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Passover to Tabernacles - Part Thirty Seven

Sep 04, 2022 by: John Herbert | Series: Passover to Tabernacles

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Mt 27:25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

We will continue to look at God's provision for the Jewish people in the light of this statement.

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Sunday September 4th 2022
Passover to Tabernacles
Part 37

1). Ge 9:5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.

We had seen last time the mandate that God had given to Noah and his sons as they left the ark following the flood. And simply put, God had said that the person who killed another was to pay for that death with his own life.
	a). This mandate was given to Noah and his sons some eight-hundred years before it was repeated to Moses as part of the Law. And as this mandate pre-dates the Law it remains in effect even today. God still requires, irrespective of man’s thoughts on the matter, that a capital crime be paid for with a capital punishment.
	b). Now, if we take God’s requirement and apply it to the nation of Israel, God’s wayward firstborn son, then we will realize that Israel the nation is guilty of the death of her Messiah, as we had seen last time –
Mt 27:25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

And according to God’s mandate, this would have to be paid for blood for blood, by the life of the nation, the nation would have to perish.
	c). However, when the mandate given to Noah and his sons was also repeated to Moses as part of the Law, something was then added to it – 
Ex 21:12 “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

For the man who unintentionally killed another, mercy was to be shown. And the details for this are provided in Numbers Chapter 35 –
Nu 35:9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. 12 They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. 13 And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge. 14 You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

Six cities of refuge were established, with three in the land of Canaan and three on the other side of the Jordan River so that every Jew had a city close enough to which they could flee if they accidently killed another. And we will note that this provision was not just for the Children of Israel but also for the stranger and the sojourner among them – Nu 35:16 “But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. 20 If he pushes him out of hatred or, while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, 21 or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

There was then a distinction to be made between an intentional, premeditated, murder and unintentional manslaughter committed in ignorance.
	d). The one who was to put the murderer to death was called ‘the avenger of blood’ and would have been a close relative, a near kinsman, of the one killed. The responsibility for avenging the one murdered then, did not belong to the state but to the family of the one slain – 
Nu 35:22 “However, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, 23 or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, 24 then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. 25 So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, 28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

There was then to be a judgment made as to whether the manslayer was a murderer, and if he was found to be so by the testimony of two or more witnesses, he would be handed over to the avenger of blood to be killed. But if the manslayer was found to have killed unintentionally, in ignorance, then he would have protection in the city of refuge all the while he remained in that city. And once the high priest had died, he could leave the city of refuge and return to the land of his possession, his inheritance, with impunity once a ‘ransom’ had been paid – Nu 35:29 ‘And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 30 Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. 31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. 32 And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. 33 So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 34 Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”

There are several things we will want to note here. Firstly, we see that a ‘ransom’ was to be given, for the one now able to return to the land of his possession. Rather than paying for the life of the person he killed with his own life, a price would be paid instead. The word ‘ransom’ is a word that means to cover, to remove from sight, to atone.
	e). There was no ‘ransom’, no atonement, for the murderer, but for the one who killed unintentionally or in ignorance there was. And once the price was paid, the previous unintentional killing could not come into view again, it was covered, atonement had been made. And the land of his possession that had previously been cut off from him, because of the death of another, was now in his possession once again.
	f). We will also note and keep v33 in mind for a later date - 33 So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

2). So, what does this have to do with Israel present and future? Absolutely everything, as God has Divinely orchestrated the type in Numbers Chapter 35 with a view to national Israel at the end of the tribulation.
	a). Now, we have already seen today that national Israel, God’s firstborn son, is guilty of the blood of her Messiah, just as was set out through the type of Cain and Abel. But there again, the Passover Lamb had been given to Israel to slay. No one else could slay the Lamb and Israel had to slay the Lamb, otherwise the restoration of the ruined creation in Genesis Chapter 1 could not have taken place.
	b). The Lamb had to be slain and yet, according to Matthew 27:25 the Jews are guilty of the blood of Messiah.
	c). Which leaves us with the obvious question did they commit intentional murder or was Jesus’s death unintentional? How do we reconcile all of this?
	d). As always, we don’t have to guess and we don’t have to come up with our own ideas, we just need to follow the Scriptures. And to begin with, let’s look at how Jesus described His impending crucifixion to Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 - Jn 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up……..

