Passover to Tabernacles - Part 2

Jn 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

We will continue to look at God's dealings with Israel in anticipation of the Seventh Day.

The full text of this message and supplementary questions can be found on our website.

Transcript

Sunday November 7th 2021
Passover to Tabernacles
Part 2

1). Re 13:8b….. the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

1 Pe 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you………

We had seen in our last study that the slaying of the Lamb ‘from the foundation of the world’ brings both Israel and her Passover to the forefront of God’s redemptive purpose. ‘The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ had been foreordained before that time for this purpose. And the Lamb was then slain as a Man, as Israel’s Passover, within time, some four thousand years later – He ‘was manifest in these last times for you.’
a). And in terms of timing, the Lamb seen in Revelation 13:8, was slain between that seen in – Ge 1:2a The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.

And – Ge 1:2b And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The Lamb was not slain prior to this time, because prior to this time, there was no need for the ruined creation to be redeemed. It is only following Satan’s rebellion and the defiling of his sanctuaries, that redemption for the fallen creation is set in motion.
b). And Israel and her Passover must be at the forefront again in the redemption of the earth that has been under a curse since Adam’s fall – 
Ge 3:17……….. “Cursed is the ground for your sake……….

We will remember the verses that speak about this – Ro 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

‘The revealing of the sons of God’ is terminology relating to Christ’s coming Kingdom, and the coming of Christ’s Kingdom, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is not only the hope set before us but also the hope by which the material creation will ‘be delivered from the bondage of corruption’, delivered from the curse of Genesis 3:17.
c). From a Christian perspective, those who will be placed as firstborn sons in the Kingdom, will only have this privilege because of the death and shed blood of the Lamb of God as Israel’s Passover. Not only has that Passover in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago provided the means of eternal salvation but the blood shed by the Lamb that day is the same blood placed upon the Mercy Seat in the heavenly Tabernacle by our High Priest during this dispensation to provide cleansing for those who will receive the salvation of their souls; those who will be revealed as firstborn sons.
d). And from a Jewish perspective, it will be the application of the blood of their Passover Lamb, killed two thousand years before, that will bring about Israel’s redemption and restoration at the end of the Tribulation, resulting in the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. And when all three of God’s firstborn sons are revealed in that Day, so ‘the times of the restoration of all things’ will be brought to pass and the material creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
e). It is as the Scripture says – Jn 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.

Jon 2: 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”

It makes no difference which salvation we are talking about, whether material, spirit, or soul, past, present, or future, salvation is only ever through a sovereign act of the Lord, the Savior who has come from the Jewish nation, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
f). The statements made in John 4:22, and Jonah 2:9, are absolute and irrevocable. When we are dealing with salvation in all its aspects the Christ and Israel are inseparable. They are seen together in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in the timeframe of Genesis 1:2, ‘salvation is of the Jews’, ‘salvation is of the Lord’. And because these two statements are absolute and irrevocable, Israel and Christ must be seen together again in Genesis Chapter 3 – Ge 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

And they are seen together again in – Ge 4:8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 

The typology here, as we know, has Cain as a type of the nation of Israel and Abel as a type of Christ, foreshadowing the time when they were both  in the ‘field’, the world, together and one brother rose up and killed the other. And we will note that the presence of Israel here, seen in the type of Cain in Genesis 4, comes before the flood of Noah, before Abraham’s birth, and before the nation was brought into existence in Egypt in Moses day. And that which is common to Genesis 1, 3 and 4, is death and shed blood.
g). So, just to be clear, when we are dealing with the full scope of salvation, there are three elements that are inseparable –
• Salvation is of the Jews - Israel

• Salvation is of the Lord [the Jewish Savior] – The Christ 

• Death and shed blood

Israel is central to God’s redemptive purpose. In fact, as we have previously observed, Israel is seen in Genesis 1:2 before the creation of Man, Israel is seen in Genesis Chapter 3 as the Woman through whom the Seed would come, who would bruise the serpent’s head, and in the death and shed blood of the animals killed to make tunics of skin. The nation is seen again in Genesis Chapter 4 in Cain. Again, in Noah and his family with the nation’s role in redemption, ‘salvation is of the Jews’, made implicit in the taking of Enoch alive into heaven, the one who typifies the resurrection/rapture of the Church. Again, Israel is seen in Shem, the only one of Noah’s sons who had a God. Again, in the loins of Abraham, bringing us to Isaac, and Jacob and the twelve sons through whom the nation came.

2). We had towards the end of last week’s message, looked at the Passover in Exodus Chapter 12, but before we return there, let’s set in place some more foundation – Ge 9:26 And he said: “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.” 

It is in these verses that we see that God is the God of Shem, not of Ham and Japheth, Shem’s brothers. The only way that Ham and Japheth or their descendants could have access to God would be, according to the verses here, to ‘dwell in the tents of Shem’. In other words, to go to the one son with whom God associates. There can be no access to God apart from this. And nor can this change.

Power Point – Slides 1-3

a). If we follow the genealogy of Shem recorded in Genesis Chapter 11, we come to Abraham, the nineth generation from Shem and therefore the tenth from Noah, and the twentieth from Adam. And it is through this one man, Abraham, that God has chosen to work – Ex 3:6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

That depicted through Ham and Japheth dwelling in the tents of Shem is seen repeated to Abraham in this way – Ge 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Ge 22:18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

It is through Abraham’s seed who is both Isaac and the Christ, then Jacob, the twelve sons and the nation of Israel that came from them, that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. 
b). It is exactly as we saw in Genesis Chapter 9; it is only through the nation of Israel that anyone can have access to God and only through the nation of Israel that God’s blessings will be received.

