(7-C) Final Passover Lesson, Gethsemane to Resurrection

JESUS IN GETHSEMANE

Jesus now faces the dark night of the soul. With his three most intimate disciples he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane ( lit. the place of the WINE PRESS) to be pressed and crushed under the grief of what is to come.

It is not just the pain of the torture of the cross, or the mocking or the flogging that wears on Jesus. He knows that soon He will be separated from His Father for the first time in all eternity as He bears the shame, guilt, pain and darkness of the sins of BILLIONS of souls. Murder, sexual perversion, lies, theft, hatred, anger and rage, selfishness and lovelessness. Countless sins dumped into His beaten and weak body, and finally, the full wrath and fury of an angry God.

Jesus knows that wrath, He has seen it at Sodom, the Flood, the destruction of countless enemies of Israel. He knows it’s fire and power. No wonder he prays:

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground “ Luke 22 :42-44^]

What cup is Jesus talking about? Why would He want it taken away?

 “they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” Revelation 14:10

Jesus fears the cup of Gods’ wrath. So should we! Jesus is in such agony of fear and torment that His sweat is mixed with blood.

Although this medical condition is relatively rare, according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe (Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland County, New York) it is well-known, and there have been many cases of it. The clinical term is “hematohidrosis.” “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.” Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands.” As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat.

While His disciples slept, (and we need to give these guys a break, it had been along and emotional day of feasting, fearing the loss of their leader, knowing one of them was a traitor, walking to the garden, struggling to cope with the words Jesus spoke to them; they were exhausted. As Jesus said, the “spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”) Jesus fought the greatest battle of His life, and won. As He had always done, He obeyed the will of his Father.

Mankind had lost his fellowship with God in a Garden, and was doomed to destruction because of disobedience;

Mankind regained his fellowship with God in a Garden, and has the inheritance of glory with God because of obedience.

Truly: Jesus was the “second Adam.” 1 Corinthians 15: 22,45

THE ARREST AND TRIAL

For the following events we will focus on the account in Mark 15

By 6 Am Judas had found Jesus, He was arrested and:

“Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.” Mark 15:1

Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, in his fourth year of office and already had a reputation for swift punishment of offenders and oppression of all dissent.

What was the hurry?

Today is the day of the Passover sacrifices, the priests are going to be busy with thousands of sacrifices, and the crowd who had just recently proclaimed Jesus as Messiah would be gathering in the Temple, and who wanted all those unruly Galileans rioting to free their leader? Since the Sadducees were the culprits in this they did not want the Pharisees to cause a problem when the arrest became public. (Many Pharisees actually followed Jesus, though many did so secretly).

Also, Pilate had a custom of releasing one prisoner on Passover as an act of good will to the people, so they knew crowds would be gathering to petition form the release of their son or friend.

Why did they need Pilate at all? Why not just try and execute Jesus themselves under Mosaic Law?

According to the Jerusalem Talmud,(Sanhedrin 1.1;7.2) 40 years before the destruction of the Temple the Romans took away the power of capital punishment-approx 30 AD, God was making certain that Jews and Gentiles both took part in the killing of the Messiah.

Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” “But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. ³² This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.  John 18:31-32

Pilate questioned Jesus: asking if He was the King of the Jews; Jesus asked him if He thought so, or did someone tell him that.

The priests were outside the palace, (and would not enter because to do so would defile them and they could not eat the PASSOVER that night,) yelling and accusing Jesus of all kinds of crimes such as tax evasion and subverting the nation, standing right alongside all the zealots who were yelling for the release of their hero Barabbas. The zealots must have been amazed to hear the Caiaphas crowd yelling with them for the release of their hero. Normally the two groups were deadly enemies and the zealots liked nothing better than to do away with a corrupt priest or two.

Pilate could find no reality to any of the charges, and being warned by his wife, who had a dream about Jesus, he sought to release him. The crowd of zealots and corrupt priests (not all  the Jews as commonly taught) called for the release of Barrabas and the priests threatened Pilate with being accused of treason to Caesar if he released someone claiming to be the king.

Pilate went through his hand washing ceremony, telling the crowd the blood was their heads and they accepted that charge. (In 40 years the Sadduccean priesthood would be destroyed by the Romans). Pilate then release Barrabbas* as the crowd wanted and sent Jesus to be whipped, hoping that would satisfy the crowd.

