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You have have Passover and Unleavened Bread without Shavuot. All the spring feasts come together as one to paint a picture for those who have an ear to hear. Yokhanan the baptizer for repentance and herald of the coming Messiah and the Kingdom of God (John the Baptist) said of Yeshua, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) We don’t ponder that statement as much as we should.
Let’s backtrack a little bit to John 1:19-23. Representatives of the High Priest asked Yokhanan, “Who are you?” They ask him about three different personages: the Messiah, Eliyahu (Elijah) and “the Prophet.” Yokhanan denies being any of them.
They finally ask Yokhanan to define himself, to which he replied:
“I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” (John 1:23, quoting Isa. 40:3-5)
Then the Pharisees, a separate group from the group above, ask Yokhanan, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” Did they know something we don’t know? Did they understand something we don’t understand? Whose path is Yokhanan preparing?
This is the context that we find John 1:29 when Yokhanan says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He doesn’t call Yeshua the King of Kings. He doesn’t refer to Yeshua as a mighty conquerer but as a sacrificial lamb.
How did Yokhanan know who Yeshua really was?
“Yokhanan testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:32-34)
He had been waiting all this life to see the Lamb of God. He had no idea until that moment that his cousin Yeshua was the Messiah.
When the Kingdom of God is established on the earth at the last days, we are told that God will grant us the authority to be kings and priests. Some think that the primary role of the priest is to officiate sacrifices. However, the priests have a much more basic yet profound role as servants of the people and to help them come closer to God.
God wanted so much for us to be close to Him and loved us so much that He sacrificed His own Son to make the way for that to happen. He loves His creation so much that He sent His only Son to take the death penalty away from those who deserve to be destroyed. At Passover time, I feel a close connection to the death and sacrifice of Yeshua. God gives us millions of chances to repent and come back. That grace and opportunity comes from Yeshua’s sacrifice.
We are told in Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) that all people from the greatest from the least will know God. God makes this happen by forgiving all our iniquities.
We take Passover for granted. Paul said that when we take the bread, we are taken the “destroyed” body of Yeshua. The Father sent His Son to die, yet Yeshua asked three times for it to be taken away, but there was no other way and Yeshua yielded to the Father and offered up His body to be destroyed for the sake of His creation. God wants to restore His creation and Yeshua loved us so much that He accepted this charge despite the pain and discomfort and torture that was to follow His last prayer at Gethsemane.
Yokhanan’s job was to prepare the way for the Father work to come forth in the world. When Yeshua came to Yokhanan to be baptized, Yokhanan objected at first but Yeshua told Yokhanan that they are sharing this time for the sake of righteousness. Yokhanan understood his role at that point. His baptism of Yeshua was part of his duty to “prepare the way” for the Father’s will. Yeshua’s baptism was as much for Yokhanan’s benefit as for His:
“Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to Yokhanan, to be baptized by him. But Yokhanan tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ But Jesus answering said to him, ‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him.” (Matt. 3:13–15)
Let’s go back to John, again, as we read in about a group of “Greeks” who were in Jersualem to worship. Most likely, they were Greek Jews, not pagan Greeks. Gentiles were not allowed to roam around freely in the Temple environs. They wanted to meet Yeshua.
“Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bait Saida (Bethsaida) in Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” (John 12:20-26)
Yeshua is telling these Greek Jews about Himself. This is one of the few times that Yeshua reveals how His mission will end. He will have to die and then He will “keep it to life eternal.” Yeshua will honor His believers and His Father will honor us for Yeshua’s sake.
If one gets the idea that Yeshua isn’t talking about His upcoming suffering, read on to where God affirms Yeshua.
“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” (John 1:27-28)
The Greeks who were there heard God’s reply when we read, “Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
God spoke for the sake of the Greek Jews and others who were there at the time. Yeshua goes on to say:
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon bar-Yona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:16-17)
Yeshua did not reveal this information to Peter but the Father Himself.
Yeshua understood that the Father had given this insight for a reason and He acknowledges this by saying:
“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My assembly; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.”
During all of His earthly ministry, Yeshua hid His Messiahship from most of the people because His mission on earth was the mission of sacrifice and restoring the relationship between the Father and His creation.
Yet from this point on, Yeshua tried to emphasize His sacrificial ministry to the disciples but they didn’t want to hear it. None of them wanted Him to die but Peter was the most vocal in opposition to what Yeshua was saying about His future sacrifice. Yeshua had to rebuke Peter harshly and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” The word “satan” should not be capitalized here. Yeshua is not accusing Peter of being the devil himself but simply telling Peter not to oppose Yeshua’s mission.
Here is Yeshua’s mission statement as recorded in Luke 4:18-19 (quoting Isa. 61:1-2):
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoner, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”
There’s no conquering king or bloodied warrior here, but a sacrificial servant. Yeshua’s mission was a mission full of difficulty and humiliation. The time of Yeshua coming as the conquering Messiah will come later.
This Passover, as you prepare to partake of it, think about this: Every plant that the Father has not planted, will be destroyed. He sent Yeshua as a plant. When Yeshua died, He produced a lot of fruit. The Father planted Yeshua in the grave. We look back on it and sometimes lose sight of what is going on. Yeshua tells us that when we keep the Passover, it is not to make us feel better but to remember Him, remember His destroyed body. We are to remember that the Father loved us so much, He took Yeshua’s life. Yeshua is still the Lamb of Elohim. The scroll was not handed over to a king, to an angel but to the Lamb. When Yeshua opens that scroll, He will open it for the sake of God’s creation.
Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.