Numbers chapter 9. There were a few verses left
in chapter 8. We'll give those to you for your study. We're
going to go into chapter 9. Chapter 9 has two great messages
in it. The first part we would like
to look at part of today, and that's the second time that the
children of Israel Observe the Passover. The first time was
in Egypt. This time it will be in the wilderness.
And then in the last half of this chapter, verses 15 through
23, we have the mode in which the Lord will allow his people
to know when it's time to move. We have a pillar of cloud and
a pillar of fire. And he will show them when it's
time to move. And he gives the, if it sits
there for a day or a week, or a month or a year, they will
sit. And when it moves, the pillar
of cloud or the pillar of fire, they will move. And then just
jumping ahead a little bit, we find in chapter 10 that Moses
is commanded to make two trumpets of silver. We're looking forward
to getting to that passage of scripture, the two trumpets of
silver. And then if you notice that the
heading of chapter 11, and when the people complained, We'll get there someday. The
book of Numbers chapter 9. I would like to read the first
14 verses of this chapter as it declares unto us the word
of the Lord and what the children of Israel were to do with the
second Passover. And the Lord spake unto Moses
in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second
year, after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed
season. In the 14th day of this month,
at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season, according
to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof,
shall ye keep it. And Moses spake unto the children
of Israel that they should keep the Passover, and they kept the
Passover on the 14th day of the first month. even in the wilderness of Sinai,
according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children
of Israel. And there were certain men who
were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not
keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and
before Aaron on that day. And those men said unto him,
we are defiled by the dead body of a man. Wherefore are we kept
back that we may not offer an offering to the Lord in his appointed
season among the children of Israel? And Moses said unto them,
stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning
you. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man
of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead
body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover
unto the Lord, the fourteenth day of the second month. At even,
they shall keep it, and eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They
shall leave none of it until morning, nor break any bone of
it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, they shall keep
it. But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and
forbeareth to keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut
off from among his people, because he brought not the offering of
the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger shall sojourn
among you, and will keep the Passover unto the Lord according
to the ordinance of the Passover, and according to the manner thereof,
so shall he do. Ye shall have one ordinance both
for the stranger and for him that was born in the land. Now there's some interesting
reading there. As the Lord provides for people that are in an unclean
state, We're gonna have two Passovers. One the 14th day of the first
month and one the 14th day of the second month. We'll get to
that as we go through this passage of scripture. But I'd like to
go back to verse one now. We find the Lord spake. unto Moses in the wilderness. I like that. As we have noticed
a number of times in going through the scriptures, how valuable
it is for us to pay attention to when the Lord speaks. And
as was brought out this morning, here it is. The word of God is
for us. It's for us to read, to meditate
upon, and pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal some truth
out of it. Well, the Lord spake here, and we find that he spake
the words in the next two verses. In that Bible I have, the Old
Testament where the words of the Lord are in red, those are
in red, and those are the words of the Lord. But let's notice
this just for a moment. It seems that there is no greater
place in all the world, where we hear the results of what we
heard in Romans chapter 8 this morning about the natural man
is enmity against God than in when it comes to the word of
God. Now, we can find him at enmity about creation. We can
find him at enmity about salvation. We can find him about enmity,
but all of it boils down to enmity against God according to his
word, that it is the word of God that men rankle at. It is the word of God that men
are repelled by. It's the word of God that the
people during the Lord's time found great fault with Jesus
Christ about because he spoke the word of the Lord. and even
the disciples, and John, and others that were bringing the
word of the Lord. And in regard to that to the Old Testament,
we find that many of the prophets brought the word of the Lord,
and Jesus Christ brought up to the Pharisees, you killed the
prophets that I said that to you. You stoned them to death,
and now you have sepulchers to their glory. Well, we find here
that the enmity against God is so manifest when it comes to
the word of the Lord. It has become quite apparent
as I have been working with a young man, visiting, I will say that,
visiting with a young man that says he knows God, but when it
comes to the word of God and you bring it out to him point
blank, face-to-face, there's always a reason why not to believe
it. I have learned a great deal about
unbelief. in dealing with this young man,
a great deal of unbelief, how it permeates the natural man,
how it is just part of their makeup, how it is part of their
life, how it is part of their mind, how it is part of their
heart, is just to unbelieve, not believe the word of God,
and how important it is that the Holy Spirit gives us the
new birth, and then we can believe it. We find that we don't question
it. Now we may not, and we don't
understand very much of it, really. There's very little of the word
of God that we understand in its complete form. Yet to be
able to say it is the word of God, I can trust it without reservation
that when he says something, it is the truth even though I
don't understand it. How can a man be born again?
