Sabbath Thoughts For Your Week

Christ Our Passover -- Do We Believe?

For 325 years New Testament Christians celebrated in remembrance of Jesus Christ a special ceremony on the 14th day of Nisan corresponding to the Jewish Passover. After that time the Nicene Council met and decided to condemn this practice of observing the 14th of Nisan.  

In Exodus the people were instructed to pick a lamb of the first year and set it aside for the Passover sacrifice on the 10th day of Nisan,. I believe that Jesus was set aside for this on the 10th day of Nisan in the year He was crucified. The Jews were worried that if they didn’t do something about Jesus that His miracles would convince people of His teachings and that they would lose their whole way of life. "But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.’"(John 1147-52). From that time on they fixed their eyes on Him to sacrifice Him.

We are told that Jesus is our Passover (1Cor. 57). The idea of one man dying for the sins of the world was a stumbling block to the Jews because "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree."  How could this man take our sins when He was cursed, they argued.  It was foolishness to the Greeks and Romans (1Cor. 122-23).  Romans were admonished not even to talk about the cross or get near it because death by it was so horrible.  But to those of us who are called Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1Cor. 124).

I remember the often stated phrase that it is not enough to believe ON Christ, we have to BELIEVE Christ.  That is, we must believe what He said and what He taught.

Do you believe what He said? What He taught?

Let’s look at what He said. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 737-38).

Do we have to believe on Him, in Him? Why were the gospels written? "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (John 2031).

What were His claims? He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 1128-30).

He also said, "I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 635).

He said, "I am the light of the world he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 812). Further He said, "I am the resurrection, and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believest thou this?(John 1125-26).

He said that He was "the way, the truth and the life" (John 146). He said that the Scriptures of the Old Testament were written about Him and testified of Him. He said you had to come to Him to have eternal life (John 539-40).

He set the example for us of selfless service. He washed the disciples feet and gave Himself up to dying the most humiliating of all deaths a naked death on the Roman cross. See John 13: 1-17; Phil. 2: 5-9).

Judgment is in His hands! "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (John 5: 22). He then went on to say that all men should honor the Son and that by doing so, we would honor the Father who sent Him.

Read the passages of John 5: 22-27 and John 12: 44-48 and you will understand that to honor Him is to honor the Father. To see Him is to see the Father. To love Him is to love the Father. To believe in Him is to believe in the Father!!

Jesus told us that the judgment on the last day is based on our attitude and our treatment of Jesus Christ Himself! "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 10: 32-33). It is Jesus who in the judgment was able to say to some, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt. 7: 23). If Jesus doesn’t give you the "OK" you cannot enter God’s kingdom.

Our entrance will be based on how we treated or didn’t treat Him! See Matt. 25: 31-46. He said, "Inasmuch you did it (or didn’t do it) to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

We’ve heard a lot of the years about the Work of God. But here are Jesus’ words regarding that phrase "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29).

When you take the bread and the wine, will you believe? I often have wondered how many times people have sat in this solemn ceremony and really didn’t have faith or realize the awesome sacrifice of the blood and body of Jesus Christ!

Now that we know what Jesus said of Himself, we can understand why Phillip said to the Ethiopian eunuch regarding baptism, "If you believe with all your heart, you may.." (Acts 8: 36-37).

Perhaps now this heavily quoted passage will take on more meaning to us "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3: 16 NAS).

Belief in Him is not casual, not passive. It is an active living faith which brings about obedience (James 2: 18). But it is faith in Christ that transforms us into a new person in God’s sight in covenant with God -- a new covenant.

When you put the piece of bread into your mouth and when you drank the red wine, I hope you remembered these majestic words, "That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved" (Rom. 109).