THE PRELUDE OF THE CROSS

The crucifixion of Christ was not an isolated event that took place in a historical vacuum. It was the saving event of human history that God had prepared from the eons of past eternity. That’s why John the Beloved disciple called Jesus “...the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8; c.f. Matt. 25:34). Therefore, when properly understood, every animal sacrifice in the Old Testament pointed toward the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is especially significant because of the defining role that the shedding of blood played in every animal sacrifice. All of these annual sacrifices from the Old Covenant were foreshadows of the perfect and final sacrifice of Christ that was the basis for the New Covenant.

Space does not permit me to do a thorough study of all of the Old Testament sacrifices. But they are the historic and spiritual foundation that the entire New Testament is built upon. And every builder knows that the most important part of any building is the foundation. If it is not strong and secure, the superstructure will be unstable and shaky – just like many Christian’s superficial Biblical knowledge and ‘fearful faith.’  Therefore, I will take a disproportionate amount of space in this first chapter because I want you to have a “firm foundation” to build your passion upon. So without a basic understanding of these Old Testament sacrifices, one’s view of The Passion of the Christ will be severely myopic and truncated.

The many animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were the historic and spiritual prelude of Christ’s final sacrifice on the cross. And they were the very heart of the Jewish religion and culture. Therefore, there are several truths that run through every sacrifice. There is a scarlet cord binding all of these sacrifices to the passion of Christ on the cross.

Here is a simple summary of these animal sacrifices preluding the crucifixion of Christ.

• Each sacrifice was to be perfect and precious – so they were costly.
• Each one was precisely prepared in every detail according to God’s instructions.
• In each animal sacrifice, there was a loss of life.
• Central to every sacrifice was an altar upon which an innocent animal was slain.
• Most importantly, the shedding of blood was the very heart of every sacrifice.

These simple but profound truths are clearly defined by the Hebrew word that is used for sacrifice. It is the word zabach, and means: “To slaughter an animal.” The King James Version often interchanges the word “offering” instead of sacrifice. Here the Hebrew word is minchah and means: “to apportion, to bestow a gift, to make a sacrificial offering.” In either case, the meaning is very clear – the death of an animal. 

Therefore, every animal sacrifice pointed toward the sacrifice of Christ. These many sacrifices were the spiritual object lessons carefully prescribed by God to point and prepare the Jewish people for the coming sacrifice of the Messiah. So if you do not understand this Old Testament background, you will never fully appreciate ‘The Passion of the Christ.’  Let me share just a few foundational examples:

 

God’s First Sacrifice

After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they felt naked and ashamed before each other and before God. So they did what many people do, they “got religion!”  We read that “…they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Genesis 3:7). In doing so, they performed the very first religious act in history.  This was man’s first attempt to deal with his own sin through the work of his hands. That’s why the central tenant in every religion is some form of works righteousness. It is an attempt in some way to “cover up” your own sin by the work of your own hands.

The Biblical word for “covering” is the word atonement. It is used some 150 times in the Old Testament. It means “to cover or conceal” and is always associated with two things:  the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. So atonement denotes “a covering that conceals a person’s sin and makes it possible for him to approach God.”

Once again, when Adam and Eve “got religion” and tried to “…sew fig leaves together to cover themselves” – it was the first act of works righteousness in human history.  But God told them that the gravity of their sin and disobedience was too great to be cheaply covered by “fig leaves.”

God had previously warned the man and woman that if they disobeyed Him “…they would surely die.” Regardless of His love for them, God could not and would not lay aside His holiness and justice. His word and very nature were at stake. Since they deserved to die as a result of their willful disobedience – someone or something had to die. A punishment unto death would have to take place, or God would compromise His holiness in the face of their rebellion and sin. Either they would be put to death – or something else living would be put to death in their place. A substitute would have to be found! So we read these words:  “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).

This brief sentence summarizes the first act of grace in human history. It teaches two things: the severity of sin and the sovereignty of grace. This little verse reminds us that God takes sin deathly serious! The true and living God will not trifle with sin and disobedience in the lives of those whom He created in His “…image and likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Sin must be atoned for. And since Adam and Eve could not provide an adequate covering for themselves through their works – God provided through His grace the substitution of an animal that died in their place. So what God’s justice and holiness required – His mercy and grace provided! This then, was the very first act of substitutionary atonement recorded in the Bible. An innocent animal, unquestionably a lamb, was slain as a substitute for Adam and Eve! Blood was shed and an atonement was provided.

