EXODUS 12:1-13
The time...was the roaring twenties. The place was Oklahoma. John Griffith was in his early twenties - newly married and full of optimism. Along with his lovely wife, he had been blessed with a beautiful, blue-eyed baby. With delight and excitement, John was dreaming the American dream.
He wanted to be a traveler. He imagined what it would be like to visit faraway places with strange-sounding names. He would read about them and research them. His hopes and dreams were so vivid that at times they seemed more real than reality itself. But then came 1929 and the great stock market crash.
With the shattering of the American economy came the devastation of John's dreams. The winds that howled through Oklahoma were strangely symbolic of the gale force that was sweeping away his hopes. Oklahoma was being systematically ravaged by depression and despair.
And so, broken hearted, John packed up his few possessions and with his wife and little son, Greg, headed east in an old Model-A-Ford. They made their way toward Missouri, to the edge of the Mississippi River, and there found a job tending one of the great railroad bridges that spanned the massive river.
Day after day John would sit in a control room and direct the enormous gears of an immense bridge over the mighty river. He would look out wistfully as bulky barges and splendid ships glided gracefully under his elevated bridge. Then, mechanically, he would lower the massive structure and stare [deeply] into the distance as great trains roared by and became little more than specks on the horizon...
It wasn't until 1937 that a new dream began to be birthed in his heart. His young son was now eight years old, and John had begun to catch a vision for a new life, a life in which Greg would work shoulder-to-shoulder with him, a life of intimate fellowship and friendship. The first day of this new life dawned and brought with it new hope and a fresh purpose. Excitedly they packed their lunches, and arm in arm, headed off to the immense bridge.
Greg looked on in wide-eyed amazement as his dad pressed down the huge lever that raised and lowered the vast bridge. As he watched, he thought that his father must surely be the greatest man alive. He marveled that his dad could single-handedly control the movements of such a stupendous structure.
Before they knew it, noontime had arrived. John had just elevated the bridge and allowed some scheduled ships to pass through. And then, taking his son by the hand, they headed off for lunch. Hand in hand, they inched their way down a narrow catwalk and out onto the observation deck that projected some 50 feet over the majestic Mississippi. There they sat and watched spellbound as the ships passed below.
As they ate, John told his son, in vivid detail, stories about the marvelous destinations of the ships that glided below them. Enveloped in a world of thought, he related story after story, his son hanging on every word.
Then, suddenly, in the midst of telling a tale about the time the River had overflowed its banks, he and his son were startled back to reality by the shrieking whistle of a distant train. Looking at his watch in disbelief, John saw that is was already 1:07. Immediately he remembered that the bridge was still raised and the Memphis Express would be by in just minutes.
Not wanting to alarm his son, he suppressed his panic. In the calmest tone he could muster, he instructed his son to stay put. Quickly leaping to his feet, he jumped onto the catwalk. As the precious seconds flew by, he ran at full tilt to the steel ladder leading to the control house.
Once in He searched the River to make sure that no ships were in sight. And then, as he had been trained to do, he looked straight down beneath the bridge to make certain nothing was below. As his eyes moved downward, he saw there, below him in the massive gearbox that housed the colossal gears that moved the gigantic bridge, was his beloved son.
Apparently Greg had tried to follow his dad but had fallen off the catwalk. Even now he was wedged between the teeth of two main cogs in the gearbox. Although he appeared to be conscious, John could see that his son's leg had already begun to bleed profusely. Immediately an even more horrifying thought flashed through his mind. For in that instant he knew that lowering the bridge meant killing the apple of his eye.
Panicked, his mind probed in every direction, frantically searching for solutions...Instantly, he knew that there just wouldn't be enough time. Perspiration began to bead on John's brow. Terror written over every inch of his face.
His thoughts rushed in anguish to the oncoming train. In a state of panic, his agonized mind considered the 400 people that were moving inexorably closer toward the bridge. Soon the train would come roaring out of the trees with tremendous speed. But this - this was his son...his only child...his pride...his joy.
He knew in a moment there was only one thing he could do. He knew he would have to do it. And so, burying his face under his left arm, he plunged down the lever. The cries of his son were quickly drowned out by the relentless sound of the bridge as it ground slowly into position. With only seconds to spare, the Memphis Express - with its 400 passengers - roared out of the trees across the mighty bridge.
