Elder Mike Moseley and Elder Chris Blevins | 04-05-2026

Elder Mike Moseley - 1 Cor 15:20 Christ, the First Fruits 

Elder Chris Blevins - Christ, our Passover

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:11

To stand here. Of course, normally on Brother Chris's Sundays, I asked him to please take the time that the church gave him. But this morning I can't say that I did not have thoughts on my mind. So when he asked me, I said, I will certainly take this opportunity. Again, Brother Chris, I am in everything you said. That I'm thankful that all across this, at least this country, and other countries as well. There are people today with a particular focus on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I make no apologies that that's on my mind this morning. By all means, I'm not going to shy away from the resurrection in some attempt to make a statement that I don't treat Easter special. I'll tell you what, next Sunday is just as much resurrection day as today. In fact, tomorrow morning is resurrection morning. You know, as soon as the Lord rose from that grave, the dawn has never stopped. The sun has never set again on this world in a place where this world has never again been a place where the Lord has not risen. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, of course, is a chapter that has run through my mind since for the last few days, and we'll read, starting in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse, I have to find, you know, I ought to know this one, but it's verse 20. But now is Christ risen from the dead. That is a true statement in the ever-present tense from the time that he rose from that grave until the time when he comes again. Now is Christ risen from the dead. That'll never not be a true statement. Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. He goes on to say, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ at his coming. Now, just a few moments this morning, I'd like to discuss this idea of first fruits. This is a it's a big subject, but I'm gonna try to be succinct with it. Um what he is describing here is dates all the way back to the Old Testament, and in the law, God had prescribed some things for the Israelites to do. These things that they did had uh timely applications and prophetic, um, especially messianic or prophecies of the Messiah to come. And in Leviticus chapter 23, there's this particular um, well, the whole chapter is about the feast that they would observe. But chapter 23, and and it starts with talking about the Passover, um, but in the uh ninth verse, he starts the next um feast that he that he would describe to uh through Moses to the people. Verse 9 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath, shall the priest the priest shall wave it. And it goes on to say, Ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, uh he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. There are many, many, many offerings of lambs and goats and and sheep. This one in particular is meant to be offered along with this sheep. But let's focus on just this first fruit. He says, When you come into the land that I give you, he's given them instructions about the way that they would observe worship to God in the promised land once they come to that land of rest and promise. And he says that when you get there and you're going to have harvest time, you're gonna have planting time, and then you'll have harvest time. There's gonna be multiple harvests, but the first harvest that would come, I think is barley, if I'm not mistaken, but that harvest would come right at the time of the Passover, and he says that on this, when you first go out to harvest, and you get that first crop popping up in the first fruit that you see, and fruit here doesn't just mean like what we call fruit as opposed to vegetables, it's anything that's produced by the crops in the field. Okay? So a barley, wheat, we don't think of that as fruit, but that's what they're talking about here. The grain that would be used to make food with a lot of preparation and work, when that is ready to be harvested, he says, you go out first and you harvest a sheath. And a sheath is like a bundle. I don't know exactly how much a sheaf is, but it's gathering quite a bit in, and then they bundle it up. Um, and he says, You take that first sheaf, and you don't go harvest the rest of it. You wait, you take that first sheaf and you bring it in to the priest. And then what they would take from that first sheaf of harvest, they would take a little bit of that, I think an omer or maybe a tenth of it. I don't know. It doesn't really matter the exact detail, but you take a little bit of that first fruit and you take it and you gave it to the priest. And there would be a throughout the law this idea of giving of the first fruits, right? They were always to give a tithe or a tenth of their stuff to the priest, uh, whatever it was, and that was an offering to God. But this particular one, it says you bring it in of the harvest, of the crop, of the field, and you bring that in, and a portion of that is going to be taken to the priest, who is going to notice what it says, he shall wave the sheath before the Lord to be accepted for