The Last Passover, Part 1 

Matthew 26:17‑19

     Well, I trust that your heart has been encouraged as we've  worshiped the Lord in song and prayer and now as we come to the time of worship in which we look at His Word.  And this passage in front of us today is one that indeed should elicit from our hearts worship and adoration and praise of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.  It is a rich, rewarding, fascinating passage to study.

     And I confess that I am pressed in my spirit because of all the things that can be said just about the brief passage we'll look at this morning and am somewhat confined by time and by our ability to grasp things that are somewhat complex.  So, what I want to encourage you to do is really stay alert and think with me, have your mind in gear, your hand on the Word of God and listen carefully because of what I believe is going to be a thrilling and wonderful insight into the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

     Now, let me remind you of something that's very basic.  And we have to start with this.  The purpose, the goal, the objective, the climax of the life of Jesus Christ was His sacrificial death.  He came into the world for the purpose of dying.  In Mark 10:45 it says, "He came to give His life a ransom for many."  That was not an alteration in the plan, that was the plan.  That was not an accident, that was not a bad ending to a good beginning, that is the reason Jesus came‑‑to die for the sins of the world.  The sacrifice of Christ is the focal point of all of Scripture.  As one writer puts it, "The death of Jesus Christ is not the end of the story, it is the theme of the story‑‑beginning to end."

     And if you go back, for example, into the Old Testament, you will find that things are beginning to be laid down in the Old Testament to help us understand the meaning of the death of Christ which is yet to come. 

     For example, in the story of Adam and Eve, we first learn that sacrifice is necessary to cover sin.  And then in the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, we learn that it is not only sacrifice but a certain sacrifice.  And that is a sacrifice of death.  And as we move on a little further, we come to the story of Abraham.  And from Abraham we learn that God Himself will provide that sacrifice, as God provided an animal in the place of Isaac.

     So, early on we learn the necessity of sacrifice.  And then the definition of sacrifice as blood sacrifice.  And then the idea that the sacrifice will be a substitute given by God in the place of men.  And as we come to the Passover, in the Old Testament, we are reminded that the one who is sacrificed will be without spot and without blemish.  And all of this is preparing us for Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, the substitute, the gift of God, the unblemished lamb.

     We come into the New Testament and everything in the New Testament focuses on the cross.  In the gospels‑‑Matthew, Mark, Luke and John‑‑the cross is the theme.  In each gospel, it occupies somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of the whole text of the gospel.  About that much of the gospel centers around the final week of the Lord's life.

     When you go into the book of Acts, for example, the book of Acts is the record of the world's reaction to the death and resurrection of Christ.  Then you go to the epistles and the epistles are written to those who believe in the death and resurrection of Christ to instruct them as to the implications of the death and resurrection of Christ.  And when you come to the book of Revelation, you meet the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world who will return as King of kings and Lord of lords. 

     So, everything in the Old Testament moves up to the cross.  The gospels focus on the cross.  And the rest of the New Testament deals with the implications and results of the cross.  The death of Jesus Christ, then, is the focal point of the whole of redemptive history and is not an accident but rather the apex of the plan of God.

     So, from the slain animals of Genesis whose skins were used to clothe Adam and Eve to the slain lamb of Revelation who is worshiped in glory and majesty, the cross is everything.

     Consequently, as we come to Matthew 26, 27 and 28, the last three chapters of Matthew's gospel, we come to the great apex of this book of the Bible.  Here is the major message of Matthew.  Now remember this, that Matthew's attempt all through this gospel and wonderfully successful he has been by the power of the Spirit in accomplishing it, is to present Jesus as king, as regal, as sovereign, as majestic, as dignified, as glorious.  And Matthew faces, at this point, something that would be a human impossibility‑‑that is, how to maintain the majesty, dignity, glory of Jesus Christ in the midst of His betrayal and His execution.  How can He remain the majestic Son of God while being demeaned and degraded in a betrayal and a death such as He died?

     And that is just the issue that we'll be seeing in our lesson this morning.  It is marvelous, it is thrilling to see in the midst of this how there is not any diminishing in the glory of Christ, not any diminishing in His majesty or His dignity but quite the contrary.  He appears here to be more majestic and more glorious and more in control and more the sovereign Lord than He has at any other time in the gospel of Matthew.  And so, the table is fully turned in what men had attempted to degrade Him, He is all the more exalted.

     So, as we approach chapter 26, Matthew begins, then, to unfold for us this glorious event of the death and resurrection of Christ.  And he begins in chapter 26 with a discussion of the elements of preparation.  You remember last week, don't you, we saw the preparation of God in verse 2 of chapter 26.  How that God had set the time table and everything was moving till two days away from the Wednesday in which our Lord is speaking in that part of the chapter.  And on Friday, the plan of God comes to its culmination.  So, the preparation of God was implied in verse 2.

