Text: Matthew 26:17-20, 26-30

That last week of our Lord's earthly life was a week of drama, intrigue, and irony. Paradoxes abound. There is no other time when this world saw such hatred, yet never before, nor since, has this world seen such love. Injustice reached it's pinnacle; yet justice reached a higher pinnacle. All the Son of God did was pure, perfect, and honest; yet all the sons of men did was impure, corrupt, and dishonest. To this point in time, all of time and eternity past looked forward; and to this point in time, all of time and eternity future looked back. It is the time when God gave heaven's best.

As you know, Jesus left Bethany and rode into Jerusalem "just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass," as Zechariah the prophet had predicted in Zechariah 9:9. A huge crowd insincerely met Him in the way to welcome Him as their king. Within twenty-four hours, this samecrowd would crucify Jesus, and Jesus knew it; yet, "He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem," Luke 9:51.

As night drew on in old Jerusalem, Jesus gathered the apostles together to celebrate the passover.

I. THE PASSOVER WAS A JEWISH HOLIDAY.

A. It commemorated the Jews deliverance out of Egyptian bondage.

1. Just before the death of Jacob (whom God named Israel in Genesis 32:28), the tiny infant nation of Israel went to live in Egypt, Genesis 46. It was God's providence. It was His way of providing protection and food for His people. Egypt was like a womb, or incubator for Israel. I believe Egypt is here a foretype of the virgin Mary; and Israel, in this case, is a type of Jesus in conception. Israel was God's people; His seed. What a picture this is of God, by His spirit, putting His seed in Mary, and bringing forth His son through her.

2. At first, Israel was at liberty in Egypt; but before long the government changed hands, and the new powers made slaves out of Israel. Exodus 1:7-22 tells about it.

3. Galatians 3:17 and Exodus 12:40 say that for 430 long years, Israel was in Egypt; and much of that time was a time of bondage and hard labor.

4. But, fellow saints, God does not forget His people. So, in His good time and providence, He raised up a Moses, and sent Him to the front lines to bring Israel out, Exodus 3:7-8. Moses went with only a shepherd's crook, Exodus 4:20, and it was actually not Moses who led Israel out. It was God. As Zechariah later said, "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts," Zechariah 4:6.

5. When God got ready for Israel to come out, He sent a death angel throughout the length and breadth of the land. Already He had sent darkness and diseases, pestilence and natural catastrophes upon Egypt, Exodus 7-10; but now He is fixing to break their back. The devastating result of the death angel was death to the firstborn in every Egyptian house, from the least to the greatest. Exodus 12:29-30 says in every house there was at least one corpse; and the death spread even to the cattle and sheep pens. Till this good hour, that is the darkest day ever in the history of Egypt; darker than the reign of Nasser, darker than the six day war, darker than the death of Cleopatra. It is 1980, and Egypt has never recovered the losses of the night of the Passover.

B. But, the same night that spelled disaster for Egypt, spelled deliverance for Israel:

1. Each Israeli family took a lamb without blemish and slaughtered it, Exodus 15:3-6.

2. The lamb's blood was then taken and sprinkled upon the door posts of his house. God commanded, "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper post of their houses," Exodus 12:7.

3. And because of that glorious God-ordained provision, which pointed forward to the appropriated blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, not a single Jew was harmed by the death angel as he passed through. God's promise was "When I see the blood, I will pass over you," Exodus 12:13; and while death reigned supreme among the Egyptians, from the palace to the dungeon, there was not one single death among the Israelites.

4. And, in view of what God did on this fateful night, the Egyptians came begging the Israelites to leave Egypt; and to take the wealth of Egypt with them, Exodus 12:31-39.

C. To that glorious night of deliverance, known as the Passover, the Jews looked back every year with a memorial feast:

1. Exodus 12:42 says, "It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations."

2. God commanded those Jews under law to keep this feast as a memorial reminder, Ex. 12:14-17, so every year the Jews were to take unleavened bread, wine, and bitter herbs, on April 14, and eat them as a reminder of how God delivered them out of Egyptian bondage, Exodus 12:18-24.

3. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem in Matthew 26, this is exactly what He and His apostles did. Jesus' words in verse 18 are, "I will keep the Passover," and, verse 19 says His disciples "made ready the passover."

D. While the Passover is primarily a Jewish holiday, it also holds a special significance for the saints of God:

1. I Corinthians 5:7 says, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us."

2. While the Passover memorial was a reminder of the Jews' deliverance by God from Egyptian bondage, its main design was to point them forward to Christ, who would by His death deliver all who believe in Him. You see, the design of the Passover memorial was to call men's attention backward only to point it forward to Christ on the cross. He is our real passover now; and only because of His shed blood, as of a lamb without spot or blemish, I Peter 1:19, have we passed from death unto life, John 5:24.

3. None of us have been in Egyptian bondage, but we have all been in bondage to sin, Galatians 4:3; and how we thank God for His passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Paul called "Christ our Passover," I Corinthians 5:7. He was perfect, His blood was shed, and by faith it is sprinkled upon the door posts of our hearts. And, when the death angel of God sees that perfect blood upon us, He passes over. We have eternal life, John 3:15-16. For us, death has lost it's sting, I Corinthians 15:55, and we can say with Paul in I Corinthians. 15:56, "Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."