you. Now, what he's doing is the timely application of it was that that was going to ensure the rest of the crop. In Romans chapter 11, Paul makes this statement as just a principle that it was well accepted, that if the first fruits be holy, then the lump is holy, or everything else. See, they didn't have to offer every single sheaf that they brought in from the field to God. They offered the first and of the first fruit, the first produced, the first thing they gathered in. And they waved it before the Lord. Now that waving process had to do with like kind of a motion thing, but it was a lifting up. Okay? Just think of it as lifting it up to the Lord. They did that, it says it will be offered to be accepted for you. Now I know what he means in the timely is that it would be accepted for the rest of the crop, right? But the prophetic thing, the way that this becomes important in the way Paul's using it in Corinthians, is that now Christ, who has died, he died on the cross and he died for you. He died for his people to pay for their sins. He died in their place. He suffered the wrath that we should suffer. Make no mistake, he did endure the wrath of God for sin. Not his own, but yours and mine and every one of his people. And Jesus said himself, in a in an analogy, he said, if a corn of wheat fall to the ground, except it die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. And he used that analogy to say that like when you plant something, if you just left it on the table, it's just going to stay by itself. But when you plant it, that actual fruit corn, that seed, if you ever look at it or study it in science, it literally almost disintegrates, except something comes from it. And what it produces brings forth much fruit. Jesus died and was buried in a tomb, but he didn't abide alone. He died and came forth from it. And when he came out of the grave, every single one that was in him when he died came forth as well. Ephesians tells us in chapter 2 that we are risen together with him, we're quickened together with Christ, and we are raised up together with him and made to sit together with him in heavenly places. We are risen because he is risen. And he says that Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of them that slept. He was the first to rise from the dead in this way. There are many that had risen from the dead before I say many, not that many, but a handful of people in history, the scriptures tell us, came back from a natural death, and yet they came back to a earthly, mortal life that would again die. None of them were risen from the dead to die no more, except this man, Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, he rose by his own power, and he rose by the Spirit of God. And God says that he rose by the power of God. All that the Godhead is, rose him from the dead, but he said, I have power to take it up again. Jesus himself had by his own power to raise from the dead, but it's also because he was accepted of God. That's why Ephesians says that we are made accepted in the beloved. He was accepted for us. That's what this first fruits example is telling us. That when he rose, he didn't rise by himself. He brought forth much fruit. He himself is the example, and by his acceptance, the fact that he's seated at the right hand of God right now is the proof positive that everyone that was in Christ shall be made alive. Everyone that he died for is accepted because the first fruits is accepted. Now notice it says, but every man in his own order. There's only two orders, though. It sounds like there might be a lot of orders. No, there's only two orders. There's Christ, the first fruits, afterward, they that are Christ, at his coming. There's only two resurrections mentioned. And that's why in Revelation you'll find talk of the first resurrection. Um the second resurrection. Because there was Christ's resurrection from the dead, to die no more, to a glorified and eternal life, and afterward, they that are Christ at his coming. Now, you will read in Matthew a little bit of information about when Jesus died, that when he gave up the ghost, the earthquaked, and the two graves were opened. And it talks about how, and then they that were in the graves arose and came forth. But it says after his resurrection and appeared to many. And that's all it says. So I really can't make a big stand on this as to whether all those people died again. But I'm going to say that I see it this way that they they came out of the grave after Jesus came out of the grave, because he is the first fruits of them that slept. But they also, those few, not many, but some came out of the grave in the area of Jerusalem, and they came into Jerusalem, and people saw them and saw that they were alive and knew who they were. And then it, you know what I think? I think that when he ascended, they also ascended. Um, that's my view. But I see it as the sheaf that came first from the harvest, but he is the first fruits of the first fruits that was accepted for all. And so the the optional part of this is my view on that one bit in Matthew as to what happened to those that came out of the grave. I think that they are in heaven too. But no question can be made about who the first fruit is. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the first one in preeminence, the first one in quality, the first one in order, that he would come out of the grave to a life that would never end, an eternal life in a glorified state, that he is seated at the right hand of God, that God accepted that wave offering, and therefore everyone in Christ shall come forth from the grave. It says, at his coming. Then it says, then cometh the end, which means there's no others. There's no other resurrections. There was Christ's resurrection, and then there's everyone else's resurrection, and no in-between resurrections. There's no uh left behind theories, there's no uh secret rapturing. There is one public rapturing when we are all taken up to be with God. It says, Then cometh the end, when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father. So I'll close with that. And I do have some more stuff to talk about with the first fruits, but I don't want to take that time. But know this that our first fruit, Jesus Christ, was accepted by God, and therefore we can be certain and assured that someday we will be with Him in glory. I thank you for the time, Brother Chris.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Please continue in the same uh spirit of prayer. I um I will say likewise, I I'm not gonna apologize for having a very timely subject on my mind. It's not so much the resurrection, but Christ, the Passover. But uh but I I you can't help but uh compare the two. In fact, it you're gonna hear a lot of the same things uh concerning the very message. But I want to I want to pick up with uh Colossians chapter 3, where it says, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Now, the reason why I want to jump to that is not only because it ties directly to the resurrection of Christ, but it ties in directly to your position in Christ in his resurrection. Now, I believe there is that understanding that you get in a timely sense in when you know that you are risen with Christ, that there comes an additional uh uh an additional, I'll call it an additional responsibility to live up to that knowledge. Now, it is also the case with every single child of God, regardless of their mental state, regardless of their their uh the moment in which they uh are born of God, regardless of of their uh their location on earth, every single child of God is risen with Christ in Christ. And because of that, they uh they have the capacity to follow this command. And by the way, if you want to know what one of the commands through God, through the apostles are, it's this if you are his, seek him. That's a command. Why? Because it's the best thing for you and it glorifies him. And I got the order of importance a little bit in the wrong way. It first glorifies him in importance, but it also is the very best thing for you, because it says, set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth, at first three, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. So that's one reason, that's one of the consequences, if you will, of the fact that he is the first fruits from the dead, is that you being in him and he in you, when he when he was accepted of God in the sacrifice, when he when that when that wave offering was made, when the Lord offered himself up, and the Lord said, This is acceptable, it secured every every uh every other part of that harvest, so to speak, it secured everyone that was in uh in Christ. So I want to back up now to another scene that that's played out. In fact, it's uh if you go earlier in uh Leviticus chapter 23, as uh Brother Mike mentioned, uh he uh covers the institution or the uh the observance of the Passover. I want to go back to the institution of the Passover, and I want us to see uh almost the identical message, but I believe uh there's an aspect of this I want to uh I'm gonna try not to get too derailed on one particular aspect. It's something that's been strong on my mind of late, but I want to cover the Passover in general. Um if you don't know, uh one aspect that is on my mind of this is is the bones of Christ, uh, how important that is, but I I want to focus primarily on what the Passover is. Now, just as the first fruits secured the rest of the harvest, if God accepted that, then the rest would be bountiful and plentiful and uh and not blighted and would come to fruition. Well, here we find a scene that's laid out, and you should be familiar with it. If not, make yourself familiar with it. I'm gonna I'm gonna feel comfortable in uh at Grace Church making that recommendation, is that during the captivity or the the slavery of Israel in bondage in Egypt, uh we find that when the Lord uh sent Moses to deliver them in God's own time, not in anyone else's, but I agree with Mother Mike on this. I I think that time was a lot closer to them crying out than you may realize. Uh I think the Lord was, I agree, that Moses was prepared as the deliverer almost as soon as they were crying out. But it wasn't time to deliver them yet. And God was going to deliver them in such a way that it was going to be obvious that it was by the power of God. And not just obvious once, but obvious ten times over. There was no question but that Israel did