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More on Passover & Unleavened Bread
Christ and Passover
We must have the firm, absolute conviction in the process of overcoming;
the cleansing that comes with the Spirit of God
Fred R. Coulter—March 24, 2018
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! This is the Sabbath before Passover. When the Passover falls on a Friday—to be observed Thursday night—then the Sabbath is also the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The day after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the only time that Catholics, Jews and Churches of God keep Pentecost on the correct day. They start with the day after the weekly Sabbath, which is also the Holy Day. That's how the Jews count it.
This is why Pentecost seems to be so early, because by time we're done with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Friday is the last Holy Day, followed by a Sabbath. The first week is already over. Normally it comes somewhere in the week so that when you come to the second Sabbath, then you have the count begin.
I have something very interesting to read you to get started. How many have heard of the Romaunt Version of the Gospel According to John by Dr. William Stephen Gilly DDD (Doctor of Divinity). He gives an introductory history of the version of the New Testament, anciently in use among the old Waldensians.
Very interesting things, indeed. I'll read a couple excerpts for you. Remember when we used to hear in the past that the Gospel wasn't preached for 1800 years? Not true! And if you don't have the video, Ken can get it for you: Israel of the Alps. This is put out by the SDA's (Seventh Day Adventists) and they count their beginning with what the seven churches are in Rev. 2 and 3 with Thyatira.
Romaunt Version of the Gospel According to John by Dr. William Stephen Gilly
But in case it should be thought an unlikely thing that one man should have produced two translations, with such dissimilarities are found in the Paris and Dublin MSS [manuscripts], I beg to say I'm not venturing to pronounce: I am only submitting my conjectures to consideration, and inviting inquiry and discussion. If Waldo himself did not superintend the improved text preserved in the Dublin MS [manuscript] it may have been the work of some of his disciples.
So they were producing the Bible. They were translating it from the old Latin into the Romaunt. The Romaunt covered quite an area.
I've drawn attention to the fact that older translations or portions of the Holy Scriptures existed before Waldo's time…
When the Church was driven from Asia Minor to go into the Alps, they had Scriptoriums. They had no television to watch, no newspapers to read, none of the things that take away our time. They could read; they could study. Of course, they had to do their work and everything they had to do, to exist.
They were busy preserving the Word of God. Amazing! What we've done with the Bible here is the first time, since these people left off, because they started early and went through to about 1650.
After all the considerations that I've given to this part of my subject, I still adhere to the opinion that there must have been more Scriptural translations afloat in the Romaunt languages, than have yet been drawn from the dust of the Dark Ages….
that's saying a lot
…The extract from the 27th chapter of Numbers mentioned supra, p 1, and some of the quotations of the Book of Virtues, which differ from the text of the Dublin Codex, shew that early translations were extant, other than those which correspond nearly verbatim to the Dublin MS….
…The Provencal character of the Paris MS, and the Italian character of the Dublin MS are worthy of remark, and more especially when we reflect that the best authenticated Romaunt translation was begun by a merchant of the Lyons, assisted by persons whom we may presume to have been natives of Lombardy.
Remember what Jesus said about His words: 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.' Every generation like to 'superiorize' itself over the previous generation. But it's not so.
I cannot refrain from again directing attention to the wonderful manner in which Divine Providence was pleased to raise up humble instruments for the circulation of the pure Word of God, through a succession of ages when men in high places, who ought to have undertaken that duty…
This was brought up in the Worldwide Church of God because every time people would hear continuously from the pulpit, while the King James reads this way, but it really means this. It would come up, 'Why don't we have a Bible that the Church produces?' You know why it wasn't produced? Political! Who was going to get credit for it? So, they never did it. That came straight from Dr. Dorothy and he knew.
…were either too much puffed up with human learning, or darkened in their understanding by the love of vain traditions. Even in the worst periods of oppression and ignorance, vernacular translations of parts of the Old Testament and New Testament were finding their way among the people, in spite of the jealousy of the Romish priesthood…
That tells you that the Church of God was active. It was alive. The Bible was being promulgated in the language of the people at that time.
…and the prohibitions of spiritual and temporal authority. The very wickedness and debasement of the ecclesiastics who endeavored to suppress the use of the Sacred Books in the vulgar tongue, produced a reaction in the form of lay-zeal….
How dare they tell us that they are the keepers of the Word of God and they are not. That Jerome translation was pitiful indeed.
…The wandering habits of the Troubadours and Minnesingers rendered the more serious of them successful missionaries; the contest for freedom between serfs and seigneurs, between Baronial Castles and Municipal Corporations, gave a new impulse to religious, as well as political movements: and the Romaunt language, which, after the decline of Latin, was universally understood throughout the South of Europe, in the Court, the camp, the city, and the college, became the medium of a more extensive promulgation of the Word of God than had been known since the first appearance of Jerome's Vulgate.
