The Sufferings of Christ (Torah) 20230319 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
03/19 Lent; The Sufferings of Christ; Torah of Moses; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20230319_sufferings-of-christ.mp3
Moses Wrote About Jesus
Jesus claimed that all of the Scriptures are all about him. Jesus said to the religious leaders in John 5:
John 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
The Scriptures bear witness about Jesus. They point us to Jesus. Eternal life is only found in Jesus. We must come to Jesus to receive life. There is no life outside of Jesus. Searching the Scriptures must bring us to Jesus, or it is worthless; the Scriptures are meant to lead us to Jesus.
John 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
According to Jesus, Moses wrote of Jesus. The first five books, the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy were ultimately written about Jesus.
Jesus said to his despairing disciples after his resurrection:
Luke 24:25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Genesis 1-3 and Our Need
Last time we looked at the beginning of Genesis, where God created everything good, created man and woman to be his image bearers, to embody his good and kind authority over the rest of creation under his absolute good and kind authority. But we chose to rebel, to play god, to determine for ourselves what was right and wrong. In place of God’s blessing, we brought a curse on ourselves and on all of creation. The wages of sin is death, and death has tainted and distorted and twisted God’s good world. We forfeited paradise, expelled to a life of pain and toil, sweat and thorn, until we return to the dust from which we were created. Access, fellowship with God barred by fearsome cherubim and flaming sword. But even in this, a word of hope. The twisting serpent would crush the heel of the seed of the woman, but her seed would crush the head of that ancient serpent. Already by chapter 3 of the first book of Moses, we had created the need, violated God’s good command, and brought death into the world. But already in chapter 3, God promised that one day one man, born of a woman, born under law (Gal.4:4) would redeem us who had sold ourselves into slavery. One born under the curse would become a curse for us.
Jesus said in Luke 24:44 “that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” We don’t have time today to look at everything written about Jesus in the Old Testament, but I would like to begin with the books of Moses and at least get a taste, a bird’s eye view of some of the things that Moses wrote about Jesus.
Cain to Noah; Noah Found Grace (Genesis 4-9)
Genesis spirals quickly from bad to worse as mankind continues to rebel against God and his authority. Adam and Eve have a son, but rather than end the serpent’s tyranny, he embraces his anger and kills his younger brother in cold blood. The genealogies of the descendants of Adam are punctuated by ‘and he died’.
Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah found grace. God instructed Noah to build a box 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, out of wood, sealed with pitch.
Peter in 1 Peter 3:18 points us to Christ who suffered once for our sins as a substitute, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. And he connects this with Noah and his family who were brought safely through the water
Jesus, by his suffering, protects us from the wrath of God, bringing us safely through the purging purifying waters of judgment. Baptism pictures our dying with Christ and rising again to a new kind of life.
Abraham and Isaac; Sacrifice the Son (Genesis 11-25)
By chapter 11 humanity is in overt rebellion, gathering to make a name for themselves, and building a tower up to heaven. The Lord scattered them, and turns his attention to one man, Abram and his barren wife Sarai, and God calls Abram to leave home and he will bless him, he will make his name great and make him into a great nation that will be a blessing to all the families of the earth.
In Genesis 21, God keeps his promise. He visited Sarah and she conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age. In chapter 22, God calls Abraham to take his son, his only son, whom he loves, and offer him as a sacrifice on one of the mountains of Moriah. At this point, Isaac was old enough to bear the wood for burnt offering up the mountain with his father. In answer to his son’s question about the missing lamb, Abraham said “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gen.22:8).
Apparently without a struggle against his elderly father, Isaac willingly allowed himself to be bound and placed on the altar, and Abraham raised the knife to slaughter his son. God stopped Abraham, and provided a ram to offer instead of his son.
Genesis 22:14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
Thousands of years later, on that very mountain, the Father took his Son, his only Son, whom he loved, and offered him as a sacrifice in my place, for my sins.
Exodus Deliverance (Exodus 1-20)
In Exodus, God’s people are afflicted, ruthlessly made to work as slaves, lives bitter with hard service. The Pharaoh ordered all the male children to be killed, but Moses the deliverer was miraculously protected.
God finally freed his people from Egypt by killing every firstborn male in Egypt. But he gave his people the Passover; a lamb without blemish was to be slain for each household, the blood put on the doorpost, so that
Exodus 12:13 ... when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5
1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Jesus is our Passover lamb. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain in Luke 9,
Luke 9:30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
This word ‘departure’ is literally his ‘exodus’ [ἔξοδον]. Jesus was about to fulfill [πληροῦν] his exodus in Jerusalem. He would provide a way out, he came to set his people free, free from our sins
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
When the Lord set his people free,
Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Jesus said in John 8;
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In spite of God’s awesome rescue and his manifest presence with them, the people grumbled and complained. They complained they had no food to eat. So God rained bread from heaven (Ex.16:4).
