Josh Benner

Tag: Old Testament

  • Sermon: Passed Over. Exodus 12

    Sermon: Passed Over. Exodus 12

    Manuscript

    The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 

    5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 

    7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.

    10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 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 no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. 

    Prayer 

    Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 

    be acceptable in your sight, 

    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 

    Introduction – 9/11 in Washington 

    In the book “The Only Plane in the Sky,” it gives an oral history of the September 11th attacks from the perspective of hundreds of witnesses.  

    One brief anecdote in the book always struck me. 

    Mike Walter who was a correspondent from USA Today was in Washington that day and covering the attack on the Pentagon. 

    He shares his interaction with a writer from the Wall Street Journal and who made the observation “this is the biggest story we’ll ever cover in our lives. I’m not even sure it’s going to end up on the front page tomorrow.” 

    And I don’t take that as a complaint or someone being selfish in the face of tragedy. 

    But the reason why it’s interesting is because I think there’s quite a bit of truth to it. 

    Now, obviously the Pentagon was also part of the front page news the following morning. But on that day, in the aftermath, and for 20 years of documentaries and stories, the attack on the Pentagon has always been a bit secondary in its attention as compared to the attacks on the World Trade Center. 

    I begin with that because I think it illustrates something about Exodus 12. 

    All of last month, we covered the plagues of Exodus. 

    That’s all we talked about. 

    And here we come to the tenth and final plague. The death of the firstborn. 

    It is far and away the most severe. 

    But in Exodus 12, it’s almost secondary to the entire passage. 

    Exodus 12 revolves more fully around Passover, it’s institution, celebration, and remembrance. 

    The plague is in there, but it’s almost mentioned in passing. 

    Exodus 12 is a long chapter. 51 verses. The tenth plague is covered in just four of those verses. 

    It’s there, but it’s not on the front page. 

    The headline is the Passover. 

    That’s primarily what this chapter is about. The Passover is one of the most significant and enduring events of the Old Testament. 

    Now there’s a lot going on in Exodus 12, so before we get into the passage, I want to give a brief summary. 

    In Exodus 12, the Passover is an act of divine deliverance in the tenth plague where the Lord strikes dead the firstborn of the Egyptians but spares the Israelites. God instructs the Israelites to identify themselves as his followers by placing blood on the doorposts of their homes. Exodus 12 also gives instructions for a feast that the Israelites were to have in preparation for the Passover and also gives commands for continuing to celebrate the Passover as an annual tradition. 

    Before and after the Passover, many elements of the feast are symbols to the Israelites about God’s deliverance. One last thing that we’ll see is that a lot of the symbolism points to the speed by which the Israelites were to leave Egypt. 

    These are things we’ll all elaborate on more thoroughly as we get into the chapter. 

    Something else we’ll discuss is how the Passover is ultimately fulfilled in Christ, and so we’ll look at the Passover today in three phases. 

    Past, present – its fulfillment, and future – our hope. 

    Passover past, present, and future. 

    And the main idea of this passage is that the Lord saved by the blood of the lamb. 

    And with that, we’ll jump into our passage and first point. Passover past. 

    I should also mention that the first point will be the longest. 

    Passover past

    So at the beginning of Exodus 12, it gives the initial prescription of Passover. And from the beginning of the chapter, it will establish that the Passover is going to be something of monumental significance. 

    The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.

    What the Lord is about to do will reorient the entire calendar for the Israelites. 

    Think of how important and impactful Jesus is. Jesus split time in two. 

    You could be the most ardent atheist, but it’s still 2021 and that’s because of Jesus. 

    And the Lord says that the Passover is going to be the new year for Israel. 

    The passage continues and will talk about a sacrifice which the people will need to make. 

     3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.

    Everyone in Israel is called upon to take a lamb. If someone doesn’t have a lamb, they’re to pool resources with neighbors and go in together and get a lamb. 

    The passage will say that it is to be a lamb without blemish. 

    5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

    It matters that it be a lamb without blemish because it’s pointing to Jesus as the perfect and spotless lamb. It’s also instructive that God wants our best. 

    The Israelites are to take and sacrifice their lamb. 

    Once again, this points to the sacrifice of Jesus. It’s also beginning to introduce the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. 

    That sacrifices were required for various sins and in association with various holidays. Sacrifices could be done in conjunction with prayers and also in praise of God’s answers to prayer. 

    Sacrificing a prized animal was meant to be an act of faith. It showed trust in god’s provision. It was costly. It was meaningful. 

