The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Thirteen - B Nov 25, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T004_20181125.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 1 Cor 5:7b ……..For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. We will continue today to look at matters surrounding the eternal aspect of our redemption. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button Sunday November 25th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 13B ‘What Must I Do To Be Saved?’ 1). Gen 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Gen 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion………..31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. At the very beginning of His revelation to Man God set out very clearly His redemptive purpose and the process by which that purpose is to be accomplished. a). At some point following the ruin of God’s creation brought about by Satan’s rebellion God acts in a redemptive capacity to restore the ruined creation specifically for the being He would create on the 6th Day – Man. b). And the purpose for God’s act of redemption is for the Man and the Woman to rule together over the restored creation in the 7th Day in the place of Satan and his angels. c). And as we look at God’s redemptive process in the first Chapter of Genesis it becomes very obvious that the process begins with light shining out of the darkness on Day 1 but the process is not completed until the Man and the Woman are created in the image and likeness of God on Day 6 with a view to rulership on Day 7. d). There was then an initial Sovereign act of the Triune God, bringing light where there was only darkness, followed by a continuing work on their part which ultimately brought the Man and the Woman to the cusp of the 7th Day. e). And in these six days in Genesis Chapter 1 is contained the foundational picture of God’s redemptive purpose and process with respect to fallen Man also – It has always been God’s intention that human beings would rule in the place of Satan in this one province of God’s universal Kingdom in the 7th Day and the means by which He would work with fallen Man to accomplish this is foreshadowed in the six days of work. f). And having been set at the beginning, in foundation, it is a purpose and process that can never change. 2). Last time we had begun to look at that foreshadowed by Day 1 in the Genesis account – Joh 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The Apostle John began his Gospel at the very same place that Moses began in Genesis, and in John we find commentary on that which Moses wrote, where we see the Lord Jesus at the heart of God’s redemptive process. a). In v4 we see that in our Lord ‘was life’ and that the life in Him ‘was the light of men’, teaching us that the life we have through Christ is to be equated with the light as seen on Genesis Day 1. b). And this light which is our life is not a reference to our natural, procreated existence but the spiritual life that is brought forth from above at our new birth, at the moment of our eternal salvation – 2 Cor 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And in this verse from 2 Corinthians we see the initial shining of the light out of darkness which would take us to Day 1 in Genesis, with a continuing work by the One who gave us that light to give us additional light, pointing to additional life surrounding the knowledge of the glory of God, taking us to the outcome of Days 2-6 in Genesis. c). The light on Day 1 then, equates with eternal salvation, the impartation of spiritual life to the one who previously found himself in a place of spiritual death. And this impartation of spiritual life can also be seen from another perspective in another type in foundation – Gen 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. God formed the Man from the dust of the ground, but it is not until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life that the Man became a living being. And here again is foundational truth. d). We were all procreated and had physical life, but although we had physical life, with respect to God’s purpose for us, we remained in a place of death, as lifeless as the newly formed Adam – Eph 2: 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, It was not until we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God breathed into us His breath, His Spirit, that we had spiritual life and the light shone in the darkness. e). And once we had spiritual life, we had the ability to understand that characterized by the light - the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world and His coming Kingdom, the Word which is a lamp to our feet, but as in the Genesis account the darkness that once filled us still remains and will always remain completely alienated from that which is light. f). We were all procreated in the likeness of Adam, no longer in the likeness of God. And this would be the likeness of Adam immediately following the Fall – separated from God’s purpose in a place of spiritual death, with an ‘old man’, our soul, who is inescapably sinful and a naked body, given to corruption - Gen 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. g). However, for God’s redemptive purpose for us to be brought to completion we must again be in the image and likeness of God as Adam and the Woman were at the time of their creation, necessitating our complete redemption spirit, soul and body. h). And this process begins for us in the same place it began for Adam and Eve – death and shed blood – Gen 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 3). And we had seen last