In Matthew 21:1-11, the Lord made His final visit to Jerusalem. The heavenly King, riding not on a horse, but on a lowly donkey and its colt, came not to minister, preach, teach or perform miracles, but to present Himself as the Lamb of God to be slaughtered, to be crucified.
The story of the Passover is one of the most well-known stories in the Old Testament, together with the many plagues on Egypt, and the flight of the Israelites through the Red Sea. However, these stories are also immensely rich in spiritual significance, and none more so than the Passover lamb. On the night of their flight from Egypt, the children of Israel were to prepare a lamb:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male... And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole congregation of the assembly 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 in which they eat it.... And the blood shall be a sign for you upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there will be no plague upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt"
Exo. 12:5-7, 13
For four days, the lamb would be examined to confirm that it was unblemished, before being killed by the whole congregation. Its blood would then form the basis of their salvation from God's punishment. These verses clearly typify the Lord Jesus, and in Matthew 21-22, we see Him coming to Jerusalem to be examined over a number of days, by the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees and a lawyer. Each group prepared questions to ensnare and entrap Him, yet in each case, His answer silenced them. For instance, the Herodians, a group of Jews who took sides with Herod's regime and who took part with him in bringing Grecian and Roman manners of life into Jewish culture, asked Him:
Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
Matt. 22:17
If Jesus answered Yes, they would condemn Him before all the Jews, who opposed giving tribute to the occupying Romans; if He answered No, they would condemn Him before the Romans as one promoting rebellion. Yet the Lord's answer defied their expectations:
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, Why do you tempt Me, hypocrites? Show Me the coin for the tribute. And they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, Whose is this image and inscription? They said, Caesar's. Then He said to them, Render then the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things that are God's to God.
Matt. 22:18-21
When they handed over a coin from the tribute at His request, they were defeated; the coin from the tribute was a denarius, a Roman coin.
For days, He was examined by the religious, cultural and political leaders, yet they could find no fault in Him. Even Pontius Pilate declared several times that he could find no fault in Him (Luke 23:14, 20, 22). Therefore, He was fully qualified to be the Passover lamb, crucified by all the people, and, through the shedding of His blood, redeeming whosoever believes into Him (John 3:16).
No comments:
Post a Comment