How can a woman be born again? Nicodemus brought that subject
up and clearly states how a man in unbelief will look at the
new birth. Does it mean that I must enter
my mother's womb the second time? Is that what it's talking about?
Well, the Lord goes on and just tells us we must be born again. And then when that great act
of God takes place in a person, in a heart of a person, when
he gives us a new heart that's clean, then to realize God's
word really is God's word, and that it means what it means,
and not to go around questioning it. Well, we're going to find
out that they're going to people question this very activity that
took place here in the Old Testament, this Passover. I've been asked
recently, should we still keep all of the feasts that are mentioned
in the Old Testament? Should we continue to have the
Passover as mentioned in the Old Testament? Should we do those
things today? You know what I answered? They
ended with Christ. Ended. And those who continue
to do those things are nothing more than idol worship. Now we
have two things that we observe in our time, this gospel time
that we are in. Two things that we are to observe,
that is baptism and the Lord's Supper. But you know what? We're
looking for the time when they will end. When the Lord comes
again, they shall be over. We will not go through that anymore.
Just as the Old Testaments look forward to the time when all
those pictures of the feasts were over, and when the Passover
was over, and they could say, Christ has gone to the cross
and paid for the sins of his people. It's over now. And people
that lived at that time saw that it was over then. Those who were
in unbelief continued on and they're still being continued
on to our day. Well, as we see here in this
passage of scripture in verses 2 and 3, the Lord spoke to Moses
and says, you know, over there in the book of Exodus, We had
a wonderful declaration of the glory of God in the sacrifice
of a lamb. The picture that is here and
that everyone that has ever been saved has that revealed to them
that the Lamb of God went to the cross, died on their behalf,
put their sins away, and now there is therefore now no condemnation
whatsoever. Those people in the Old Testament
understood that. They looked at the Passover as
a picture and a type and a shadow. And yet there were the others
that said, this is the most important feast we've ever had created
in our life, and we'll continue it on. It says there in verse
2, let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his
appointed season. And verse 3, in the 14th day
of this month, Even ye shall keep it, it is
his appointed season, according to all the rites of it, and according
to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it. And then Moses
goes on and instructs the children of Israel with regard to that. The Passover. You know, the account
of this is found in the book of Exodus, and I'm not going
to go and turn there, but there are some things about that Passover
that are accounted there that we find here that's going to
be observed that are so directly related to our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. When we go over to the book of
Exodus chapter 12, we find that the features, the very leading
features of the redemptive work of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ are brought out in those wonderful types and shadows with
regard to a lamb that was set aside and to be used as a Passover
lamb. This Passover was to continue
until the Lord went to the cross. We find just days before, and
we'll read a passage of scripture, just hours before he was crucified,
he observed the last Passover and then instituted what we know
as the Lord's Supper. We don't observe the Passover,
he is our Passover. We observe something that will
be for us until he comes again. That's the promise, until he
returns. We find that this shadow and
picture and figure of the Passover was a lamb that was slain. We
read over in the Book of Revelation when that lamb was slain, the
true lamb. We read in the Book of Exodus
Chapter 12 that it was set aside on the 10th day of the first
month and time changed for Israel. Down there in Egypt, time changed.
And I've read a number of sermons that preachers have preached
with regard to that. And truly, when the Lord gave us Christ,
when the Lord gave us the new birth, when the Lord gave us
salvation, our time really changed upon this earth. A day became
very important, and that's not a day on a calendar, but a time
when Christ was revealed to us. It became the day when life started
for us. It became the day when the Bible
meant something to us. It became a day when we look
forward to the return of Christ. These things took place. But
here, we find with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, that he
was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before Adam committed
that great heinous crime against God, there was a lamb slain. Now, there was a lamb slain in
every household in Israel, in Egypt. Now, if the household
was too small, what were they to do? Go join a neighbor. Now, what was the reason for
this? The reason for this is found a little later, we just
read it here in this chapter, that nothing be left till morning. Now what does that mean? Christ
did not waste himself on people who are never saved. Christ did
not waste himself on people who enter, hear the Lord say, depart
from me. He is not wasted. There will
be nothing left till morning. It will all be used. He is useful to everyone that
God ordained before the foundation of the world that would be saved.
But he's not gonna waste himself and give his life for people
that are never come to Christ, that never are revealed Christ,
are never born again and end up in eternity without Christ.