In John 6, after Jesus fed the 5,000, the people were asking for another sign, to fill their bellies. They said:
John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ... 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The people quarreled and complained against Moses because they had no water to drink. The Lord told Moses;
Exodus 17:6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
I will stand before you on the rock and you shall strike the rock. Moses was told to strike the Lord who stood before him on the rock, and water would come out. Paul says:
1 Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Christ was the rock stricken before the elders, that flowed with life giving water. This is why the punishment on Moses was so severe when later, in Numbers 20, the people again were grumbling, and Moses disobeyed by striking the rock again. The Lord told him to speak to the rock this time, to tell it to yield its water. But instead he struck the rock a second time. Jesus was stricken once for all, and now he gives living water to all who simply ask.
John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ...14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
In spite of their grumbling and complaining along the way, God brought them to Sinai, to the mountain to meet with him. They would be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, his own treasured possession.
Exodus 20:18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ... 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Moses became the mediator between the Lord and his people.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Moses said that the Lord would raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers (Deut.18:15-19; Acts 7:37). Jesus is the greater Moses, the better mediator of a better covenant (Heb.9:15; 12:24).
Tabernacle (Exodus 25-40)
We think of Exodus as the exodus of the people out of Egypt. But that is only the beginning part of Exodus. Exodus is about God entering into a covenant with his people, taking them to be his own people. Exodus 19-24 lay out the terms of the covenant, and record the covenant ceremony. Exodus 25-31 are the detailed instructions given to Moses on building the tabernacle, the tent where God would dwell in the midst of his people. Exodus 35-40 are a detailed account that the tabernacle was constructed exactly according to the plan given to them. But right in the middle is chapter 32, while Moses is still on the mountain receiving God’s instructions, the people are breaking all God’s commands, making and image of gold, worshiping and offering sacrifices to the thing they had made, eating and drinking and indulging themselves. God’s wrath burned hot against the people, and he threatened to consume every one of them and start over with Moses. This is what they deserved. But Moses implored the Lord to remember his promises and forgive their sin and be with them. The promised land without the presence of God with them was not worth having.
God gives good gifts we don’t deserve. God would come dwell in the midst of this sinful rebellious people. God would pitch his tent among them and live with them. In John 1, we are told that the divine Word who was with God and who was himself God, who created all things,
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The word ‘dwelt’ is the verb ‘to pitch a tent’ or ‘to tabernacle’ [ἐσκήνωσεν]. The eternal divine Creator Word became flesh and tabernacled with us, God with us, pitched his tent among us.
The Sacrifice and Priest (Leviticus 1-10)
In Leviticus, the procedure for safely approaching the holy God is laid out in detail. Sinners require sacrifices and offerings.
Hebrews 10:3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Leviticus proscribes the procedure for purifying priests that could approach God to offer sacrifices. Only one man, the high priest, only once a year, on the day of atonement, only with blood could ever enter the most holy place.
Hebrews 10:11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
The Curse Lifted Up (Numbers 21)
Numbers records the people becoming impatient with God and Moses,
Numbers 21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
They even turned God’s good gifts into grounds for complaint. Why did you save us from slavery? Why have you faithfully and supernaturally fed us in the wilderness? We loathe your good and gracious gifts.
Numbers 21:6 Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Look and live. Simple. Too easy. Why a serpent on a pole? The serpent represents the curse, the consequences of our sin. How can simply looking at the curse lifted up deliver? Because that’s what God said. It was believing God, trusting God’s word. He said look and you shall live. So look! Jesus said:
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
The Son of Man must be lifted up; as the curse hung on a tree. He became a curse for us. And when he is lifted up on the cross, whoever looks will live. Whoever believes in him has eternal life. We are condemned already. The wages of our sin is death. When we look to Jesus, he is condemned in our place. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:1).
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2023.03.19 Sermon Notes
The Sufferings of Christ; Jesus in the Torah
The Scriptures bear witness about Jesus
John 5:37-40, 45-47; Luke 24:25-27, 44
Brought safely through the waters of judgment
Genesis 6:5-8; 1 Peter 3:18-21
The Sacrifice of the only Son
Genesis 22:2, 8, 13-14; John 3:16
Jesus is our Passover Lamb
Exodus 12:13; 1 Corinthians 5:7
Jesus is the better Exodus
Luke 9:30-31; John 8:34-36
Jesus is the light of the world
Exodus 13:21-22; John 8:12
Jesus is the bread of life
Exodus 16:4; John 6:26-51
Jesus is the stricken Rock and living water
Exodus 17:6; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4; Numbers 20:8-11; John 4:10-14
Jesus is the better Mediator
Exodus 20:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 7:37; Hebrews 9:15
Jesus is the true Tabernacle
Exodus 25-40; John 1:1-3; 14
Jesus is the better sacrifice and our great High Priest
Leviticus 1-10; Hebrews 10:3-4, 11-12; 4:14
Jesus is the curse lifted up on the tree
Numbers 21:5-9; John 3:14
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org