time the expanding revelation God has given us through His Word with respect to death and shed blood in relation to the beginning of our redemption. a). And the Lord’s revelation to us with respect to this began, as we see from Genesis 3:21 with the death and shed blood of innocent animals, whose own covering, skin, was used to cover the now naked Adam and Eve. And in the same way the Lord covered us with His own covering of righteousness through His death on the cross – 2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. b). By comparing scripture with scripture, we know that there is a just recompense of reward for sin as there is for righteousness – Rom 6:23a For the wages of sin is death……… And from God’s perspective the innocent animals who died and shed their blood received the wages of sin on Adam and Eve’s behalf. The sentence of death was on Adam and his wife, but God accepted the death and shed blood of the animals in their stead. c). But again, from God’s perspective, He saw Adam and his wife as having died, He saw them as having paid the price for sin and His righteousness was satisfied. Their nakedness was now covered, not in the way it had been covered before the fall, but covered nonetheless as they had received the free gift of eternal life – Rom 6:23b …..but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. d). Then to this foundational picture we added the account of Cain and Abel where we saw a man, Abel, whose sacrifice was accepted by God with Abel himself being killed by his brother, Cain. e). All of which provided us with a type for the Lord’s death, as the Lamb of God, the accepted sacrifice, by the hand of His brother, Israel– Gen 4:10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. Heb 12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. f). And from Cain and Abel we then added to the picture from the account of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac – Gen 22:2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Again, we saw an offering for sin, a burnt offering, that would be acceptable to God, but on this occasion rather than a brother and a brother, we see a father who is to offer his only son whom he loves picturing the event some 2000 years later when another Father would offer His only begotten Son, whom He loves on the same mountain. Gen 22:13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. God would Himself provide the sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God, on the same mountain, who would die as a substitute for all who would believe on Him. And just as with the animals in Genesis Chapter 3 God would accept the death of His Son as payment for the wages of sin and count it as if the individual who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ had himself died – God’s righteousness being satisfied – Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. 4). Now, there are 2 more parts that we can add to this progressive revelation, the first of which we will find in Exodus Chapter 12 – Ex 12:3 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. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. The Children of Israel we will remember were in bondage in Egypt completely unable to redeem themselves from the tyranny of Pharaoh – giving us another picture of our own condition within the kingdom of Satan before our eternal salvation. a). Although unable to do anything to help themselves God made a Divine intervention their behalf and following that which we have previously seen with Abel and Isaac lambs were provided to die in Israel’s stead. b). And we see from the verses that we read in Exodus Chapter 12 that not only must the lamb be killed but its blood had to be applied to the 2 door posts and the lintel of the house of each family. c). The lamb had to die, and the blood had to be properly applied – and this is another unchangeable process that we participated in and a process that still remains for anyone who would be eternally saved. And will apply to Israel with respect to the nation’s future beyond the Tribulation. d). From our own perspective – 1 Cor 5:7b ……..For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. The Lamb of God shed His blood at Calvary 2000 years ago, and His blood was applied in a figurative sense by us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. e). For Israel however, the Lamb of God has been slain but they have not yet applied the blood. But in that future day, at the end of the Tribulation, when they will look on the One whom they pierced, they will then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood will be applied fulfilling the Feast of Passover. Ex 12: 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 a sentence of death upon all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether man or beast, Jew or Egyptian – on this night of the first Passover every firstborn in the land of Egypt would die. f). As we see though God had provided a lamb for a household, to die a substitutionary death that He would accept in the place of the firstborn and this lamb was to be killed by the Jewish people alone. g). Now, the thing that made the difference on the night of Passover was not being a Jew or an Egyptian, but the blood – ‘when I see the blood’. h). Death was to take place in every house in Egypt, from that of Pharaoh to his servants and their flocks and as God passed over the land, He would look for one thing, the blood. If He saw the blood, He knew that the death of the firstborn had already taken place in that house and He would ‘pass over’. i). However, if He didn’t see the blood then He would know that