He is not wasteful in that sense. He has sufficiency for all his
people. But there is nothing for those
that are not. So he's not going to be there.
He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
we find out with regard to that lamb that was in the book of
Exodus chapter 12, we find it is brought over to the New Testament
that that lamb that was set aside on the 14th day and killed the
fourth, excuse me, set aside on the 10th day of the first
month and was killed on the 14th day was without blemish and without
spot. Now, Israel got into a lot of
trouble later among the prophets as God sent them to him. You're
offering me sacrifices that are maimed and halt and lame that
you can't sell to anybody. You're bringing them to the Lord
and having them offered. Well, it's really a description
of their belief of God. He is a lame God. He is a halt God. He is a blind
God. That's just the way it is. But
those who were to observe this from a strictly God-honoring
sense were to offer a lamb without blemish and without spot. And
we go over to the book of 1 Peter 1 and verse 19. Turn there with
me as we find the apostle Peter, one of those who got to see and
feel and handle of the word of life, the Lord Jesus, as we heard
this morning. Here in the book of 1 Peter 1,
verse 19, the description fits the Old Testament type, the Old
Testament picture, the Old Testament shadow. Here is the anti-type,
the Lord Jesus. 1 Peter 1, verse 19, the scriptures
share this. Let's look at verse 18, it says,
for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers. You're not redeemed by a coin. There were certain sacrifices,
certain redemptive prices paid in the Old Testament, but the
Apostle Peter was led by the Holy Spirit to reveal to us that
we're not redeemed in that way. We're not redeemed by a coin
of redemption. Here, but with the precious blood
of Christ. Now that's the first description
about him. The second one is as a lamb without
blemish and the third description is and without spot. He is a
the precious blood of a lamb without blemish and without spot
and the apostle Peter is used of the Holy Spirit in this place
to describe the Need for someone who was in this condition to
save his people from their sins He is without blemish and without
spot before God that tells us he had no sin Except the sin
that was imputed to him our sin imputed to him. It was no sin
in him He's without blemish and without spot and then who was
forlorn verily was foredeemed before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you." What a glorious
statement we find here. As the Old Testament type says,
he's a lamb of the first year, a male of the first year, without
blemish and without spot, set aside, and we find that the Lord
Jesus Christ was set aside in eternity. I like the way that
that was handled this morning. You can't wrap around it. God
never came up with a new thought. He's always had the same. The word of God was in the mind
of God in eternity past and given by different... Holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. God gave them. We
have the completed Word of God. And here it tells us about this
lamb without blemish and without spot. There's a picture in the
Old Testament, the antitype, our Savior in the New Testament.
And we can go through life and be thankful that he was a lamb
without blemish and without spot. And when he laid down his life,
a ransom, He took care of the payment price. Sin has been dealt
with. We don't have to be concerned.
Are we going to be required to pay for some of it? No. He was
a lamb without blemish and without spot. He took care of it completely. And he was able to say at the
end of the contract time, it's paid for. It's finished. It's
over. And we rejoice in that. And then
we find that his purpose has always been that. He never came
down to this earth. He never had the plans of doing
something different than actually happened. He always had the plan
to do exactly as it turned out. He always had the idea of setting
his face, as it were, aflint towards Jerusalem. He always
had in his mind that he would go a ransom for his people. He always knew he would go to
the cross. He had these words brought out
in my mother's womb but before that in eternity past and the
Godhead in eternity. These were always the purposes
that he had and then we find this brought out so clearly in
the book of Acts chapter 2 and verse 23. As we think about the
Lamb set aside there was a purpose. Now I don't know if those people
even knew before Moses spoke to them about setting aside a
lamb. I don't think they went out and
said, well, if we ever have to do something, there's a good
lamb over there. People didn't understand this, but God had
it in the palm of his hand. We may not have seen it, but
he had it, and he is glorified because he had it all correct,
straight, and the pattern was set before the foundation of
the world. It was a surprise to many people
how it was gonna pan out. But to the church, when it was
revealed to them, oh, did not our heart burn within
us? As he fulfilled it. Oh, here
in the book of Acts, chapter two, verse 23, him being delivered,
I wish I had taken the time to look up that word to get the meaning of it. But I
think it's just about he was delivered. He was turned over
to. He was delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. In the covenant of grace,
here in the book of Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. In that,
God in his wisdom, God in his mercy, God in his grace, took
care of a need that wasn't even a need at the time. Here he goes
on to say he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Ye have taken by wicked hands,
have crucified and slain. So whatever happened, God granted
the permission to those people to do what they wanted to do
all along. People have always been upset
with God. There's always been enmity against God. Here, he
allowed them to carry it out a little further than they'd
ever been able to carry it out before. In the past, they'd taken
his prophets. In the past, he'd taken the priests.
