Christ, our Passover Lamb

Verse of the Day for March 31, 2017 comes from Isaiah 53, the Old Testament passage that describes the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, who would be born to redeem Israel, as a just payment for the sins of all humanity:

Isaiah 53:5-6 (NLT):

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

As the month of April begins to unfold, Christians across the globe will be moving toward “Holy Week” and the commemoration of events associated with the last week of Jesus Christ’s life on earth. Beginning with Palm Sunday, believers recall Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion, death, burial, and ultimate resurrection celebrated on the following Sunday.

During this same period, Jews around the world will be preparing for the start of Passover. The 8-day festival begins this year at Sundown on Monday, April 10 and ends on the evening of Tuesday, April 18. Passover, also known as Pesach,  commemorates the Jewish exodus from Egypt, as families traditionally gather for a Seder dinner, where they retell the story of the escape from slavery, through the plagues, and to the parting of the Red Sea.

The passage from Isaiah 53, also brings to mind a reference to the Passover Lamb found in the latter part of 1 Corinthians 5:7 (AMP)

Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are, still unleavened. For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.

Jesus Christ appears as a type, a foreshadowing of events to come, throughout the Old Testament, as in the case of the Passover Lamb and other aspects of the Seder, the traditional meal served as part of the observance of Passover. Comments regarding 2 Corinthians 5:7, posted on the home page of Logos Bible Software, remind us that Jesus Christ died at the precise time that the Passover Lamb was slain.

The celebrated passage from Isaiah 53 and its connection to 1 Corinthians 5:7 also bring to mind a most memorable intersection of Good Friday and  the Passover which occurred in 1998 as I was partaking of Holy Communion at that time. That particular experience inspired the following:

Christ, our Passover Lamb

Isaiah 53

“For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.”

2 Corinthians 5:7b          

 

Cursed with a curse, He was hung on a tree.

The suffering servant bartered for a price,

Battered and bruised for our iniquity.

Behold the Lamb, unblemished sacrifice,

Offered once, Jesus Christ, our Passover.

Afflicted, stricken, smitten that God should

Freely pour out His mercy, moreover,

Lay on Him the chastisement of our peace.

From His side flowed water and sinless blood,

A new covenant established that we might cease

From dead works by a new and living way.

God’s good pleasure no longer concealed:

Man of sorrows, with His stripes we are healed.

Abiding in the presence of the Great I Am,

We are cleansed and made whole by the blood of the Lamb.

Isaiah 53 also brings to mind the reality of the covenant God made with the Children of Israel so expressed in Exodus 15:26:

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

This verse was the inspiration behind the Don Moen song of worship: “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” a most appropriate way to close today’s entry.

Portrait of the Suffering Servant

Verse of the Day for March 31, 2016 comes from Isaiah 53, the Old Testament passage that describes the Suffering Servant, the Messiah who would be born to redeem Israel and serve as a just payment for the sins of humanity:

Isaiah 53:5-6

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; the punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one, to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] to fall on Him [instead of us].

In a blog entry posted last week on Good Friday, I shared a poem inspired, in part, by the providential intersection of two most significant events that occurred when Good Friday and the beginning of Passover fell on the same day back in 1998. I mentioned that at that time I participated in Holy Communion at our church on Good Friday, and although I had received the Lord’s Supper on countless occasions prior, that particular experience inspired the poetic work in which I personalized the passage connected to the Suffering Servant:

Taking It Personally

Isaiah 53

Cursed with a curse, He was hung on a tree.
The suffering servant bartered for a price,
Battered and bruised for my iniquity.
Behold the Lamb, unblemished sacrifice,
Offered once, Jesus Christ, my Passover.
Afflicted, stricken, smitten that God should
Freely pour out His mercy, moreover,

Lay on Him the chastisement of my peace.
From His side flowed water and sinless blood,
A new covenant established that I might cease
From dead works by a new and living way.
God’s good pleasure no longer concealed
But memorialized this solemn day.
Man of sorrows, with His stripes I am healed
In spirit, mind and body, for I am
Quickened and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

Isaiah 53 also brings to mind the reality of the covenant that God made with the Children of Israel so expressed in Exodus 15:26:

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

This verse was the inspiration behind the Don Moen song of worship: “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” a most appropriate way to close today’s entry:

By bread alone: poetic inspiration

The Verse of the Day for July 12, 2014 is found in Matthew 4:4 in the New International Version:

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

The King James Version renders the verse in this way:

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The verse is also rendered in a similar way in Luke 4:4

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

The phrase “by bread alone” brings to mind an experience that occurred five years ago when I participated in a clinical trial involving men with prostate cancer and two types of special bread: Soy and Almond. This particular study involved men diagnosed with prostate cancer with a slightly rising PSA. I learned about the program from my urologist Dr. Stephen Clinton, but at the time of my interest my PSA score had gone down, and I was not eligible. At that time, however, a recent doctor’s visit indicated a slight increase in my PSA, and I met with Beth Grainger, nutritionist and OSU faculty member, who explained the program in more detailed, and I decided to enroll.

