CHRIST OUR PASSOVER

 (1 Cor. 5:7; Ex. 12: 1-8)

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

Sunday, April 5, 2018, the Year of Our Lord

I last taught this message in 2005.  I paraphrased the message from a book written by: Kelly Varner, A Lamb For a House (1978).  I honor the prophetic Word of Brother Varner and apply it to the present judgment covering the world.  Comments and conclusions are my own and do not reflect the views of Bro. Varner. 

Jesus taught how His life and mission, His death and resurrection had to be viewed in the context of God’s self-revelation in the Scriptures.

Luke 24:44-47: Jesus said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me.  Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.  And said to them,  It is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

God begins His purpose with a man and unfolds it in a nation.  Moses was the mediator of the Old covenant (Gal. 3:19).  Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant (1 Tim. 2:5).  Moses became a many-membered man, for God multiplied him into a nation.  Jesus is a many-membered Man being multiplied into a Holy nation, the Kingdom of God.    

 At the time of the first Passover, the nation of Israel was in Egypt’s bondage.  God had heard their cry.  He ever desires to liberate His creation.  He purposed to do it by killing a lamb.  Jehovah began the great deliverance of Israel by putting a lamb in every house.  A LAMB FOR A HOUSE.  What would our city be like with the Lamb of God in every house?

Is the Lamb and His Spirit (Peuma/Christos/Messiah) residing in you and your family?   

Who is this Lamb?

John 1:29:  The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him – and said, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHICH TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.

JESUS Christ (Peuma/Christos/Messiah) IS THE LAMB!  The word sin in this verse is in the singular, referring to the nature of sin, the very essence of sin.  The word “sins” is plural and speaks of those overt, outward ACTS or manifestations which are the results of the sin-nature. JESUS THE LAMB CAME TO REMOVE SIN FROM THE WORLD (Kosmos). 

Paul got hold of this understanding of scripture of the Passover Lamb in I Cor. 5:7 when he said, CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US.

Peter built on this same principle:  For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious BLOOD OF CHRIST, OF A LAMB without blemish and without spot:  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.  (1Peter 1:18-20)

In Revelation 13:8, John sees by vision the LAMB slain from the foundation of the world.

Luke quoted the prophet Isaiah in Acts 8:32:  Jesus was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a LAMB dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.

The word Lamb is mentioned 27 times in the Book of Revelation.  There are 27 books in the New Testament.  The New Testament is filled with truth concerning the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  

Peter said that Jesus was a Lamb without blemish or spot and he has redeemed us from vanity.  Our vain conversation, our behavior or life style.  We could say, “Look at all the good I did”.  It was vanity and much of it was for vain glory.  “Look how religious I was”.  It was vanity!  Much of religious activity is for Vanity and Vain Glory to be seen by men.  Where did we get this vanity?  Peter tells us from the traditions of your father.  What have men produced? Vanity.  We will produce nothing else but vanity until we begin to hear from Heaven.

In Genesis 21: 28-34, there is the account of a covenant between Abraham and Abimelech.   There had been a boundary dispute over the wells of Beersheba.  Abraham made a conciliatory gift of seven lambs (verse 28).  Abimelech ask a very interesting question?   WHAT MEAN THESE SEVEN EWE LAMBS WHICH YOU HAVE SET BY THEMSELVES?  Abraham answered him that they were to be a witness between the two men; and in that place Abraham planted a grove and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.

 The seven ewe Lambs were a peace offering.

  The Lamb’s Spirit is in Seven dimensions.  The spirit of Jesus is seven-fold. You shall offer with bread SEVEN LAMBS without blemish of the first year. (Lev. 23:18)

  …behold the LION of the tribe of Judah…and I behold, and lo in the midst of the throne...stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having SEVEN HORNS and SEVEN EYES which are the SEVEN SPIRITS (pneuma) of God (Theos) sent forth into all the earth. (Rev. 5:5-6) (The seven spirits are the full power of the Godhead in the Lamb of God).

  There shall come forth a rod of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:  and the Spirit (Ruach) of the LORD (Jehovah) shall rest upon Him,  the spirit of WISDOM, and UNDERSTANDING, the spirit of COUNSEL and MIGHT, the spirit of KNOWLEDGE and of the FEAR OF THE Lord. (Isa. 11: 1-2)  

Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure.  He will have a people in His image who have come to the fullness of His stature and His character.  Do you want to be bold as Lion, then be a Lamb.  Jesus can roar like a lion or be as gentle as a lamb.  God will have a vast family of sons like the Firstborn.  He planted Jesus the Word (the seed) in the earth in His death and burial.  Jesus came forth in resurrection to MULTIPY THAT NATURE IN A PEOPLE.  God is raising up a people who will partake of the Divine nature and who will flow in the FULLNESS (seven) of the SPIRIT (Pneuma of Theos).