Quite a testimony!
It was thus that "God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…
Isn't that always true down through history?
…and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty," and a few obscure men, whose very names for the most part have perished, stood in the gap between truth and fable until the maturer wisdom and happier opportunities of Luther, [and Tyndale], Calvin, Cranmer…
How many have heard of Huss, of Bohemia? He gave rise from the late 1380s in Bohemia to Wycliffe translating from the Jerome Latin version in the 1390s and on into the beginning of the 14th century. You can read about that with the history that talks about the Lollards. They took the Bible around England and it was outlawed. You couldn't read it. You would be executed if you were caught with it. How's that for the loving character of the Roman Catholic Church, the den of every abomination and filthiness that there can be in the world. Other things I could mention to, to add onto that.
…and their associate Reformers restored to every man (who could read and purchase one) the right of having the Bible in his own tongue wherein he was born.
He says he hopes that this will vindicate some of those things. Amazing, indeed. That's interesting. I'm sure that everyone of them did as God said that should be done.
Passover
Let's look at some things that we need to confirm as we come to the Passover time. Just like these people I read about here, the Waldensians and the Lombards, the different ones, they were doing a lot in getting the Word of God out. Every time people think they are the only ones, God wants you to always remember Elijah.
Elijah felt picked on, even after God answered his prayer and consumed the offering. He was afraid of Jezebel and ran down to Mount Horeb, gone in a cave. There was an earthquake and there was a strong wind, all of this. Finally a soft still voice said, 'Elijah, I've got 7,000 men in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal, so don't be depressed about it, go do what I've told you to do.'
Then on the other end, for other people, it is, 'Don't get high and mighty and lifted up that you're some great thing, because God—as Jesus said—could raise up people to praise Him from the stones on the street.' We need to keep everything in perspective.
The answer to the human condition has never been solved by any except those who adhere to the Word of God. They cannot understand or fathom how good, how great, how tremendous men are and women are in doing, building, making, thinking, inventing, and all of these things. Then, on the other hand, be so evil, and so incredibly insane in the way that they act when they come to the height of evil their generation.
We've seen this in WWII, seen it in the Soviet Union, seen it in China, seen in Africa, seen in Southeast Asia. And it's building up in many places in the world today.
Why is that human beings have all of this potential to do so much good and are so evil? Today I draw your attention to Facebook and to Google. About five months ago I call Ron Cary, he helps me with my email and then I have him take down some of my thoughts. My thoughts for that day was the three most dangerous corporations in the world:
- Amazon
What is causing a lot of problem in the world today and upset political elections? Did you see how one click of one finger by the head of Facebook could have added 400,000 more votes to Hilary Clinton, if he just sent out the message, 'Go vote for Hilary.' Think of that!
Then think about all the things now, all the great inventions and things that we have. What are they doing? They're enslaving us and corrupting us! We don't have enough ability to stop it. This is the generation we live in!
We know how all of this got started: Adam and Eve. God created Adam and Eve and they were neutral. They weren't against God; they weren't for God. So, after they had been educated to a certain point by God Himself—because He's given independent free moral agency to all human beings and He's decided and decreed that He will not remove that, He will not take it away—every human being must choose.
You know what happened. If you have choice, you have to test it. You know the story: The serpent came along, 'You know, I'm here and I want to tell you something. I know God and He's really not telling you everything. I'm going to show you how you can become like God. You see that tree that He said not to eat of? Look at it, fruit is beautiful, smells good. You walk past it, it doesn't hurt you. Did you know that the key for you to understand is by eating that fruit?' We shouldn't eat it or touch it. 'God knows that you're not going to die if you eat it or touch it.'
So, BOOM! She didn't just take a bite, she ate of it. And there is her protective husband sitting back there watching. 'I wonder what's going to happen to her. God said in eating it, in dying, you shall surely die.' They didn't know what death was. They had probably never seen anything die. So what was dying?
Here's this serpent, beautiful, spectacular, sweet words and nice saying, 'You surely won't die.' So Eve ate of it and nothing happened to her. No lightning from God struck her down. She didn't fall over with a heart attack. Eve came over and said to Adam, 'You know this really is good.' So, he ate of it! The fruit was secondary to their sin. Remember the three words: Obey My voice!
Now then from that time on, every human being has been born with a nature that is what the New Testament calls carnal nature. Paul defines it as the law of the sin and the death. That's how it's written in the Greek. Very important.
So, here we are: human beings burdened down with sin. Why would God do that? The prophecy of the Savior was given in Gen. 3. That didn't come down in history until recordable history would have been accurate enough for Him to show up at the select time that God had determined.