As I was returning from my first visit with Beth, I smiled as a particular phrase came to mind: “. . . by bread alone.” This, of course, is part of Jesus Christ’s response to the first prong of the temptation in the wilderness, whereby the Devil attempts to get the Savior to turn stones into bread. With each temptation Jesus responds with “It is written,” as Christ counters with Scripture, in this first instance, from a passage from the Pentateuch, specifically from Deuteronomy 8:2-3:

 ²And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether would keep his commandments, or no.

³And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

Here God reminds Israel of their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness where He proved them and taught them a valuable lesson, the essence of which Jesus repeats after having been in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights without food when he responds, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Later I composed this poem inspired by the phrase “by bread alone” which is found in the Old Testament as well as the Gospels:

By Bread Alone

And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger,     

and fed you with manna, which you did not,

neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know

that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that

proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 8:3

 

But he answered and said, It is written,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by

every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Matthew 4:4

 

We find that the Word of the Lord so plainly reveals

This profound truth: that “man shall not live by bread alone.”

When tempted Jesus responded, and thus he made known

How we can triumph in life’s most arduous ordeal,

As we come to know that God alone is good.

Each day we are sustained not only with daily bread

But by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth instead,

For we esteem His Word more than necessary food.

During this time of the soy-almond bread clinical trial,

I am still watching and waiting, looking above,

Ever striving to please the Master, serving in love,

Knowing that all my efforts will someday be worthwhile.

In yet another instance, I learn what faith reveals:

It is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord, my God, who heals.

 

The Bill Gaither Trio offer “Man Can’t Live by Bread Alone”

The closing couplet of the poem “By Bread Alone” brings to mind a song that has come to mean so much to me in the years following my diagnosis of prostate cancer in 2000: “I am the Lord that Healeth Thee.”

By his stripes I am healed

The Verse of the Day for April 11, 2014 also brings to mind the reality of the covenant that God made with the Children of Israel expressed in Exodus 15:26:

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

This verse was the inspiration behind the Don Moen song of worship: “I am the God that healeth thee.”

In this season we are approaching the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we move toward the week prior to Good Friday, I recall an experience that occurred when a particular Good Friday coincided with the start of Passover. At that time I participated in Holy Communion at our church on Good Friday, and although I had received the Lord’s Supper on countless occasions prior, that particular experience inspired a poem in which I alluded to the verse from 1 Peter 2:24 which is a variation on Isaiah 53:5

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Taking It Personally

Isaiah 53

 

Cursed with a curse, He was hung on a tree.

The suffering servant bartered for a price,

Battered and bruised for my iniquity.

Behold the Lamb, unblemished sacrifice,

Offered once, Jesus Christ, my Passover.

Afflicted, stricken, smitten that God should

Freely pour out His mercy, moreover,

Lay on Him the chastisement of my peace.

From His side flowed water and sinless blood,

A new covenant established that I might cease

From dead works by a new and living way.

God’s good pleasure no longer concealed

But memorialized this solemn day.

Man of sorrows, with His stripes I am healed

In spirit, mind and body, for I am

Quickened and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

 

April 15, 1998

Passover

 

The closing three lines of the poem include the phrase “I am. . .” which brings to mind a powerful life-changing message heard years ago related to our identity, as revealed in the Word of God. At the end of the message the minister encouraged the congregation to make a list of qualities or attributes that the Bible declares us to be. I personalized the assignment and composed a list of metaphors which opened with the phrase “I am.”

I AM says “I am” and all that I AM says “I am”

“I am. . .”

 

I am light, the light of the world, sent forth to shine.

I am salt, the salt of the earth, full of savor.

I am alive in Christ; eternal life is mine.

I am blessed: in the midst of famine is favor.

I am trusting in the Lord; I am not afraid.

I am made whole in Christ; by His stripes I am healed.

I am so fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am redeemed, and by the Spirit I am sealed.

I am a sweet savor, a living sacrifice.

I am ever before Him, always on His mind.

I am clothed in righteousness, bought with a price.

I am His beloved, the one He runs to find

I am cleansed and made whole by the blood of the Lamb.

I am, by the grace of God, what He says I am.

Another Don Moen song “Jesus, You are My Healer” proclaims this truth: “By his stripes I am healed.”

The Verse of Day and the music of Don Moen remind me of who I am in light of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and by his stripes I am healed.