The Ultimate Sacrifice - Good Friday - April 10, 2020 - Text: Exodus 12:21-27; 1 Peter 1:14-21

Yesterday we celebrated the Passover with our Lord. We were given His new meal in which we were given His body and blood, in, with and under the bread and wine to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins. This evening we go out to the cross with our Lord. As we go out to the cross we are reminded of the Lamb, the lamb eaten in the Passover, even the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
 

The old covenant that God made with us and the old covenant that He narrowed and renewed with His people, especially with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the children of Israel was a covenant that was made way back in the Garden of Eden. God had created everything perfect, good and even very good and then turned the world over to Adam and Eve who had perfect freedom of the will because they only knew good. God had given for Adam and Eve to care for the garden and to only do one thing as a response of faith, that is they were not to eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, with the result being that if they should disobey the punishment would be death. Thus, the price for sin was set in the Garden of Eden and it was set at death, physical death and eternal death in hell. And as we know the history, they did disobey God. They did eat of the forbidden fruit. They did sin, and the price for sin was given out as death. Fortunately, because God is love, He immediately stepped in and promised to send a Savior, one who would pay the price for their sin. And notice, this first promise was made to Adam and Eve. This promise was made before there was a Jew or a Gentile, thus, this promise was indeed a promise given to all people.
 

After some time, God reiterated His promise to send a Savior. He did this by selecting, calling and setting apart a man named Abram. Through Abram’s line of descent, the Savior of the world would be born. God reiterated His promise time and again to Abraham’s descendants. And after delivering His children, the children of Israel out of bondage of slavery in Egypt, God instituted the sacrificial system of offerings to remind the people that the price for sin was death.
 

The offerings of sacrifices, especially the offerings of blood sacrifice reminded the people again and again that blood had to be shed, that sin had consequences and that death was a result of sin. At the same time, none of the sacrifices of the Old Testament earned anything, at least not forgiveness, all they did was to point to and foreshadow the one, once and for all sacrifice of the Messiah, Christ the Lord, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.
 

This evening as we celebrate Good Friday, we are reminded again of this price for sin. Yesterday we celebrated the giving of the Lord’s Supper. After Jesus celebrated the Passover Seder with His disciples, He gave them the new covenant. The new covenant was very much like the old covenant. The old covenant was based on faith, faith in the coming Messiah. The new covenant is also based on faith, faith that Jesus is the Messiah.
 

After celebrating the Passover and giving us the Lord’s Supper, Jesus went with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed. In His prayer Jesus prayed that, if possible, the cup of suffering for which He was born into this world, the cup of suffering which was always before Him, might be removed. Perhaps there was another way. Yet, Jesus continued to pray, not His will but the will of God the Father.
 

After His prayer, Jesus was strengthened, and especially He was strengthened in His resolve to give His life for His people and He went on to fulfill the covenant.
 

In the Old Testament, the lamb was the main animal sacrificed. But not just any old lamb. The lamb for the sacrifice was to be unblemished. It was to be without spot or mark. The lamb was selected and set aside for four days from the tenth day of the month to the fourteenth day.
 

On the fourteenth day of the month the lamb was killed. The blood was to be collected in a basin and was painted on the doorposts and lintels with a branch of hyssop. This painting was the sign of the cross, the up and down of the doorpost and the cross piece, side to side on the lintels.
 

The lamb was roasted and eaten, all of the lamb was eaten and it was eaten by all those who would be in the house being protected by the sign of the blood of that very lamb on the doorposts and lintels. There was a definite connection between those being passed over and saved and the blood of the lamb that was sacrificed. There was a definite connection between those being saved in their partaking of the lamb that was sacrificed.
 

And Jesus comes and He is the Lamb. John the Baptist points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Just as a lamb does not defend itself, but quietly goes to the slaughter, so Jesus did not defend Himself, but went willingly to the cross.
 

Very often when we think of lamb we think of them as innocent. We even speak of one being as innocent as a lamb. Jesus too was innocent. He was conceived and born in perfection. He lived a perfect life, never sinning. He was innocent.
 

And just as the lamb is killed, his blood is shed, so too, Jesus was killed. He shed His blood on the cross and He died.
 

Which brings us to our celebration. Yes, we do celebrate Good Friday. It is called Good Friday for a reason, because for us Christians it is good. Certainly the fact that our sins caused Jesus to suffer and die is not good, but what is good are the gifts given through Jesus. Just as the lamb of the Old Testament was brought, killed, and eaten so that those in the house might be covered by the blood of the lamb, so we are covered by the blood of Jesus. He gave His life on the cross, suffering the worst of punishments, eternal death and hell, along with the physical death He suffered. Jesus was killed. His blood was shed and He gives us His body and blood to eat, especially through His Supper.
 

Not only are we covered through the Lord’s death and resurrection, through His body and blood in His Holy Supper, we are also covered through Holy Baptism. At our Baptism, through the outward means of water and the speaking of the Lord’s name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God’s name is put on us, faith is put in our hearts, we are given forgiveness of sins and our names are written in the book of life in heaven.
 

And we are also covered through His Word and through Confession and Absolution. God’s Word does what it says. When we confess our sins, when we hear those wonderful words of forgiveness, then we know we have exactly what is said, forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness is life and salvation.
 

We could talk about what is fair and right. We could talk about the fact that we do not get what we deserve and Jesus did not get what He deserved. Instead, we get what was His and what was ours is His and we say, thanks be to God.
 

And so this evening we come to remember. We come to give thanks. We are sad because of our sins, but we know how this will end. We worship, not a dead God, but a living God. We worship the God who defeated sin, death and the devil. We worship the One God who does all and gives all. Yes, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.