Christ Our Passover was Sacrificed for Us

1 Corinthians 5:7


Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.


There are at least two ways of looking at Good Friday

            One is in a somber tone.

                        Considering this as the darkest day in history.

To rehearse the day without thought of what was accomplished there, that afternoon.

                        To go through it, not considering God’s plan but only mans evil deeds/

And I am sure that there is a time and a place for that.

            But There is another way to look at it.

                        We can look at God’s marvelous plan to save a hopelessly lost world.

We can look at the OT sign posts to indicate that God was working all things according to the council of His own will

We can see the power and wisdom of God in that He causes even the terrible wickedness of men to bring Him glory and honor.

I.         A unique day.

            A.        On that day Jesus was crucified was never like any other day.

            B.        All the powers of heaven and hell were engaged in a great battle. There was never a doubt as to its results

            C.        But yet the players took their places

                        1.         The Jews had won their part handily.

                                    a.         They had won Judas to their side.

                                    b.         It could not have gone any better for them.

                                    c.         The had even gotten Jesus to confess that He indeed was the Son of God.

                                    d.         And even through they thought they were doing the will of God they were following the dictates of their father the devil. John 8:44

                        2.         And even Judas had been taken in by Satan’s deceptive ways.

                        3.         The Romans were not innocent in all this.

                                    a.         It was the Gentiles who most cruelly treated the Lamb of God that day.

                                    b.         They scourged Him and mocked Him in the most degrading manner they could think of.

                                    c.         And even though Pilate made numerous attempts to release Jesus, yet for his own expediencies he gave over the sinless Lamb of God to be nailed to a tree. Deut 21:23; Gal 3:13

                        4.         The disciples had forsaken Him and fled, although each one had vowed to lay down their lives.

                        5.         But God had not forsaken His Son.

                                    a.         In perfect harmony God guided each evil and rebellious heart.

                                    b.         He took all their evil and worked a marvelous good. Acts 2:23

                                    c.         God carried out His plan that was set in motion before the world had even begun.

                                    d.         For God, all the pain and suffering, all the shame and contempt was working to accomplish God’s Great Plan of Redemption.

                                    e.         Hebrews 12:2-3 (NKJV)2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

II.        It was a plan that God had given the Jews the pattern for over 1500 years prior.

            A.        Passover

                        1.         As we have read in Ex 12 the story of the grand deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery.

                        2.         The instructions seem senseless to those ancient Hebrews.

                        3.         To slay a lamb, catch its blood and smear it on your door was no doubt without precedent.

                        4.         It was all an illustration.

                                    a.         That lamb could die so that others might live.

                                    b.         No one was compelled to perform it but without it the firstborn would die.

                                    c.         It was all an act of faith, for how could a little lambs blood save the lives of those in the house.

                                    d.         In the same way those who have in faith accepted the blood of God’s sinless Lamb have their sins washed away.

                        5.         The Passover lamb was only one of dozen’s or even hundreds of OT illustrations that Jesus fulfilled that fateful week.

                                    a.         The day of atonement

                                    b.         The morning and evening sacrifices.

                                    c.         The sin offerings

                                    d.         The red heifer offering

                                    e.         And on and on

                                    f.         All came to fulfilment that dark afternoon 2000 years ago.

III.       No one passage in the OT captures that like Isa 53 does.

            A.        Generation after generation of Jews had read that passage but with veiled faces.

            B.        To them it was an enigma

                        1.         How could the Messiah suffer and die.

                        2.         Why would God put Him to shame and suffering.

            C.        But Good Friday is no mystery to us.

            D.        It is spelled out in the simplest yet most profound verse in the Bible.

                        1.         John 3:16 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Yes it was Good Friday, Good for you and me & Good for God’s plan to save us.