Passion Week Communion, April 2022

English Transcript:

Good evening everyone.

I’m sure you are hearing the tragic, heart-rending stories that keep coming from Ukraine. I hope that you are doing well.

We will have our Easter Celebration this Saturday.

According to the plan of God, who desired to save us, and according his Scripture, the Lord Jesus went to the cross to bear our sins and died. Then he was buried, and then again according to the prophetic word of the Scripture he rose from the dead on the third day.

In this Passion week communion, I hope to consider with you once again the meaning of that fact that Jesus went to the cross for us and died there.

In the last two months or so we have been studying about the church based on a number of biblical metaphors for the church, using the study guide each week.

I would like to begin my talk with something that has to do with the study guide from 2 weeks ago.

2 weeks ago, we studied the "holy priesthood" metaphor.

After I sent the study guide to the small church leaders, I realized that I had actually written one thing incorrectly, which I am ashamed to admit, and so I later sent a corrected version.

What I'm putting out on the PowerPoint now is what it looked like before and after the correction.

The main point of the correction is whether the people actually slaughtered the sacrificial animal with their own hands or not.

Before the correction, I had mistakenly thought that the person who brought sacrifices to God did not slaughter the animals themselves, but that the priests did that for him/her.

But later, when I reread Leviticus, I realized that I was wrong!

It’s really important to always check with what the Word of God actually says before you say or write something!

In Leviticus, in many situations the person offering the sacrificial animal him/herself would slaughter the animal, and then the priest would handle the blood of the slaughtered animal according to the various procedures God had instructed.

Sometimes the blood was sprinkled on the altar and the rest of the blood poured on to the altar

Sometimes it was sprinkled on the dividing curtain in the holy place

At other times, the priest would put the blood on the four horns of the altar with his finger, and so on.

I had previously misunderstood that the people who brought offerings for the forgiveness of sins had only the financial burden of offering the animals in addition to their repentant hearts.

Of course, it was still, at least supposedly, an act of faith that the blood of the sacrifice would be shed in place of the sinner's life.

But I had never realized that the offerer had gone so far as to slaughter the sacrifice with his or her own hands, and I had mistakenly thought that this was

the priest's work.

However, upon closer examination of the book of Leviticus, in many times it is seen that a person who has sinned not only brings the sacrificial animal to the priest as payment for his sins, but you can also see that he was told to slaughter it.

For example, in Leviticus 4.

If the guilty person is a priest, the priest himself

If the whole people sinned, they were represented by the elders of the people,

And if a leader commits a sin, the leader himself

If any one of the common people sins, himself or herself

Each is instructed to place his or her hand on the head of the animal to be sacrificed and slaughter it himself or herself.

The blood of the slaughtered animal was then taken by the priest and handled according to God's prescribed procedure, resulting in "atonement (propitiation)" for the sinner, whoever he was, and his forgiveness.

I will show you one passage of Scripture that actually says so a little later.

By the way, the word "propitiation", as I explained in the communion in March, means this:

The act of averting the wrath of God that is issued against sin-- the slaughtered sacrificial animal absorbs the wrath of God on the sinner’s behalf so that God's wrath is spent on it and no longer comes upon the guilty person.

So tonight, I would like to talk focusing on the fact that this sinner himself/herself had to slaughter the sacrifice, as we prepare for tonight’s communion.

I would like us to remember how serious sin is and what a great cost it was to see it forgiven.

From there, I hope that we can understand further the meaning of Jesus' sacrifice and the terrible death he suffered by hanging on the cross as the Lamb of God.

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I would like you to imagine with me for a moment.

If you were there in Old Testament times, and you were in a situation where you had to offer a sacrifice for sin, what would it have been like?

For example, you may have broken God's command without realizing it at first, but later you realize that you indeed broke it. Suppose there was such a situation.

In such a case, according to Leviticus 4:27-29, you must be forgiven by offering a female goat as a sacrifice. Let's read a bit.

If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD'S commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering.

Leviticus 4:27-29

Thus, himself had to slaughter the female goat.

The priest then handles the blood.

following verses 30 and 31.

And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. ...

....and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. Leviticus 4:30-31

A quick notation here: the phrase "pleasing aroma to the Lord," which is often mentioned in the Bible, means something that appeases the Lord's wrath against sin and turns His anger against the sinner into favor. So you can understand that it as kind of a propitiating smell to the Lord.

Anyway, if you were living in this Old Testament era, you would have to take a female goat you prepared yourself to the priest, perhaps after binding its limbs as in this picture, place your hand on its head, and personally apply the blade to the goat.

What would that be like?

What would it be like to kill the animal

There will be a violent convulsion of the animal in your arms

The screech of the animal is heard shuddering your heart

And the warm pulsating blood gushing out

Enough for graphic description.

Seeing the animal that had become a sacrifice, an offering for the forgiveness of your sins, dying so miserably in your arms... you must be filled with such a regret and remorse, thinking what a terrible thing you have done, that your wrongdoing had forced the life of this innocent animal to be taken away.

...But in was in this that God's holy wrath against your sin was poured out on this animal that took your place.