death hadn’t taken place and therefore the firstborn in that house would have to die. j). If any Egyptian wanted to be saved that night they would have had to go to the Jews – Joh 4:2b……..for salvation is of the Jews. To partake of that which God had provided – Jon 2: 9b………Salvation is of the Lord.” And had any Jewish household not applied the blood then the firstborn in that house would have had to die that night. It is the blood and the blood alone that made the difference. k). And from our own perspective it remains exactly the same – God looked for the blood. And having seen the blood He would pass over us accepting the death and shed blood of His Son in our place. l). And understanding that it is the blood alone that makes the difference is helpful to us in our understanding of eternal salvation and the simplicity of it. m). On that night of the first Passover God did not look beyond the blood to see what was going on in each Jewish house that night, nor did He look to see how each household was behaving the following day. n). He saw the blood and passed over and His firstborn son, Israel, was delivered from the kingdom of Pharaoh – 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. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” And that which is set through the type of the Passover remains true for all time – as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so we apply the blood of our Passover Lamb. God sees the blood and is satisfied and that is the end of the matter and we are delivered from the power of darkness. o). With respect to our eternal salvation God has seen the blood of His Son and that is all He needs to see and He doesn’t need to keep checking if the blood is still there because the efficacy of the blood of Christ can never diminish – Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. p). The death of the firstborn in Egypt the night of Passover not only had to do with Israel’s deliverance from the kingdom of Pharaoh, but most significantly the change of rulership that this deliverance portended. 5). Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. The firstborn has the status of ruler with respect to the earth and Man, and God’s declaration to Pharaoh makes clear that it is His son, Israel who is to rule, not the Assyrian Pharaoh, who we could see as the ‘son’ of Satan, providing the link back to the purpose for the creation of Man in Genesis Chapter 1. And with the death of Israel as God’s firstborn son that night we see a complete separation, a division, between Israel, the firstborn son now in resurrection, the one into whom God breathed the breath of life, and the present world system under Satan – the division between the light and the darkness. a). It would be Israel, God’s firstborn son in resurrection who would have an inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – foreshadowed in Exodus with its conclusion yet future at the end of the Tribulation also seen in the antitype of the resurrection of Lazarus. b). And it is God’s only begotten firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in resurrection who will take the crown from Satan’s head and establish His Kingdom in the 7th Day. c). And for ourselves it is only the new man, the man separated from the place of death, the one having spiritual life who is being transformed into the image of Christ who will find an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ – Gal 4: 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. d). Then in that coming Day, because of the death of the firstborn and the application of the blood of the Lamb there will be 3 firstborn sons in resurrection who will rule in the Millennial Kingdom. 6). And now the final part to our picture – Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Contextually, the reference to Moses lifting up the bronze serpent on a pole so that whoever looked at the bronze serpent would live has to do with things beyond the death of the Passover lambs in Egypt. a). However, we cannot escape the picture the Lord gives of His crucifixion, ‘so must the Son of Man be lifted up’. b). And not only does His crucifixion provide the method by which His death and shed blood are brought to pass, providing for our Genesis Day 1 experience, but also the means by which the Lord’s continuing work of redemption is to be accomplished, providing the experience of Days 2-6 – 1 Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. So, to summarize where have been in the last 2 weeks with respect to eternal salvation as seen in Genesis Day 1 – we began in Genesis Chapter 3 with the death and shed blood of innocent animals as the price paid and accepted by God for Adam and Eve’s sin. c). In Genesis Chapter 4 we again saw death and shed blood and sacrifice this time in connection with a brother killing a brother. d). To this we added the death of a son by his father through a substitutionary sacrifice. e). And then the Passover lambs with respect to deliverance, rulership and the overthrow of Gentile world power. f). All of which have brought us to the Christ being lifted up on the cross of Calvary – the Son offered by His Father, killed by His brother, the Passover Lamb, whose death and shed blood has made possible eternal salvation and has opened the door for the completion of God’s redemptive work in us, to bring us in that future day to the place where we will be in the image and likeness of God, just as Adam and the Woman in the beginning, that we might have dominion in the 7th Day. The detail of days 2-6 will have to wait for another day though – if the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Thirteen - B Nov 25, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T004_20181125.