Power Point – Slides 4-5

c). If we think about our own experience for a moment, we will realize that this is exactly what happened to us. We came to the Jewish Savior, who the nation of Israel had brought forth, and through His death and shed blood, because salvation is of the Jews and salvation is of the Lord, we received eternal salvation, becoming part of the one new man in Christ, and we now have access to God because of it. Our presently held salvation is inseparable from the Jewish people – Ro 11:16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

And we are supported by the Word of God, the Word given to and recorded by, the Jewish people. The complete Word that became flesh and died at Calvary as the Son of Man, having previously been slain as the Lamb, from the foundation of the world.
d). And the blessings we are promised, in complete agreement with that which God said to Abraham are ours through our positional standing in the Jewish Savior – Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

That which has been our experience is available to all who would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
e). Let’s go back to God’s promise to Abraham, that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through Abraham’s seed, the nation of Israel –
Ge 15:13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

God revealed to Abraham that his descendants, who would begin with Isaac, would be strangers in a land not theirs – Acts 7:4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 5 And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6 But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. 

Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise…..

Abraham’s descendants then, would spend four hundred years in ‘a land not theirs’, without receiving their inheritance, and for part of that time they would be brought into bondage. And so, the promised blessings for all the nations through Abraham’s descendants could not come to pass for at least four hundred years.
f). We will note that Abraham’s descendants, beginning with Isaac, were not in bondage in Egypt for the whole four hundred years. We will remember that the descendants of Jacob who went into Egypt at the behest of Joseph because of the famine, were seventy persons. They lived there and they prospered there – Ex 1:6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. 7 But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

It was not until after Joseph’s death and after they had ‘increased abundantly’ that – Ex 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

And it was at the hands of this ‘new king’, an Assyrian Pharaoh, that they were put in bondage and oppressed. Now we are not told how much time elapsed between the death of Joseph and the coming of the Assyrian Pharaoh.
g). We do know, however, that Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born - Ge 25:26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

And then upon his arrival in Egypt, Jacob said this to Pharaoh [not the one who did not know Joseph] – Ge 47:9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years….

As the timing for the four hundred years that Abraham’s descendants, dwelt in a land not theirs, began with the birth of Isaac, and Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born, we can add these sixty years to the length of Jacob’s life when he went to Egypt [130 years] and we will have one hundred and ninety years. This is the time they dwelt in tents in the land of Canaan before Jacob and his family went to Egypt – Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

 There was then another two hundred and ten years that were spent in Egypt to complete the full four hundred years that God had made known to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 15.

Power Point – Slides 6-9

h). Now as Joseph was about forty years old when the two hundred and ten years began and was one hundred and ten when he died, there could only have been at the very maximum, one hundred and forty years of bondage. And we know that the bondage was in place when Moses was born – Ex 1:15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

And we know that Moses was eighty years old at the time of the Exodus. So, the minimum number of years for Israel to be in bondage was Eighty Years. We can then know for certain that the children of Israel’s bondage in Egypt lasted between eighty and one hundred and forty years.

Power Point – Slides – 10-11

i). Now, let’s add this to the mix - Ex 12:40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

God said four hundred years in Genesis and in Exodus He said four hundred and thirty years. How do we account for this? Simply by realizing that the four hundred years in Genesis began to be counted from the birth of Isaac [Abraham’s descendants would spend four hundred years in a land not theirs]. The extra thirty years given in Exodus 12:40 takes us back thirty years before the birth of Isaac. And as we know that Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, this takes us back to the time of Abraham’s calling while still in Ur of the Chaldees. Abraham left Ur at seventy. The sojourn of the children of Israel began to be counted while the nation was still in the loins of Abraham before he left Ur – Ga 3:6 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, [given at Sinai at the time of the Exodus] cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. [the promise given to Abraham before he left Ur] 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Power Point – Slides 12-14

What we will want to note particularly from the verses in Exodus Chapter 12, is the precision of God’s timing, ‘at the end of the four hundred and thirty years – on that very same day’. And the precision of God’s timing here can only have to do with the promises given to Abraham with respect to his descendants. That they would possess the gate of their enemy and in them all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That which had been put on hold for four hundred/four hundred and thirty years. God’s promised blessings then, would come to the nations of the earth once Israel was in possession of the gate of their enemy, when they would rule at the head of the nations within a Theocracy in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

3). Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ” 

Here in Exodus Chapter 4, God made the unequivocal declaration as to who will possess the ‘gate’, the place of rulership. It would be Israel, His adopted firstborn son.
a). And Israel became a son, a firstborn son of God, because of an act of creation – Isa 43:1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

But before God’s adopted firstborn son could possess the gate of his enemy, he had to be delivered from the bondage of Egypt, he had to be redeemed. And this brings us to Passover – Ex 12:1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 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………..6 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. 7 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…………..12 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

There was then, to be a substitutionary death, a lamb was to die for an individual household in the place of the firstborn in that house. And in complete agreement with that which God had set in place from the beginning, God would look for only one thing as He passed over the land of Egypt, the blood. The blood applied to the doorposts and lintels indicated that a death had taken place in that house, a death that God had provided and that He would accept in the place of the death of the firstborn. 
b). And not only was this applicable to individual households but also to the whole house of Israel, God’s adopted firstborn son. And in agreement with that which God had said about the tents of Shem in Genesis Chapter 9, the nation of Egypt neither had access to God, nor did they go to the one nation who did, and as a result, the Egyptian firstborns had to die as there was no substitutionary death available to them – 
Ex 12:29 And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Passover then, as we have seen, is the beginning point, that which determines either life, because of a substitute, or death without one. And this first Passover in Egypt looked back to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in one direction and forward to the Lamb of God as Man who would die at Calvary in the other direction. And all have to do with redemption, with an inheritance, with possessing the gate of the enemy and the blessing of the nations of the earth in fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham - Ge 22:15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

If we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed, we will continue next time.