not deliver themselves, but they were delivered by the hand of God. And the last plague that God sent on Egypt was death of the firstborn. Here calls up the first again. The first is very important. The first Adam was very important. The last Adam was also very important. But we understand that the importance here is that God sent a command, a curse, a plague on Egypt that said, of every beast of the field, and of every man, uh of every household, of every, whether they rich or poor, servant or king of every household, of every single living, breathing creature that has a firstborn, that the firstborn would die that night, except for this one case, is that Israel was commanded to take a lamb, and of that lamb they were they were commanded very special things. One, it had to be a spotless lamb. It had to be a lamb without spot or blemish. Uh they were to take it by household. And by the way, if you if you had a lamb that was way too big for your household, you you invited your neighbors in. You invited other Israelites in, and you ate together as family. But only Israelites were permitted to eat this. Only Israelites and those that were strangers among them that had been brought in as Israelites, but you if they were strangers that were that did not observe the law, they were not permitted to eat this. This shows a, I believe this is one of those cases where Israel, as a picture of all of the children of God, is demonstrated. They were the only ones suited to participate in this, and they were the only ones that this was effectual for. And when they took that blood that land. Lamb, and they were to slay that lamb, they were to uh uh cook it and consume it in that evening. And in the consumption, they were to eat all of it. In other words, nothing was to be left over. In fact, if something were left over, if there was still too much for them to consume, they were to burn the rest of it with fire. In other words, there was nothing left over because whatever was going to happen that night happened that night. And whatever happened that night was gonna happen to its completion that night. There was not gonna be any part of it left over to be uh dealt with another time. Uh so this shows a picture of the work of Jesus Christ. But very importantly, in fact, one of the most important aspects of this is that they were to take the blood of that lamb and they were to put it on the lintels and the mantelposts of the doorway. And it says, when God went through, he didn't I I don't read, now I don't remember reading. I may be corrected easily on this, but I don't remember where he delegated this out. He says, when he passed by, he says he would uh he would uh see the blood of that lamb, and when the blood of the lamb was seen, uh, that he would pass over that house. That's where the term Passover comes from. It is that death passed over that house. Why? Because God's uh God saw the blood and God's curse, or uh in parallel, and in meta in type and shadow, we see God's judgment against sin. Because what is of what is Egypt but a picture of this world and this world in depravity and in sin and the darkness thereof? And the people being uh the people of God being in this world are in the same location, but have a very different covenant, uh uh covenant of grace upon them. And that when God sees the blood of the Lamb, uh he passes over, and death does not come upon that household. Now, when uh when we see that uh that play out in Egypt, uh, that happened just as was described, and God commanded them to observe this, and that happened uh every year upon the first month of this of the year, that this reset their calendar, so to speak, and this was going to be the first month of the year, and on the 14th day they were to uh offer up that lamb, and then the seven days of unleavened bread to follow. And uh I will read this I I I can't I I don't want to miss this part. And uh back in uh Exodus chapter uh chapter 12, he's already given some rules of the uh he some rules of this observance and in verse 47 all the congregation of Israel shall keep it. No, no, let me back up. Uh in one house shall it be eaten, thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof. Now, I I this is this uh I'm I'm gonna follow this because I feel like I need to. But the and please pray on this. There is a reason why there is not to be a bone thereof broken. Both prophetic, and I believe for the picture that is being taught in the prophecy. Now, when we find this, uh we're gonna see other scriptures that portray Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of many things in the law. He's the fulfillment of the law in the annual sacrifice and the atonement of the goat and the scapegoat. We find him in the fulfillment of the first fruits. We find him in the fulfillment of so many other aspects of uh of being the king uh that sits upon the throne, uh, even the throne of David. Uh but he is also, in particular, the fulfillment of the Passover lamb. Uh and we find this being uh portrayed not just in the fact that there's blood uh involved here, but in the every aspect of uh his offering up. In the fact that, and I want to reiterate, uh, this was to be for all of Israel, but it was to be only Israel, and it was going to be effectual for Israel, and it was not to be shared, it could not be shared with another house, it could not be uh exported out, and it was gonna be done all at once. And uh when the Passover occurred, uh there was not, uh by the way, this all this event, uh historically speaking, only happened one time, but they were given an observance of that annually so that they were remember of the Passover of God, so that they were remember uh by the emblems that were given them, that God spared them by blood, that God spared them by the blood of the lamb, and that God spared them entirely in one night. He did not ask them to come back and do some other aspect of that. In fact, you realize other than uh the fact that their hands had to slay uh that lamb, they were entirely passive in this uh in this work. Uh when God saw the lamb, uh he did not ask them to come out and say, Okay, now do you believe everything about this lamb? Do you believe everything about this blood? No, he just saw the blood and passed over because uh they were the ones that needed passing over, if you will. If you understand where I'm going with this, uh in the blood sacrifice of Christ for sin, uh there was no uh there was no determination whether or not uh uh uh you deserved uh to be in the blood. The only determination was whether the blood was deserving in order for the Passover to occur. In other words, the sacrifice itself was what mattered, not what the sacrifice covered. The sacrifice here was to be uh uh to to uh absolve or to uh preserve Israel from the uh the death of the firstborn. But we find that uh is even stronger as far as uh the the uh what the uh actual Passover was. Uh if we look in um if we look in, I think it's Luke. In fact, the Lord says something here. I'm gonna there's there's a lot about this, but I want to just uh get on down to Luke chapter 22. Now, Matthew and Mark both give similar accounts. In fact, you can find a similar account in in uh in 1 Corinthians. But in Luke, I like the fact that he includes this statement. Verse 14, Luke 22, 14, when the hour was come. What hour is that? It's the hour to which the Lord came. He came knowing this hour was going to come. He was born into this world for this hour. In fact, in another place, he said, What shall I say? Deliver me for this hour, for this hour came I into this world. This hour is the hour of his death, his burial, and his resurrection. But there was no resurrection without the death. The death was necessary to put away sin from the people of God. It was and why is it necessary? Because a man sinned, a man had to die. It was not that it was optional in the eyes of God. A man sinned, a man transgressed. When man sinned and when man transgressed, we were as black as night in the sight of God. One sin is all it takes. It does not mean uh that that uh that uh you just lump uh uh all the sins together, and it was enough uh in order to cast us away from God. One sin is enough to cast us away from God because God is holy, because he is righteous, he demands perfection. That's why this lamb had to be spotless. That's why the blood, uh in order for it to be sufficient, had to be complete and whole and righteous blood. It cannot be tainted with sin. And that's what the lamb of God, uh the lamb uh in the Passover uh uh observance was to point us to the Lamb of God, who stood as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world because he is the perfect, holy, righteous, spotless Lamb of God. But what had to happen is that that lamb had to die. And because he had to die, he had to suffer, he had to bleed, and he had to go before God in this observance. When he offered himself up, it was not to any man. No man made, no other man than Christ made that offering, and the offering was not to any man. The offering was from Christ, through the Holy Ghost, to his Father. That's who was who that's that's who was performing this work. Now, if we if we look at if we pick back up in Luke 22, we're gonna find it. That while it was God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost in this work, it was not they were not doing it in order to save themselves. I'll put it that way. It was not for their sakes in the sense that they were lacking anything, and then they were doing this in order to fulfill that lack. There was a lack, however. There was something wrong, and that it was us. We being the objects of his love, but corrupted in sin. One sin being enough, that means every single one of every single one of us, every single sin of every single one of us had to be addressed. Individually, completely addressed. It wasn't enough for God to say, okay, Adam's transgression in the garden, it's taken care of. Done. That's not what had, that's not what had to take place. It had to be that the Passover was sufficient for the whole family of God. So when he says here, an hour was come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him, and he said unto them, with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. What was so special about this Passover? Well, I believe there are a lot of a couple of things. One, this is the final observance of the Passover under the law. There is no other valid observance