Because the One Who created mankind was the One Who had to carry out the penalty, and was also the One Who had to provide the way out of it, because every child that has been born did not say, 'Mommy and Daddy, please give me the law of sin and death.' No! Everyone is born with it! That's why through training and teaching, you could help control it to a certain amount.
We see that when God told Cain, 'If you do well, you'll be accepted. If not, sin lies at the door and you must rule over it.'
We're to use our human nature to choose what is good and right. But how does that save us from what God put into every human being? It doesn't! There has to be, as there was, the Divine judgment and sentencing of the law of sin and death with Adam and Eve. There has to be from God a way to overcome that, and a way where God could reveal His plan to mankind so that we could respond to God the way that He wants. And that God would do things for us that we cannot do.
We find all of this expressed in John 3:16. This is one quoted by the Protestants. They do, but they don't know all that this means. We have to carry forward from when God first created man and woman. He said, 'Let Us make man in Our image after Our likeness…'
Part of us is removed from the scene, probably because Adam and Eve sinned. We've been fighting against the heresy here that God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament—see sermon series. But isn't it interesting, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.'
There is not another word from God about Us until what night? The Passover night when Jesus said that He 'wants all of those who He has called to become One as You, Father, are in Me and I in You. They may become One in Us.'
So that whole span of time from creation until the Passover of Jesus Christ, when He gave His life, the plan of God was not understood in any great detail at all. Yet it's sprinkled through all the prophets and the history, then brought and manifest in the Gospels when He came.
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…'
A lot of atheists read that and say, 'If He loved the world, why is it in such a mess?' Since they don't believe in God, they don't believe in Satan. Since God let human beings choose between Him and Satan, the world is in the mess it is in because of man and Satan. It has nothing to do with the lack of the love of God, because God has a greater plan where He's going to give every one of those who never had an opportunity for salvation to receive an opportunity through what even G.G. Rupert understands as the second resurrection!
"…that He gave His only begotten Son…" (v 16). Some people read that and say, 'Then if He's the only begotten Son, how come it talks about that God begets us?' This is unique and entirely different; this is a one-time. We'll talk about that in a little bit what God had to do.
"…so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have everlasting life" (v 16).
- Did you know there's a difference between death and perishing?
Paul wrote that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is vain and those who have died in Christ will perish! Which tells you being dead in Christ is not a perishing.
- What is perishing? Complete non-existence!
- Where does that take place for human beings? The Lake of Fire!
This verse is the shortest summary of the fantastic plan of God, which encompasses the whole Bible. "…may not perish, but may have everlasting life." These are all conditional.
Now then, for us, go back and look at the first Passover in Exo. 12. Why did they put the blood on the side-posts and the upper door level? So the firstborn wouldn't die! Today with the Passover and the operation of God, only those who are going to be in the Church of the Firstborn participate in the Passover and understand the plan of God in varying degrees down through time in history.
Sidebar: It keeps crossing my mind when I read about the Waldensians and those who did the translating of the Bible—nearly every generation thought that Christ was going to return in their generation.
- Didn't the apostles think so?
- What do you think they thought after Jerusalem was totally destroyed and Christ didn't return?
- What about all the marginal attendees?
- How many gave up because they weren't converted?
There were a few who said, 'Remember what Jesus said. What if He keeps John alive until He returns? Maybe that's true and John is still living.' So between the destruction of the temple and the death of John you have another 30-years.
Then when John came out with the book of Revelation, half the Church didn't accept it because it wasn't like John's writing. You know why it wasn't like John's writing? Because it was dictated by Christ!
There are those scholars who say, 'It would be nice if we had something written by Christ.' You do, the book of Revelation. To the Churches John was a stenographer. 'To the Church at Ephesus, write…' If you were hired as a secretary, what would you do? You would write. Written by Christ, penned by John. So, they didn't accept it because this was 'weird.' No one had an idea that it's going to be hundreds and hundreds of years.
What happened? Right after that you had the Bar Kokhba revolution! Then you had different wars. Then after that you get into the Crusades, you get into the Mongols coming, you get into the Turks coming, you get into the plagues and everything covering Europe at the time where a third of all the population were killed, or maybe even more. These plagues, people dropping dead. You think, 'Oh, my, the Lord's going to return any time.' Didn't happen!
We come down to our time and the 20th century WWI. Yes, Christ's going to return after that. No, didn't happen! Then here comes Herbert Armstrong saying, 'No, it's going to happen later.' Then there's WWII. You look at the map and you look how the Germans did. You look how they came down into Africa, down in toward Egypt and all of that sort of thing.
You read Dan. 11, the King of North will come against the King of the South, and he's going to come into Egypt. This is going to lead to the return of Christ. Didn't happen!
