(Suggested Reading; John 10)
The Passover the Salvation of the Soul
Our studies in John's gospel so far have been at water scenes. These are suggestive of beginnings in God's ways with man. The early water scenes in John's gospel were written to give us an elementary understanding of eternal life that life which is in God's Son. Because the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ it is interesting to contrast the respective ministries of Moses and Jesus Christ. Moses' ministry began with judgments on the darkness and the waters and morally ended with the children of Israel having light in their dwellings. Christ began as the Great Light at the waters (1) and ended with eternal life communicated to man.
Having said this a question immediately arises how can God righteously give eternal life to man who is a sinner, deserving not life but the judgment of God? It is a question anticipated and answered in John's gospel and in Exodus, Moses' second book. It is the story of the Passover the salvation of the soul.
The Passover in Exodus and John's Gospel
God's ancient people started as slaves to sin and Satan in the world. Using Moses as His servant God delivered them from the iron furnace of Egypt, the house of bondage. Then He brought them into the land of promise. But when Christ came to visit the people He had delivered in the land of promise to which He brought them, they rejected Him 1:11. They preferred their darkness to the Great Light of His presence among them. So the Passover, that vivid remembrance of their great deliverance from Egypt by the Lord, is no longer called a feast of the Lord but a feast of the Jews 6:4.
The Moral Condition of the Jewish Sheepfold When the Lord Entered It
God's people were slaves in the land of Egypt. They were powerless to deliver themselves God had to lead them out. His mighty arm was bared for them at the Passover and the Red Sea. Now this same God is with them. The same God who led them out of Egypt is about to lead them out of Judaism. But to lead them out He must first be with them.
This is the setting of the Scripture "to Him the porter opens and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out" John 10:33To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. (John 10:3). The porter was in charge of the gate in the sheepfold a fenced enclosure to protect the sheep from wolves outside. He admitted the shepherd to the sheepfold because he took care of the sheep. The sheep went out to pasture under the shepherd's protection and back to the sheepfold at the end of the day. The Lord took everyday things and applied them. He is the Shepherd, the Holy Spirit the porter, and Israel the sheepfold an enclosed place in the earth protected by God Himself. But in this sheepfold there were two classes of sheep those who had gone astray "ye are not of My sheep, as I said to you" John 10:2626But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. (John 10:26) and His own sheep, specially singled out. In one sense of course "all we like sheep have gone astray" Isa. 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6). What made us the Lord's sheep was hearing His voice and obeying it when He called us by name. However, going back to Israel, the Lord's voice must first be heard. So the porter the Holy Spirit opened the gate to Him the gate of the Jewish sheepfold at His baptism in the River Jordan. There He descended on Him in the form of a dove. All the Lord's public ministry in the Jewish sheepfold dates from that moment. Before that time He had been subject to His parents, had grown to manhood, was a carpenter, was occupied with His Father's business, but except for such glimpses as these, Scripture veils His life from us until Jordan. Then the same Spirit, the porter of the sheepfold who had descended on Him in the form of a dove, takes Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. His ministry has begun. But this ministry produces a division in the Jewish sheepfold. If we connect John 10 with the story of the blind man all becomes clear. The blind man was one of His sheep He called Him and He came out of the Jewish sheepfold to worship Christ as the Son of God. This left those who were not the Lord's sheep in the Jewish sheepfold in plain words left them in Judaism "for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue" John 9:2222These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. (John 9:22). On his confession, they reviled him and said "you are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is" John 9:28, 2928Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. 29We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. (John 9:28‑29).
In spite of the cleavage, the Lord moved in and out of the Jewish sheepfold all His life. "By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" John 10:99I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9). Only the sheep who went in and out with Christ found pasture the rest starved in the sheepfold. During His lifetime He fed the sheep as He reminded the Jews at the end of it "I sat daily (with you) teaching in the Temple and ye did not seize Me" Matt. 26:5555In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. (Matthew 26:55).
To those who were not His sheep He provided abundant testimony that He was rightfully admitted by the porter as He was God manifest in the flesh. This is why their sin is so great "If I had not done among them the works which no other one has done they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father" John 15:2424If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. (John 15:24). They had seen His works, therefore their sin remained.