So in the face of sin, an innocent life was given in exchange for the guilty couple. How they must have been horrified at the sight of an innocent animal dying in their place! They had probably not seen death before. They had not seen blood shed as a life was poured out. They had not seen an animal skinned. But it was an object lesson of grace they would never forget – and it would provide a new basis for their forgiveness and fellowship with the God they had sinned against.

Because of God’s act of substitutionary atonement, the skin of that slain animal would now “covered them” in a way their “fig leaves” never could. They were now “clothed” in the innocence of something else that had died in their place.

Therefore, this is the foundational sacrifice in the Bible. All other sacrifices would be built upon this spiritual altar. And all subsequent sacrifices pointed toward The Passion of the Christ!

 

Abel’s Sacrifice

In this Biblical account of the second sacrifice recorded in the Bible, there is a stark contrast drawn. Two brothers. Same parents. Two very different sacrifices. One accepted by God. One totally rejected.

“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor” (Genesis 4:2-5).

Obviously both Cain and Abel had previously received a basic understanding of the kind of sacrifice that God accepted from the teaching of their parents, Adam and Eve. No doubt they had been taught from their earliest years how “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” But the oldest son tried his own version of “religion” and “works righteousness” – just like his parents had done before him (see: I John 3:12; Jude 11).

By contrast, the younger son, Abel, came by faith, just as his parents had later done after God had rejected the “works of their hands.” So we read that Abel “…brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.” So once again we see clearly implied a substitutionary atonement through the sacrifice of “…the firstborn of his flock.” At the heart of Abel’s sacrifice was “faith in the blood” as the only means of his atonement before God.

Notice also the consistency of what God would later teach through Moses about animal sacrifices: “When any of you brings an offering to the Lord…a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect…it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him…From what he offers he is to make this offering to the Lord by fire; all the fat…The priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the Lord’s” (Leviticus 1:2-4; 3:16).

Later the writer of Hebrews reflects on Abel’s sacrifice this way:  “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks even though he is dead” (Hebrews 11:4). So while Cain came to God on the basis of his works, Abel came on the basis of faith – “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Hebrews 11:6).

 

Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac

Here is one of the most poignant and revealing sacrifices in the Old Testament – a sacrifice that was literally stopped while the “knife was at the throat!” This story is so simple and descriptive that it needs little comment or commentary. As you read this ancient story – the events of The Passion of the Christ will come into clearer focus. This is the single greatest Old Testament passage that preludes the sacrifice of Christ thousands of years later. You remember the story…

In fulfillment of His promise, God had miraculously given Abraham and Sarah a firstborn son in their old age. He was conceived and born long after their child-bearing years had passed for them. This son’s name was Isaac. His very name tells a lot of the story – because Isaac means “he laughs!”  They named him that because Sarah had “…laughed to herself” when she heard the angelic announcement that she would have a child in her old age (Genesis 18:12).

Understandably, Abraham dearly loved this son of his old age. Isaac was the very “apple of his father’s eye!” But then we read how “God tested Abraham.” This test would reveal the heart of Abraham. Even more it would reveal the heart of God. And at the same time it would demonstrate Abraham’s incredible faith in the true and living God. Here was the test:

“Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah (Remember this location for our later study). Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Genesis 22:2).

The severity of this test goes beyond our human comprehension. It goes against all of our senses and sensibilities! At the reading of this passage, everything within us cries out a resounding “NO!” This sacrifice is too costly! It’s not fair! It is unreasonable! It does not make sense! In our heart of hearts we cry out “Why God?!”

But contrary to every human inclination as a father, Abraham did what God commanded him to do. Listen further to the account of Abraham’s incredible faith and prompt obedience.

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance (Remember this place!). He said to his servants. ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’  ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’

Abraham answered, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’  And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told them about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’

‘Here I am,’ he replied.

Do not lay a hand on the boy…Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place, ‘The Lord will Provide’ (“Jehovah-Jireh”). And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord (Remember this place!) it will be provided” (Genesis 22:1-14).