Let’s make sure we pay attention to what the Lord said. Who did He say was to be lifted-up? The Son of Man. This is a Messianic title that has to do with regality and rulership – Jn 1:11 He came to His own, [His own things. The throne of David as promised in 2 Samuel Chapter 7] and His own [people – the Jews. Remember He was born King of the Jews] did not receive Him.

There is no mention in the conversation with Nicodemus of Jesus as the Paschal Lamb. Nor is there mention of Him in that capacity in other places where His crucifixion is referenced – Mt 20:18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”………………… 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Nor was it there in the familiar verses concerning His identity in – 
Mt 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

First, notice how Jesus refers to Himself, ‘the Son of Man’, again the Messianic title. And then notice the disciples’ answer to His question, ‘some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ No one was saying that Jesus was the Lamb of God, even though John the Baptist had identified Him as such on two occasions. And this is not surprising because Jesus had come to a nation who was already eternally saved through the yearly sacrifice of the Passover lambs. Jesus did not come to die as the Passover Lamb for that generation so that they could be saved. There was no need, as they were already saved. But there will be a generation coming out of the tribulation who will need to be saved and subsequently a nation that will need to be cleansed because of their contact with the dead body of their Messiah.
	e). In addition to this, within the seven day structure presented in John Chapters 1 + 2, John the Baptist’s declaration that Jesus was ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’, was made on the second of the seven days, not the first, and therefore had nothing to do with the eternal aspect of salvation, which had already been seen in – Jn 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John’s declaration concerning Jesus had to do with matters beyond eternal salvation, matters to do with regality and rulership, matters to do with cleansing and atonement for the Jews only.
f). To go back to the verses from Matthew Chapter 16, we also have Peter’s answer, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Again, the reference is to Sonship, to rulership, to regality.
	g). All of this is to point out that Jesus was neither perceived to be or understood to be, ‘the Lamb of God.’ This had not entered the Jewish thinking at the time, not even into His disciples’ thinking, for the reasons we have just looked at.
	h). In other words, Jesus was not known to the Jewish people as the Lamb of God. Nonetheless, this was exactly who He was at the time of His crucifixion for that future generation of unsaved Jews who will look upon the One whom they pierced and appropriate the blood, resulting in their salvation, with the subsequent taking away of the sin of the nation with the same blood to follow. We will return to this later.
	i). Let’s now add to these things what Jesus Himself said at His crucifixion – Lk 23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

The Jewish people didn’t know that they were killing their Paschal Lamb. And then add to this what Peter said to the Jewish people following the healing of the man at the Beautiful Gate – Acts 3:11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

That which Jesus had said at the time of His crucifixion was repeated following His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, by Peter, ‘I know that you did it in ignorance, as did your rulers.’
	j). The Jewish people then, had fulfilled the mandate given to them to kill their Passover Lamb at twilight but at the same time had done it in ignorance allowing them to avail themselves of the provision for the unintentional killing of another set out in the type in Numbers Chapter 35.
And in addition to this, let’s remember what Peter had said in Acts Chapter 2 – Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death…..

Pay particular attention to v23, and with this in mind look again at two verses we had read earlier - Ex 21:12 “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

3). Eze 12:15 “Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.