To put their rejection in the proper setting, the Jews knew God as the God of creation. So there would be no mistake as to who He was, He identified Himself by acting anew in the way He had worked of old in the first creation. In the old creation God spoke and His works followed. "He spoke and it was done." Here we have an incredible thing. God manifest in the flesh spoke in John 8 and His word was rejected; He worked the works that none but God could work in John 9 and His works were rejected. Previously when He had come into the world as light the darkness comprehended it not the Light was rejected. Compare this with what He did when the earth was ruined. He had said "let there be light" and there was light whenever He spoke, the works followed and creation came into being. Here He worked in the same way, light, word, works but total rejection was the response. Only one thing then was left He must separate His own sheep from the evil religious system of Judaism as He had once divided the light from the darkness. This He does in John 10. He leads them out of the Jewish sheepfold the enclosure of the Jewish sheep. Having done this He must bring not lead out other sheep. These are Gentiles. They were never in the Jewish fold, so there is no question of leading them out. Instead they must be brought. But one flock, one Shepherd, is an impossible thought apart from the death of Christ. To begin with God had established the religious system of Judaism and divided Jew from Gentile. Only God, then, could set it aside. This He must do when they reject the One whom He had sent. But the death of the Sent One of the Father must come in before this could take place. So the Lord tells an allegory to the Pharisees the ones who most opposed Him.
The Pharisees had asked the Lord "are we blind also?" to which He replied "If ye were blind ye should have no sin. But now ye say we see therefore your sin remains." The meaning of this is that if they had simply confessed themselves "blind from their birth" the Lord would have said to them also "neither has this man sinned, nor his parents." Instead they took the ground of seeing. But what did they see? They saw the Lord entering in by the door and should have acknowledged Him as the Shepherd of the sheep. That is, His genealogy son of David, son of Abraham Matt. 1:1,1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1) was unquestioned His acts of power showed where He came from His doctrine was with authority unlike the scribes He did the Father's will, not His own. John the Baptist told them who Christ was John 1:26, 2726John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; 27He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. (John 1:26‑27). And to Him the porter opened that is the Holy Ghost descended from heaven like a dove and abode on Him. He was the porter opening the door to His public ministry in the Jewish fold. All this they saw and denied, therefore their sin remained. They were strangers to the Shepherd's voice "ye are not My sheep, even as I have told you.”
Christ the Good Shepherd
Since they did not hear His voice they could not understand His allegory. "God speaks once, yea twice" Job 33:1414For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. (Job 33:14). When He speaks to them the second time it is to declare who He is since they had denied it. Four times He says "I am" God's name Ex. 3:1414And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14) twice in connection with the door and twice in connection with the good Shepherd. He closes His discourse by a declaration concerning His life "no man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father" John 10:1818No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (John 10:18). In this way He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection of the dead. This was the sign He had told the Jews of in the beginning "destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" John 2:1919Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19). Because He tells the truth "I and My Father are one" they sought to stone Him again as they tried to do in the eighth chapter when He said "before Abraham was I am" John 8:5858Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58).
Thank God His declaration "I am" is in connection with our need. Otherwise we, like the Jews then, would reject Him and be forever lost. He is the door of the sheep. It is not enough for a man to know this he must act on it. "By Me if any man enter in he shall be saved." We all know how prominent a part the door played in Noah's ark. It must be so for the Lord has said that He is the door. But there is another type of the door, one that is more in line with what is before us than that and that is the door at the Passover. Noah's door led into the ark. The door at the Passover was also entrance into shelter. But what followed the Passover was going out of Egypt. In John 10 it is going out of Judaism the Jewish fold. Now the Passover begins with judgment hanging over all but deliverance promised through a lamb a lamb whose blood is sprinkled on the side posts and lintels of the doors in Egypt.
Christ Our Passover
These thoughts must have flooded across the Lord's holy soul when He led His own sheep out for the last time. That was in the large furnished upper room where He exclaimed "with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" Luke 22:1515And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: (Luke 22:15). After He had eaten the Passover He instituted the Lord's Supper. This broke His connection with the Jewish sheepfold. The Jewish sheep He had led out should be joined by Gentile sheep on His ascension to glory. He would bring them, and there should be one flock, one Shepherd.
But that was future. What was before Him at that Passover feast was a lamb. Abraham, the father of those justified by faith, understood this when he said "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering" Gen. 22:88And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:8). In the Passover story in Exodus it is your lamb partly because it met their need and was anticipatory. When the real Lamb came into sight He was not their lamb but God's Lamb "Behold the Lamb of God.”