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 1 Cor 5:7b ……..For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. We will continue today to look at matters surrounding the eternal aspect of our redemption. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button Sunday November 25th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 13B ‘What Must I Do To Be Saved?’ 1). Gen 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Gen 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion………..31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. At the very beginning of His revelation to Man God set out very clearly His redemptive purpose and the process by which that purpose is to be accomplished. a). At some point following the ruin of God’s creation brought about by Satan’s rebellion God acts in a redemptive capacity to restore the ruined creation specifically for the being He would create on the 6th Day – Man. b). And the purpose for God’s act of redemption is for the Man and the Woman to rule together over the restored creation in the 7th Day in the place of Satan and his angels. c). And as we look at God’s redemptive process in the first Chapter of Genesis it becomes very obvious that the process begins with light shining out of the darkness on Day 1 but the process is not completed until the Man and the Woman are created in the image and likeness of God on Day 6 with a view to rulership on Day 7. d). There was then an initial Sovereign act of the Triune God, bringing light where there was only darkness, followed by a continuing work on their part which ultimately brought the Man and the Woman to the cusp of the 7th Day. e). And in these six days in Genesis Chapter 1 is contained the foundational picture of God’s redemptive purpose and process with respect to fallen Man also – It has always been God’s intention that human beings would rule in the place of Satan in this one province of God’s universal Kingdom in the 7th Day and the means by which He would work with fallen Man to accomplish this is foreshadowed in the six days of work. f). And having been set at the beginning, in foundation, it is a purpose and process that can never change. 2). Last time we had begun to look at that foreshadowed by Day 1 in the Genesis account – Joh 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The Apostle John began his Gospel at the very same place that Moses began in Genesis, and in John we find commentary on that which Moses wrote, where we see the Lord Jesus at the heart of God’s redemptive process. a). In v4 we see that in our Lord ‘was life’ and that the life in Him ‘was the light of men’, teaching us that the life we have through Christ is to be equated with the light as seen on Genesis Day 1. b). And this light which is our life is not a reference to our natural, procreated existence but the spiritual life that is brought forth from above at our new birth, at the moment of our eternal salvation – 2 Cor 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And in this verse from 2 Corinthians we see the initial shining of the light out of darkness which would take us to Day 1 in Genesis, with a continuing work by the One who gave us that light to give us additional light, pointing to additional life surrounding the knowledge of the glory of God, taking us to the outcome of Days 2-6 in Genesis. c). The light on Day 1 then, equates with eternal salvation, the impartation of spiritual life to the one who previously found himself in a place of spiritual death. And this impartation of spiritual life can also be seen from another perspective in another type in foundation – Gen 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. God formed the Man from the dust of the ground, but it is not until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life that the Man became a living being. And here again is foundational truth. d). We were all procreated and had physical life, but although we had physical life, with respect to God’s purpose for us, we remained in a place of death, as lifeless as the newly formed Adam – Eph 2: 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, It was not until we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God breathed into us His breath, His Spirit, that we had spiritual life and the light shone in the darkness. e). And once we had spiritual life, we had the ability to understand that characterized by the light - the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world and His coming Kingdom, the Word which is a lamp to our feet, but as in the Genesis account the darkness that once filled us still remains and will always remain completely alienated from that which is light. f). We were all procreated in the likeness of Adam, no longer in the likeness of God. And this would be the likeness of Adam immediately following the Fall – separated from God’s purpose in a place of spiritual death, with an ‘old man’, our soul, who is inescapably sinful and a naked body, given to corruption - Gen 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. g). However, for God’s redemptive purpose for us to be brought to completion we must again be in the image and likeness of God as Adam and the Woman were at the time of their creation, necessitating our complete redemption spirit, soul and body. h). And this process begins for us in the same place it began for Adam and Eve – death and shed blood – Gen 3:21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 3). And we had seen last time the expanding revelation God has given