There will of course be no cities of refuge to which the entire Jewish nation would flee during the tribulation. But what have we seen repeatedly in our previous weeks of study? The place where the Jewish nation will be preserved is out among the nations. The very thing that is established in the foundation through the type of Noah and his family coming safely through the worldwide flood.
	a). Within the antitype of the cities of refuge in Numbers Chapter 35, it will be among the Gentile nations that national Israel will find refuge. They must leave the land of their possession and flee for refuge, as in the type, if their national life is to be spared – Lk 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

It is the disobedient remnant of Jews occupying the land of Israel today who are the subject of the verses in Luke Chapter 21 and verses we have previously looked at in - Mt 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

And perhaps we will comprehend even more clearly why the Jewish people must be forced out into the Gentile nations, as we understand the type of the cities of refuge. National Israel cannot be preserved apart from being out among the nations, in the place of refuge.
	b). And perhaps through following the type in Numbers Chapter 35, we will also understand more clearly why the remnant of Jews returning to the land since 1948 cannot have any connection with the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the nation’s return. Because, according to Numbers Chapter 35, it was not possible for the one who unintentionally killed another to return to the land of his possession until after the death of the high priest and after the payment of the ‘ransom.’
	c). The antitype of the death of the high priest in Numbers is seen through the termination of the Lord’s present High Priestly ministry on behalf of the eternally saved of this dispensation and those saved during the tribulation.
	d). And as we will remember from last time, the Lord’s High Priestly ministry will terminate at the end of the tribulation, following Israel’s repentance, when He will return to the earth through an opened heaven as the great King/Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And at that time national Israel must avail herself of the ‘ransom’ and be cleansed from their contact with the dead body of their Messiah.
	e). The ‘ransom’ price for national Israel has already been paid through Christ’s death and shed blood. Perhaps we will remember a verse from earlier today – Mt 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

But for the previously paid ransom to be availed, the Jews at the end of the tribulation must first look on the One whom they pierced, and their eyes must be opened from their present spiritual blindness. The blood of the Lamb slain over two-thousand years before must be appropriated, they must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, enabling them to confess, as Peter did, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
	f). This of course will fulfill the feast of Passover which has been set in the foundational type in Exodus Chapter 12 – Ex 12:6 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…………..17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. 18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.

And inextricably connected to Passover, immediately following the death of the lamb, was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was during this Feast that all leaven was to be put out of the house. And if we take this to the antitype following the tribulation, the appropriation of the blood through the recognition of who Jesus is, will reveal the nation’s generational sin of unbelief and harlotry and defilement through contact with the dead body of the nation’s Messiah. In effect then, the whole ‘House’ of Israel at that time will be completely leavened. And this leaven must be put out of the ‘House.’
	g). It will be the recognition and confession of this sin, with the Jewish people who survive the tribulation then distancing themselves from it, that will fulfill the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the first part of a two-stage cleansing process that will be brought to completion through the fulfillment of the sixth of the seven feasts given to Israel, the Day of Atonement – Le 16:34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.” And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

In the type, the priest was to take animal blood to place upon the Mercy Seat to make atonement ‘for all their sins’. And the word translated atonement here is the word from which the word translated ‘ransom’ is derived that we have seen in Numbers Chapter 35.
	h). And from the verses in Leviticus Chapter 16 we see that atonement was to be made by the priest every year. In the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement this will happen once, for all time. Atonement will be made ‘for all their sins’ and it will be made by the blood on the Mercy Seat of the Lamb of God slain at Calvary, fulfilling that declared by John the Baptist recorded in John 1:29. This is the ‘ransom’ price that has been paid for the firstborn son who unintentionally killed another; the means of cleansing from contact with the dead body of Messiah.
	i). But as we know from last time, for Jesus to act in this capacity there must be a change in the priesthood as Jesus has come from the tribe of Judah, not Levi. And for a change in the priesthood to be possible, there must first be a change in the Law, there must be a new covenant – 
Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.

Jer 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Mt 26:27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

We will continue with this next time, if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

Passover to Tabernacles - Part Thirty Seven

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Passover to Tabernacles - Part Thirty Seven

Sep 04, 2022

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: Passover to Tabernacles

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon