For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 1 Cor. 5:7b
In the first Passover God exerted mighty acts of His power to deliver His nation, Israel, from bondage in Egypt. He was pointing to the ultimate deliverance that would come when Christ, our Passover Lamb, was slain at Calvary. In the Exodus from Egypt, the Passover blood was placed on every home. It was the blood of the Lamb applied to the lintels that protected Israel from judgment and made passage for them out of bondage and into communion and worship with God. What God did for Israel in Egypt, He has done for all in Christ. That is the power of the blood of Jesus. That is the glory of Calvary.
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
The finished work of the cross provides perfectly perfect redemption through the seven-fold shedding of the blood of Jesus. The High Priest would make atonement for the nation once a year by seven-fold sprinkling of blood in the Holy of Holies. Jesus sprinkled His blood in agony in the Garden as He prayed for us and Himself; from His face when they plucked out His beard; from His back when they beat Him with rods just as Micah said they would; from His brow when they pressed a crown of thorns into it; from His back when they lashed Him with a whip; from His hands and His feet when they nailed Him to the cross of humiliation, an execution reserved only for the lowest class of criminals or the highest treason; and finally from His side when a soldier pierced Him with a spear. The blood effectively ministers it effectiveness to those who believe. It “speaks” hour by hour (see Heb. 12:24).
With His last breath and last drop of blood, Jesus declared,“It is finished!” (John 19:30). Having completed His mission, Jesus our High Priest, spoke the words that the High Priest would declare every year at the ninth hour as he made atonement for the nation. In the Greek this declaration was a single word, tetelestai, which means completely, complete. This was not the cry of a vanquished victim. It was the Victor’s declaration that the work He came to do was accomplished. His blood made the way for “at-one-ment” that we might be restored to communion with God.
Salvation is not something we must earn or can earn. This “good news” is something God has done through the finished work of Christ and made it our own possession by the Spirit. We simply humble ourselves, believe like a little child and receive all this unmerited favor by faith. “And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). This series of phrases is thought to be an early hymn Paul was quoting or composed. In any case it is classical biblical poetry, using the same grammatical structure, rhythm and rhyme scheme in Greek as Hebrew Scripture does in order to make a lasting impression with what has been proclaimed.
Revealed! Vindicated (completely defended in the face of all criticism or censure), therefore, let all doubters naysayers and deniers shut their mouths in the face of this hard evidence! Proclaimed! Believed on! And taken up into, only to be coming again from, glory! Two verses earlier the Church is called the “support and mainstay of truth” in the world. It’s time to stand up and be counted. It’s time to let your voice be heard.
Before Christ’s death and resurrection, the secret of being pleasing to, acceptable for fellowship with God, on a permanent basis was not fully revealed. But now it has been made known. This knowledge of the truth has been entrusted to one people and one people only: the people of God—the people of the same Spirit through whom Christ offered himself as our Passover, the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead. We need light in the darkness. That light is revealed in the face of our Lord: “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). We need practical “religion” showing the way to know God and relate to Him for our own sake!
There is one thing necessary, the one thing altogether lovely: the one Person worthy of all our worship and praise and devotion and all glory, our all-sufficient Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. The whole Bible is about Christ only everywhere from “Let there be light” in Genesis to “the Spirit and the Bride say come…Amen!” in Revelation. The Old Testament announces His coming. The gospels lay out the historical account that took place in fulfillment. The apostles write about it in the epistles. It’s all about one simple, profound, glorious reality: Christ. The whole Christian life is nothing but Christ. It is Christ in me, Christ in you, Christ ready to move in and take up residence in the heart of every man who will open the door, Christ in us the hope of glory. This is what we celebrate at Easter.
It’s the full demonstration of the deliverance and salvation received by the Jews as God brought them out of Egypt during the first Pesach, Passover. Christ is our Passover. He has been sacrificed and because of that death, sin, its penalty, and everything evil has been judged and commanded by God to ultimately pass over the “houses” of all those persons and the families of those persons who claim the testimony of the blood that saves us. It’s the good news that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was raised on the third day, and that on the basis of His sacrifice for sin God has provided remittance of all sin, bestowed on us a condition of complete righteousness, the righteousness of His Perfect Son and Heir; justification, just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned, complete reunion and intimate access to our Father hour by hour and eternal life and glory to boot!
Jesus shed His precious blood sevenfold. He came down to us fully that he might lift us up to Him. He emptied himself, took the form of a servant, came in ordinary flesh as a man, humbled Himself in that form and became obedient to the Father’s pleasure when it meant cruel death as a criminal. Seven-fold humbling for our sakes and for the glory of the Father. And here’s the announcement of Sunday morning after: “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given a name above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in haven and things in earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:9-11).
All this a free gift provided by grace alone and received by faith alone in Christ alone. As the old song still sings: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness…His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay!” That’s the message of Easter.
Celebrate the gospel, Christ’s passion and resurrection this week. Tell a friend. Forgive somebody. Receive a resuscitating breath from the Holy Spirit. Shout it from your rooftop and wallow in God’s love. He died for the whole world. His exchange was completely complete. He has risen from the grave. And He is on the way!