    The language of sacrifice is picked up by Paul in Romans 12:1, where he instructs us: 

    present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

    Because of Christ, there is no longer need to make sacrifices where animals are killed. But we are to live in gratitude to the glorious Lord who has forgiven us through the cross and be living sacrifices. Living our lives for the service of the Lord and to his glory as a living sacrifice. Giving what is valuable and prized to us. Our own hearts and lives to God. 

    And again, the reason why we no longer need sacrifices involving death is that the true sacrifice has already happened. God did not spare his own son. Jesus, the perfect lamb was led to slaughter. His life was given as the final and ultimate sacrifice so that we could have forgiveness, atonement and life through him. 

    But in the Exodus, on the verge of God’s great redemptive work of Israel, as a symbol of what was to come, the Lord asked the Israelites to sacrifice lambs.
    Verse 7, we see the significance of the blood of the lamb. 

    7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 

    After sacrificing the lamb, they’d put blood on the sides of the door frames and the lintels of their houses.

    The lintel is the top part of a door frame. Basically the part of the door that’s opposite the threshold. 

    The instructions continue. Verse 8: 

    8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it

    Something which we will see with these instructions is that they aim at speed. These elements of roasted lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs have historically been part of the Passover meal, known as the seder. 

    The Passover meal is really more about symbolism than culinary wonderment. 

    These elements point to the haste through which the Israelites would flee Egypt and that carried over into the Passover meal. 

    The flesh was roasted because that was the fastest way to eat it. 

    That theme continues in verse 11:

     11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste.

    Every part of this instruction is meant to indicate the quick fashion in which the Israelites would be called to depart from their land. They were supposed to be wearing sandals. They would carry the staff which was used for outside purposes. Even the speed at which they were to consume the food was to be fast!

    The verse ends “It is the Lord’s Passover.” 

    And Passover could not be more appropriate of a name for this holiday. Because on this first Passover, the faithful to the Lord were passed over, and their lives were spared.

    12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.

    In this event, the firstborn are struck down. Pharaoh had been warned many times of the consequences. 

    The text says that this was also a judgment on all the gods of Egypt….that is, all the non-existent gods of Egypt. 

    That’s a point that we’ve made throughout our study of the plagues. 

    In the preceding nine plagues, we see a battle between the Lord God and the anti-god, Pharaoh. We also see a battle between the Lord and the non-existent deitied of the Egyptian pantheon. And what we’ve seen in the plague is that those Egyptian deities are helpless to protect Egypt. 

    And we will see that when the Lord strikes dead the firstborn in Egypt, that their gods once again cannot save them. 

    In striking dead the firstborn, God surely could have taken any life he wanted to. He is in control.  

    13 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 no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

    The blood was taken as a sign that a person trusted in the Lord. It’s a matter of trusting what the Lord has promised. To not put the blood on the door frame, would show that someone didn’t take the Lord seriously, didn’t take his word seriously.  

    Something that’s important to understand. It’s not that the blood in itself is what saved a person. But it was an outward sign of an inward faith. 

    In verses 14-16, it’s going back to establishing the annual Passover tradition:

    14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 

    So it would be an ongoing part of the tradition to eat unleavened bread. Even today, for observant Jewish people, they go to to great lengths to remove any leaven from their home. 

    Eating unleavened bread once again points to the haste of things done at Passover. 

    The advantage of unleavened bread is that you can make it faster because you don’t have to wait for it to rise. 

    17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.

    Verse 17 does officially name the feast as “the Feast of Unleavened Bread.”

    The Feast of Unleavened bread is the entire, weeklong feast. Passover is the first day of the feast. 

    And what’s significant and why this entire chapter is significant in the Bible is that it was meant to continue being observed. And that’ll be reiterated in verse 24. Verse 26 and 27 will tell the Israelites to teach their children about this event. 

    That in remembering what God did for the Israelites, this feast was meant to point future generations back to God’s deliverance. 

    Preparation for Passover

    Verse 21 represents a shift in the story

    Everything we’ve covered so far has been told to Moses and Aaron. But now Moses will start instructing the elders of Israel in preparations for observing the first Passover. 

     21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.

    In verse 23, they’re told about the specific judgment which the Egyptians will face. 

    23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

    So we’ve said a lot so far about Passover in this passage. 

    Verse 29 is where the passage tells about the tenth plague: the death of the firstborn and the actual deliverance that the Lord brings for Israel through that plague. 

    The tenth plague

    Verses 29-30: 

    29 At midnight the Lord struck down 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 the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

    As we’ve discussed with other plagues, they represent an undoing of creation. 

    The crowning achievement of the Lord’s creation in Genesis was creating man in his own image on the sixth day. In Exodus, God takes life away. 

    It is the final judgment upon Pharaoh who had been warned nine previous times. It is the final judgement against Pharaoh for his enslavement of God’s people. 

    God brings his death, but for his followers, there is life. 


    Pharaoh will tell Moses and Aaron to take the Israelites and leave. 

    31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

    Pharaoh will actually try to change his mind and stop them but God was with the Israelites and they were delivered from Egypt.

    Verse 38 mentions a mixed multitude who accompanied the Israelites. That’s something we’ve mentioned before but it is again worth pointing out that at least some non-Israelites had come to believe on the Lord through all of this. 

    The Egyptians had seen God’s power at work too and also had had the opportunity to trust in him when the Israelites were delivered from Egypt. 

    And that’s the same situation everyone faces, whether or not to trust in the Lord. We don’t have to put blood on our doorposts to save us. But ultimately that was an act of faith. And that hasn’t changed. We too are called to trust and believe in the Lord. The mighty God who delivered his people from slavery. The God who delivers you from your sins.

    Passover present

    That’s the original Passover and what happened. 

    Our second and third points will be quicker.

    As is clear from the passage, it was meant to be celebrated annually. And the Jews did. And observant Jews still do today. 

    I previously referenced the seder dinner. Seder omes from a word that means “order.” 

    In 3,500 years, rabbinical tradition and teaching helped to form the ceremony of the Seder. 

    Some of these pieces were traced back to the original Passover. Others came in Jewish history from rabbinical traditions.

    Once the Israelites were in the Promised Land, and after the temple was built, this impacted Passover traditions. When you had the temple, the lambs were sacrificed at the temple. But what didn’t change was that people could only sacrifice lambs that were perfect. 

    I think it’s worth spending so much time in talking about Passover because I think it can help give us a greater context and understanding for the events surrounding the death of Jesus. 

    In the gospels, the time of the death of Christ revolves around the Passover. That’s not a coincidence. Jesus would be sacrificed at the time that was associated with sacrifice. Jesus had gone to Jerusalem for Passover. In Jerusalem, the city within the Roman Empire that was the epicenter of Jewish culture, thousands of lambs would have been slaughtered annually. Jewish people would have been coming in from all over the empire. If you can think of the story in Luke, when Jesus is a kid, and his parents lose track of him. 

    Luke 2:41:

    Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

    That’s what good Jews did. 

    We see many traditions of the Seder at the last Supper.

    Some of them are small things. In the gospel accounts, it talks about Jesus reclining at the table in Luke 22.  

    Jesus wasn’t sitting in a la-z-boy. He was on a couch that he was lying on, that was a Seder tradition. They had been enslaved in Egypt but being able to lie down showed the freedom and security.

    We see another Passover tradition in the last supper when Jesus alludes to Judas, his betrayer. 

    John 13:26: 

     “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

    It’s really easy to have the mental image that Jesus is dipping the bread into something like a bowl of olive oil. 

    It’s the Passover. 

    They’re not eating at in Italian restaurant. 

    He’s probably actually referring to dipping the bread in haroset which was a concoction made from apples, nuts, and cinnamon. 

    Just as in the Passover seder, at the last supper, they ate unleavened bread. 

    The bread we use for communion is unleavened. 

    It looks more like a cracker. 

    Bread with a leavening agent is more doughy. You pull it apart. 

    But with unleavened bread, it’s more brittle and breaks apart. 

    We see Jesus breaking bread in Luke 22:19:

    19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 

    For over a thousand years of Seder dinners, bread had been broken. Unleavened bread, just like the Israelite forefathers had eaten before fleeing from Egypt.

    The body of Jesus, given for you, given for your sins. Given for your forgiveness. And he says “do this in remembrance of me.”  

    What more fitting words could you say at a Seder? A meal revolving around remembrance, about retelling the story of God saving his people by the blood of the lamb. 

    Remembering what God has done. Remembering what Jesus has done. Remembering the sins that he’s redeemed you from. Remembering his body that he gave for you. Remembering his death that he died for you. Remembering the grace that he offers to you. Remembering his gospel. 

    Jesus takes the cup. 

    Luke 22:20: 

    20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  

    The Seder dinner involves four glasses of wine. This seems to have been the second or third glass of wine in the meal, although there’s scholarly debate.

    But how profound it is. Wine drank in remembrance of the Passover. Jesus takes the wine, he blesses it, he says it is the new covenant in his blood, at the Seder dinner.

    It clearly points backwards to the blood of the Passover lamb, the blood that was put on the door posts. And it also points forward to the blood of Christ, shed for the forgiveness of sins. The blood of the true lamb.

    At the beginning of the gospel of John, when John the Baptist sees Jesus he says “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus is the true lamb of God. The lamb who took the penalty for sins. The one who was sacrificed for the salvation of God’s people.

    And by trusting in him and having faith in him, that puts the blood on the doorpost of your heart. On the first Passover, there would not have been a pardon for a person who didn’t put blood on the doorpost. It wasn’t that the blood saved them, God saved them. But to not put the blood on the door was to show that a person didn’t have faith in the Lord, didn’t trust in the Lord.

    Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. Pointed to in Isaiah 53.

    4 Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

    yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

    5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

    6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

    we have turned—every one—to his own way;

    and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

    Jesus is the one who took the penalty of sins. A lamb couldn’t do that. It was meant to point ahead. To the true Passover lamb, the true lamb of God who bore the wrath of God for our sins.

     Isaiah 53:7 

    7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

    yet he opened not his mouth;

    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

    so he opened not his mouth.

    Isaiah 53:12 says: 

    12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

    because he poured out his soul to death

    and was numbered with the transgressors;

    yet he bore the sin of many,

    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

    So it’s talking about the suffering servant in Isaiah. It calls him the perfect lamb. And Isaiah says he poured out his soul to death.

    This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood

    When we take the Lord’s Supper, it’s not arbitrary. It’s not just using the random items that were around. It’s all symbolic. It takes symbols important to the first Passover, the first time God had delivered Israel, and it reminds of the new Passover, from the perfect sacrifice for sins.

    The Passover passage in Exodus 12:5 says that the lamb that was used had to be without blemish. Jesus is the ultimate lamb without blemish, a life lived in perfection.

    1 Corinthians 5:7 says “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb.”

    The blood of both is on wooden beams: the door posts and the cross. Both the Passover lamb and Jesus were killed publicly.

    On the day that Jesus was crucified for our sins, the day ends at sunset on the Jewish calendar and the next day was the day of rest. Jesus and the two robbers had to die before sunset.

    John 19 records: 

    32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”


    No bones were broken on Jesus’ body when he died. In the Passover passage, Exodus 12:46 gives the Israelites instructions for consuming the Passover lamb:

     It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.

    Jesus wasn’t putting his own twist on the Passover. It was the Lord revealing the true meaning of the Passover. It was him showing something that had been part of the plan all along.

    The Lord saves by the blood of the lamb.

    But you have to believe it. You have to accept his blood. You can’t make him some abstract force, but the personal God who came to save you from your sins. The person God who gave his body and shed his blood for you. To accept what he has done by faith.

    A final point. And this will be brief. 

    We’ve covered Passover as it was instituted in Exodus. We’ve looked at it how it’s fulfilled in Christ. 

    Past and present. 

    We close by talking about the final future fulfillment of these elements. 

    Passover future 

    In the opening chapters of the Book of Revelation, Jesus has been active with His churches. In Revelation 4, The Apostle John is given a vision of the throne room of heaven. This wondrous site to behold, but Jesus is absent until we get to chapter 5. And John sees a lamb standing, as though it had been slain. 

    The lamb had been slain, but he has risen.

    And because the lamb of God that was slain for sins of man was slain and rose, that is our hope that we can stand before God in that throne room. In Revelation 19, there is a vision of the great wedding feast, and who is the groom? Again it is the lamb.

    Revelation 19:9

    Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

    God is an inviting God. Jews and Egyptians alike were able to turn to him in trust on the first Passover. 

    At Passover, Jesus told of his body broken for us, his blood shed for us, and he invited us at the meal to accept it. And the next day, he was sacrificed as the Passover Lamb. And at the final feast at the end of time, we are invited to join the lamb at that feast as well. It is he who invites us, and he who pays the price for our admission. And all we have to do is accept it and believe in him. 

    As the Israelites trusted in the deliverance of the Lord, and put the blood on their doors, we too can know that we have sinned, and are freely forgiven when we accept the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, slain the forgiveness of our sins.

    The Lord saves by the blood of the lamb.

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  • Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah. Part 2: A sign given

    Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah. Part 2: A sign given

    BACKGROUND 

    Isaiah 7:10-25.

    We’re around the year 735 B.C. The Kingdom of Judah is home to the chosen people of God and the promises of God. It’s the home to Jerusalem and the family line which leads to Christ. 

    A man named Ahaz is the King of Judah. Though they’re God’s chosen people, he’s a sinful king in a sinful kingdom. They have regularly disobeyed and dishonored the Lord. The first several chapters of the book of Isaiah largely revolve around the judgment which will befall Judah. 