I have another one in conjunction with this that I've read where in the 1100s they were writing that they were the last generation of the Church. Here we are in 2018.
We'll talk a little bit more about baptism and repentance. John 6:46: "No one… [Greek is absolutely no one] …has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me has eternal life…. [the beginning of eternal life] …I AM the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert, but they died" (vs 46-49). That's what they wanted. They wanted to be fed with manna.
Take this and put it on one of the political parties where you have a man who could take food, bless it, and where just a few fish and a few loaves of bread fed 5,000. Then He fed 4,000. Then He fed another 4,000. What did they want to do? They wanted to take Him and make Him king so they could eat and not work! Jesus said you have to 'eat My flesh.' That really threw them!
Verse 50: "'This is the Bread, which comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I AM the living Bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is even My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, 'How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?'" (vs 50-52).
If I read in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14, doesn't sound like that's clean. How can we eat His flesh? If we eat His flesh, He'll die. What's going to happen when He dies?
Verse 53: "Therefore, Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly… [when this phrase is spoken, this is 'amen, amen, lego humin.' This is in truth, in truth] …I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.'" This is why we have the Passover.
The original Passover they had the lamb and unleavened bread. Now then, this is greater. "…you do not have life in yourselves." That contradicts what Satan told Eve: You shall not surely die. If you shall not surely die, that means you have an immortal soul, and you don't. The soul that sins shall die!
Verse 54: "'The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day… [that is a proclamation and a promise] …for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink… [then He repeats it again] …The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him'" (vs 54-56).
How are you going to do that? They didn't understand about the Spirit of God! We can understand it more than other ages, because we understand the use of electricity. The use of electricity is akin to the power of the Spirit. We still don't know what electricity is, though we use it.
Verse 57: "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me."
Symbolically, He is the Word of God. We find in the Psalms a prophecy of this: 'Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.' David didn't run up and take a bite out of the arm of the Lord and say, 'This is good.' No! It was the Word of God, taking in of His Spirit, understanding His Truth.
What was the first temptation that Jesus had when He was tempted by Satan? 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God!' Every word of God is spiritual food. That's why and you eat of it by studying and impressing on your mind the spiritual things from it.
Let me tell you just a little something about Greek. Knowledge is 'gnosis,' or 'epignosis.'
- to know is 'ginosko'
- to read is 'anaginosko'
- up is 'ana'
Knowledge coming up! Isn't that something? I think that's a fantastic explanation. Knowledge upwards into your eyes and into your brain. Fantastic!
Christ also revealed to them on the Passover night, which we will cover at the Passover Ceremony. This shows how we are to live by Christ. This is what the Passover is all about. These are the beginnings of the words of the New Covenant. We are in the New Covenant and Passover is going to renew that covenant with God. This is a fantastic and profound spiritual thing, though it is simple. God wants it that way.
Just think of the elaborate celebrations that men try and create so they look righteous. God wants it simple. He wants your mind on God the Father and Jesus Christ and what They're doing in us, so that we can be added to the Family of God. That's what it's about.
John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way…'"—'hodos, he hodos.' What is one of the books where the first Passover was given? 'Ex hodos,' which means the way out of Egypt! He is the way out of sin toward eternal life and Truth.
"…'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me'" (v 6).
He also told the disciples, 'No one comes to Me unless the Father draws Him and no one comes to the Father except through Christ.' All the words that He spoke are Spirit and they are Life. Spiritual eating and spiritual drinking is the most important thing in our lives. It gets down to two simple things:
- prayer
- study
(go to the next track)
Christ says that He is the Door of the sheep and He's the true Shepherd!
John 10:14: "I am the good Shepherd, and I know those who are Mine, and am known of those who are Mine." How is that? With the Spirit of God and the Word of God!
Verse 15: "'Just as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. On account of this, the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life, that I may receive it back again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.…'" (vs 15-18).
You look at the Scriptures that say that from the foundation of the world He was slain! Meaning, when the world was founded, God knew that one of Them had to die! If you give free moral agency and you don't control it, then you have to have some way to correct the whole situation because it's going to go wrong.
All of that is necessary in order for us to understand the value of eternal life. The plan of God is so great that we become the sons and daughters of God, you have to have it where those:
- who truly love God
- who truly choose what is right
- who truly want to do what God wants to
Not in a robotic fashion, but in a spiritual way, out of love and devotion to do so. Christ is showing the example that's what He's doing.
Verse 18: "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down and authority to receive it back again. This commandment I received from My Father."
You read in Psa. 40, 'It's written of Me in the Scroll of a Book.' You find that also in Heb. 10: 'It's written of Me in the Scroll of the Book. I come to do Your will, O God.' That's what Christ did.