You are forgiven.

But being forgiven should never mean that you can go out again, taking sin lightly, after seeing an innocent life taken away for it in this way.

Just how grave sin is, and what great price must be paid to see it forgiven..

I think we can get some idea of what it is like from this example.

By the way the case just cited is not sins that people consciously know and commit. They are mistakes that were done without realizing at the time that they were sins. It was a sacrifice to be forgiven from that kind of unintentional sins.

We may consider ourselves to be pretty decent people. We think we are pretty nice people.

But how many sins have we committed without understanding what it means that God is holy?

The 40 days leading up to Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is called lent in the traditional Christian calendar, a time to reflect on how much the Lord Jesus suffered as the Lamb of God for our salvation.

Because we were not physically present when Jesus hung on the cross for us some 2,000 years ago, it is not easy for us to precisely imagine how great that sacrifice must have been.

However, that in the Old Testament, sinners had to slaughter their own sacrificial animals, and when we imagine how gruesomely bloody that scene must have been, I hope that in some small way we can grow in our understanding what it means that Jesus had to be cruelly slaughtered as the Lamb of God on the cross.

The Bible clearly states that the wages of sin is death.

Because of the severity, we may tend to focus only on that.

But we should remember with gratitude that God Himself wanted to see us saved from our sins and his wrath against it that he was willing to pay this ultimate sacrifice for us.

God Himself fulfilled the demands of His righteousness through the ultimate atoning sacrifice, by which he made it possible for us to live securely in His love and grace, even though we are sinners.

Because this Lamb of God, Jesus, was cruelly slaughtered for us who believe, we can be assured that we are at peace with a holy God without worrying about the judgment that we truly deserve.

He has given us an unshakable peace with himself, so that we can live our life on earth, and into eternity, rejoicing and trusting in Him alone, as we learn more and more of His greatness.

Leviticus 6:13 says

Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

Altar is a large square shaped bronze covered box on which the slaughtered sacrificial animals were burned in front of either the Tabernacle or the Temple. Here we see that God commands that the altar’s fire be never be put out.

Why did the Lord command this?

It means that the Lord is continually waiting to give us forgiveness for our sins.

Imagine: When people become aware of their sins and brings a sacrifice to God for forgiveness, but what if the fire on the altar is out?

It would mean that forgiveness is not available for that person!

But God said that it must be made sure that the fire on the altar is always burning.

God is always ready and waiting to forgive those who repent and come to Him.

When we, as sinners, believe in God who forgives our sins and go to this One through Jesus Christ the Lamb, we will always find that he is waiting to forgive and accept us.

God cannot compromise His absolute holiness.

But He is always there to forgive and accept those who believe in Him and come to Him.

How is this possible?

It is for no other reason than that God Himself has given us a sacrifice without blemish, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died in our place to satisfy God’s demand for righteousness.

Please do not ever think that you are sinless. God forgives and cleanses from the stain of sin those who honestly acknowledge their sins before Him and come to Him believing.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:8-9

What sins have you committed this week?

Some of them may have been consciously committed.

Or maybe you were not aware of the sin at the time, but later the Holy Spirit told you that it was a sin.

We do not need to slaughter sacrificial animals today in order to be forgiven.

For amazingly, God, the One who was sinned against, willingly made His own Son the Lamb of God to bear the sins of us all who believe in Him, and He Himself slaughtered Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God made His Holy Son Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us.

How unbelievable.

He who believes in Jesus Christ is forgiven of all his sins in the sight of God.

He is completely washed clean from the stain of sin.

He is made righteous and justified before God.

As a forgiven, washed, righteous person, he is made a child of God.

In the love of a holy God, we can be sure of our forgiveness and receive eternal life to walk with God in joy, peace, and thanksgiving.

Please prepare the bread and juice.

I would like to ask you to quiet your minds and hearts for a moment now in the presence of God and to reflect on what I have just told you.

Maybe you can close your eyes.

Your sins... In addition to what you are aware of, there are probably many other sins that you have committed, and will continue to commit, without realizing it.

God Himself has paid a great price for your forgiveness.

His Son Jesus died a gruesome death on the cross to accomplish the propitiation for your sins.

Animal sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed to the perfect propitiation that God Himself would later give, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. The blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin (Hebrews 10:4), yet Christ has cleansed us by offering Himself once and for all without blemish (9:14; 10:10). The book of Hebrews declares that He cleanses our conscience and turns us away from dead works, making us servants of the living God (9:14).

God now calls us all, Christians and non-Christians alike, to believe and accept.

The bread and juice or wine we are about to partake of are a reminder to us of the invisible truth of faith, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, slaughtered for our sakes.

When we believe this with all our hearts and receive it, the Holy Spirit touches our hearts and strengthens our faith.

This grace gives us the strength to walk more and more willingly doing what God wills.

Let me read from 1 Corinthians 11.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Let’s believe and take it with a grateful heart.

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Let’s believe and take it with a grateful heart.

Perfect Son of God became the Lamb of God for us. What an unbelievable grace.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Amen.

See you at the Celebration on Saturday.