    There are also a lot of military tensions in the region. The Assyrians are the super power in the Middle East at the time. They pose a threat to the various local kingdoms. 

    And so you have two other nations: Israel and Syria who have formed an alliance against Assyria. Israel and Syria try to pressure Judah into the alliance but Judah will instead opt to pay off the Assyrians for protection. As a result, Israel and Syria go to war with Judah. Through the prophet Isaiah, King Ahaz is told that the destruction of their oppressors: Israel and Syria is imminent. 

    We find out from other passages like 2 Kings 16 that Judah actually paid off the Assyrians for protection. Ahaz is told to ask the Lord for a sign, and where we concluded our last post in this series, Ahaz refuses the sign. 

    A SIGN REJECTED 

    Isaiah 7:10-11: 10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 

    Ahaz has been sinful and faithless. But he’s given an incredible offer from the Lord. He can basically ask any sign he wants from the Lord. He can ask the Lord to reveal himself to him in a spectacular way. 

    I can’t think of another time in the Old Testament where this offer is given to someone. 

    If you were given that offer, what sign would you ask for? Whatever you want? Maybe you’d ask to see heaven, ask to be healed from a health issue, ask to see a loved one who’s passed away brought back to life? 

    Ahaz instead responds in verse 12: I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 

    Now at first glance, that can appear as a good thing. I will not put the Lord to the test. In the temptation story of Jesus, he talks of not putting the Lord to the test. 

    Matthew 4:5-7: the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 

    7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

    Jesus was asked to basically prove his identity by challenging God. He doesn’t. He points to the scriptures when he says “it is written” and then adds a command from the Old Testament “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

    That’s a quote from Deuteronomy 6:16. You shall not put the your God to the test.

    So it can appear as though Ahaz is just being faithful to the commands of scripture. What’s the problem? It’s not a violation of the command when the Lord tells you to ask him for a sign. 

    Ahaz says he won’t test God but it’s God who tested Ahaz and Ahaz failed. Ahaz makes a mistake that has existed since the first sin which is misapplying the Word of God. 

    God tells him to ask for a sign and Ahaz balks at it. It’s because Ahaz doesn’t want a sign. He doesn’t care about seeing what God can do. Ahaz has already put his faith in his own industry in paying off the Assyrians for protection. 

    So when he says he won’t put God to the test, he’s just giving the appearance of faith. In Jesus’ day, it was a problem for the pharisees. They had attached all sorts of laws onto laws and outwardly appeared to be very religious and moral. 

    You can’t fool the Lord. 

    It’s easy to say the right things, it’s easy to talk the talk. But the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The Lord sees through Ahaz’s attempt at outward piety. 

    Verse 13, he’s given a response: And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

    A SIGN GIVEN

    Ahaz doesn’t ask for a sign but God gives him a sign anyway. The Immanuel prophecy in this passage is the same prophecy which is quoted at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. 

    Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

    The gospel adds a note that the name Immanuel means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

    It’s a difficult verse in Isaiah. It’s cryptic. Its meaning is controversial and disputed. Numerous questions arise. 

    We will examine three of them. 

    1. WHY IS THAT THE SIGN WHEN JESUS ISN’T BORN UNTIL MORE THAN 700 YEARS LATER? 

    I don’t take this Isaiah passage as only referring to Jesus. Don’t misunderstand. The sign ultimately refers to Jesus, but I believe that the sign had a double-fulfillment. 

    The prophecy is given as a sign to Ahaz. Therefore I think it matters that the sign means something in the Day of Ahaz, and as we will see momentarily, I believe the context of this passage demands that it mean something in Ahaz’s time. As a general rule, I think we should be weary of Biblical interpretations where a verse has no significance to its original audience. 

    This is an important note about studying the Bible and studying prophetic literature in the Bible. Especially when you consider what else our present passage says. Let’s look at the Immanuel prophecy and the immediate context. 

    Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

    What’s the meaning of those verses? There’s no apparent relationship between those verses and Jesus. 

    They have to mean something. We’ll examine them more closely in a few moments but I think that verses 15-16 refer to events in the lifetime of the first Immanuel. 

    A second issue to consider.

    WHAT DOES VIRGIN MEAN? 

    What does the word virgin mean? 

    In English, our word “virgin” has a pretty straightforward meaning. Someone who has never had sexual relations. And virginity is certainly an important aspect of the birth of Jesus. 

