THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST: MURDER, TRAGEDY OR THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY (CONTINUED)

Parasitism is a state of affairs hated by everyone because parasites take as much as possible and then give nothing in return. The impenitent wicked of all ages are just parasites, but we are consoled that The Lord has made all for Himself, even the wicked, for the day of doom.” Proverbs 16:4. (NKJV). Since Noah had a symbiotic relationship with The Creator, he was spared the deluge that destroyed all the parasites in the antediluvian world. He was also able to celebrate his deliverance from destruction after the flood. “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.” Genesis 8:20-22.

The Altar represents Noah himself, just as it represents God’s people in every age. The burnt offerings symbolized the sinless life of the coming Redeemer, who would ultimately die to save all repentant sinners of Adam’s progeny. All believers will be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, just as the blood of the burnt offering was sprinkled upon the altar’s sides. They will also be covered with his life just as the carcass of the burnt offering covers the top of the Altar. Thus, we are cleansed by His blood and covered with His life. The righteous Noah found refuge in the world’s Saviour while he lived in corrupt antediluvial because he loved The Lord. As Paul the Apostle observed, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.

Shortly before the Exodus, the children of Israel were told:

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. 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. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.  Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:1-13

This is actually a prophecy regarding Jesus’s substitutionary death. The firstborn of the Egyptians was struck because they were divinely used to represent The Saviour. Two great principles are being portrayed here. First, there had to be death for the sinner to attain life. The Egyptian firstborn died because the nation rejected the Author of life. Who also happens to be the Firstborn of all Creation. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created … He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17-18. All those who sprinkled the lamb’s blood upon the lintel and doorposts of their homes were spared from death. Because the blood represents the blood of Jesus. In whom alone is life original, life unborrowed, life underived. (E.G.W.). To experience these benefits, however, the Hebrews had to do as they were told and trust The Lord Almighty.

The lamb was selected on the 10th day of the year’s first month (NISAN) because 10 represents humanity in scripture. Jesus would one day come and die for the human race, but only those who accepted Him as their personal Saviour from sin would benefit from His sacrifice. The lamb was slaughtered at twilight on the 14th day of the month because many centuries later, the real Pascal lamb (Christ) would be crucified at twilight on Friday, April 3, AD 33, approximately four years after the commencement of His earthly ministry in Judea. Just a few hours before the commencement of the annual Passover and the seventh day Sabbath. Most bible scholars accepting the chronology of Jesus typically set the date for the start of His Ministry at around AD 27 to 29 and the end in the range of AD 30-33.

The prophecy says: “Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.” And that is exactly what happened: “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”They said, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?”But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” Matthew 27: 20-23 (NKJV).

(TO BE CONTINUED)