The Lamb has been given all power (seven horns) The Lamb has full understanding and perception (seven eyes).  There are two institutions which God has ordained, the home and the local church.  The seven Spirits of God rested on the first Lamb and has begun to rest upon a people who have the Lamb’s Spirit.  There is one HOLY SPIRIT, BUT THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF God speak of the Holy Spirit in the fullness of the Godhead (Theos).  Jesus has an unlimited, complete anointing and many sons will be brought into the glory of that same anointing that will be unleashed in the earth.

  Exodus 12:2: This month shall be unto the Beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

Jesus changed the calendar.  This was the month ABIN, or “green-ear-month.”  It was afterwards called Nisan. 

  In the feast of Passover Jesus is our Savior and Justifier.  The Holy Spirit is our Feast of Pentecost.   In the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity of the Godhead in the fullness of glory, honor and power with the full operation of the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit.  

 The Passover experience is but the BEGINNING OF OUR SALVTION.  It is the first dimension of God’s dealing in my life.  I have been saved, am being saved and shall be saved (II Cor. 1:10).   The Lamb’s blood has provided a complete all-inclusive redemption for the spirit, soul and body of man (1 Thess. 5:23) .  The Lamb’s Blood delivers God’s covenant people from the bondage of the world system.  The deliverance of Israel bankrupted Egypt. 

  Let the Lamb come into your home.  It will mean a new beginning.  It was the responsibility of the man to provide the lamb for the house.  Ex. 12: 3: take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, A LAMB FOR A HOUSE.  Father’s are charged with the initiative to see to it that Jesus the Lamb is in our homes and churches.  However, if the Father is not in the home, then the Wife becomes the spiritual head of household.  Verse 4 tells us to share the Lamb with our Neighbors. 

Verse 5 speaks of the sinless and spotless Son of God.

Exo. 12:5:Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Verse 6 reveals the truth that we all were responsible for his death.

Exo 12:6: 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.

The Passover lamb was a type of Jesus Christ. Throughout the whole land was death, agony, hell on earth and what were they doing?  Eating Lamb!  The Blood that was on the door post brought them into immunity from the plague.   Death and destruction could not touch them.  The Blood of the Lamb will never lose its power.  Death and hell must pass by the Blood.   God wants to bring a people into immunity and prepare us for a walk of Faith where we see miracles everyday.

The Blood of the Lamb is a covenant of peace.  Moses kept the Passover by Faith.  The nation ate the Lamb by faith. The God of Abraham, the God of faith, had given a Lamb by Faith.  The covenant of the Blood of the Lamb is an eternal covenant fulfilled in the New Covenant.  If we put ourselves in his place in the face of the Corona virus/plague, everything the LORD asked him to do made no sense to the natural mind.  However, obedience to God was a matter of life or death.  

Are you walking in agreement with God?

Is there peace in your house?  In your life?  In your Marriage?  In your home?  In your local church?  In your ministry?  Are you in strife or quarrelling with anyone?   If we are in agreement with God, we are in peace.  Circumstances, plagues, people acting out, etc. will not move us from our peace.

Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, gave us His Peace through His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

  Be well-balanced, temperate, sober minded, patient, sound in faith. Be vigilant and cautious at all times, for that enemy of yours, the devil roams around like a lion roaring (in fierce hunger), seeking some to seize upon and devour. (1 Pet. 5:8)

 When God got ready to bring a nation out of Egypt, He put a lamb in every house.  The blood of that Lamb provided a shelter and a protection.  This is the best kind of insurance policy you can have. In the 21^st Century, our nation needs Godly Fathers to put Jesus back in the home.   Bring Jesus into your home and make Him the center of your relationships!  The home and local church are the wineskins for the wine of the Kingdom message.  The church is the vehicle of the Kingdom.  Like Simeon of old who held the Consolation of Israel in his arms, let us stand in one age while we are embracing another! 

There is a side dish that comes with the Lamb.  It is bitter herbs.  You can’t eat the Lamb without eating the side dish.  Too many of God’s kids don’t want to clean  their plate.  Too many of God’s people are in bondages and limitations because they don’t have a vision for a clean life.  Some may say I just want to eat the Lamb.  If you are not willing to eat the bitter herbs, you are not ready to eat the Lamb. 

Exo 12:7-8: 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.