Let's see how He did this. Let's ask ourselves:
- What have I done to humble myself, other than to repent of sin and receive forgiveness from God, and on occasions fast?
- What has any human being done that can compare to what God has done to save humankind?
This is speaking of Jesus Christ, Philippians 2:6: "Who, although He existed in the form of God… [meaning He was God; that compares with John 1:1-3] …did not consider it robbery to be equal with God… [in existence] …but emptied Himself…" (vs 6-7).
How He did that, I don't know. But He gave up everything of the qualities of God as a spirit being to become a pinpoint of life. He is the only Begotten in the way that He became human.
We're begotten with the Spirit of God, but we're already born adults, have the spirit of man, and so forth. Part of God's plan—and this is all wrapped up in the Passover and the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, what God has done. Look at how He humbled Himself. We already covered that in Luke 1 about Mary becoming pregnant with the pinpoint of life from the Most High.
Verse 7: "But emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men…" That goes back to Gen. 1, 'Let Us make man in Our likeness.' That's why we're made in the likeness of God so God could do this, because They knew before They ever created man that this would have to be.
'…and took the form of a servant… ['doulos': slave] …and being found in the manner of man, He humbled Himself…" (vs 7-8).
- What have you given up for God?
- Especially in this age?
- What are you willing to give up for God?
It probably all involves a whole lot of physical things that you have. But what is it that is the greatest sacrifice that we give to God?
- a broken heart
- a contrite spirit
- tremble at His word
- to love Him
Think of the billions and billions of human beings on the earth. Then multiply that down through time by all who have ever been and we ask: How many people really love God?
"…and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (v 8).
I'm doing a little research right now because I'm going to do some Church at Home—churchathome.org—on the Shroud of Turin, one of the great frauds.
Sidebar: The man who wrote and said that the Shroud of Turin had to be Jesus Christ, because He was the only One to have suffered the way that He suffered, and therefore, it's all recorded on the shroud and no other person has gone through that. False!
There are hundreds of thousands who were crucified. When they were bringing a siege against Jerusalem in 69-70A.D. they had rows and rows of crosses. Anyone trying to escape, they would get them and beat them to a pulp and then hang them on that cross.
Tell you what, the Catholic Church will lie and do anything to promulgate its idolatry and it's abominations!
Verse 9: "Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and bestowed upon Him a name, which is above every name." What's going to happen at the resurrection to us? We're going to have a new name!
Verse 10: "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of beings in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (vs 10-11). That's quite a thing!
You read all of these things in heaven, all the angels. On the earth: "…every knee should bow…" Unless you understand about the second resurrection, you can bring up the atheist argument, 'Well, what about all of those who died before Jesus came?' God is greater than any human god.
I don't know what it's going to be like when the second resurrection occurs, but I tell you, that is going to be one of the greatest things in the history of the universe. Think about it! Some of the deaths that people have died, and all of a sudden here they are! 'I'm alive!'
There will be all the sons and daughters of God saying, 'Yes, you are alive. God is going to keep His Word. You never had a chance for salvation because of the time and age that you lived in. Now you have a second physical life to do so.' What a fantastic act of love! That's what it says, that God so loved the world… That's quite a statement.
This brings upon us an obligation, v 12: "So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure" (vs 12-13). We're the workmanship of God the Father!
Think about that through everything that you do, through every trial and difficulty and problem that you go through, God is working His workmanship in you! Don't ever get so overwhelmed that you think no one has ever gone through anything like this before. No little pity-parties for, oh, woe is me.
Think about the greatness of the love of God that He would do this, that we could come on the Passover night and be presented before Him with this to be in absolute union with God. That's an amazing thing!
Let's see what He had to go through; He had to prophesy of it. Not only did He do it, not only did He choose to voluntarily do it, but He prophesied about it. He understood human nature. He knew what was going to happen.
Isaiah 53:1: "Who has believed our report?.… [we just read the report, prophecy of Phil. 2] …And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He has no form nor comeliness that we should look upon Him, nor beauty that we should desire Him" (vs 1-2).
He didn't say, 'Now, Father, since I have to do this and I've got to give up all My glory, make Me the handsomest man that ever existed.' No, He didn't! 'And I want to be loved by everyone. I want to be popular. I want to be a hero.' He didn't!
Verse 3: "He is despised and rejected of men…"
- How do you feel when you're rejected by people?
- How about the God Who created all human beings and was rejected by His own creation?
- Who didn't even know Him and say, 'He's Satan'?
Think about the absolute horrible things that independent free moral agency has done to all mankind (IFMA)!
"…a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…" (v 3). Think about that for just a minute! What did Solomon write about knowledge? With much knowledge is much grief! He perfectly understood all human nature.
