Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. (Luke 22:3-5; Matthew 26:14-15; Mark 14:10-11) And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:15) So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. (Luke 22:3-6; Matthew 26:16; Mark 14:11)
As we studied in the previous lesson, if one of the twelve disciples could not be changed from actually being around Jesus, then we shouldn't be surprised when other refuse to believe in Jesus. (see THE GOSPEL: Jesus Knew God's Plan for Him) As Judas Iscariot was being used by the devil, that too was a part of fulfilling God's plan. But the most important part of God's plan was the sacrifice for the Passover. Just a few days earlier, Jesus had arrived in Jerusalem, and ...a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’[Psalm 118:26] The King of Israel!” (John 12:12-13; see THE GOSPEL: God's Perfect Sacrifice Arrives for the Passover)
Just a few days later, after Jesus had cleaned up the temple again and taught the people what the scriptures truly meant, and not what they had falsely been taught by the Pharisees, scribes and elders, now the time comes for Him to return to Jerusalem to be sacrificed for the sins of all mankind. Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?” And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.” So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. (Luke 22:7-13; Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16)
The Passover meal is a Jewish tradition still practiced today. (read "The Seder Service in a Nutshell") As we've studied before, God instituted the Passover while the children of Israel were still enslaved in Egypt. This was their final meal in Egypt, before God fulfilled his tenth and final plague against Pharaoh, ‘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.' '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.' ‘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 12:3, 6-7, 12-13)
‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. (Exodus 12:14-15, 17, 21 )
Remember, Jesus was clear from the beginning of His ministry, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17-18) When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. (Matthew 26:20; Mark 14:17; Luke 22:14) Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:15-16)
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5) The fullness of the time had come, for Christ to do what God the Father had sent Him to do. How brave, committed and obedient He remained, even with knowing exactly what was going to happen in just a few hours. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18) AMEN!
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