John Griffith lifted his tear stained face and looked into the windows of the passing train. A businessman was reading the morning newspaper. A uniformed conductor was glancing nonchalantly at his large vest pocket watch. Ladies were already sipping their afternoon tea in the dining cars. A small boy, looking strangely like his own son, Greg, pushed a long, thin spoon into a large dish of ice cream. Many of the passengers seemed to be engaged in either idle conversation or careless laughter.
But no one looked his way. No one even cast a glance at the giant gearbox that housed the mangled remains of his hopes and dreams.
In anguish he pounded the glass in the control room and cried out, "What's the matter with you people? Don't you care? Don't you know I've sacrificed my son for you? What's wrong with you?"
No one answered, no one heard. No one even looked. Not one of them seemed to care. And then, as suddenly as it had happened, it was over. The train disappeared, moving rapidly across the bridge and out over the horizon. (Hank Hanegraaf, Christianity In Crisis, pp 147-151).
As I stand before you this Resurrection day 1998, Easter, how many people are even aware of what God has done for them? Our children no longer have Easter vacation, they have spring break. No longer is this day a day of remembering, thanking God for His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, but it is a time to hunt for Easter eggs, get candy, see the Easter bunny. And others don't even want to hear of the pain, the beatings, the death that Christ endured so that we can live, they don't want to be accountable for that information, nor do they want to be bothered by it. Many are just streaking past in life, and they are missing what this day is all about.
The reality of this day is what Jesus said in John 3:16. We read "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." And yet, as John Griffith witnessed, it seems like the world is passing by, not even aware of the sacrifice that was made so that they could live.
This morning we are going to take a look back and see the institution of the first Passover, which took place in Egypt, as the children of Israel were preparing to leave that bondage, and this meal, this sacrifice was a foreshadowing of what Christ was to do. So if you would, please turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 12, and lets begin reading in verse 1.
EXODUS 12:1-13
The month is Nisan, March/April and the Lord is saying that this will now become the beginning of the new year on their religious calendar, their civil calendar had a different new year. On the 10th day of this month they were to go out and choose for themselves a lamb that was without spot or blemish. And then on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan they were to sacrifice this lamb and take its blood and place it on the door of their homes so that the angel of death would Passover them. As they placed the blood on each side of the door and on the top of the door, the blood would flow into a shape of a cross!
Now how does all that relate to Christ? First of all Peter tells us that Jesus was "...a lamb without blemish and without spot." I Peter 1:19. That is to say that Jesus Christ was born without sin, inherited sin, He was without blemish. And Jesus Christ lead a sinless life, no acquired sin, He was without spot. He was the perfect sacrifice.
And those days prior to the cross, from the time He came down the Mount of Olives as Messiah the king to the time He was arrested and placed before the Jewish religious leaders and then before the Roman authority, he was found guiltless. Pilate said of Jesus "...'I find no fault in Him at all.'" John 18:38.
If you are still struggling with this idea of Jesus being our Passover sacrifice, the fulfillment and completion of what that day was all about, then listen to what Paul has to say in I Corinthians 5:7. We read "...For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." That is a glorious truth that we should treasure in our lives.
Now lets get down to basics, what does that all mean to us? Peter tells us in I Peter 3:18, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit." Why did Christ die? To pay the penalty for our sins. The perfect, the just, the righteous God became flesh and bore the sins of the world for the purpose of restoring our relationship with God. Sin had separated us from God, Jesus has bridged that gap by cleansing us from all our sins.
Lets look back again at Exodus chapter 12 and see what we must do to be saved. First of all it says in verse 3 that we are to take "a lamb." For many, Jesus is a lamb, or one of the many ways that lead to God. He is a way to God, in which there are many. The only problem with that kind of thinking is that it is wrong, not because I say so, but because Jesus does. In John 14:6 Jesus said "...'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" Thus, Jesus must be more than just "a lamb" to you.
Secondly, in verse 4, it speaks of "the lamb". Yes, Jesus is "the lamb", the only one who can take away your sins. John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, said "...'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" John 1:29.
The problem with knowing that is that it won't save you. There are many people who see Jesus as the Savior of the world, but it is all head knowledge. Intellectually they know this to be true, but that will not save them. Now I know some of you may have a hard time with that, but hear me out. Satan and his demons were once servants of God, His holy angels, before they rebelled against God. And they know who Jesus is, but that does not mean they are saved. James tells us "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe; and tremble!" James 2:19. Again all head knowledge!
