SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/19/2013 8:38 PM
Today’s
Spiritual Diary is going to be a bit different because of the lateness of the
hour and because I have discovered some things that I wish to add to the verses
that we looked at in the last Spiritual Diary, Mark 14:12-26.
I mentioned in yesterday’s Spiritual Diary that a mystery was cleared
up on how the Lord Jesus could eat the Passover meal with His disciples and
then die on the cross at 3:00 PM on Friday which is the exact time that the
Passover lambs were killed. I mentioned
that there were two different Passover celebrations, one on the 14th
and one on the 15th. John
MacArthur has this to say about this subject: “This takes place, as you know,
on Thursday night of Passion Week. It is in the Jewish calendar the fourteenth
of Nisan, year 30 A.D. And on that Thursday night is the Passover celebration
for all of the Galilean Jews. In the Galilee, they celebrated their Passover on
Thursday because they mark the Passover day from sunrise to sunrise. The Judean
Jews in the south celebrated their Passover on Friday because they marked the
Passover day from sunset to sunset. This difference we know from the writings
of the Jewish Mishnah which are the official documents concerning the conduct
of the Jews, and also from the history of Josephus. That’s important because
that allowed our Lord to celebrate the Passover on Thursday night for a lot of
critical reasons and still be the Passover on Friday, because they were two
authorized and legitimate celebrations.”
I also mentioned that
this would be the very last Passover, for after this the first Communion
service would begin, which is what the Church continues to celebrate to this
day. However Jesus stated that it was
His desire to celebrate this Passover with His disciples, and later stated that
He would not celebrate it again until He would do it in the Kingdom. What does this statement mean? The Kingdom will be the 1000 year reign which
will begin shortly after the end of the tribulation period in which Jesus Christ
will reign from His throne in Jerusalem for those thousand years. If you look at the book of Ezekiel, chapters
40-48 you will see how the worship will be in this period of time. There will be a new temple built and animal
sacrifices will again be offered by the people.
This practice along with the reinstallation of the Passover will look
back at what Jesus did on the cross.
1Corinthians 11:26 states “26 For as often as you eat this bread and
drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. The Communion service is for His Church to
look back and remember what Jesus did for us on the cross, and we will
celebrate it until He returns. It is at
that time when the Passover will begin again and we will look back at what
Jesus did on the cross for us.
I want to finish this
SD by looking at what John MacArthur said about how the Passover was celebrated
in the upper room with Jesus and His disciples.
This is the way it had always been celebrated. The Passover Lamb was chosen on Monday, and
that is probably the day that Jesus came into Jerusalem in spite of what it has
been called for a long time “Palm Sunday.”
Jesus was chosen a long time before that to be the Passover Lamb. It was actually in eternity past that He was
chosen.
“Now let me give you
an idea of what went on at a Passover and what you have to understand is this is
a series of things, a sequence of things at Passover in and around which were
woven the other elements that we know to be occurring on this night.
“First it began with a
prayer of thanks and it was followed by the first cup of red wine, doubly
diluted with water… the first cup of red wine, doubly diluted with water. After
that first cup, which kind of launches it, there was a ceremonial and an actual
washing of hands. They actually washed their hands because they ate with their
hands and there was a ceremonial significance to it because it symbolized a
need for cleansing and a need for holiness.
“This was followed
then, this washing, by the eating of bitter herbs. This is when the bread would
be broken. It would be flat bread, not a big fat loaf, flat bread broken and
distributed and then dipped into a paste made from fruit and nuts. And then
after that, that would be first course, kind of, they would sing the Hallel.
The Hallel, from which we get the word Hallelujah, are series of hymns that
praise God from Psalm 113 to Psalm 118. And they sang them all at the Passover.
Traditionally they would sing Psalm 113 and 114, and then would come the second
cup of wine. And then after that cup would be the eating of the lamb, the
eating of the meal. That would be the great first course, or main course, I
guess you should say.
“And after the main
course was completed would be the third cup of wine and after that they would sing
the rest of the Hallel, Psalm 115, 116, 117 and 118. And then they would have a
final sip of wine and one more Psalm and leave. That was the evening.”
As you look at all
four Gospels to see what happened during that last night that Jesus was on the
earth you have to look at it in wonder and awe, for Jesus knew what was going
to happen to Him, and yet He took most of that entire night to teach and
comfort His disciples, these eleven men plus later on the Apostle Paul that
would turn the world upside down. Jesus
never seems to think about Himself, but only those whom He came to save and to
teach. This is in and of itself what
love is. “5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was
also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He
existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be
grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross. 9 For this reason also, God
highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY
KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:5-11).”
1/19/2013 9:10 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment