Death and Life

Mark 14:1-2 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. 2 “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”
 
THE ruling Jews did not plan to kill Jesus during the Passover and Feast of the Unleavened Bread. This was a seven-day event that marked the Jews’ freedom from Egypt. God’s angel of death killed the firstborn of each Egyptian household, but he passed over the Jews’ firstborn. God’s loving grace commanded the Jews to mark their doors with a lamb’s blood. The unleavened bread was their food in the first days of leaving Egypt because they had no time to allow dough to rise. In the Passover and the Feast, the Jews were to remember God’s gracious love to free them into a living relationship with him. Free in the desert, Moses sang God’s praises: Exodus 15:13 “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”  
    As in Egypt, God determined the time and method of his salvation for the Jews and for all mankind. Jerusalem was full of pilgrims who came to the Passover. The Pharisees and priests wanted to wait until after the Feast to lessen any opposition to their plan.
    But God’s plan overruled theirs. The night before the Passover, the Lord sent Judas to the Jews: John 13:27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him. Judas’ betrayal propelled the Jews to act. In the Father’s will, Jesus died as the Passover Lamb of God. This fulfilled God’s atoning plan for mankind first spoken in the Garden: Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  The “he” here is Jesus, the Atoning Sacrifice for the sin born out of Adam’s sin. Satan will strike his heel. In God’s sovereign authority the Savior would suffer. Through the suffering Jesus would crush Satan’s head – his authority over mankind. In his sacrificial laws, God required blood to atone for sins. Jesus suffered the cross to fulfill the promise and the law.
    Jesus had once condemned the ruling Jews for being under the devil’s authority. In this condemnation he summarizes mankind’s problem: John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”  
     Our Creator has graciously revealed his eternal truth to us. His loving authority formed and fulfilled the plan for your salvation. Listen to his words. Receive his love. May your life be under the knowledge of his grace to save you.