*Several manuscripts, however, name the terrorist "Jesus Barabbas" and have Pilate ask:

Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?

Many textual scholars believe this double name ("Jesus Barabbas") was the original reading. They suggest that "Jesus" was deleted from their copies of Matthew out of reverence. The church father Origen (d. 254) said, "In the whole range of the scriptures we know that no one who is a sinner [is called] Jesus." [1]

Father's Son
The second and deeper irony in the reading "Jesus Barabbas" appears when we note that "Barabbas" (or "Bar Abbas") is the Hellenized form of the Aramaic name Bar Abba, meaning "son of the father." And the name "Jesus" (Greek, Yesous) is the Hellenized form the Hebrew name Yeshua.[2] 

Thus, in a seemingly inconsequential legal decision that still trembles through the centuries, Pilate was in essence asking the Jerusalem crowd:

"Which one do you want me to release to you:
Yeshua son of the father or Yeshua son of the father whom his followers call Messiah?"

Pilate gave up one Jesus for another Jesus, one "son of the father" in place of another. He exchanged an assassin for an innocent man who died in his place. This is surely the fingerprint of God.

Remember the ritual on the Day of Atonement, two identical goats, one released carrying sins, one kept and sacrificed for sins. Jesus the Messiah, our atonement.

• Paul Sumner

Jesus is now sent off to Herod Antipas The “king of the Jews” who after a brief and unsatisfying interrogation provides a royal robe for Jesus, then returns him to Pilate.

The Scourging 8AM-9AM

Pilate now has Jesus flogged by Roman soldiers who use a whip embedded with spurs to lacerate the flesh. Victims often do not survive this.

This was followed by a mock coronation:

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. Matthew 27:27-30

With Jesus bleeding, in shock and stumbling under a robe, a crown of thorns and a staff, Pilate produces him to the crowd, saying “Behold the Man”. Pilates’ hopes of releasing Jesus are dashed however by the crowd screaming “crucify him”. Pilate tells them “I find no fault in Him”. (The Lamb is seen unblemished) “crucify him yourself.” Pilate knows they can’t and throws the crowd off balance for a moment. They then say “He claimed to be the Son of God!” This scares Pilate, remembering his wife’s dream, so he asks Jesus, “Where are you from”, but gets no answer. The crowd reminds Pilate that anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar, and to release him would be treason.

Pilate has had enough. His political survival is at stake. He asks; “shall I crucify your king?” The crowd responds; damning themselves, “We have no king but Caesar!” Pilate turns Jesus over to be crucified, but has the last laugh as he posts a placard above the cross that says;

“Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews” and to make sure they understand he writes it in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

Jesus is led off to be crucified. He is so weak and in shock that He falls and cannot carry the cross so:

 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ²² They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ²³ Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.

 ²⁵ It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Wine mixed with myrrh was an attempt at a small mercy, it was to sedate and lessen the pain. Jesus refused it. He will carry the full punishment.

The Torah mandated two daily worship services in the Temple. Everyday a single male lamb was offered for the burnt offering as the MORNING SACRIFICE. The lamb was offered at 9 AM. Another lamb will be offered at 3PM for the EVENING SACRIFICE, and today it will also be the PASSOVER SACRIFICE.

At the same time the sacrifice was completed and the priests hands were raised to sing the blessing, Jesus’ hands were outstretched on the cross and lifted up as the blessing was sung.

JESUS WAS THE MORNING SACRIFICE

They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. ^{[28] [a] 29} Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰ come down from the cross and save yourself!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! ³² Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Mark 15: 27-32

But I am a worm and not a man, 
   scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 
⁷ All who see me mock me; 
   they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 
⁸ “He trusts in the LORD,” they say, 
   “let the LORD rescue him. 
Let him deliver him, 
   since he delights in him.”  Psalm 22:6-8

Jesus suffers on the cross, naked and bleeding, dehydrated and in shock while prophecy unfolds around Him:

I am poured out like water, 
   and all my bones are out of joint. 
My heart has turned to wax; 
   it has melted within me. 
¹⁵ My mouth^[d] is dried up like a potsherd, 
   and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; 
   You lay me in the dust of death.

