''And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself'' Luk.24:27
Why did Jesus begin with Moses ? Because here he fulfilled the Mosaic covenant ,''This cup is the new covenant in my blood'' Luk.22:20.... As Moses said ''This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.'' Ex.24:8
Again Jesus said to them "This is what I told you while I was with you:Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in Law of Moses ,the Prophets and the Psalms.'' Luk.24:44
For the first time God is making a covenant with an entire people,Where as before he made covenants with individuals:With Adam and his wife;Noah and his family and Abraham and his tribe.Notice too the progression; a married couple, a family ,a tribe and now a nation that will be a blessing to all the nations !
Now the start of Exodus is similar to the start of Matthew's Gospel: Herod tries to kill all Hebrew male children under the age of two;Pharaoh orders the midwives to kill all Hebrew male children;Jesus is saved by his parents and Moses is saved by his mother and sister. As Moses came out of Egypt,so too did Jesus come out of Egypt. Mat.2:14,20-21
''Out of Egypt I called my son.'' Mat.2:15
Look at what it says in Heb.3:2-6 ''He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house.Jesus has been found worthy of a greater honour than Moses,just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself.For every house is built by someone ,but God is the builder of everything.Moses was as a servant in all God's house,testifying what would be said in the future.But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house.And we are his house,if we hold on to our courage in which we boast.'' What it,s saying here is that Christ is superior to Moses or any religious system 'the builder of the house has more honour than the house itself ' Moses was a 'servant' of the house ,Jesus is the 'Son' of the house. In Deut.18:15 Moses testified saying ''The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.You MUST listen to him.''
Now Moses was called by God to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.He identifies himself as the "God of your father,the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob'' Ex.3:6 Remember what God said to Abraham in Gen.15:13-15? Now God is going to fulfill his promise to Abraham and make his descendants into a great nation!
God describes Israel as His ''first born Son'' Ex.4:22, but not his only son but the first of many which is what he promised to Abraham Gen.15:5.Now as Pharaoh mocks Moses's God ,God in turn mocks the gods of the Egyptians;this is what the ten plagues were about:
'Hapi' the nile god is plagued by blood, Heket the god of frogs is plagued by frogs,Apis the bull god and Hathor the cow goddess were afflicted by the plague on livestock, the sun god is plagued by darkness and finally the plague of the first born was seen as a judgement on Pharaoh who was seen as a 'god' and his son as 'divine', but Israel's first born were 'passed over'.
Now this 'passover' points us to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We already established Moses as a 'type of Christ who was to come' Heb.3:5 But now we will look at the passover;the first born of Israel were saved by an unblemished lamb with it,s blood 'on the sides and tops of door frames of the houses where they will eat the lamb'. Ex.12:7 and :13 ''The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are;and when I see the blood,I will pass over you''. John 1:29 ''Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'' In 1cor.5:7 it says ....''for Christ our passover has been sacrificed'' 1pete 1:18 says ''For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed ....but with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect''. See also Ex.12:5. Now the Israelites were required to keep the passover celebration as a feast annually to be eaten with unleavened bread. ''Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread,called the Passover,was approaching.....then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed'' Luk.22:1,7.