    Gospel of Luke. 1:31, Mary is told she’s going to have a baby.  behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

    The angel goes on to say what will happen during this ministry but Mary responds in Luke 1:34: 

    And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

    The virginity of Mary matters in the birth story of Christ because it demonstrates a miracle of God. That the birth of Christ is an entirely divine activity. So when people were reading the Old Testament hundreds of years before Christ, did they read this verse from Isaiah and take it to refer to a virgin having a baby? 

    Not necessarily. 

    If you’ve ever heard a sermon on this passage or the Matthew passage before, or if you’ve ever looked up these verses in a Study Bible, you might have seen a note that talked about how the word for virgin can also mean “young woman.”

    That’s true. The closest example we have in English is probably a word like “maiden.” The word “maiden” isn’t used in English today as much as it was about 100 years ago, but a maiden refers to a young unmarried woman. 

    Now, in this Jewish culture in the 8th century BC, for a young, unmarried woman, it would have been assumed that she was a virgin. So that’s certainly part of what was meant, but my point is that Isaiah’s audience didn’t necessarily understand this passage referring to a virgin conception. 

    I think they would have taken the Hebrew word that’s used here to refer more to the woman’s I think it’s more likely that they understood this Immanuel sign as being the child of a young woman. 

    But here’s something that’s interesting.

    While the word probably meant something more like young woman or maiden to its original Hebrew audience, by the time the text was translated from Hebrew into Greek, which was still prior to the birth of Christ, the Greek word that was used actually does more specifically mean virgin. So it is possible that a Greek reader, would have had an understanding in his time of a virgin birth. 

    WHO ARE IMMANUEL AND THE WOMAN? 

    There are several theories about who Immanuel is. Some think that the woman is King Ahaz’s wife and Immanuel is his son Hezekiah. Others think it’s the prophet Isaiah’s son. Some think that the name Immanuel became popular in Judah at this time and a lot of baby boys were named Immaneul and that that was the sign. Or perhaps it was the child of an official in the royal court who was named Immanuel. 

    And there are several other theories. I just point that out to again show that this is a difficult passage with several possible interpretations. But just because a passage in the Bible is hard, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study it. 

    As far as the identity of the original Immanuel, we’ll cover that in another post. But the point that I want to make for right now is that there was a first Immanuel before Jesus, the ultimate and greater Immanuel. As this prophecy continues, Isaiah will elaborate on the circumstances of the world into which the first Immanuel will be born. 

    And he starts to talk about the immediate future within the region in its connection to this sign of Immanuel. There will be a time of difficulty in the region. The first subject to be dealt with are Judah’s oppressors: Israel and Syria. 

    This passage is talking about the early years of the first Immanuel. And there will be judgment for Israel and Syria, and later for Judah. 

    Verse 15: He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 

    When Immanuel is just a child, he will eat curds and honey.  Now, when the Israelites are on their journey to the Promised Land, it’s often referred to as a land flowing with milk and honey and that’s seen as a good thing. 

    But in this passage, the curds and honey seems to be a negative for the young Immanuel. The region will be so desolate, war will make the kingdom such a wasteland, that he will be eating a nomadic diet. 

     He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good

    Twice the prophet talks of a time associated with when this boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. The point of that is Immanuel will be very young when all of this happens. It’s before he will have reached an age of accountability. Historically, we know that this is correct because these events happen around 735 B.C. and the kingdom of Israel was conquered in 722 B.C. 

    The things the Lord says will happen in this passage do come to pass and they come to pass in the very near future. 

    End of verse 16, Isaiah throws down the gauntlet: the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

    Ahaz is specifically being told of the desertion which will befall Syria and Israel. And that is desertion because they will be conquered and taken from their land. It is a blessing that Syria and Israel will both be conquered for their sin. 

    JUDGED JUDAH 

    But Judah has also been sinful. Ahaz the king has been sinful. And there will also be consequences for them. 

    I said this in the beginning, but many of the early chapters of Isaiah have actually focused on the sins of Judah. They’re God’s chosen people but they’re sinful, and Ahaz is sinful. And Ahaz placed his trust in a pagan nation in Assyria for his hope and protection rather than God. There are consequences for that as well. 

    And so the rest of this passage ends by talking about judgment which would befall Judah. We will be fairly brief with these verses. 

    Verse 17: The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

    Where it says “upon you and upon your father’s house,” it’s a reference to the House of David who rules in Judah. It’s the monarchy. Then the text talks about days which have not come since Ephrairim departed from Judah. 

    I touched on this in a previous post, but it’s referring to to the split between Judah and Israel, Israel is here being referred to as Ephraim after its largest tribe. 

