28
       It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

 

Genesis 18 – Sarah laughed in her tent.

Genesis 22 – Abraham tested with Isaac as the sacrifice.

Gen 22:1-19

Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

          Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.  He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

          Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"  "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. 

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"  Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

          When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.  Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"  "Here I am," he replied.  "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

          Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.  So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

          The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

          Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba.

 

Who was closer to Jesus than anyone?  His disciples – they fell asleep in the garden when he needed their support.  Judas – he betrayed him turning him over to the authorities so they could arrest him. Peter, who watched the trial and not only remained silent in his defense but 3 times denied even knowing him.  And we thought it was bad that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son – with the fate of the entire world in the balance – Jesus’ disciples were as good as bringing him to be sacrificed.

 

Before the sacrifice, the lamb is slaughtered.  Jesus was beaten, spat upon, had thorns crushed into his head and was forced to carry his own cross even as Isaac was forced to carry the wood for the altar.  Instead of being tied to the wood altar, Jesus was nailed to it and lifted vertically making it excruciatingly difficult to breathe.  There was no substitute lamb nearby for Jesus.  This death would not be stopped. But wait – this death is not meant for Jesus –it is meant for us Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, We are the ones to be crucified and Jesus is our ram or lamb caught in the thicket – nailed to the cross – he cannot run away, his Father has put him there in our place - but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This death is the true eternal replacement for Isaac – the true eternal replacement for you and me.

Do you understand what Jesus has done for you – what his death means?  How the Father must have anguished just like Abraham except the weight and pain of this death is multiplied by our sin and will be carried out.

 

READER’S THEATER: Words from the Cross

03-03-13 Pass over the bread and the wine

OT Passover

This is the moment that God becomes God to the Hebrew people.  It happens when they have been living in slavery and God brings them out of that life and leads them to the Promised Land. Most people come to God at a moment of crisis.

 

Review the story: Abraham is called by God to leave the land of Ur and settle the land of Canaan. Abraham has a son, Isaac who has a son Jacob who has 12 sons, one whose name is Joseph, Jacob’s favored son who the 11 others seek to kill but instead send him into slavery in Egypt.  By the power of God, Joseph interprets a dream for the king of Egypt – the Pharaoh that there will be 7 years of bountiful crop followed by 7 years of famine.  Pharaoh raises Joseph to 2^nd in command in all of Egypt.  In Caanan, there was no fore warning of the famine and Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for food, Joseph reveals himself to and forgives his brothers and Jacob and all their family move to Egypt.

After several years, the Pharaoh’s forgot about Joseph, the Hebrew people began to multiply and prosper so Pharaoh turned them all into slaves of Egypt making bricks and after 350 years ordered all Hebrew male babies born were to be killed.  The parents of Moses did not turn him over but put him in a basket and set him in the Nile River where Pharaoh’s daughter would find him and raise him as her own.  40 years pass and Moses runs from his Egyptian life and 40 years after that, God calls to him from a burning bush to set all the Hebrew people free from Egyptian slavery and take them back to the land of Canaan – the Promised Land. Through Moses, God sends 9 plagues on Egypt.  Now pick up the story in the bible:

Ex 11:4-8     So Moses said, "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.  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.  There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt — worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.  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.  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."

 

Ex 12:3, 5-13     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. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect. 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. 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.

 

Ex 12:17-20

"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. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread."

 

Ex 12:31-34

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.  Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me."  The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!" So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.

 

Ex 12:46     Further instructions on the lamb:

It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.  The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

 

PASSOVER in the NT

NT Communion                                                  (Judas dipped his bread in the sauce)

This is the moment that God becomes God to the Christian people.  It happens when they have been living in slavery and God brings them out of that life and leads them to the Promised Land.

Matt 26:1

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples,  "As you know, the Passover is two days away — and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

Luke 22:14-20

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.  And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."  After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you.  For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

1 Corinthians 5:7

Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast — as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

 

INSTITUTING THE LORD’S SUPPER

1 Corinthians 11:23-29

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."   In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."   For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.   Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.  A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

 

Notice the theme of BREAD carried from Passover/Exodus to Communion

          After the feeding of the 5000 the next day they tracked Jesus down on the other side of the lake and Jesus was upset that they wanted more miracles like that and he tried telling them that the real miracle was that God had given them bread from heaven – speaking about himself.  Finally, he tells them straight.

John 6:48-59

“I am the bread of life.  Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."  Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"  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.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."

Acts 2:42-43

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

COMMUNITY

1 Cor 10:16-17

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?  Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Let’s review:

          Take the spotless Passover lamb, kill it without breaking its bones, eat it, and take the blood and cover the entrance to your home so that when God comes to bring death to the first born in all the land, he will pass over you.

Take the spotless Passover lamb - Jesus, kill him without breaking his bones, eat his flesh, and take the blood and cover the entrance to your home – your heart - so that when God comes to bring death in all the world, he will pass over you.

Hebrews 10:19-22

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.