You see, you can understand that Jesus is "a lamb" or a way to get to heaven. You can also understand, taking it a step further, and know that He is "the lamb", the only one who could take away your sins. But unless you do what verse 5 says, and make Him "your lamb" you will be lost in your sins.
Hell is filled with people that have missed heaven by only 18 inches, and no they are not in Purgatory! And I am not talking about a literal 18 inches, if they only jumped a little higher, worked a litter harder they might have made it mentality. I am talking about what they know intellectually and letting it sink down those 18 inches from their head to their heart and allowing Jesus to become their own personal lamb!
You see, it is a personal relationship with Christ. You can't have someone else do it for you. You can't have mass cards sent, candles lite, or get into heaven on the coat tails of your parents, your friends, you children, you must come to Christ yourself and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior of your life.
It is when you come to know the Lord personally, when you have been born again, that is your spirit which was once dead is made alive again, that the angel of death will Passover and you will enter into eternity with the Lord.
Turn to the Gospel of John and lets look at who this invitation of eternal life is for. In John chapter 1, beginning in verse one, we read "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men....But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:1-4, 12-13.
Jesus Christ is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. And in verse 1 the definite article is omitted and should be read "In beginnings", which speaks of Jesus' eternal existence. Thus, He is God who was actively involved with creation and in heaven, Jesus and the Father stood face-to-face, that is they are equals. In fact, in John 10:30 Jesus said "I and My Father are one."
Jesus used the Greek word HEN when He spoke of being "one" with the Father. It speaks of a unity, that they are one. If Jesus used the Greek word HEIS for "one", it would have meant one person, but He didn't. Two distinct individuals and yet one in character, one in nature. In John 14:9 Jesus said "...He who has seen Me has seen the Father..."
Now God came into the world, became flesh for us to pay the penalty for our sins, for whoever turned to Him, received Him into their lives, He would adopt them into the family of God by the new birth. And the only way you can be part of God's family is to be without sin, and that is what Christ's sacrifice did for us, cleansed us from all our sins.
It is as Paul said in Colossians 2:13-14, "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
It doesn't get any clearer than that. Christ took ALL our sins, placed them on the cross of Calvary and they have been now cast as far as the east is from the west, to be remembered no more. PRAISE THE LORD!
Now many people have died believing that they were the Messiah, but only one has been raised from the dead, for death had no power over Him, and that person, of course is Jesus, the one we came to praise and the work that He did on Calvary that we came to thank Him for.
You see, if you went to the garden tomb today and the bones of Jesus were still there, our faith would be worthless. Paul put it this way in I Corinthians 15:17-19 when he said "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."
But that is not the case, and Paul does not leave us in that hopeless situation, for he goes on to say in verse 20 of I Corinthians chapter 15, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." I Corinthians 15:20-22.
There are many people today who recognize that almost 2,000 years ago that Jesus Christ hung on the cross of Calvary, that He is one of the ways, a way, to God, to heaven. Many take it a step further and recognize Him as the lamb, the only one who could take away the sins of the world. And yet, they only have a head knowledge, He has not become a reality in their lives.
If that is where you are this morning, I encourage you not to let this day just be another Hallmark moment, which will pass by till the next one comes. Don't go speeding through life, totally unaware that God gave His only begotten Son so that we may live. So many are just going about doing their daily business, just like all the people on the train, totally unaware of what that man did to save them all, many are unaware of God's great love for them, His sacrifice that He made for them.
Don't let this day pass you by without making Jesus YOUR LAMB! Come to know Him as your Lord and Savior because He loved you so much that He was willing to die for your sins so that you may live. It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
Yes, to many the cross seems foolish, and the tragedy is they will perish in their own wisdom. For those who see the reality of God's saving grace and apply it to their life, it is the power of God to them. God, in one of the greatest miracles ever, can take a dead spiritual body that is being controlled by the flesh, and make it alive again in Christ Jesus.
Let me leave you this morning with these words from Peter as he spoke to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious leaders, about Jesus Christ. He told them as he was filled with the Holy Spirit "...'Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'" Acts 4:8-12.