In the past, he'd taken those in authority that God had placed.
But this time, they took the Son of God. How? By permission
and permission only. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now, during the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ, I find it very interesting. Turn with
me back, if you would, to the Book of Luke there, Chapter 2,
verse 41. In the Book of Luke, Chapter
2, verse 41, we find some words about the Lord's parents, Mary
and his stepfather, Joseph. In the Book of Acts, excuse me,
Book of Luke, Chapter 2, verse 41, Now his parents went to Jerusalem
every year. Why? Right there. At the Feast of the Passover. At the birth of the Lord Jesus,
they were still carrying the Passover. And it tells us here
that Jesus' parents went every year to Jerusalem for the feast
of the Passover. What Moses is going to share
with the children of Israel in the book of Numbers chapter 9,
the second time that the Passover was going to be instituted, or
not instituted, but Observed the second time the instructions
are given there the instructions have passed down through the
prophets Through the preachers that this is going to be observed
until the Lord's Christ goes to the cross This is going to
be observed. He hasn't gone to the cross So
we now we find the parents of the Lord Jesus Christ going to
Jerusalem every year at the time of the Passover. Now let's just
follow this out just a little bit in John chapter 2. Turn with
me to the book of John chapter 2. In John chapter 2 we find
some more information about the Passover during the New Testament
time. It is no mistake that we have this verse of scripture
brought to our attention here in the book of John. John chapter
2 and there in verse 13. John chapter 2 and verse 13. It says, and the Jews Passover
was at hand. Now where's the church's Passover? He's at hand too. He's on this
earth. He is being prepared. He's been
set aside. things must take place. He has
some people to visit, some people to heal, some people to raise
from the dead, some people to preach to, some apostles to call,
instructions to be given, and during that three and a half
year period when his public ministry He truly is the Passover walking
upon this earth and according to this the Jews Passover was
at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and in that same chapter
in verse 23 the scripture says, now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover in the feast day many believed in his name
when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit
himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not
that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. What a statement we find here
at this Passover. Well, just a little bit later
in the book of John, in fact, the book of John shares with
us that the Lord, during his public ministry, went to the
Passover four different times. Here in the book of John chapter
six and verse four, we have this reading. the same Passover instituted
in the Book of Exodus in the first year, the first month,
and the 14th day. We have a year later, out in
the desert, after the tabernacle has been built, after all the
work has been done, after all the people have been put in a
position where they are to be around the tabernacle, God spoke
to Moses, said, okay, it is the first month, the second year. Now on the 14th day of this month,
you will observe the Passover here in the book of John chapter
six and verse four, the scriptures give this information for an
angel, excuse me, chapter four and chapter six and verse four. I'll get there. And it says here,
And the Passover at the feast of the Jews was nigh when Jesus
then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come to him.
He that saith unto Philip, when shall we buy bread that these
may eat? All right, travel with me just
a little further in the book of John to chapter 11. John chapter
11 and verse 55. John chapter 11 and verse 55,
this Passover. Now, in the Old Testament, the
book of Exodus chapter 12, the Lord told Moses to tell the people
of Israel, you put that blood out there on the doorpost. When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. I was taught that a
death angel went through the land. You know who that was? That was God. He went through
the land, and he knows where blood was. The blood was placed
of that lamb was placed upon the outside of the doorposts
and across the top of the doorposts. And when God came through that
land that night, he saw that blood. He already knew that a
substitute had died in the place of anybody else. Now, it's interesting
that the instructions were not given to Egypt and when The God
of heaven came to the land and didn't find any blood. The firstborn
of every household was taken, was killed that very night. But
to the households of Israel in a very special place called Goshen,
and the world would call that unfair, but God said it's my
prerogative to do with mine as I see fit. It's interesting. that God made provision for Israel. Now, it could have been just
as interesting and our scriptures could have been just as plain
if he had said he made provision for no one. He had the right to do that,
but he said, I will make provision for Israel. I will make provision
for Israel in the type with national Israel, and in reality with spiritual
Israel, the church. I'll make provision for them.
No one else. I don't have to. Keep your finger
right there, John. I have to go to another verse
in the Old Testament, and that's found in... I've got to find this verse.