 ¹⁶ Dogs surround me, 
   a pack of villains encircles me; 
   they pierce^[e] my hands and my feet. 
¹⁷ All my bones are on display; 
   people stare and gloat over me. 
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them 
   and cast lots for my garment. Psalm 22:14-18

Suddenly a great darkness falls over all the land at noon. It lasts till 3PM. God is dealing with His Son and no man has a part in this drama as the sins of all mankind now and until all is made new are poured onto Jesus and the wrath of God sears His body and soul. The BLOOD COVENANT is sealed in darkness, just as it was with Abraham. God Himself, with a crown of thorns, just as the ram on Mount Moriah had his horns caught in the thorns and stood in for Issac, passed through the sacrifice blood.

3PM THE DARKNESS LIFTS

Before the darkness fell Jesus had prayed for those who killed Him, gambled for his clothing and mocked him. He gave His mother into the care of John his most loved disciple. Now as the darkness lifts He cries out:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Psalm 22:1

In Jesus time, a rabbi, when wanting his disciples to consider a passage of scripture, would quote the first verse, expecting them to know the rest. Jesus in agony, lets’ the crowd know they are fulfilling prophecy. The leaders there, experts in the Torah, would have gotten the message. 

It is 3 PM. The Passover Lamb, hung on a crossbar so that it could be butchered without a bone being broken, the lamb for the sins of the nation,s has just died. The priest has ascended the steps of the Temple wall to stand on the southeast corner and blow the shofar in a series of specific blasts to announce the lamb has been sacrificed. The High priest lifts his hands and announces “It is finished”!

As the sound of the Shofar reaches the Hill of Golgotha, Jesus;

 knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant( the plant used to place the blood on the doorposts in the original Passover Ex 12:22), and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30

“It is finished” lit in Greek “It is paid for!”

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died,^[c] he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”Mark 15:38-39

In both Biblical and modern times, if a Jewish father loses his first born son, he tears his robe as a sign of grief and mourning.

Imagine the priests in the Temple, an earthquake has occurred and now the Veil, the huge 60 foot by 60 foot at least 4 inches thick Veil, is torn violently from top to bottom, exposing the Holy of Holies.

God has torn His robe, His son has died, and He has opened the way to His presence, even in his mourning!

¹ Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵ The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced. John 19:31-37

Jesus proved His sacrifice only through the blood and the water. That is why the verse is so specific about believing the testimony of the one who saw it.

This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 1 John 5:6

Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the Passover Lamb

1.    He would publicly enter Jerusalem before the time of His crucifixion. (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-5)

2.    He would ride into Jerusalem) on a donkey. 
(Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5)

3.    He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver.
(Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:14-16)

4.    His betrayal price would be given for a potter's field.
(Zechariah 11:13; Matthew 27:3,7-10)

5.    He would be betrayed by a friend.
(Psalm 41:9; John 13:18-21)

6.    Both Jew and Gentile would conspire against Him.
(Psalm 2:1-2; Acts 4:27-28; Matthew 26:3; 27:1-2)

7.    He would be nailed to a tree.
(Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Psalm 22:16; John 19:18; 20:25)

8.    He would suffer for others.
(Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 20:28)

9.    He would die for our sins.
(Isaiah 53:5; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24)

10. He would be mocked.
(Psalm 22:7-8; Matthew 27:39-43)

11. He would die with the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53: 12; Mark 15:27-28)

12. He would make intercession for His murderers.
(Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)

13. He would be smitten.
(Micah 5:1; Isaiah 50:6; Lamentations 3:30; Matthew 26:67; 27:30)

14. He would be spit upon.
(Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67, 27:30)

15. He would be forsaken by G-d.
(Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46)

16. He would be given gall and vinegar to eat and drink.
(Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34,48)

17. He opened not His mouth when accused.
(Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:63-64; 27:12-14)

18. His garments would be parted.
(Psalm 22:18; Matthew 27:35)

19. Not one bone would be broken.
(Psalm 34:20; John 19:33,36)

20. He would be pierced.
(Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34,37)

21. He would be like a lamb going to the slaughter.
(Isaiah 53:7; Acts 8:26-35)

22. He is King of the Jews (and the world).
(Psalm 2:6; John 18:33,37; 19:19-22)

23. He would be buried with the rich.
(Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)

24. He would die.
(Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:50)

25. His soul would not be left in hell.
(Psalm 16:10; 49:15; 56:13; Acts 2:27,31; 13:33-35)

26. He would rise from the dead.
(Psalm 16:10; Luke 24:6,31,34; Acts 2:27-31; 13:35)

27. Others would rise from the dead with Him. 
(Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:8; Matthew 27:52-53)

28. He would rise the third day from the grave.
(Jonah 1:17; 1 Corinthians 15:4; Luke 24:45-46; Matthew 12:40)

29. He would ascend into Heaven.
(Psalm 68:18; Acts 1:9; Luke 24:50-51)

30. He would sit at the right hand of G-d.
(Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:2-3; Ephesians 1:20-21; 1 Peter 3:22)

He would usher in a New Covenant.