     Then we saw the preparation of the leaders of Israel who hated Jesus Christ, in verses 3 through 5.  And how they were plotting His death and looking for a way, a time and a place to eliminate Him.  Afraid to do it during the eight days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread because of Jesus' great popularity, because of the crowds that were attracted to Him, they were afraid of a riot, so they felt they should wait eight days until the feast was over.  But they were already preparing to execute Jesus Christ.  So, that element of preparation is presented by Matthew.

     Then in verses 6 to 13, we saw the preparation of Mary who as a loving, beloved disciple and friend, anointed Jesus with a costly perfume, pouring out profusely on Him her love and affection and wanting, in a sense, to prepare Him for the death that was coming.  And she, in a way, represents all of those who look forward to the cross as a means of their salvation and saw in it something glorious, something wonderful, something blessed.  And so, we saw the preparation of Mary.

     And then in verses 14 to 16, the preparation of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, who for money covenanted with the leaders to betray Jesus Christ at a clandestine moment moment in a secret place when the crowd wasn't around.  He would inform them where Jesus could be taken prisoner and he would be their betrayer, their traitor, as it were, hired for the purpose of turning over Jesus to them for execution.        

     So, the preparation of God, the preparation of the leaders, the preparation Mary offered, the preparation of Judas‑‑all of this moves toward the reality of the cross.  Now those four elements of preparation involved others other than Christ.  As you come to verse 17, you begin the section where Christ Himself prepares for His death.  It is His own preparation here.  And we see Him in several different ways preparing for His death.

     First, in experiencing the final Passover through verse 25; then, in establishing the Lord's supper; then, in helping the feeble disciples; and finally, praying to the Father.  All four of those are His own preparation.  So, we have four elements of preparation by others and four elements of preparation by the Lord Himself.  Now we're going to begin this morning by looking at verses 17 and following and see the initial element of preparation‑‑the Passover‑‑as He prepares to enjoy that meal with His disciples.  That is definitely part of the preparation for His death, and you'll see it as you move along.

     Now, the record begins in verses 17 to 19, and we're not going to get past that this morning, we'll go past it next time.  But there's so much here that I want you to get that I don't want to try to push too hard.  The record begins in verses 17 to 19 with what we can call "Setting the time"..."Setting the time."  Next week we'll talk about "Sharing the table," "Shocking the Twelve," and "Signifying the Traitor."  We'll move through to verse 25 and even beyond, I trust.  But for now, "Setting the time."  Very, very important.  It might not seem like much but it is absolutely essential.

     Now, let's begin by just looking at the text of verses 17 to 19.  "Now on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover?  And He said, Go into the city to such a man and say unto him, The master saith my time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples.  And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them and they made ready the Passover."

     Now when you read that, it doesn't seem like a whole lot of profound stuff.  But inherent in that text is a richness that really has escaped me for many many years until recently, until I began to dig a little more deeply into the events around this marvelous occasion.  And I think you'll have the same response as well.

     Those three verses tell us that Jesus wanted to have the Passover and that His disciples were ready to prepare it and that He had made some plans so that it could, in fact, be prepared.  And in verse 21 it says, "And they did eat."  So, here we come to the final Passover that our Lord has with His disciples.

     Now, keep in mind that the Lord was committed to keeping the Passover.  In fact, it tells us in Matthew 3:15 that He came to fulfill all righteousness‑‑righteousness having to do with the law of God.  And one element of the law of God was to keep the Passover. So Christ was wanting to be obedient in keeping the Passover.

     Also, Luke 22:15...by the way, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all describe this scene in one way or another from one angle or another.  So, in Luke 22 verse 15, it tells us that Jesus had...and the word is kind of like this in the Greek...He had a great and intense desire to keep the Passover with His disciples.  So, it's very important to Him.  And we'll see why it's important as we look a little further into it.  So, preparation had to be made for the Passover Jesus wanted to keep.

     Now let me give you a little bit of background.  The Jews had a year filled with special feasts, not unlike our own day.  We have customs, too, as Christians.  There's Christmas and Thanksgiving and Good Friday and Easter and some other churches even celebrate other things during the year that are special holidays, special holy days, special emphasis days through the year.  And the Jews were no different.  They had their commemorative celebrations, their festivals, their times of remembering the work of God in the past.

     Now let me just remind you of what their basic feast calendar was like.  There was, for example, the Feast of Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, as it's known.  And that particular feast was to celebrate God's provision in the harvest.  They would celebrate the fact that God had given them everything they had through their crops.  So every year on Pentecost they would have this wonderful time of celebration remembering God's provision.