Is it any wonder Abraham is considered by both Jews and Christians the “father of our faith” (Romans 4:11-17). No wonder Abraham is called the “…friend of God” (II Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23)! Listen to how Abraham’s faith and obedience is described by the writer of Hebrews:

“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be called.’  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death” (Hebrews 11:17-19; c.f. Romans 4:1-25).

So Abraham’s faith and obedience in his willingness to sacrifice his firstborn son on the altar is one of the greatest foreshadows of Christ passion in the Old Testament.

 

The Passover Sacrifice for Israel

This is the foundational feast of Judaism. It is their corporate salvation event as a nation. This annual commemoration and celebration is the immediate context of The Passion of the Christ. Unless you understand the historic origin of the Passover, you will not fully understand the spiritual significance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. So you cannot separate the Passover from the Passion. The two are inseparably connected together historically and spiritually. It was the Passover Feast that Jesus celebrated with His disciples the night before He went to the cross.

Since the vast majority of Gentile Christians do not annually celebrate the Passover as the Jews do, we need to be reminded of the historical narrative that this Feast is based upon. So let’s refresh our memory of this defining event in Israel’s history.

The Jews were slaves in Egypt. They were in servile bondage to Pharaoh – and absolutely powerless to do anything about it. And since Egypt is a Biblical typology of the world, this is a picture of all of us. We are all slaves to the world around us – with no ability to break that bondage. So God did for the Jews what they could not do for themselves – and it was all based upon a blood sacrifice.  Read carefully and prayerfully God’s instructions to His people through Moses:

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt. ‘This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…The animals you chose must be year-old males without defect…Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread without yeast…This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste, it is the Lord’s Passover.

On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

This is a day you are co commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord – a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast…Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Remember this significant “bread without yeast!”), because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt…For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses…Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.’

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as He promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians. Then the people bowed down and worshiped” (Ex. 12:1-27).

It is impossible then, to separate the Passover of the Jews from The Passion of the Christ! Nor can you separate the Feast of Passover from its spiritual companion, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Both of these Feasts were fulfilled by Christ’s sinless life and sacrificial death – in minute detail!

With those Scriptures resonating in your heart and mind, now read the following passages about The Passion of Christ.

 

Jesus Sacrifice for Us

Among the many Scriptures I could share here about Christ’s passion, the following are only representative – not exhaustive.

•  “…Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one…All have turned away…there is no one who does     good, not even one’…Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law…But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:9 – 26).

These next verses are written by the Apostle Paul, a converted Jew, to a young church that was tolerating sexual immorality and perversion by one of its members. So as their spiritual father he writes to exhort them to exercise church discipline rather than to continue to boast about their liberality and tolerance (sounds like much of the American church today!). And read these verses with the Feast of Passover in your mind. Then read the following exhortation from Paul to one of his more mature churches in Ephesus.

•  “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (I Corinthians 5:6-8).

•  “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

There is no book in the New Testament that links the sacrifices of the Old Testament with The Passion of the Christ, like Hebrews. The superiority and supremacy of Christ is the theme woven through the entire book – with a scarlet thread!  Here are just a few of the verses about the full and final sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

•  “Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant…because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them…such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself” (Hebrews 7:22-27).

•  “When everything had been arranged…the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. Bu only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance…When Christ came as high priest…He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made…He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls…sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant…

When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves…and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep’…The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness…For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” (Hebrews 96 – 28).

•  “…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins (they could “atone” or “cover” – but never “take away sins’). But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:10 – 14).

Now let me close this foundational study on the Old Testament sacrifices with a couple of summary verses. They were written by John the Beloved Disciple – who stood at the foot of the cross and observed The Passion of the Christ. Many years after these events, John writes and reflects upon the Person and work of Christ.

•  “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; and we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ…God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all…if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin…If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness…My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 1:1- 2:2).

•  “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us; He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (I John 4:7-10).

So if sacrifices are the very heart of the Old Testament because they represent the heart of God, what must we conclude? What is to be our response to The Passion of the Christ?” The Apostle Paul gives us the perfect summary.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (Egypt), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).

So it is The Passion of the Christ for us that is to inspire a passion for Christ in return! That is what the Apostle Paul calls authentic worship. Nothing more. Nothing less.

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