If something that you did turned out that bad, would you try and save it? or Would you walk away from it? Most of us would walk away from it and say, 'I'm done with that.' God didn't. He said, 'I'm going to make it perfect.'
"…and we hid as it were our faces from Him, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not" (v 3).
You think about all the conversations when you read there in the Gospels about how people treated Him while He was on the cross.
Verse 4: "Surely He has borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows; yet, we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."
What did they say? 'If You're the Son of God, come on down off the cross! Prove it to us!'
Verse 5: "But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed…. [physically and spiritually] …All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned each one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (vs 5-6).
You look around and you see all the sin and all the stuff in the world that's going on. You think: Christ took all of that upon Him. As Creator of human beings, when it came upon Him, it's worth all the sorrow, all the agony, all the trouble that all human beings go through because He created us and put His creation through it. In order to save it, He took the same Himself. Here it is prophesied.
Verse 7: "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet, He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away…" (vs 7-8).
Everything about His trial was illegal. You think Washington, D.C. is corrupt today, think about Jerusalem and Romans and the Jews in the time of Christ.
"…and with His generation who did consider that He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people He was stricken . And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet, the LORD willed to crush Him…" (vs 7-10).
Think about that! Remember where it said, 'I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to receive it back.' All of this is contained within that verse back there in John 10.
If you've got grief and difficulties that come upon you; we all do. I don't think anybody is without it.
- that's why you come to God
- that's why we have the Passover
- that's why we pray
- that's why we ask for forgiveness
- that's why we need to be encouraged and comforted with the Spirit of God
We need to understand that God is there:
- for us
- with us
- in us
He is going through it with us at the same time. This is a magnificent thing that God has done!
We've got the series: Why God Hates Religion. Look at old Job. He got so self-righteous, he said he's more righteous than God. 'Come and judge between me and God, and I'm sure you're going to vote for me.'
Sidebar on the Shroud of Turin: I don't see any crushing there. I don't see any exposed ribs there.
Verse 10: "Yet, the LORD willed to crush Him and He has put Him to grief: You shall make His life an offering for sin. He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days, and that the purpose of the LORD might prosper in His hand." Resolution to all the problems! There you go!
Verse 11: "He shall see of the travail of His soul. He shall be fully satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide to Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul to death; and He was counted among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for transgressors" (vs 11-12).
When did that start? Right while He was hanging on the cross! He said, 'Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing.' You think about Jerusalem that day. That was a fearful battle between:
- the angels of God
- Satan and the demons
- Jesus Christ
- the Roman soldiers
- the religious leaders
When I wrote the book, The Day Jesus the Christ Died, the question came up. They were running this on television: Who Killed Christ? Everything there symbolized all of mankind.
The priest and religious authorities symbolized all the religions of the world. Pontius Pilate and the soldiers symbolized all the governments in the world. Does not our government follow down the Roman thing to this day? Look at what they have done to build the buildings in Washington, D.C., Compare that with Roman Greece.
The people out there who said, 'Crucify Him, crucify Him.' They represented all the people of the world symbolically speaking. That was a tremendous struggle going on that day. And for this purpose.
He ended up here, Isaiah 52:14: "Many were astonished at Him—for His body was so disfigured—even His form beyond that of the sons of men. So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths because of Him… [that day will come] …for they will see that which was not told to them; yea, what they had not heard, shall they consider" (vs 14-15).
Christ had to prophesy everything that was going to happen to Him. Isaiah 50:6: "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting… [and bludgeoning] …for the Lord GOD will help Me; therefore, I have not been disgraced. On account of this I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together; who is My adversary? Let him come near Me" (vs 6-8).
Wasn't that true? Wasn't Satan and the demons and were all just hideously laughing? You read Psa. 22 where it says 'the bulls of Bashan were circling Me.' That's what it's all talking about.
God has done all of this for us. This is why we must have the firm, absolute conviction and fulfilling of what we're going to look at concerning baptism. Here's the frame of mind that we must always maintain.
Luke 14:25: "And great multitudes were going with Him; and He turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father, and mother… [to love God more (Matt.10), but some would even consider it hate, but it's not] … and wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, and, in addition, his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.'… [Greek: 'ou dunatai,' the impossibility of it] …And whoever does not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple'" (vs 25-27).
We all have our difficulties and problems—every one of us, some one way, some another way, whatever it is. God came to the earth. He draws you to Him, but you must keep coming to Him every day, seeking every day.
Verse 28: "For which one of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost…"—make sure that he has enough resources to do it. Likewise, it's with us.
Verse 33: "In the same way also, each one of you who does not forsake all that he possesses cannot be My disciple."
