Gospel Essentials Unabridged Class Notes

April 21, 2002

Communion Parallels Passover.

Gospel Essentials Class Notes April 21, 2002 

Introduction to History of Communion.  God taught communion by type and shadow in the Old Testament.  The Passover lamb represented Jesus Christ.  It had:

• No Blemish

• Was Male

• Was Sequestered before its death

• Represented the atonement for sin

• No Bones were broken

• No one participated in Passover save they had first made covenant in the flesh.

The People:

• Were required to participate, or take their own sins on their own heads

• Applied the blood

• Ate the flesh--could not leave any left over

I Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

I Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us;

• Leaven, was that impurity which made bread to rise--was symbolic of sin.  'Unleavened,' in this passage, meant 'without sin.'

• Christ compared to Passover.  What can be learned about Communion from the Event of Passover?

Were there parallels in the old testament?  What old testament event does today’s ‘communion’ parallel?  What qualifications were on the Passover of old? (Read Exodus 12:1-15)

Exodus 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover.

Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

Exodus 12:27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshiped.

Exodus 12:43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover; there shall no stranger eat thereof;

Exodus 12:48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land; for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

• All were required to come unto covenant first, before they could participate in Passover (See Genesis 17 for circumcision and covenant).

Exodus 12:43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover; there shall no stranger eat thereof;

Exodus 12:48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land; for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

II Chronicles 30:17 For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified; therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for everyone that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord.

• Passover lamb purged sin of Israel

What were some of the attributes of the Passover?

Exodus 34:25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. (no sin)

Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it; according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.

Numbers 9:13 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.

Passover was kept in remembrance of what?  What symbolized it?  Jesus said to do what in remembrance of Him?  What symbolized it? 

John 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? (Look up ScapeGoat)

 Forgiveness

Matthew 26:14 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

Did the Old Testament people always follow Passover correctly?

II Chronicles 30:18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon everyone .

  To Be continued April 28, 2002