And He took bread ,gave thanks and broke it,and gave it to them saying ''This is my Body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.'' In the same way after supper he took the cup saying "This Cup is the New covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'' Luk.22:19-20 And look at what it says in Heb.9:22 Indeed according to Law of Moses almost everything is purified by blood, and sins are forgiven ONLY if blood is poured out. And in Lev.17:11 it says ''For the life of the flesh is in the blood,and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's sin.'' Now notice in John 19:14 ''It was the preparation day for passover week,about noon.And Pilate said to the Jews behold your king'' This was the exact time when Israel's priests were to slaughter the lambs for the sacrifice.....''He was led like a lamb to the slaughter...'' Is.53:7 Now the Israelites have been delivered from Egypt and are on their way to the promised land,but must pass through the Red Sea first. The passing of the Red Sea is a prefigure of baptism ''They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and sea''. 1cor.10:2 .Now a month later the Israelites complained for food while in the desert and God said ''I will rain down bread from heaven for you'' and they called it 'manna' which means 'what is it' ? Ex.16:4,15.In john 6:48-51 "Jesus says I am the Bread of life.Your forefathers ate manna in the desert yet they died. But here is bread that comes down from heaven,which one may of it and not die. I am the living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread he will live forever.This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world''. What kind of statement is this? 'Eat my flesh' sounds a lot like Ex.12:8...''they shall eat the flesh (of the lamb) that night,roasted with unleavened bread.'' Again Jesus said ''For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me,and I in him.This is the bread that came down from heaven.Your forefathers ate manna and died,but he who eats this bread will forever.'' John 6:55-59 Which sounds a lot like the Eucharist 'Take and eat;this my Body' Matt.26:26 Then he took the cup and said 'Drink from it all of you,this is my blood' Matt.26:27.We now have everlasting life thanks to his self offering on the cross. "Worthy is the Lamb,who was slain,to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!'' Rev5:12
Finally let,s once again compare Matthew's Gospel with the Exodus .First Jesus was baptized,just like the Israelites passed through the Red Sea,mat.3:16,ex.13:18;then Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness,just like the Israelites did mat.4:1;Jesus then overcame the three temptations that Israel fell into,mat.4:3-10,1 cor.10:1-10.And as Moses received the Ten commandments on a mountain,so too does Jesus go up on a mountainside to 'fulfill' the law. The Law was given by Moses;grace and truth came by Jesus Christ John 1:17.The ten commandments were a preparation for the gospel foretold by the prophet Jeremiah 31:33 ''The time is coming when I will make a new covenant......it will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers.....at that time I will put my Law in their minds and write it on their hearts, I will be their God and they will be my people.''
Next time I will discuss King David.
Why did Jesus begin with Moses ? Because here he fulfilled the Mosaic covenant ,''This cup is the new covenant in my blood'' Luk.22:20.... As Moses said ''This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.'' Ex.24:8
Again Jesus said to them "This is what I told you while I was with you:Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in Law of Moses ,the Prophets and the Psalms.'' Luk.24:44
For the first time God is making a covenant with an entire people,Where as before he made covenants with individuals:With Adam and his wife;Noah and his family and Abraham and his tribe.Notice too the progression; a married couple, a family ,a tribe and now a nation that will be a blessing to all the nations !
Now the start of Exodus is similar to the start of Matthew's Gospel: Herod tries to kill all Hebrew male children under the age of two;Pharaoh orders the midwives to kill all Hebrew male children;Jesus is saved by his parents and Moses is saved by his mother and sister. As Moses came out of Egypt,so too did Jesus come out of Egypt. Mat.2:14,20-21
''Out of Egypt I called my son.'' Mat.2:15
Look at what it says in Heb.3:2-6 ''He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house.Jesus has been found worthy of a greater honour than Moses,just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself.For every house is built by someone ,but God is the builder of everything.Moses was as a servant in all God's house,testifying what would be said in the future.But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house.And we are his house,if we hold on to our courage in which we boast.'' What it,s saying here is that Christ is superior to Moses or any religious system 'the builder of the house has more honour than the house itself ' Moses was a 'servant' of the house ,Jesus is the 'Son' of the house. In Deut.18:15 Moses testified saying ''The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers.You MUST listen to him.''
Now Moses was called by God to deliver the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.He identifies himself as the "God of your father,the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob'' Ex.3:6 Remember what God said to Abraham in Gen.15:13-15? Now God is going to fulfill his promise to Abraham and make his descendants into a great nation!