of the Passover after this night. This is where the Passover is fulfilled in this day. From the moment it was instituted, it was instituted as an observance looking back, but also looking forward. Here the Lord changes the emblems of observance so that we now continue to look back and look forward. But it is not to the Passover slaying, it is to the living Passover. Why do I mean that? How do I mean that? With desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not eat anymore, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. So what happens this night? Judas betrays the cross, he is taken by the wicked hands, the disciples disperse, he is taken to the cross, he suffers and believes, and he dies. Before he dies, there's something that is said, there's a little thing that is said, but there's one thing in particular, and he says, it is finished. What is finished? If you've heard a preacher ask that question, and you've you've wondered what is the answer to that question, uh I hope you know what the answer to that question is. He came to do the father's will, and when he says it is finished, he finished doing the father's will. And he says, the father's will is all that hath given me, I shall lose nothing but raise it again the last day. This the possession he has of his people that were placed in him before the foundation of the world. I haven't forgotten the bones yet, uh, but there were the the there was a people, a body, uh, a a uh uh an elect family that were placed in him before the foundation of the world. And we see that picture played out even in the garden, where Adam uh uh being alone, being the man that was created alone as the federal head of all of all of the people that would come from him. And yet he was created alone and uh distinct uh from everyone else, uh every other creature on earth. And when uh after uh all the animals were brought by him, uh it wasn't just to uh to give him an occasion to fill an encyclopedia of names. It wasn't just so that he might see all of the different uh land animals that were created and brought before him. It also wasn't just to convince him that he needed someone that was uh suitable for him, although it did do that, I believe. But what it also did is it illustrated the fact that God was not gonna bring a companion external from him, he brought a companion out of him. He brought, he did not just create Eve separately and brought him to Adam. He caused that sleep to fall on Adam and brought a bone, a rib, out of Adam, and from that rib made the companion that was suitable to him. Uh a very picture, uh, as the apostle Paul uses that uh uh that very illustration uh to say that this is not just talking about uh the relationship of man and woman. Uh in fact, it's talking about the defining relationship that defines marriage between man and woman. It is Christ in the church, it is the Christ and his people. And I believe there is an aspect that we can uh uh apply to the militant physical, uh visible uh uh kingdom of God and each sister body. Uh but I believe that uh more importantly, there is the aspect in which all of the children of God being placed in him uh is the picture of the uh of the uh glorious, the elect body of Christ, the elect bride, and and her uh and her being his bride, uh that he being willing to die for her, is the very uh the to give his life for her, uh is the very definition uh of how a husband ought to be uh toward his bride. And that is how Christ is toward his church, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And I believe that's why it's important that the lamb, uh the Passover lamb, the one bone was not to be broken of that, because uh the uh the covenant of grace of the people of God placed in him that not one of his would be lost, not one of his would be broken in that uh that work of uh uh of redemption. Uh and we find that uh when uh Christ uh uh was set with his disciples that night before, that he would have an earnest desire to observe this Passover, not just to fulfill the law, to a jot and to a tittle, but to show in their in their uh in their sight uh that the observance of this now changes with his uh being the Passover, with him being the Lamb of God. Uh that that we now change this observance to a dying lamb to living bread. And how does he do that? Uh he takes, he leaves the lamb to the side because he is the lamb. He is the one that will die, but he will not remain dead. Uh he will uh he will live again, and but what he does is he takes bread and wine and makes those the emblem of the observance of his suffering. And what is it about bread and wine? Well, he says, He is the living bread. And when he says that he is the living bread, and then he says, Take eat, this is my body, broken for you, as the apostle Paul says. Uh that that the body was broken, but not the bone, but not the bones. In fact, if you go and read, uh uh if you let me take the time to do it. Uh, in Psalm 22, uh, when uh in that this is a picture of Christ and his suffering on the cross. Uh you're gonna have to work with me really hard to convince me otherwise that this is not Christ on the cross, uh, that this is through the Holy Ghost, uh David writing and pinning down uh the very scene