Burial and Tomb

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^[e] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

One thing that is often missed here is the fact that the love of these two disciples, Pharisees and leaders of the council, had them attend to the body of Jesus, making them unclean and unable to partake of the Feast of Passover.(Though legally, they could wait a month and have a Seder by themselves.) They did not care, and showed devotion to the body of Jesus by wrapping him in costly perfumes and linen, and using Josephs’ own tomb.

Jesus now fulfills the FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, by bearing in His sinless (unleavened) body all our sins (leaven) into the grave, out of our earthly houses (bodies) and leaving us free from the corruption. He did this on the very day, NISAN 15 that the Feast begins.

NISAN 17: THE THIRD DAY (FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS)

 Offering the Firstfruits

 ⁹ The LORD said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. ¹¹ He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, ¹³ together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah^[a] of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin^[b] of wine. ¹⁴ You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

After Israel entered its’ promised land, before they could eat any bread or grain from the first harvest, they had to  wave a sheaf of the grain to the Lord as His portion, as well as the finest flour mixed with oil, and wine. This was to be done the day after the weekly Sabbath (Sunday).

The sheaves were cut in the field in the late afternoon and offered after sunset. Worship was offered as it grew dark and the First Day of the week began. *Edersheim, A. The “The Temple”

Jesus fulfilled this Feast when He was resurrected as the first fruits from the dead. His resurrection marked the beginning of the harvest of souls set apart by God through the sacrifice of the Messiah.

 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Let’s see the Resurrection story in light of the Feast, the Type and picture God had provided for this momentous event:

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. ² And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. ³ And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. ⁵ The angel said to the women, “^[a]Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. ⁷ Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” Matthew 28:1-7

The phrase “after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week” lit means in Hebrew chronology “at dusk, as the first day begins”. Keeping in mind the Type the Father had established, Jesus has been raised after days’ end, and the women had come to the tomb as soon as they legally could to anoint Jesus’ body.

This helps us understand John 20:11-17;

 But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping: so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;

 ¹² and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

 ¹³ And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

 ¹⁴ When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

 ¹⁵ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

 ¹⁶ Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turneth herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Teacher.

 ¹⁷ Jesus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.

According to the Feast picture God painted, Jesus rose at the time the time the celebration was occurring in the Temple when the sheaf was waved before God. And, as the barley sheaf could not be eaten (touched) until it had been presented before God, Jesus could not be touched until he ascended to the Throne and placed the blood on the mercy seat in the heavenly temple and presented Himself as the First Fruits.

Did you notice that the angels stood at the foot and head of the square slab where Jesus had lain? Does that remind you of the Mercy Seat?

The sheaf offering consisted of several individual stalks of barley bundled together. Likewise, when Jesus offered Himself as the First Fruits from the dead, many individual believers went with him:

⁵² and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:52-53

Jesus as our First Fruits, is our representative. By presenting Himself, He consecrated the rest of us to the Father:

¹⁶ For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.  Romans 11:16

Now, after all the fulfillments of Gods’ Types, the Redemption Picture is ready for the final strokes. Those strokes will happen when God brings this age to an end:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”^[a]

⁵⁵ “O Death, where is your sting?^[b]
O Hades, where is your victory?”^[c]

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58

As Job said, long before the Law and Types were given, having been given revelation from God of all that would happen:

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
²⁶ And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,  Job  19:25-26

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 20:25

That is the question for us all. The question that decides eternity. God has painted the great BLOOD COVENANT picture through TYPES, SHADOWS, FEASTS (lit. rehearsals in Hebrew), to reveal Himself and His love for us. How do we respond?

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll 
   and to open its seals, because you were slain, 
   and with your blood you purchased for God 
   persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 
¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, 
   and they will reign^[a] on the earth.”¹¹ Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they were saying:

   “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, 
   to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength 
   and honor and glory and praise!” Revelation 5:9-12