God describes Israel as His ''first born Son'' Ex.4:22, but not his only son but the first of many which is what he promised to Abraham Gen.15:5.Now as Pharaoh mocks Moses's God ,God in turn mocks the gods of the Egyptians;this is what the ten plagues were about:
'Hapi' the nile god is plagued by blood, Heket the god of frogs is plagued by frogs,Apis the bull god and Hathor the cow goddess were afflicted by the plague on livestock, the sun god is plagued by darkness and finally the plague of the first born was seen as a judgement on Pharaoh who was seen as a 'god' and his son as 'divine', but Israel's first born were 'passed over'.
Now this 'passover' points us to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We already established Moses as a 'type of Christ who was to come' Heb.3:5 But now we will look at the passover;the first born of Israel were saved by an unblemished lamb with it,s blood 'on the sides and tops of door frames of the houses where they will eat the lamb'. Ex.12:7 and :13 ''The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are;and when I see the blood,I will pass over you''. John 1:29 ''Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'' In 1cor.5:7 it says ....''for Christ our passover has been sacrificed'' 1pete 1:18 says ''For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed ....but with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect''. See also Ex.12:5. Now the Israelites were required to keep the passover celebration as a feast annually to be eaten with unleavened bread. ''Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread,called the Passover,was approaching.....then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed'' Luk.22:1,7.
And He took bread ,gave thanks and broke it,and gave it to them saying ''This is my Body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.'' In the same way after supper he took the cup saying "This Cup is the New covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'' Luk.22:19-20 And look at what it says in Heb.9:22 Indeed according to Law of Moses almost everything is purified by blood, and sins are forgiven ONLY if blood is poured out. And in Lev.17:11 it says ''For the life of the flesh is in the blood,and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's sin.'' Now notice in John 19:14 ''It was the preparation day for passover week,about noon.And Pilate said to the Jews behold your king'' This was the exact time when Israel's priests were to slaughter the lambs for the sacrifice.....''He was led like a lamb to the slaughter...'' Is.53:7 Now the Israelites have been delivered from Egypt and are on their way to the promised land,but must pass through the Red Sea first. The passing of the Red Sea is a prefigure of baptism ''They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and sea''. 1cor.10:2 .Now a month later the Israelites complained for food while in the desert and God said ''I will rain down bread from heaven for you'' and they called it 'manna' which means 'what is it' ? Ex.16:4,15.In john 6:48-51 "Jesus says I am the Bread of life.Your forefathers ate manna in the desert yet they died. But here is bread that comes down from heaven,which one may of it and not die. I am the living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread he will live forever.This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world''. What kind of statement is this? 'Eat my flesh' sounds a lot like Ex.12:8...''they shall eat the flesh (of the lamb) that night,roasted with unleavened bread.'' Again Jesus said ''For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me,and I in him.This is the bread that came down from heaven.Your forefathers ate manna and died,but he who eats this bread will forever.'' John 6:55-59 Which sounds a lot like the Eucharist 'Take and eat;this my Body' Matt.26:26 Then he took the cup and said 'Drink from it all of you,this is my blood' Matt.26:27.We now have everlasting life thanks to his self offering on the cross. "Worthy is the Lamb,who was slain,to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!'' Rev5:12
Finally let,s once again compare Matthew's Gospel with the Exodus .First Jesus was baptized,just like the Israelites passed through the Red Sea,mat.3:16,ex.13:18;then Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness,just like the Israelites did mat.4:1;Jesus then overcame the three temptations that Israel fell into,mat.4:3-10,1 cor.10:1-10.And as Moses received the Ten commandments on a mountain,so too does Jesus go up on a mountainside to 'fulfill' the law. The Law was given by Moses;grace and truth came by Jesus Christ John 1:17.The ten commandments were a preparation for the gospel foretold by the prophet Jeremiah 31:33 ''The time is coming when I will make a new covenant......it will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers.....at that time I will put my Law in their minds and write it on their hearts, I will be their God and they will be my people.''
Next time I will discuss King David.
No comments:
Post a Comment