that is playing out uh on that day in which Christ, being our Passover, suffers and bleeds and pours out his, literally pours his heart out unto the Lord. And uh and the offering be made up unto the Lord, uh the God in heaven, uh uh for the sake of his people. If we uh if we pull out, uh if we pick up in verse uh let me pick up in verse 14, he says, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. In other words, his body was broken, but not one bone of his body was broken. His body body his bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, they as the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. Now you may read that and say, What a what a uh horrific uh uh physical condition the Lord was in. And yes, he was. He was in a horrific physical condition. Uh but we also find that uh I I don't believe this is talking about just the the fact that you could uh you can actually see the nature of his bones uh as he hung up on the cross. Uh to tell something is to take account of. Uh to tell something is to actually uh uh let me slow down. We use the term teller to talk about what we also call a cashier. And a teller or a cashier is someone that takes account of the transaction. What he's saying here is while on the cross, there is something else taking place. He's taking place of every single take this for what it's worth, and if it's from God, you take it at that way. If it's from me, you take it as no better than that. But understand this. While Christ was on the cross, he took account of every single member of his body. He took account of every single elect child of God, not just uh collectively. I I know I've tried to convey this before in other ways of saying, but it's not like he just looked at a mass of his people and said, okay, I'll just throw grace out there and it'll land on all of them. That's not how it took place. Remember, for one transgression we must be put away from God. He had to take account of every single one of his bones that they not be broken, that every single one of his children must be accounted for. And before the face of God, before God's own righteous indignation and wrath against sin, Christ took that sin upon himself and answered for it. He told for it, he accounted for it, he laid it on his ledger and he told all of his bones. He can made account for every single one of the children of God that the bones might not be broken, but his body was. He took the weight and the burden of that transgression, so that when he took that bread and that wine, he said, These are the emblems of my suffering, these are the emblems of you uh being part of me, and and the work of the Passover now being um uh being uh uh uh being uh set forward for you. But here's the difference. Uh when they made the observance of the Lamb uh in the Old Testament, that lamb had to die each and every time. Uh but here we do not look at the observance in a dead way. We look at a living Lord who sits at the right hand of God. One reason I wanted to uh go to that verse. Uh if he if then he'd be risen with God, uh, where are we to look? Or to look back at the grave in Jerusalem? No, he's not there anymore. Why where do we look? We look at the right hand of God, where the Lamb of God ascended in power and in glory, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He sits at the right hand of God, reigning over his kingdom today. Why? Because it has been fulfilled in the kingdom of God. He being our living bread and he being the the uh the the the blood in which we uh uh sustain ourselves by. When we partake of bread and wine and that communion service, it is not in order to become part of the body or to have part in, to be made part of the covenant of grace. It is to recognize that God's uh covenant of grace was upon us if we're taking it worthily, if we understand what we're doing, we say, I believe the body was broken for me, and that I am in that covenant of grace from before the foundation of the world, but not from a dead uh uh sense of a sacrifice, but of a living sacrifice that now lives not only at the right hand of God, but within you, that He being in you, that you have eternal life dwelling in you now. Now I want to close with the words of John in this try to tie this back together again. I'll pick up in verse 28. It says, after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished. This is after, this is after not only his ministry, his setting up the church, the last words to his disciples, and setting out the not only the uh the he's he finished the two ordinances, he he started with baptism, he concluded it with the observance of the bread and the wine. He he uh he set these things in order, and he most importantly, he has gone to the cross, and in the in whether you want to call it just the six hours, uh, the three hours of darkness, uh, the whole six hours, how however that's broken out, I know this much. Within hours on the cross, he performed an eternal work. And in that work, he has accomplished everything he came to do. Now, that's not to say he's not gonna do some other things. I certainly hope and pray he's still doing some things. We go to him praying earnestly, he's still working on our behalf. But as far as the work of