Every Detail of the Passover Lamb Agrees With Christ
The Passover was observed in the month Abib which means green ears (of corn). This too was a beginning. "This month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year to you" Ex. 12:22This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12:2). The first man's beginning disobedience of God brought in death the Last Man's obedience in accepting the wages of sin death ushered in life green ears of corn.
This life is first seen in the lamb, a helpless little creature. It was to be without blemish. There was to be a lamb for a house hold. Although many lambs would be needed, for there would be many households, God never talks about lambs, but always about "your lamb" always the singular, never the plural. Why? Because God has only one Lamb for man, the Lord Jesus Christ. So for four days they were to guard it. This means that, although marked for sacrifice, its life would go on, doing different things from one day to the next until the four day period was over. Then it was killed and its blood put in a basin Ex. 12:2222And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. (Exodus 12:22). In this way it was a perfect type of the Lord Jesus whose life as God's Lamb is recorded in four gospels. In each gospel we behold the Lamb of God in different ways, yet each gospel begins with the life of that spotless Lamb and ends with His death on the cross. Only those who beheld Him in that way the sin bearer can enjoy the second "behold" "behold the Lamb of God" i.e. they can behold Him for enjoyment. The Apostle John did. He recorded these two "beholds" but wrote earlier of another "we beheld His glory" the glory of the Lamb on earth. Those who do that on earth will, like the Apostle John, behold it in heaven too "and I beheld...a Lamb as it had been slain" Rev. 5:66And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6). Do you know why, even in type, God goes to such lengths to show us the spotless perfection of His Lamb? It is to show His complete suitability to be the sin bearer, for only a sinless man could be offered up for others' sins. So it was that He offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit without spot to God Heb. 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14). The judgment that fell on Him when He did this is foretold too "roast with fire" Ex. 12:99Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. (Exodus 12:9). If the lamb's flesh had been boiled in water, or roasted in an oven, the fire would have reached it only indirectly. But in roasting in an open fire there is no escape from the fire. This is a picture of the all encompassing judgment of God on Christ at the cross. The head, legs and inward parts were to be roasted. The head speaks of the Lord's divine intelligence (unlike Isaac in Gen. 22 He knew the cross was before Him); His legs His perfect walk; His inwards truth in the inward parts. He was completely offered up to God. When the lamb was eaten, not a bone of it should be broken Ex. 12:4646In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof. (Exodus 12:46). It is this that John refers to, "for these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'a bone of Him shall not be broken'" John 19:3636For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. (John 19:36). In all these details God jealously guards the Person and work of His Son.
Nothing Can Shelter From God's Judgment but the Lamb's Blood
What God looked for in the Passover was the blood. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" Ex. 12:33Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (Exodus 12:3). This is how God makes a distinction between man and man although all are guilty since all have sinned. The One who is going to do the judging has promised to pass over without judging if He sees the blood. I think there is another thought too that "passing over" is more than not judging the house passed over. "Over" also means going on to judge the house without blood. Only the blood shelters us from God's judgment due to our sins.
The blood must be applied with hyssop, a weed which grew in lowly places. This act speaks of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20:2121Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21). It is a public confession too, because the blood was not hidden from the world it was applied to the side posts and lintels of their doors. These would face the streets where people passed by. So all men are to be made aware that the blood shelters, since God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2:44Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4).
The Blood Brings Us Into a Place of Nearness and Privilege With God
Finally, the blood was not applied to the door which man might think to be the best place, but to the sideposts and lintel which frame the door. The door speaks of Christ. He Himself said, "I AM the door." The sideposts and lintel, because they surround the door, speak of the position into which His blood would eventually bring man. We surround Him as His brethren even as He is in the midst. But this position of nearness is only possible because the blood has been applied to us. We need it first for shelter before there can be any thought of approach. We needed it, but He was without sin, so no blood must be applied to the door. This striking type of the blood brings out the grand purpose of God in having a redeemed people surround their Redeemer.
Satisfy yourself about this place of privilege by comparing the three 'firstborns' in Scripture. The firstborn speaks of promise in nature for example, the birth of the first child in a family is a happy occasion and raises natural hopes. But God had said, "all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die" Ex. 11:4, 54And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: 5And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. (Exodus 11:4‑5). All would be lost then if God had not provided a lamb in the next chapter. Thanks be unto God that He does and that when He looks at a house where the blood has been applied He says "that speaks of the blood of My firstborn, Jesus" see Psa. 89:2727Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. (Psalm 89:27). This blood is a witness that I have judged My firstborn instead of his therefore I cannot judge this man's firstborn. I will pass over this house and go on to judge the firstborn of the Egyptians who have no blood to shelter." And the result? The Egyptians had to bury all their firstborn Num. 33:4,4For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments. (Numbers 33:4) but the firstborn of Israel were to be sanctified Ex. 13:22Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. (Exodus 13:2).