It fits right here. Yes, Exodus chapter 8. Would you turn with me to Exodus
chapter 8 and then we'll be back there in John, the Passover.
But in Exodus chapter 8, there's a very interesting verse that
fits right now. When we find out that he made
provision, he had a lamb slain from the foundation of the world
for his church. Not for Egypt, but for his church.
I'm thankful he calls those of his people out of Egypt out of
sin all that stuff but here in exodus chapter 8 verse 20 in
exodus chapter 8 and verse 20 the lord said unto moses rise
up early in the morning and stand before pharaoh lo he cometh forth
to the water and say to him Thus saith the Lord, let my people
go that they may serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my
people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies into thee, and
upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and to thy houses, and
into the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies,
and all the ground thereof they are. And I will sever in the
land of Goshen in which my people dwell that no swarms of flies
shall be there to the end that thou mayest know that I am the
Lord in the midst of the earth. I will sever. I will put a division. You know what that word means?
I will ransom. I will redeem. I have provided
redemption. There was a people that he provided
a redemption for, and that's why they didn't have any flies.
There's a people that he provided redemption for, and that's why
they still had light when everywhere else it was dark. He had a redemption
provided so that there would be no other of those great things
that took place in Egypt. His people would be spared because
he had redemption for them. He paid for them. He had provided
All of their needs. All right, now let's go back
over here to the book of John, if you would. The book of John. The book of John chapter 11 and
verse 55. John chapter 11 and verse 55,
as we find the Lord once again, it's mentioned, and the Jews
Passover was nigh at hand, and many went out into the country
up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then sought
they for Jesus and spake among themselves as they stood in the
temple, what think ye that he will not come to the feast? Chapter 12 and verse one then
six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus
was which was he had been dead whom he raised from the dead
and in chapter 13 and verse one now before the feast of the Passover
when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart
out of the world into the father having loved his own which were
in the world he loved them until the end. The Lord went through all of
the rites that had been prescribed in the Old Testament. He kept
all the feasts. He kept the Passover. And then,
when he went to the cross, the Apostle Paul says, Christ, who
is our Passover, He's the fulfillment of all of those things. He took
care of every bit of that. He had the Passover with his
disciples. The very night he's going to
be arrested. The night he was going to be betrayed, he has
taken the Passover with his disciples and then he set those things
aside and he said, here is something new. You'll keep this until I
return. I'm doing the work that's been
assigned me. The Passover will cease. The
feast will all be over. They're all typical and pictorial
of my work at the cross. But this you will keep until
I come again. And that's what we've been doing.
Book of First Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7, we find the Apostle
Paul bringing the subject up. The church at Corinth, like many
churches, like our church, like churches in the past, like churches
in the future, Get derailed for a moment, and the Apostle Paul
was sent to them, says, he didn't go over there to strike thunder
at him. He says, you got your mind off
of Christ. Let's get back to the main thing. Let's look at the main thing.
There were some people in the church that looked at sin as
so, it just needs, oh, forget it. A man living with his father's
wife? How can you do that? You're doing
what even the Gentiles wouldn't do. And then he says, the real
issue is Christ. The real issue is Christ. Here
in 1 Corinthians 5, and there in verse 7, it says, purge out
therefore the eleven, that ye may be new lump, as ye were unleavened. For even Christ our Passover
is sacrifice for us. Therefore, 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.
Let us keep the feast. Christ is our Passover. Not a speck was wasted. Anything
left till morning was to be burned in fire. The Lord Jesus faced
as that lamb did, roasted with fire without a bone being broken. It's hard for us to imagine eating
meat without having the bones broken or sawn asunder. But they
were to roast this lamb with fire, picturing the fire of the
wrath of God against our sin upon the lamb of God. Roast with
fire and then to eat that flesh as pictorial of us spiritually
beholding and eating the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming
part of us. And they ate that flesh with
bitter herbs. And in the morning, someone says,
well, we've got some left over. Put it in the fire. There's nothing to be left over. No waste with this lamb. And that first time, the horn
sounded, if you please, and they left. The second time, they didn't
have any Egyptians after them. They didn't have to be in a hurry.
They observed that Passover as the Lord instructed on the 14th
day of the first month. Lord willing, next time we'll
look at some men that came and says, we're filthy. We can't observe it. What can
we do? And they had the second Passover
for the same year. How wonderful the provision of
the Lord is for his people. Alright, we'll stop there. We'll
pick up this Lord willing next time. And we'll look at some
more about the Passover. Bound here in the book of Numbers.
Chapter 9. Brother Mike, if you'll come.