    What this verse is saying is that: while there is judgment for Israel and Syria, Judah will also experience a time of difficulty and upheaval. The challenge they will face will be the King of Assyria, as the verse ends. 

    The Assyrians, the nation in whom Ahaz had placed his hope will become their oppressor. So often the things we look to for freedom can enslave us. 

    The passage begins to talk about what will happen to Judah. Now with Syria and Israel, annihilation is the fate which awaits their kingdoms. By the grace of God, it won’t be quite as severe here for Judah. But they will still suffer. 

    18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures. 

    The verse is talking about military oppression which Judah will face. It talks of troops as if they’re swarms of bees and flies. Numerous soldiers will converge upon them. All of the hiding places will be overcome by enemy forces.

    Verse 20: In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also. 

    Another picture of what will happen. It talks of the people being shaved. The point this is making is he humiliation that the Judeans will face at the hands of the Assyrians. Removing a person’s hair is often a symbol of stripping away their identity. 

    We see a third picture of the future for Judah.

    Verses 21-22: In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey. 

    That verse might not seem so bad because it does talk about people having livestock and an abundance of milk. 

    But given that everything else in the passage is a picture of judgment, I think the point is more that there will be an abundance of food and people will have livestock because there will be so much devastation about the population. 

    A FINAL PICTURE

    23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread. 

    This is a picture of the devastation which will befall the land. The fertile ground will become briers and thorns. In the Old Testament, God talks of drought and of waste coming upon the farmland as divine judgment for Israel’s disloyalty to the covenant. 

    Give another example. Isaiah 5:5-6 says: I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 

    Around the year 701 B.C., the Assyrians did lay siege to Jerusalem. They did not ultimately conquer the city, that would happen at the hands of another empire a century and a half later. But for their sin, there was judgment upon Judah. 

    CONCLUSION 

    I understand that these are difficult passages. There’s a lot of history, a lot of context. It can be confusing that Judah’s enemies are judged by God but then so is Judah. One of the things that this passage again shows us is the weight of sin. 

    God does not take sin lightly. Anytime we act like sin doesn’t matter or isn’t a big deal, we are communicating a profound theological falsehood. God is deathly serious about sin. 

    Judah is God’s chosen people in his chosen land. It can be tempting to wonder if they suffered too much. But the real question is always why God gives grace to anyone when no one deserves it. Something else that we see in this passage is God’s sovereignty over the nations. 

    Both in our lives and in the dealings of the world, nothing happens outside of the sovereignty of God. There are many evil empires today. North Korea, China, dictatorial leaders in places like Venezuela. Countries that are torn apart by civil war and religious fanaticism. 

    God sees it all. That’s true throughout the world and in the lives of individuals. 

    All sin will be accounted for. Either it was nailed to the cross and you believe in what Jesus did. Or you will spend eternity separated from God because of your own sin. But there is nothing that is unnoticed to an all-knowing God. 

    As I close, I want to return to the Immanuel prophecy in verse 14. 

    Isaiah gives the sign of Immanuel. Again we often know it in connection with the Gospel of Matthew and Christmas time. Basically everything going on in Isaiah 7 revolves around war. Judah being attacked, Judah’s oppressors judged, but Judah also suffering at the end of the passage. 

    This is not a quaint, yuletide passage. It’s a passage about war and you’re given this one glimmer of light, the sign of Immanuel, which means “God with us.” In spite of all that is going on in the world, God is still with his people. There will be difficulties for the nations, but God is still faithful to his promise and his people. 

    There will be judgment on Judah, but God is still with them. This is a passage about war and the one hopeful message is a sign given to a king who didn’t even want it. We live in a world that is so often at war. War between nations, war within ourselves, conflict within our families, struggles against our sinfulness. 

    In the face of war and turmoil, Ahaz was offered a sign. He turned it down. The message that we need is not always the message that we want. In our sinful lives, we are given the message of the gospel. That you are separated and alienated from God due to sin, but you can have forgiveness when you turn your hope away from yourself and place it in Jesus and what he did on the cross. 

    There are difficulties in life. God with us. Is he the Lord in whom you place your trust? 

    Even as Christians we are not insulated from the sin that is in the world and our own lives. There are times of difficulty. But God is faithful. God never unjustly brings judgment. 

    My point with all of this is not to destroy a favorite Christmas verse from Matthew. 

    But I do think there’s value in knowing the original story. Because life is not the quaint, Norman Rockwell painting that we so desperately want the Christmas season to be. Life is hard. There is sin, disease, death. There’s hurt and betrayal. There’s war between nations and threats that we face. 

