Mk 14:22-26; Jer. 31:31-34, The New Covenant as Written

It is Passover and Jesus and His disciples kept the feast.  We have seen that the Passover speaks of Christ in many ways.  Now we see that at the meal Jesus used the occasion to show us how the establishment of the New Covenant was tied to His crucifixion.  This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many (Mk. 14:24).  Blood had been shed in establishing the Old Covenant (Ex. 24:8).  Now blood would establish the New Covenant.  The New Covenant is, of course, huge!  It involves the new birth, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and was founded on the blood of Christ that brought about the forgiveness of sin.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jer. 31:34).  The promise of this New Covenant is found frequently in the OT.

Let me remind you of the first promise, in Deuteronomy.  The LORD told Moses that while Israel had seen all that God had done, yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day (29:4).  But then the LORD told Moses that a day would come, after much history and sin and suffering, that He would bring them back to the land and would circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (30:6).  This “circumcision of the heart” speaks of the New Covenant.  Col. 2:11-14 tells us that this spiritual circumcision came through the His cross.

The clearest statement of the New Covenant comes in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and for that reason the writer to the Hebrews quotes the entire passage in Heb. 8:7-13.  As the Old Covenant was made with Israel, so the New Covenant is made with the house of Israel.  The new is said to replace the old which they could not keep.  God promises to put His law in their minds and hearts.  He also promised that they will have a relationship with Him, something that God had promised often in the OT: I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  It will be such a deep relationship that no one will need to teach them to “Know the LORD” because they will already know Him.  All this is possible because the sin that separates men from God will be forgiven.  This tells us why Israel in Deuteronomy did not and could not have a heart and eyes and ears to perceive. 

How would the LORD put His law in their minds and hearts?  And how would this relationship be realized?  The answer is found in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Thus we find that in many of the OT prophecies of the New Covenant there is a recognition of this.  These promises are such a blessing I want to share several with you in the next post.  At this point, we should give God the glory that now, in Christ, He has given the ability to know Him deeply, and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit we have hearts and eyes and ears to perceive His truth.  As Jesus told Nicodemus, we can enter and see the kingdom of God!

Acts 13:27-29, Ex. 11:4-7, Prophecy Fulfilled

We have been paying attention to the OT and the things written about the crucifixion of Christ.  Jesus mentioned this to the disciples when they were eating the Passover meal.  Later, in Gethsemane, He said this: I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me.  But the Scriptures must be fulfilled (Mk. 14:49).  Even after His resurrection Jesus emphasized this connection with the OT.  To the Emmaus Road disciples He said, ‘Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Lk. 24:26-27).  Then He said the same with the Twelve: These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me (24:44).

Let me remind you, as well, that we are not finished with this approach.  There is more to come that has its anchor in the OT.  It was not until Jesus had fully suffered the cross and the separation from His Father that it was said, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ (Jn. 19:28).  And even then, John tells us that the piercing of Jesus’ side was a fulfillment of Scripture (Jn. 19:36-37). 

We also need to remember that Jesus’ crucifixion contains that amazing and mysterious mix of the Sovereignty of God and the responsibility of Man.  In our previous post we noted that the Passover was “the LORD’s Passover.”  It was God’s planned event, as was the fulfillment in the Passover.  As Isaiah said, it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief (53:10). Yet, note how the Apostle Paul described this in Acts 13:27-29.  First, he said, For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.  And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.  Those who fulfilled the prophesied did what they did because of their own sinfulness, their own ignorance of those very Scriptures.  Paul concluded, When they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.  Everything was done according to the will of God, and out of the sinfulness of men. 

There is one other matter I want to say concerning Jesus’ death at Passover.  In Ex. 11:4-7 God gave Moses the initial idea of “Passover,” and that through this event He would make a distinction between Egypt and Israel.  How could God be merciful to Israel given that they were also sinful people?  The answer is found in the blood of the Passover Lamb.  As the LORD said, When I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt (Ex. 12:13).  And so it is with Christ, our Paschal Lamb.  Praise the LORD!

Psalm 49:7-15, Christ our Passover Lamb

We are thinking about connections between Passover in Ex. 12 and our Lord’s ministry at the cross.  We can see that Passover speaks of “atonement,” providing a covering for sin.  Passover also speaks of “redemption.”  In the OT there are two pictures of redemption.  First, there is the one illustrated in the book of Ruth (e.g. Ruth 2:20; 4:14), where the Redeemer is a “kinsman redeemer.”  Boaz was a close relative of Naomi and Ruth.  As we have noted, the Passover lamb in Ex. 12 was part of the family for a period of time, and then shed its blood so as to “buy” freedom from death for Israel.  Job knew of this Redeemer: For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth (Job 19:25).  Jesus was our “blood brother” who was our Kinsman-Redeemer (Heb. 2:17-18).  We should join the Psalmist in 107:1-2: Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. 

The other term is seen in the provision made for firstborn sons.  In Ex. 13:13-15 (still in the context of Passover) God proclaimed that all the firstborn in Israel belonged to Him.  Thus, a firstborn of the sheep or the herd was to be put to death.  But in the case of a firstborn son, they could be redeemed, bought with the blood of a lamb.  The Psalmist in 49:7-15 spoke of this wonderful spiritual truth.  No person can pay the ransom for another person because it is too costly.  Each is accountable for their own sin.  Yet the Psalmist is confident that God will “redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”  Christ is that Redeemer.  Study this in Col. 1 where we see that Christ, the Firstborn of all creation and Firstborn from the dead (1:15-18) is the One who has shed His blood to reconcile us to God (1:19-23).

Continuing in Ex. 12, we have seen that the covering and redemption is bound up in the blood of the lamb, as is the case with Christ.  Lev. 17:11 says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.  Do you remember how the God said that “the blood of (Abel) cries out to Me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10).  Every picture of atonement and redemption we have seen requires the taking of a life, meaning, the shedding of blood.  What Jesus accomplished on the cross was through His blood (e.g. Rom. 3:25; Col. 1:20).  At the Passover meal Jesus declared, This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many (Mk. 14:24).

The lamb was to be roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, a picture of suffering.  So Christ suffered as He became our Passover (Ps. 22:12-18; Isaiah 53:3-7).  And lastly, the Passover was “the LORD’s” Passover (12:11).  So, Christ was smitten by God and afflicted (Isa. 53:4).  God brought (Him) to the dust of death (Ps. 22:15).  He was delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:22-24).

Psalm 91

This anonymous Psalm, ascribed by some to Moses who wrote the previous Hymn, has attracted a great following.  It promises protection and deliverance to those who walk deeply with God.  But it does not give the saint a free pass with respect to the difficulties of life.  It promises deliverance (v3), including from Satan, the fowler who seeks to ensnare.  It promises God’s truth to be a covering for the pilgrim (v4).  He will not need to be afraid (v5-6).  He will not experience the evil that comes upon the wicked (v7-8).  He will be protected and encouraged in the face of life’s difficulties (v10-13).  But it also says that God will be with him in trouble (v15). 

Jesus gave the sense and application of this Psalm when Satan himself quoted 91:11-12 in one of the temptations (Matt. 4:5-7).  He refused to test God by requiring God, so to speak, to deliver Him from falling.  In another passage Jesus noted those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matt. 10:28).  Every saint in Scripture faced tribulation, beginning with our Lord and each of His Apostles.  This Psalm does not indicate we will have no trouble; it promises rather perfect protection for the soul regardless of the trouble.

To put ourselves intentionally in danger would actually deny the very condition for this Psalm that is seen at the start (91:1-2) and again in the middle (91:9).  That is where we need to spend time in meditation.  God, by His truth, will be the refuge for the one who dwells in the secret place of the most High.

·         To dwell is to sit down, to remain, or to stay somewhere.  It does not speak of a short visit or merely passing by.  We take the name of the place where we dwell.  Those who dwell in Israel are Israelites.  Those who dwell in God’s holy habitation are holy ones or saints (Deut. 26:15).  Under the New Covenant it is to abide in Christ (John 15).  And yet at the same time it is for Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17).  It is to answer the knock on the hearts door and to welcome the Savior for deep fellowship (Rev. 3:20).

·         The secret place is the place where nothing Satanic or evil or destructive to the soul can ever enter.  It is God’s tabernacle (Psalm 27:5).  Christ was in that place in Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal.  He bids us enter into the same place to find help (Heb. 4:16).   How can this be when we are on this earth, so far from our eternal home?  It is because …

·         Our dwelling place is God Himself (91:9; 90:1).  As 91:2 says: I will say of the Lord … my refuge and my fortress!  This is not magical nor mystical.  It is frequent and deep fellowship with God through prayer and His word.  To pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) is to be at home in the secret place.  It is nothing between my soul and the Savior; the ongoing experience of His forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9).  It is the presentation of our bodies as living sacrifices, our only reasonable worship (Rom. 12:1).

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Mark 14:12; Ex. 11:4-7; 12:1-7,13, What was Written about When Jesus Would be Crucified?

Jesus was crucified at Passover.  Not the Day of Atonement.  Not during the Feast of Tabernacles.  But Passover.  The rest of the NT calls attention to this fact.  John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), a title of Christ that is found in the Passover.  Paul said, 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 (1 Cor. 5:7).  Peter’s words in 1 Pt. 1:17-19 are profound:

¹⁷ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; ¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

There are many things about the first Passover that connect with Jesus’ crucifixion.  Moses told the people of Israel what God had said to him: around midnight the LORD was going to kill the firstborn of all in the land of Egypt, but He would not kill the firstborn of the Israelites.  In this way, everyone would know that the LORD made a distinction between Egypt and Israel.  Moses said these words for Pharoah to hear (11:8), and yet he spoke in the hearing of the people of Israel (11:2). 

Exodus 12 contains the instructions for the first Passover, the one that set the stage for all the others, and the one that prophesies Christ.  For example, in 12:3 we see that, as Jesus often said, “whosoever will may come.”  The offer was to all the people of Israel.  Passover involved a male lamb, without blemish (12:5), fulfilled in Jesus.  In 12:6 we see that the lamb was chosen and spent 4 days with the family, becoming dear to them.  In the same way, Christ came to His own, and lived among them, and ministered among them, and then was put to death. 

The Israelites were to take blood from the sacrificial lamb and put it on the doorposts and over the top of the door.  Thus, the lamb provided “atonement.”  The word for “atonement” comes from Gen. 6:14 when Noah was told by the LORD to cover the ark with pitch so that it would not leak.  In the case of Passover, the blood provided a covering over the household so that, when the LORD went throughout Egypt He would “pass over” the homes of the Israelites that were covered with blood.  The Lord Jesus provides an eternal covering for us, as we see in Rom. 3:24-25:

being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.

There is more to say about this connection, which we will in the next post.

Mk. 14:10-11,18-21, What was Written About Jesus’ Betrayer?

Remember, we are acknowledging that “the Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him” (14:21).  In v10-11 we see that Judas initiated the betrayal and the chief priests paid him accordingly.  In the recent post called “Thirty Pieces of Silver” we saw that this was written beforehand in Zech. 11:12-13. 

As Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal together, Jesus prophesied that one of “them” would betray Him (14:18-21).  Jesus seems to indicate He is less concerned about naming the betrayer and more concerned about the fate of the betrayer: it would have been good for that man if he had never been born.  The Zechariah passage had prophesied the tragic ending for the betrayer when the prophet said, And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.  The Gospels tell us that Judas threw the money at the feet of the chief priests and hung himself in the potter’s field.  The priests used the money to purchase the field for the burial of strangers (cf. Matt. 27:3-10).  Peter, in Acts 1:20 quoted two Psalms that spoke of Judas’ woeful fate: Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it (Ps. 69:25) and, Let another take his office (Ps. 109:8).

There is one other Biblical connection with Judas.  In John 17:12 Jesus refers to him as the son of perdition.  2 Thess. 2:3 refers to the future antichrist by the same title: Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of^] sin is revealed, the son of perdition.

All of these references to the betrayer work together to assure us that Jesus’ is correct to pronounce a “woe” upon Judas (Mk. 14:21).  There are people who sometimes want to paint Judas as a “gray” individual, struggling with perhaps some political motives or “reverse psychology” (trying to force Jesus’ hand).  As we have noted, and say again, Judas was a man of covetousness, loving money, and he was willing to put a price of 30 pieces of silver on Jehovah, God who came in the flesh!

Having said that, and without any diminishing of this description of evil Judas, there is an interesting study in the NT.  The word for “betray,” paradidomi (prefix “over, beside” with verb “to give”, to give over or give to someone) appears several times in the NT in speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion.  Who gave Him over?

·       Mk. 14:10: Judas gave Him over, betrayed Him.

·       Mk. 15:1: the elders, scribes and entire Sanhedrin “delivered” Him to Pilate.

·       Mk. 15:15: Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified.

·       Rom. 4:25: Jesus was “delivered up” for MY justification; I delivered Him up.

·       Jn. 19:30; Gal. 2:20: Jesus “gave up” His spirit; He loved me and “gave Himself up” for me.

·       Rom. 8:32: The Father “delivered Him up” for us all.  Why did the Father do this?  Because there was no other Redeemer!

Acts 13:26-41, The Fragrance of His Death

Since Jesus’ anointing at Bethany has caused us to consider His burial, let’s consider other passages that speak of His burial. 

And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isa. 53:9)

Here is a passage I love because it speaks of a “carved out tomb” like the Garden Tomb.  That was a rich man’s tomb.  Shebna, in Isa. 22:15-16, was a rich man who made such a tomb. Crucified people were not normally buried; their bodies were burned.  I consider this burial to be the beginning of Jesus’ exaltation.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (Ps. 16:9-10)

This is the passage quoted by both Peter (Ac. 2) and Paul (Ac. 13) when they anchor His burial in the OT. 

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. (Ps. 22:15)

This is the point of burial in the amazing prophecy of “crucifixion.”  He was truly dead, brought to the “dust of death.”  I also find it interesting how often the burial “spices” are mentioned in Scripture.

All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. (Ps. 45:8)

And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Mt. 2:11)

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. (John 19:39)

Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.  (Mark 16:1)

What is important about this?  His friends wanted to be sure His shame did not continue, even in death.  So they brought the spices.  The way we live our lives should present Jesus’ death as a “fragrant” event!

14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor. 2:14-16)