Palm Sunday, part 2

Exodus 12:1-11- 1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover.

The passover is at the very core of the Jewish faith. Moses, by God's leading, established passover while they were still slaves in Egypt. But what I want you to notice in this passage is WHEN they picked the lamb for the passover sacrifice. They picked the lamb on the 10 of Nissan, their first month of the year. Then, four days later, the lamb was sacrificed on passover.

Guess when Jesus entered Jerusalem? Yes, it was Palm Sunday, but it was also the 10th of Nissan, the very day when the passover lamb is chosen. Four days later, on passover, Jesus is crucified. He came as the king on that day, but he also came as the lamb of passover who would die four days later for the sin of the world.

John told us about this when he introduced Jesus by saying, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Only God could plan something so amazing! The prophet Zechariah talked about a man who will someday come as king AND priest. He has come. He has fulfilled his role as priest, and is already king in the lives of millions. One day he will come back, not on a donkey, but on a white horse, to set up his eternal kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus....I look forward to the day!