Remember what happened to the rich man. Came to Jesus. He said, 'Good Master, what should I do to have eternal life?' Jesus said, 'Why do you call Me good? There's only One good and that is God!' Why did Jesus say that? Because as a human being, with human nature, He was not good! There is no good in human nature! That is spiritual good.
Yes, we can do good things to help people. That's true. We could do nice things, that's true. Even Satan does it. Creates all the deprivation and all of this and then they have Catholic charities. Do good works to cover your sin. 'We're good people, don't criticize us.' No way!
Jesus said to keep the commandments. All the Protestants go there and say that He didn't say Sabbath. Hello! The whole country was keeping the Sabbath, not a question. So, He listed the commandments. The young man thought, 'I'm almost there.' Jesus said, 'And then go sell all that you have and come and follow Me.' The young man turned his back and walked away.
Those are the commitments that we need to have to forsake all that we have. I think the older we get, the more we see the evil within and the potential of that evil within, even going clear back when we were first baptized. Why is that? That's the work of the Holy Spirit of God working within us to show us the utter futility of human nature, everything about it!
As your mind is clicking along through the days and weeks, stop and think about the evil thoughts and temptations that come into your mind. Those that you would not tell anybody about. We all have them. We need to repent of those.
Once we have been baptized, received the Holy Spirit, we're to grow in grace and knowledge. We'll talk about the full meaning of baptism in relationship to the covenant.
Here's what it means to be under grace, which we are in the New Covenant. We have direct access to God the Father in heaven above and Jesus Christ at His right hand. Doesn't matter:
- who you are
- how old you are
- how young you are
- how much you have
- how much you don't have
You have that access! That's the greatest access in the world. Think of that.
You can get on your knees and say, 'Our Father..' You can pray to Him and He will answer. This is what John is talking about here:
1-John 1:1: "That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our own eyes, that which we observed for ourselves and our own hands handled, concerning the Word of Life."
Remember what Christ told Thomas? Thomas said, 'I won't believe it until I see it.' So when He came Jesus said, 'Thomas, come here. Put your finger in My hand.' What did he say? 'Oh, my Lord, my God.'
Verse 2: "(And the life was manifested, and we have seen, and are bearing witness, and are reporting to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us)."
John is really understanding how great it was with Christ. Think about the Apostle John growing in grace and knowledge through his life—in prayer, study, writing, serving. What a life he must have had.
Verse 3: "That which we have seen and have heard we are reporting to you in order that you also may have fellowship with us; for the fellowship—indeed, our fellowship—is with the Father and with His own Son Jesus Christ."
That's the whole purpose of the Passover, that we have been granted fellowship and direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ. Doesn't matter who you are. As long as you repent and are baptized, received the Holy Spirit of God, you have direct access to God. Here is what we are to get out of it:
Verse 4: "These things we are also writing to you, so that your joy may be completely full." When you stop and think of what God has done for you, what a fantastic thing that was and is.
Verse 5: "And this is the message that we have heard from Him and are declaring to you: that God is Light, and there is no darkness at all in Him. we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him, but we are walking in the darkness…" (vs 5-6). Which is the way of Satan the devil.
- Isn't that the way it is in the world?
- How many people profess themselves to be Christian?
I've been monitoring Trinity Broadcasting Network. They're all frauds, every single one, even the best—because they will not remember what God said to remember in the Ten Commandments. 'Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy.' No! Sunday, the day that God has made.
Doesn't matter how much they use the Bible. It is all built on the wrong foundation. Didn't Jesus say you could build two kinds of houses, one on the rock and one on the sand? Yes, indeed.
"…we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the Truth" (v 6). That tells us a lot. We have to practice the Truth. What is the Truth?
- Your Word is Truth
- Your law is Truth
- Your commandments are true
- God is true
- Christ is true
Verse 7: "However, if we walk in the Light…" That's us! We have the Bible. We have God's Spirit, We know the Truth
"…as He is in the Light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ… [the Passover shed blood] …His own Son, cleanses us from all sin."
Think about that! Only those who are in the Church of the Firstborn or the firstfruits have this blessing. That's what Passover is all about.
Verse 8: "If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us. If we confess our own sins…" (vs 8-9). Notice he's saying we. He's including himself.
Didn't Paul write about 'the sin that so easily besets us' (Heb. 12). Didn't the Apostle James write about the temptations which come upon us so easily. All of these things are necessary for us to overcome.
Stop and think about it. How are you going to take the human mind, which is desperately wicked above all things and deceitful, and make that perfect?
Think about going to the junkyard and getting the worst smashed up car that was there. You go into the junkyard and you say, 'I want your worst smashed up car.' You look around and then get it. You say, 'I want to buy it.' What, you want to buy that? What for? 'I want to make it perfect.' He says, 'Why don't you go to a dealer and buy a new one?' No, I want to make that one perfect.