     There was also the Feast of Tabernacles.  And the Feast of Tabernacles, or Tents, was a feast to commemorate their wandering in the wilderness when they lived in tents and how God provided for them there and gave them food and water and led them through those days in the wilderness.  They remembered that with the Feast of Tabernacles.

     And then there was another feast called The Day of Atonement.  A festival really highlighted by a sacrifice in the Holy of Holies, the sacrifice made, the blood taken in the Holy of Holies sprinkled on the altar and once a year the high priest did that in order to atone for the sins of the nation for the year.  That was another very high and sacred and holy event.

     And then there was the Feast of Lights.  The Feast of Lights is usually associated with celebrating the deliverance of Israel brought about by Esther, the queen, and intervening when Israel would have been wiped out.  And so, the Feast of Lights celebrates that.

     And then there was the feast, and still is, the Feast of Dedication, we know it as Hanukkah.  And the Feast of Dedication commemorated the deliverance of Israel under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus in the time between the Old and New Testament.  So, it's only been celebrated since that time, since about 167 B.C. when it happened.

     And then there's the Feast of Trumpets which is the new year.

     So, that's the major elements of the Jewish commemorative calendar that they're busy celebrating.  But above and beyond all of those, the greatest of all their celebrations in many ways is the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread‑‑both are mentioned in verse 17.  First, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the end of the verse, the word "Passover."  Now this was an eight‑day festival.  The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were combined.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted one week, from the fifteenth of Nisan until the twenty‑first, as prescribed by the Old Testament.  That was a seven‑day feast.  The day before was the Passover.  So the combination was and eight‑day festival.  In fact, they were connected in the minds of the people so much so that the Feast of Unleavened Bread could be a term describing the whole eight days or the Passover could be a term describing the whole eight days.

     So, they would celebrate the Passover meal on the fourteenth of Nisan and then for seven days, the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And, of course, we remember what it was for.  The Passover celebrated God's delivering Israel out of bondage in Egypt where they'd been for over 400 years.  And you remember, God began to send plagues on the Egyptians and the last plague was the death of all the firstborn in every family in Is...in Egypt.  And God said to them, "If you will kill a lamb and a spotless lamb and put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts and the crosspiece, when the angel of death comes to slay all the firstborn of Egypt, if he sees the blood on your door he will pass over."  And that's the Passover.  He will pass over your house, pass beyond your house and spare your life.  And as a result of that, Pharaoh said, "Get out, I've had it!  That's all I can take."  And he sent the Jews out and God ultimately delivered them.

     So, the Passover was commemorating the sacrificial lamb whose blood caused them to escape the judgment of God.  And it was a symbol of God's ultimate Passover Lamb whose blood would cause them eternally to escape the judgment of God.  And so, God instituted in Exodus 12 the continual feast of the Passover.  It was a meal and it was held the night before the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Ancient times it came in the first month of the year called Abib, but after the exile it was celebrated in the month of Nisan and Passover was the fourteenth day of Nisan and on the fifteenth day they began the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 

     By the way, you might be interested to note that the lamb, according to Exodus chapter 12, was to be selected on the tenth of Nisan.  And I have been telling you as we've been studying the book of Matthew that I believe Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on Monday.  His triumphal entry was Monday.  There's several reasons for that.  One, it fits the chronology of events better than a Sunday entrance.  Two, it eliminates the problem of what has been called through the years "a silent Wednesday."  If you have Christ entering on Sunday, then there's nothing happening on Wednesday of the Passion Week, it's a vacuum that's hard to fill.  But thirdly, and perhaps very significantly, Monday was the tenth of Nisan in the year 33 A.D. in which our Lord died.  And that means that the Monday on the tenth was the day in which everyone in the city of Jerusalem was selecting their Passover lamb. 

     The lamb had to be selected on the tenth, taken in and live with the family until it was slaughtered so that when that lamb was slaughtered, it was slaughtered as a friend, if you will, almost as a pet so they understood the price of sin.  And it's significant because if Jesus entered the city on that Monday, He entered into the hearts of those people as their Passover lamb on the proper day.  And He fulfills the symbolism of the Passover lamb in every wit.  Arriving into the city on the tenth of Nisan to offer Himself as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, dying on the four...the fifth...the fourteenth of Nisan, rather, as the Passover sacrifice for the sins of the world. 

     So, the Jews already had selected their lamb as we approach this text.  They had done that on Monday.  And that was why it was a rather significant thing for our Lord to do on Tuesday to clean the temple out, wipe out all the business that was still going on.  There were some, perhaps, who were delayed in selection of their own lamb o