2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
I just wanted to say that each one of you is very precious to me. This is because of the faithfulness you demonstrate in your lives and your willingness to let me take you along on the spiritual adventure that God is directing in my life. All of this matters a great deal, even now that God is directing me to complete a review of the covenant principles in this series of messages. That is because I believe that He is preparing all of us for some important messages to come under the heading of “oneness in covenant.” Yesterday, I left off having mentioned MT 26: 17-29, that very important section of this book that deals with Jesus sharing the Passover meal (seder) with His disciples, the Last Supper.
It is my belief that not only does Scripture best interpret Scripture, but that context is critical to our understanding of God’s messages to us. It is no accident that the Gospels tell us that this meal was the Passover seder, not just an ordinary meal, and that it is the institution of communion as well. It is in this meal that we hear Christ prophesying His own physical demise to come shortly. The disciples don’t fully understand their (and our need) to obey Christ’s command to take the sacrament at the time, but they do have the right attitude about doing so. The full impact of Christ’s blood shed on the cross sealing the Covenant of Grace is something that they understood later and we should completely understand in our own lives. The Scripture that interprets MT 26: 17-29 is 1 COR 11: 17-33. I hope you will reread both of these passages to see what I mean. While the Passover in Jewish culture is an annual retelling of the release of the Jews from Egyptian bondage, it is also a release from another kind of slavery for all of us. Because of Christ’s death on the cross, it is a release from limited forgiveness and from slavery to the ravages of sin! Christ’s love for us demonstrated by “His body broken for us” is another matter that should not escape our attention or gratitude. To my way of thinking, it’s certainly sufficient motivation for us to thank God every day for the opportunity for eternal life coming our way as a result of this enormous and very painful sacrifice on the part of both the Father and His Son. They keep their covenant agreements with us-sufficient reason why we should do the same with Them.
Pastor Greg Boyd in his wonderful book, “Letters From A Skeptic,” speaks about what makes the Gospels an authentic and real account of the life of Christ. They present a consistent portrait of Jesus, what He did, and the events surrounding His life. They are full of irrelevant detail, the kind that normally accompanies eye-witness accounts. They also place their accounts consistently in the normal Jewish culture for Christ’s time. LK 22: 7 and 1 COR 5: 6-8 allow us to see the significance of Christ’s death from a Jewish perspective, even though Luke was not Jewish and Paul was. LK 22: 7, “The day came during the Festival of Unleavened Bread when the lambs for the Passover meal were to be killed.” 1 COR 5: 6-8, “It is not right for you to be proud! You know the saying, ‘A little bit of yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.’ You must remove the old yeast of sin so that you will be entirely pure. Then you will be a like a new batch of dough without any yeast, as indeed I know you actually are. For our Passover Festival is ready, now that Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us celebrate our Passover, then not with beard having the old yeast of sin and wickedness, but with the bread that has no yeast, the bread of purity and truth.”
MT 27: 45-51 & MK 15: 38, which depict Christ’s actual death on the cross immediately followed by the supernatural tearing open from top to bottom of the inner veil, exposing the Holy of Holies to all, is truly significant to our understanding of the sealing of the Covenant of Grace. The hitherto secret and holiest of all places was secret no more! It was now open to all who would repent and come to faith in Christ. God is keeping His covenant promise to bless all who come to faith with this road to eternal life. The pattern of what we will find in heaven is exposed to us, that same pattern that was only partly exposed in the Tabernacle foreshadowing it. The Ark of the Covenant is not idly named. It foreshadowed the very throne of God Himself in heaven [HE 8: 1-5]. There was no longer any need for animal sacrifices, because our Covenant-Keeper Who died on the cross had become the once-for-all, sufficient Sacrifice Who opened the God-made Holy of Holies [HE 9: 12, 24]. Can you feel the love of God all over this? I surely can! Meditate on these critical truths today and know that they are for the benefit of each of us.
PRAYER: O Lord, our Passover Lamb accomplished the most difficult, painful, and important task ever assigned to anyone. At Your command, He opened the heavenly Holy of Holies to all who believe. It is significant to us that this was at Your command and that He obeyed You. For You, there was the pain of seeing Your only begotten Son suffer as no one has ever suffered before or since. For Him, there was the courage of faith to stand up to whatever opposition came His way during His life on earth and the willingness to obey You knowing it would bring enormous suffering. He kept His eyes on You and made Your priority of saving us when we were still Your enemies His own. Not only have You kept Your covenant promises since establishing and sealing this magnificent Covenant of Grace, but You have also given us a model of promise-keeping to follow. We acknowledge the blessings that You have and continue to shower on us every day in reverence and gratitude. We stand before You in humility to dedicate ourselves to being the kind of promise-keepers that You and Your Son are. Our Passover Lamb has freed us from bondage to sin and given us the opportunity for eternal life with You. As a freed people, we approach You today with our eternal pledge of worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, obedience, glory, honor, courage of faith, diligence, willingness to love one another as You love us, praise, and utmost thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
As we move into a series of messages on the “oneness of covenant,” we take one more look at the issue of death to self for a life in Christ, our Covenant Partner, tomorrow. I stand in awe every day at the many ways that God demonstrates His love for us. No matter how insignificant we may think we are, we can each take comfort in knowing that God sees us as He sees the Son. He has not only forgiven us for our sins, but He has forgotten them. He is an ever-constant loving Presence in our lives. We can seek Him on any issue, and He is eager to hear from us and to guide us from His wisdom. Peter and I send you our love too.
race Be With You Always,
Lynn