The Lord Jesus Is the True Passover Lamb
As time went on the Passover was kept in the letter which kills and not in the spirit which gives life 2 Cor. 3:66Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2 Corinthians 3:6). Egypt and the deliverance of the Red Sea were forgotten. When the True Passover Lamb was in their midst the Jews gazed not on Him although John the Baptist exhorted them to do so saying, "behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29). When they killed the Passover Lamb at the appointed time it was in enmity. So when they are in question it is called "the Jew's Passover" John 2:13; 11:5513And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, (John 2:13)
55And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves. (John 11:55). May we reject such coldness of heart! Instead may we value that great work which both sheltered us from judgment and brought us into nearness with Himself, saying with the beloved Apostle Paul "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast" 1 Cor. 5:7, 87Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7‑8).
But the Prince of Life has been slain "smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered" Zech. 13:77Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. (Zechariah 13:7). The scattering is due to wage earners being over the flock of God now that is people with no interest in the sheep except for the money in the job. The wolf has caught and scattered them but it does not say devoured them. We are all aware of the scattered condition of the one flock the Church of God today. We are also aware of our eternal security as His sheep. "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." No, the wolf may catch but he cannot pluck out of such a hand. He may scatter, but all the sheep will be gathered again in glory where they shall behold a Lamb as it had been slain standing in the midst of the throne. God's purposes are never frustrated. With this in mind we shall close off our meditations on the Passover. Its purpose was to keep God away as a judge. But God's purpose is more than that it is to bring man into blessing.
The Passover and the Red Sea prepare the way for the lost sheep to worship God. Man fell body and soul, and must be saved body and soul or lost forever. That is why the shedding of the Passover lamb's blood in Egypt the initial deliverance of Israel is linked to their final deliverance at the Red Sea. It is the Passover and the Red Sea which bring us into the desert to worship God (2) in His tabernacle, a theme John retraces in his gospel beginning with Chapter 12. How beautifully these themes flow into one another, forming a divine trilogy salvation of the soul prefigured in the Passover, salvation of the body prefigured in the Red Sea, followed by the worship of God in His desert tabernacle. We can now worship the God from whom we were estranged by sin, because He has given us a perfect salvation. We will now conclude the subject of the Passover by briefly connecting it to the Red Sea, and this in turn to the grave of Lazarus the subject of the next chapter.
a. The Passover looks on to the next deliverance the Red Sea: The judgment of the Passover was a representative one, as the sparing of Israel's was too that is to say, only the firstborn were dealt with, not people as a class. That is why the blood is called "a token." Only the firstborn were destroyed or sanctified it was a token of future total destruction for those without the blood or of deliverance for those sheltered by it. This took place at the Red Sea where all the Egyptians were completely destroyed and all the children of Israel were completely delivered.
Thus the Red Sea and the Passover are connected. It was the Passover lamb's blood that enabled Israel to go through the Red Sea as on dry land, "which the Egyptians trying to do were drowned" Heb. 11:2929By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. (Hebrews 11:29). In the Passover it was a question of a guilty soul and a Holy God. In the Red Sea it was a question of men passing through death and judgment, and death was Satan's power wielded over the body. So the thought in the Passover seems more the salvation of the soul in the Red Sea the salvation of the body. God's salvation includes both, since the fall includes both. When we see this we exclaim like Jonah "salvation is of the Lord" and are vomited onto dry land Jonah 2:9, 109But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. 10And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. (Jonah 2:9‑10).
b. The Red Sea and the grave of Lazarus: In John's gospel God's salvation, which began with the salvation of the soul in John 10, is completed typically in John 11 with the death and resurrection of Lazarus the salvation of the body. The parallel between the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea pursued by the power of death as seen in Pharaoh's army, and Lazarus being raised beyond the power of death, is striking indeed. Lazarus himself is helpless, but the Deliverer promised in Genesis comes to save him. (3)The linkage with the Red Sea in Exodus demonstrates the power of that Deliverer.