us through His Word with respect to death and shed blood in relation to the beginning of our redemption. a). And the Lord’s revelation to us with respect to this began, as we see from Genesis 3:21 with the death and shed blood of innocent animals, whose own covering, skin, was used to cover the now naked Adam and Eve. And in the same way the Lord covered us with His own covering of righteousness through His death on the cross – 2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. b). By comparing scripture with scripture, we know that there is a just recompense of reward for sin as there is for righteousness – Rom 6:23a For the wages of sin is death……… And from God’s perspective the innocent animals who died and shed their blood received the wages of sin on Adam and Eve’s behalf. The sentence of death was on Adam and his wife, but God accepted the death and shed blood of the animals in their stead. c). But again, from God’s perspective, He saw Adam and his wife as having died, He saw them as having paid the price for sin and His righteousness was satisfied. Their nakedness was now covered, not in the way it had been covered before the fall, but covered nonetheless as they had received the free gift of eternal life – Rom 6:23b …..but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. d). Then to this foundational picture we added the account of Cain and Abel where we saw a man, Abel, whose sacrifice was accepted by God with Abel himself being killed by his brother, Cain. e). All of which provided us with a type for the Lord’s death, as the Lamb of God, the accepted sacrifice, by the hand of His brother, Israel– Gen 4:10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. Heb 12:24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. f). And from Cain and Abel we then added to the picture from the account of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac – Gen 22:2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Again, we saw an offering for sin, a burnt offering, that would be acceptable to God, but on this occasion rather than a brother and a brother, we see a father who is to offer his only son whom he loves picturing the event some 2000 years later when another Father would offer His only begotten Son, whom He loves on the same mountain. Gen 22:13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. God would Himself provide the sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God, on the same mountain, who would die as a substitute for all who would believe on Him. And just as with the animals in Genesis Chapter 3 God would accept the death of His Son as payment for the wages of sin and count it as if the individual who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ had himself died – God’s righteousness being satisfied – Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. 4). Now, there are 2 more parts that we can add to this progressive revelation, the first of which we will find in Exodus Chapter 12 – Ex 12:3 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. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. The Children of Israel we will remember were in bondage in Egypt completely unable to redeem themselves from the tyranny of Pharaoh – giving us another picture of our own condition within the kingdom of Satan before our eternal salvation. a). Although unable to do anything to help themselves God made a Divine intervention their behalf and following that which we have previously seen with Abel and Isaac lambs were provided to die in Israel’s stead. b). And we see from the verses that we read in Exodus Chapter 12 that not only must the lamb be killed but its blood had to be applied to the 2 door posts and the lintel of the house of each family. c). The lamb had to die, and the blood had to be properly applied – and this is another unchangeable process that we participated in and a process that still remains for anyone who would be eternally saved. And will apply to Israel with respect to the nation’s future beyond the Tribulation. d). From our own perspective – 1 Cor 5:7b ……..For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. The Lamb of God shed His blood at Calvary 2000 years ago, and His blood was applied in a figurative sense by us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. e). For Israel however, the Lamb of God has been slain but they have not yet applied the blood. But in that future day, at the end of the Tribulation, when they will look on the One whom they pierced, they will then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood will be applied fulfilling the Feast of Passover. Ex 12: 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 a sentence of death upon all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether man or beast, Jew or Egyptian – on this night of the first Passover every firstborn in the land of Egypt would die. f). As we see though God had provided a lamb for a household, to die a substitutionary death that He would accept in the place of the firstborn and this lamb was to be killed by the Jewish people alone. g). Now, the thing that made the difference on the night of Passover was not being a Jew or an Egyptian, but the blood – ‘when I see the blood’. h). Death was to take place in every house in Egypt, from that of Pharaoh to his servants and their flocks and as God passed over the land, He would look for one thing, the blood. If He saw the blood, He knew that the death of the firstborn had already taken place in that house and He would ‘pass over’. i). However, if He didn’t see the blood then He would know that death hadn’t taken place and therefore