redemption, remember the Passover lamb was to be burnt, was to be consumed or burnt, because nothing was going to be left over. It was done. Here we find the words of Jesus Christ. He says, uh knowing that uh uh all things were fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar. By the way, this fulfills prophecy, if you want to go back and read that. And they put it on upon Hyssiph and put it to his mouth. And when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Now, what happens next? And I believe this is uh not I believe John records this just more than just so that we get more detail on the events that happened there at the cross. If you'll remember, just a few hours before, or a few minutes before, we can certainly measure it in minutes, there was the occasion where at one point in time both thieves were railing on him during the events of the crucifixion. And then we find something happens to one of the thieves. Those of us, I think if you've ever said, what happened to that thief? God happened to that thief. The Holy Ghost happened to that thief, Christ happened to that thief. And before this moment occurs, there's that conversation between the thief and the Lord. Where the thief says, Remember me when thou enterest into thy kingdom. And the Lord says, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Well, this the Lord gives up the ghost, and there's something that's taking place that next day before when sun sets, and that is a high Passover. In fact, it's a high Sabbath. It says in verse 31, the Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. Now, so they they asked Pilate, We our law demands that we do not handle the dead on the Sabbath day. So let's let's go take care of this now. Let's go expedite their deaths, that way they're not out there all night long. And so the Pilate says, okay, make it so. And so they go, and when they says they cut, then came the soldiers, verse 32, and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. Thinking this through, we have to realize that's both of those thieves. And I I I can I can imagine what was the thought of the thief that still was cursing the Lord. He was probably thinking all sorts of vile thoughts in the fact, well, this is how it finally ends for me. And yet I also think that in the very act of this painful suffering that ended the life of that other thought, other uh thief on the cross, I can only imagine that his thoughts were, this is how I go to be with the Lord. That he knows that his that it's just a few short breaths away, and he's finally free from this world and in the presence of the Lord. But when they get to the Lord himself, he's already gone. He's already passed away, he's already dead. It says when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came their blood and water. And he saw, and he that saw it bare record, and his record is true. And he knoweth that he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced. So why was it so important that his bones not be broken? Was it to fulfill prophecy? Yes, of course it fulfilled prophecy. But here is Christ as the fit lamb of God, having been the Passover for the people of God. Uh, that that uh that as prophesied in the Old Testament, as prophesied in the uh in the exit, uh, in the Exodus from uh from Egypt, as prophesied in every single time that that uh that that uh Passover observance was shown, is that it showed forth the fact that Christ would uh would satisfy the wrath of God for the people of God, that he would be the Passover for all of the people. And it was important to understand that when Christ said it is finished and not a bone of his was broken, is that he was the fifth Passover for the land for the people of God, and this was proven on the day of the resurrection. Uh it is it wasn't uh left for us to uh to doubt or to wonder or to fear, because he is the first fruit of them that slept. We now know the manner in which we shall arise in that day. It will it will not be in bodies that are corruptible, it will not be in bodies that uh that suffer or bleed or die any longer, it will be as he is today at the right hand of God, uh having uh uh having put away sin for us, he being the spotless Lamb of God, uh who uh who put uh put away sin for the of all of the uh the elect family of God as far as the east is from the west, is that we are now a whole and complete in him. Uh and so that uh that uh as as is the way the uh the way that my mind thinks about it is that it is as uh as the scripture also puts it, as uh uh as the bride that is adorned for her husband, that he will receive her as flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, but also not tainted with sin, but covered in his righteousness forever, and that but that dressed as uh as the appropriate bride for the appropriate husband, that we shall be uh brought together with him forever. Uh uh that's it. Um that was what was on my mind. Uh I'm afraid that uh that wanted me. That it was uh God honoring, but also uh truthful and uh I guess it can't be truthful. But uh it's truthful God honoring the and uh also in the all of the uh Michael. Uh single right two three kills. Two hundred and thirty-four, two three kill. Like the couple as well.