    Yet in spite of that, to an undeserving king, God gave the sign of Immanuel. And to an undeserving humanity, God gave the gift of the greater Immanuel, his son, God who came into the world, God with us. 

    Originally published December 25, 2020

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  • Genealogies upon genealogies. Studying Genesis 5

    Genealogies upon genealogies. Studying Genesis 5

    In Genesis 5, we see a genealogy leading from Adam to Noah. 

    This genealogy had been touched on in Genesis 4 in the aftermath of Adam’s son Cain murdering his brother Abel. In the shadow of that sin, we’re introduced to another son of Adam named Seth. He will continue the family line. 

    There are a number of genealogies in the Bible. We often skim through them without always knowing the names. But they’re important for several reasons. 

    Why genealogies are important in the Bible

    1. Genealogies provide a link to Jesus. 

    In the aftermath of the fall, God promised Adam and Eve a future offspring who would one day crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Throughout Genesis and numerous other books of the Old Testament, we see the continuation of the line which would ultimately lead to Christ. 

    Fittingly, the New Testament begins with a genealogy. 

    1. Genealogies would matter for certain Israelite ministries 

    During the period of the 12 tribes of Israel, genealogy mattered for the priesthood. Not anyone could be a priest. Someone had to be from the tribe of Levi. And to be the high priest, someone had to be from the line of Aaron in the line of Levi. 

    1. Genealogies are a reminder of God’s faithfulness to his promises. 
    2. Genealogies are a reminder of God’s providence and sovereignty. For many generations, we see God at work in achieving his purposes 
    3. Genealogies point to the Bible being a historical book. People might like to treat Biblical stories like fairy tales but that’s not how the Bible itself presents them. 
    4. Genealogies are a reminder that individuals matter to God and that they matter in God’s story. 

    Creation revisited 

    Genesis 5:1-2 says: 

    This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

    Genesis 5 begins by pointing back to creation. 

    When the text says this is the book of the generations, that is a literary device in Genesis used to begin new sections of the story. 

    Even though there is now sin in the world, it still remains true that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. 

    Genesis next points to the continuation of Adam’s line. Instead of continuing the line through the infamous Cain, the line continues through Adam and Eve’s son Seth. 

    Genesis 5:3-5: 

    3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. 

    Genesis 5 traces ten generations from Adam to Noah. 

    All of the generations include very long lifespans. Genesis 5 says that Adam lived 930 years, Jared lived 962 years (v. 20), Methuselah lived 969 years (v. 27). 

    How long is a year? 

    Many have been puzzled by the long lifespans in Genesis which are incredibly long compared to normal lifespans today. 

    Some have questioned if the lifespans could actually be dynastic spans rather than an individual lifespan. For instance, the argument goes that Jared didn’t personally live 962 years but that Jared and the next several generations of his children totaled 962 years. 

    It is true that ancient genealogies are not always exhaustive. 

    But a problem with this view is that there are Biblical figures who live long lives (Abraham, Moses, etc) and where numerous events from their lives are recorded along with their ages in those years. Are the lifespans of Abraham and Moses literal while other ages given for other Old Testament figures are dynastic? That seems like a difficult argument to support from the text. 

    Some have tried to make arguments that a year isn’t a year. Maybe a year in one of these lifespans is actually a month. But the problem with this is that some of the father’s  have kids in their 70s, which would mean they were 6-7 years old! 

    Some have argued that the year figures are symbolic. This again becomes challenging because there is no apparent symbolism of oddly specific numbers and overlooks the simpler conclusion that the years are presented as literal. 

    It’s certainly a stretch for modern readers, but the most faithful reading of the Biblical text is that the given lifespans are meant to be taken at face value. 

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  • Yom Kippur and what Jewish holidays can teach Christians about the gospel

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    Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons @fir0002

    Originally published September 29, 2017 under the title “A priest, two goats, and salvation”

    For observant Jews all over the world, this evening, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew) is celebrated. The Day of Atonement is the most holy of days in the Jewish calendar. It’s an annual picture of forgiveness that people could have. While Christians don’t celebrate this day, it’s one worth studying because everything about it points to Christ and the gospel.

    Atonement refers to God’s work of dealing with our sin. Because of sin, the relationship between man and God has been broken. (more…)

  • The gospel in the Exodus journey

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    The exodus journey is the seminal event of the Old Testament. It’s the story of God miraculously delivering the Israelites from slavery for the purpose of bringing them to the promised land.
    The Old Testament constantly calls upon the Israelites to remember what God had done.

    (more…)