That's what God is doing to us. How do you take the mind that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and convert it? Of course, the final conversion doesn't come until the resurrection. So it's perfected. You do it piece by piece, a bit at a time. You overcome! Human nature wars against God's way and you war against it.
How many thoughts do you have to cast down a day? I don't know about you, but I've got plenty enough, that keeps me busy enough. Especially when we have all the things coming in on us, like television. I feel sorry for all those people on Facebook, and things like that.
Verse 9: "If we confess our own sins, He is faithful and righteous… [that takes a lot of faithfulness and righteousness] …to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The process of overcoming is the cleansing that comes with the Spirit of God.
That's why it is the cleansing that comes with the washing of the water by the Word! The Spirit of God and the Word of God together changes and converts our minds.
Verse 10: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us."
I had one who wrote me, 'I cannot sin.' I tried to tell him. He says, 'I cannot sin.' I wrote him back and I said that the very fact you're saying that shows you're sinning. He couldn't understand that.
John 13 covers about the foot-washing. Why do we wash feet, and it comes at the beginning, not at the end. That is a terrible mistranslation in the King James Version. Here is the lesson. This is what we are to learn. Remember He humbled Himself, gave up being God, left all of that behind to become a human being.
John 13:12: "Therefore, when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and had sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak rightly, because I am. Therefore, if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also are duty-bound to wash one another's feet'" (vs 12-14). That's why we do it. We have an obligation to do it!
I don't know about you, but the older you get, the more ugly your feet become. It's an amazing thing. Stop and think! Where was the statue of Nebuchadnezzar destroyed from? From the feet up! When your feet aren't working good—I can tell you the truth—it's difficult.
Verse 15: "For I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you…. [here's the lesson]: …Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor a messenger greater than he who sent him" (vs 15-16).
Anytime we put ourselves against the Word of God, we're declaring we're greater than God. Or we have something that we have written that's greater than the Bible. No! Isn't that a warning? Read the last few verses in Rev. 22.
Mark 14:22: "And as they were eating…" He had to have the Old Testament Passover to conclude that covenant. That covenant was concluded with His death (Rom. 7).
"…Jesus took bread… [people wonder if it was unleavened bread; yes it was] …and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to them, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And He said to them, 'This is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many'" (vs 22-24).
Every covenant has to have a blood sacrifice. That's why in Gen. 15 those three animals and passing between the parts: blood sacrifice. A covenant is made that you want to make, under the Old Covenant you had to have a sacrifice.
Christ gave His life in sacrifice for us and the sins of the whole world. What is our sacrifice? We don't draw a little blood on Passover night. Your sacrifice is greater than drawing a little blood. Let's read it.
Romans 6:1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE! We who died to sin…" (vs 1-2).
- How do you die?
- Would you not say that death is greater than shedding a little blood? Yes, indeed!
We'll show you what that death is.
"…how shall we live any longer therein? Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?" (vs 2-3).
You were buried under the water. That was a literal operation, but it was also symbolic of your death and the closest thing you will get to death, yet live. If you are under there for how long and not breathing, you're going to die.
But notice, it's even greater; v 4: "Therefore, we were buried with Him through the baptism into the death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death…" (vs 4-5).
That baptism puts you in the same category, grafting you into the death of Jesus Christ: conjoined. This is why Luke 14, you count the cost. It's something for the rest of your life. It's not something to take care of your conscience because you've been a bad boy or girl. It's not something to make up for what you did was wrong.
It is giving up your whole self to God, through the operation of baptism, exactly in the same way that Jesus gave up being God to save you! That's what the Passover is all about!
Scriptural References:
- John 3:16
- John 6:46-57
- John 14:6
- John 10:14-18
- Philippians 2:6-13
- Isaiah 53:1-12
- Isaiah 52:14-15
- Isaiah 50:6-8
- Luke 14:25-28, 33
- 1-John 1:1-10
- John 13:12-16
- Mark 14:22-24
- Romans 6:1-5
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Revelation 2, 3
- Genesis 3
- Exodus 12
- Daniel 11
- Leviticus 11
- Deuteronomy 14
- Psalm 40
- Hebrews 10
- John 1:1-3
- Luke 1
- Genesis 1
- Psalm 22
- Matthew 10
- Hebrews 12
- Revelation 22
- Romans 7
- Genesis 15
Also referenced:
DVD: Israel of the Alps produced by Seventh Day Adventists
Books:
- Romaunt Version of the Gospel According to John by Dr. William Stephen Gilly
- The Day Jesus the Christ Died by Fred R. Coulter
Sermon Series:
- God the Father Was Not the God of the Old Testament
- Why God Hates Religion
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 4-1-18
Formatted: bo—4/2/18
Copyright 2018—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.
