Roadmap for the soul - Judaism, the bible and the tabernacle

As our last chapter ended, we saw that Jesus was put to death...

And interestingly, Jesus was put to death at a time that should be greatly significant to the Jewish people...
His death occurred during "Passover". 65

Now... if you'll recall, Passover had to do with how Israel was delivered from 'slavery' (or 'bondage') in Egypt)...
And remember, Israel's 'slavery' in Egypt was symbolic of man's 'slavery to sin'.
Thus, Passover was really a demonstration of the way in which man would be delivered from sin.

And as we saw earlier, Israel's Passover deliverance was ultimately accomplished by a 'death'...
A death that came upon everyone...
both Israel and Egypt.

When death came, the people of Israel were protected from it by a 'substitute' (the "Passover lamb")...
The Passover lamb was substituted for the death that otherwise would have come to each family.

Now... here's the point ---
Because of 'sin', we find that a plague of death' is indeed destined to come upon all mankind... both Israel and the entire world.
Because of 'sin', all of mankind must experience 'death' (or 'separation from God).

Thus we come to the following passage,
where we see that the Passover lamb (which was the key to Israel's deliverance) had to be ---

Exodus 12:5 "...without blemish..."

Now... Remember Jesus' 'miraculous birth'?

Because Jesus was not descended from any earthly father, he did not inherit mankind's lineage of sin,
which (according to the Hebrew scriptures) is passed down only through the male bloodline.
In other words, he was "without blemish".

So... why is this important?

Because ---
Jesus was to literally become the 'Passover lamb' for all of mankind,

If Jesus had been directly related to the sinful bloodline of mankind (as through an earthly father).... he would have had a 'blemish'... He would have directly inherited the 'blemish' of sin and its 'curse', which is 'death'. In other words, he would have deserved 'death' just as would any other man who was descended by blood from the sinful line of Adam. Jesus would then have had to experience death for the sin in his own bloodline. Point being that if Jesus himself deserved 'death', he wouldn't be much use as a 'substitute' for anyone else.

In order to become the 'Passover lamb' for all of mankind,
Jesus had to be personally sinless and thus undeserving of death.

So... here we have Jesus ---

	A man whose every step has been accurately predicted by the tabernacle's symbolism...
	A man who was born apart from mankind's 'bloodline of sin' and was thus sinless, but who has expressed his willingness (through water baptism) to be identified with man (and thus, mankind's sin)...
	And now, this man has died during Passover.

The tabernacle's symbolism depicts all this as follows ---

Is this just an incredible coincidence?

Further evidence that it is not a coincidence, can be found in the following verse ---

Matthew 27:46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'"

You will notice here, that Jesus was "forsaken" by God, while on the cross...
This is another very important point...

From the very beginning, a primary element of the bible's story has been that 'sin' leads to 'death' (which means 'separation').
This was plainly stated by God Himself in Genesis 2:17, where He said that those who sin, "...shall surely die".
In other words, sin requires being 'forsaken by' (or 'separated from') God.

This being the case, Jesus' being "forsaken" on the cross makes perfect sense...
In order for any 'substitute' to take the place of Israel / mankind and 'pay the price' for man's sin,
any such substitute would clearly have to experience the 'curse' of being 'separated from', or 'forsaken by' God.

Amazingly though,
the very fact that Jesus experienced a 'curse', is often used by Jewish folks in order to deny that He is Israel's Deliverer!
Many are quick to point out the following passage ---

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 "If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, (v.23) his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God".

The above passage is used to frame an argument that goes something like this ---
"Jesus was hung on a tree (i.e. "the cross")... Thus he was cursed by God..
Surely then, he cannot be Israel's Deliverer, because our Deliverer would never be cursed by God."

Obviously though, this argument falls flat...
Again, as we have seen, in order to truly 'deliver' Israel from sin,
Israel's 'Deliverer' or 'substitute' would clearly have to experience a 'curse'...
The 'substitute' would have to experience the 'curse' of 'death'
which is 'separation from' (or in other words, being 'forsaken by') God.

Thus, rather than being evidence that Jesus is not Israel's Deliverer,
the fact that he experienced this 'curse' is one of the most significant proofs that he is!

As seen in the following passages, God has long intended, 66
at the appropriate time, to make ---

2 Corinthians 5:21 "...Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Thus ---

Romans 5:6 "...when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

Hebrews 9:28 "... Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many".

Hebrews 2:9 & 15 "... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone". (v.15) "... and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage".

Isaiah 53:5 "...He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed".

1 Peter 2:24 (Jesus) "...Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness..."

Jesus has come as the ultimate Passover lamb,
to experience being 'forsaken' in our place.
As our 'substitute', he has willingly experienced the 'curse' of sin (which is 'death').

Before moving on, it is worth considering the precise way in which Jesus takes on man's curse of 'death' ---

Jesus did not inherit the 'bloodline' of man's sin and its 'curse' (which is 'death') directly...
Remember... because he had no earthly father, he was able to become 'man' without inheriting mankind's lineage of sin,
(which is passed on through the male side of the family).
But as the son of his earthly father (Joseph, in whose line the 'curse of sin' was very much present)
at the appropriate time (i.e. on "the cross"), Jesus took on the 'curse of sin' through 'adoption'

We will be seeing more on this issue of 'adoption' a bit later.
As you will see, it is the key to God's rescue plan for humanity.

So... to summarize our story thus far ---

Whereas the animal sacrifices required by the Law could never fully atone for the sins of a man (seeing as how animals are 'lesser creatures'), Jesus (being a fully human 'blood relative' of mankind) was able (as the true 'Passover lamb') to 'pay the full price' for mankind's sin, by experiencing death in our place.

Thus, as it says in the following passage ---

Romans 5:18 "Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life".

The above passage is basically saying ---
"Just as sin & death have come to the world through one man's bloodline' (Adam's),
likewise, mankind will be saved through one man's bloodline" (Jesus').

For the details of how this works, please read on!

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