The Bitter herbs mean “repent.”  You may say, “I’ve already repented.”  Well, I have to repent everyday.  Repent to your children, tell them you are sorry when you had a bad day or said mean things.  Repent to your wife when you were mean and wives repent to your husband.   Swallow some Pride (bitter herbs).  Swallow down some stubbornness (admit your wrong – bitter herbs). Impatience – repent (bitter herbs).  These are hard pills to swallow.  A Lamb spirit will say, “I’m sorry, pray for me.”

  The bitter herbs speak of a crucified life-style.  A life that is dead to self-will but alive to God’s will.  A life that has forfeited all its own rights.  Some lives have the fragrance of death that others might live, (II Cor. 2: 15-17) but some have a sentence of death working in them. (II Cor. 1:9). 

Ex. 12:7: The Blood on the door provided a protection and immunity (Luke 10:19) .  The blood outlined a double cross.  This reveals the blood covenant with God and man. 

12:8:  We are to appropriate the Christ (Jn. 6).  We must separate from evil (leaven) and fellowship Him. (1Jn. 1:7)

12: 9-10:  The Lamb was not to be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted with fire.

The Feast of Passover includes the experience of a baptism in water to seal that conversion -crossing the Red. See.   The Feast of Pentecost includes the experience of a baptism of the Holy Ghost---led by the Cloud.   The Feast of Tabernacles includes the experiencing of a baptism of fire.  This third feast is the feast of His LORDSHIP (Theos) in every dimension of our lives.  The fire comes with the Lamb.  He is God.  Our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:29)

Israel was supposed to eat the head of the lamb, (mind of Christ); the legs of the Lamb (his mobility), and the pertenence of the Lamb (His motives).

12:11 The Lamb was to be eaten with loins (strength) girded (ready for action).  Shoes on the feet (ready to walk).  The staff in the hand (to lean in the pilgrim walk).  It was to be eaten in hast.  (Ready to go instantly).

12:15-20: The unleavened bread speaks primarily of a Holy or sanctified walk following conversion.

 1 Cor. 5: 6-8: Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?  Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.  For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.  Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

12: 21-28 – The hyssop speaks of the application of the blood (Lev. 4; Num. 19; 1 K. 4:33; Jn. 19:29; Heb. 9:19).  The word “Basin” is “sap” and speaks of the step before the door, or the threshold.  The lamb was apparently slain at the door of the house.  No direction was given to apply the blood upon the threshold, for the Lamb was already there.  This vividly pictures Jesus on the cross, blood above (head), blood at the sides (hands), and blood below (feet). 

Jesus is the righteousness of God.  All these aspects of His nature are taken into us as we eat the Lamb.  Righteousness is right living.  It is to flow in our homes.  Then will follow his peace and joy.  Along with this is His own nature of loyalty and trustworthiness, honesty, integrity, and reliability in all relationships.  The covenant has already been cut with THE EVERLASTING GOD THROUGH ETERNITY AND ALL BECAUSE OF THE LAMB.

Ten Things that Destroy Homes:

1.         A LACK OF APPRECIATION.

2.         A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING

3.         A LACK OF COMMUNICATION

4.         MATERIALISM AND A LOVE OF MONEY

5.         PROFANITY OR THE WRONG KIND OF SPEAKING

6.         CRITICISM OR GOSSIP.  ‘He hates a false witness that sows discord among the brethren.”

7.         PROMISCUTIY, being casual or unfaithful

8.         ESCAPE MECHANISMS

9.         AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT

10.       MIND FOOD -Let us get our minds on the Lamb and we will get the Mind of the Lamb

  God wants a holy nation.  Pray that there is a Lamb in your home and Local Church.  Pray the LORD bring our families into immunity and hide us in the day of the Lord’s anger.  Let us repent, change our mind and our life-style as a nation and a people.  

We are in God’s time, a serious time when a plague is affecting the whole world.  It is the dragon’s intent to deceive the whole world (Rev. 12:9).

The tenth plague of death in Egypt took place at midnight, which speaks of the time of an overlap of two ages. 

Exo 12:29-30:  It  came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Do you need to come to Jesus?  Do you want to be part of this holy nation that has a Lamb for Every House?  The Lamb’s hand of judgment shall pass through the earth and destroy those who dare to scoff at the security of a blood-stained piece of wood.  Calvary covers it all.  God put the Tree of Life on the tree of death that our families would be spared from death and brought into His life. And that Blood Covenant of the Lamb shall be unto you for a Memorial and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generation; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever…Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and Forever.

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries Church

www.eastgateministries.com

Scripture from K.J.V. I entered into the labors of A Lamb for a House by Kelly Varner (1978).