the firstborn in that house would have to die. j). If any Egyptian wanted to be saved that night they would have had to go to the Jews – Joh 4:2b……..for salvation is of the Jews. To partake of that which God had provided – Jon 2: 9b………Salvation is of the Lord.” And had any Jewish household not applied the blood then the firstborn in that house would have had to die that night. It is the blood and the blood alone that made the difference. k). And from our own perspective it remains exactly the same – God looked for the blood. And having seen the blood He would pass over us accepting the death and shed blood of His Son in our place. l). And understanding that it is the blood alone that makes the difference is helpful to us in our understanding of eternal salvation and the simplicity of it. m). On that night of the first Passover God did not look beyond the blood to see what was going on in each Jewish house that night, nor did He look to see how each household was behaving the following day. n). He saw the blood and passed over and His firstborn son, Israel, was delivered from the kingdom of Pharaoh – 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. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. 32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” And that which is set through the type of the Passover remains true for all time – as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so we apply the blood of our Passover Lamb. God sees the blood and is satisfied and that is the end of the matter and we are delivered from the power of darkness. o). With respect to our eternal salvation God has seen the blood of His Son and that is all He needs to see and He doesn’t need to keep checking if the blood is still there because the efficacy of the blood of Christ can never diminish – Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. p). The death of the firstborn in Egypt the night of Passover not only had to do with Israel’s deliverance from the kingdom of Pharaoh, but most significantly the change of rulership that this deliverance portended. 5). Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. The firstborn has the status of ruler with respect to the earth and Man, and God’s declaration to Pharaoh makes clear that it is His son, Israel who is to rule, not the Assyrian Pharaoh, who we could see as the ‘son’ of Satan, providing the link back to the purpose for the creation of Man in Genesis Chapter 1. And with the death of Israel as God’s firstborn son that night we see a complete separation, a division, between Israel, the firstborn son now in resurrection, the one into whom God breathed the breath of life, and the present world system under Satan – the division between the light and the darkness. a). It would be Israel, God’s firstborn son in resurrection who would have an inheritance in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – foreshadowed in Exodus with its conclusion yet future at the end of the Tribulation also seen in the antitype of the resurrection of Lazarus. b). And it is God’s only begotten firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in resurrection who will take the crown from Satan’s head and establish His Kingdom in the 7th Day. c). And for ourselves it is only the new man, the man separated from the place of death, the one having spiritual life who is being transformed into the image of Christ who will find an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ – Gal 4: 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. d). Then in that coming Day, because of the death of the firstborn and the application of the blood of the Lamb there will be 3 firstborn sons in resurrection who will rule in the Millennial Kingdom. 6). And now the final part to our picture – Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Contextually, the reference to Moses lifting up the bronze serpent on a pole so that whoever looked at the bronze serpent would live has to do with things beyond the death of the Passover lambs in Egypt. a). However, we cannot escape the picture the Lord gives of His crucifixion, ‘so must the Son of Man be lifted up’. b). And not only does His crucifixion provide the method by which His death and shed blood are brought to pass, providing for our Genesis Day 1 experience, but also the means by which the Lord’s continuing work of redemption is to be accomplished, providing the experience of Days 2-6 – 1 Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. So, to summarize where have been in the last 2 weeks with respect to eternal salvation as seen in Genesis Day 1 – we began in Genesis Chapter 3 with the death and shed blood of innocent animals as the price paid and accepted by God for Adam and Eve’s sin. c). In Genesis Chapter 4 we again saw death and shed blood and sacrifice this time in connection with a brother killing a brother. d). To this we added the death of a son by his father through a substitutionary sacrifice. e). And then the Passover lambs with respect to deliverance, rulership and the overthrow of Gentile world power. f). All of which have brought us to the Christ being lifted up on the cross of Calvary – the Son offered by His Father, killed by His brother, the Passover Lamb, whose death and shed blood has made possible eternal salvation and has opened the door for the completion of God’s redemptive work in us, to bring us in that future day to the place where we will be in the image and likeness of God, just as Adam and the Woman in the beginning, that we might have dominion in the 7th Day. The detail of days 2-6 will have to wait for another day though – if the Lord is willing.