Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
Meet the Great Red Dragon. Part 14. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the focal point of redemptive history.
Sunday, June 1, 2003
This was the thing that Satan tried so hard to stop, anticipating the virgin birth of Christ, but also referring to the nation of Israel being reborn or its rebirth.
Aor-act-subj – tekein tekein = to give birth.
Devour – aor-act-subj – katesthio = to devour, to eat completely; to totally destroy.
The purpose, the goal, the objectives, the climax of the life of Jesus Christ was His sacrificial death.
Turn to MAR 10:43
The death of Jesus Christ is not the end of the story, it is the theme of the story, beginning to end.
In the story of Adam and Eve, we first learn that sacrifice is necessary to cover sin.
In the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, we learn that it is not only sacrifice, but a certain sacrifice and that is a sacrifice of death.
From Abraham we learn that God himself will provide that sacrifice as God provided an animal in the place of Isaac.
As we come to the Passover in the Old Testament, we are reminded that the one who is sacrificed will be without spot and without blemish.
EXO 12:5 Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
In the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the cross is the theme.
The book of Acts is the record of the world’s reaction to the death and resurrection of Christ.
The epistles are written to those who believe in the death and resurrection of Christ, to instruct them as to the implications of the death and resurrection of Christ.
In the book of Revelation, you meet the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, who will return as King of kings and Lord of lords.
From the slain animals of Genesis, whose skins were used to clothe Adam and Eve, to the slain lamb of Revelation who is worshipped in glory and majesty, the cross is everything.
Matthew’s attempt all through this gospel is to present Jesus as King, as noble, as sovereign, as majestic, as dignified, as glorious.
How to maintain the majesty, dignity, glory, of Jesus Christ in the midst of his betrayal and his execution.
The Passover celebrated God’s delivering Israel out of bondage in Egypt, where they had been for over 400 years.
The last plague was the death of all the firstborn in every family in Egypt.
God said, “If you will kill a lamb, a spotless lamb, and put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts and the crosspiece, when the angel of death comes to slay all the firstborn of Egypt, if he sees the blood on your door, He will pass over.”
It was a symbol of God’s ultimate Passover lamb whose blood would cause them eternally to escape the judgment of God.
The lamb, Exo 12, was to be selected on the 10th of Nissan.
The lamb had to be selected on the 10th, taken in and it lived with the family until it was slaughtered, so that when that lamb was slaughtered it was slaughtered as a friend.
Arriving in the city on the 10th of Nissan to offer himself as the lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, dying on the 14th of Nissan as the Passover sacrifice of the sins of the world.
It was a glorious time of sacrifice to depict the necessity of death and sacrifice of the innocent for the atoning of sin for the guilty.
Turn to COL 2:8
Unleavened bread is bread that does not rise because there is no yeast in it.
He was saying, “I don’t want you taking a piece of your Egyptian life and implanting it into your new life.”
That became a symbol for cutting themselves off from worldly things.
“Such a man” = deina.
“Go into the city and find deina” = a nondescript term used when you want to be indefinite.
Turn to MAR 14:13