Jesus Christ in the Old Testament | Mark 12:35-37 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

I encourage you to meet me in the gospel of Mark in chapter 12, please. And today our portion will be two verses that we trust will suffice in our understanding of this brilliant passage. Mark 12 verse 35. And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, how can the scribe say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself in the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

David himself calls him Lord, so how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly. Lord, bless the reading and the preaching of your word. Bless our hearts in receiving and applying it. Open the eyes of our hearts, oh lord.

Even as we hear what you have to say, may it wash away all troubles, all fears, all anxieties, all indifference, and may it fortify our faith afresh. We ask these things in the name that is above every other name, the living name, the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I hope you remember what we've been discussing the past few weeks, where there have been a series of interrogations that Jesus experienced. We saw the Pharisees with the Herodians approach Christ.

Following them, we saw the Sadducees the same day. And following the Sadducees, we left off with the scribes who came to Christ as well. But after those questions were, without any effort really, were answered by Christ. These groups now stood stupefied in the presence of the wisdom of God in the person of Jesus. And now the tables are about to turn because Jesus has his own question.

He has this question now that he's going to target towards these religious leaders. And the essence of this question deals with the true identity of the Messiah that has been promised from of old as revealed in the scriptures. And the reason why the Lord asked this question is because the contentious religious leaders not only prove their ignorance of the general application and understanding of the word of God, they missed what the Messiah was all about and who he would be. And so Christ now wants to really expose the underlying issue of the hostility of these men. He's now going to get to the center of it.

The the real reason why they approached them with such aggression and abuse is because they do not understand what the bible has to say about the Messiah. They are sorely ignorant, and Christ is about to reveal that and compound that yet again. And reading this exchange in Mark as you just did with me, we see that the format of Jesus' teaching here seems to be general. Like, he's just sharing it to whoever is there. But when you read it from Matthew's account, he targets this question toward the Pharisees.

He's speaking to them. Now why is he doing that? Because if there was anyone who should have understood the prophecies and the descriptions of the anointed one who was to come, the savior of the people of Israel, it was the Pharisees. There was if there was anyone who was supposed to get it, it was this band of men. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Instead, they're abusing the very one who fulfilled them. And Christ is about to challenge their faulty thinking yet once more. And what we see here is Jesus going to the Old Testament. He is going to go to the Hebrew scriptures to make his case. And when you hear this teaching today, you're gonna feel as though there's been a golden a a glistening nugget that's been placed in your hand that we get to look at and enjoy, but it's much more than that.

This passage that you and I are holding in our hands is a key. It's a key that should encourage you and I to unlock a world of treasures. The world that I speak of is the old testament, and the treasures that I'm referring to are the vast pictures and prophecies concerning Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And that's where we're headed today. You and I are just gonna have a glimpse of this world, of where we might have overlooked Christ.

And my my simple prayer in today's message is that there would be this heightened reverence for the word of God, that your heart would be stirred to see the divine authorship of this book and how it has, in fact, been given to us by the almighty, and that you would relish in it and you would rejoice in it, and more than that, you would submit to it to a greater degree. And so let's do that together. We come back to our text in verse 35, and before the Lord does anything, he acknowledges that the scribes believed and taught that the chosen one of God would in fact be the descendant of David. So we don't have to turn there, but when you read the same account from Matthew's perspective, Jesus asked the question to the Pharisees. He says it this way, what do you think about the Christ?

Whose son is he? And the Pharisees rightly answer, the son of David. They weren't wrong in their answer, but they were not entirely right. Because what the Lord is about to now convey is that the Messiah is more than just a descendant of David. He's more than just a son of David.

He is the Lord of David. And the way he's gonna do that is by going to one particular psalm. You should be familiar with this psalm. You know why? Because it's the most referenced and alluded to psalm in the New Testament, Psalm one ten.

And Christ quotes the first verse of that psalm to make his point, and it's a brilliant point. But I wanna pause here before we explore his exposition of that verse. Pause for a moment and consider this. Jesus is asking a question. Right?

The past few Sundays, we've been exploring questions asked to Jesus and how he would answer them. But the Sanhedrin, the spiritual supreme court of Israel's day, when they asked their questions to Jesus, did not do so from a pure heart. They wanted to trap Jesus. They wanted to find evidence to arrest Jesus. But now when Christ returns the question, he does not have the same intent.

Yes. He's gonna ex he's gonna expose their ignorance, but not so that they can be red faced and mortified. When is this question asked? Again, when you read your bible, zoom out from time to time. Remember, we are at the final moments before Jesus is arrested, put on trial, and then nailed to a cross.

We're in that that last week of his earthly life. And so we know that in just a couple of days, things are going to change drastically. In fact, this is Jesus' last face to face conversation with the religious leaders before his trial. This is it. And when you consider that truth with what we learned last time, you have a brilliant revelation concerning the heart of Christ.

What happened before Jesus asked this question? Well, a scribe asked him a question. What's the most important commandment? Jesus answered it, and this was the response of the man. He he acknowledged it, and Christ says to him look at verse 34 of Mark 12.

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. So time is running out. And yet, we also see, at least from one scribe, a level of humility and hunger. And I believe these things reveal something about Christ asking this question and giving the answer the way that he did.

I can say with confidence, and I hope you agree with me, that Jesus' teaching here is a final opportunity for his enemies to come to the truth. Time is ticking, and there is a blossoming of humility from at least one of their band members. And here is Christ now responding from a place of love, opening their eyes to the truth of who the Messiah is and who he is. I'm sure with the hope that they would hear it, understand it, and give themselves to it. This is the love of Jesus Christ on display right here.

This is what we see about Christ, his love even for his enemies. You know what they've been trying to do on this day? Corner him, embarrass him. More than that, find a reason to arrest him. And how does he return the favor?

His response was to give him another chance by opening their eyes to see the truth, not just in the word, but the truth incarnate right before them. And the way he's gonna do that is by going to this text that we're gonna explore together. What do we read here? Our text together in verse 36. David himself in the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.

I know we wanna get to Psalm one ten, but I have to acknowledge something else here. Forgive me. Do you see how Jesus acknowledges the authorship of the bible? What does he say? David himself, that's the human composition.

In the Holy Spirit, that is the definition of divine inspiration. And so what you have here is exactly what the apostle Peter builds upon in his second epistle when he says the following, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. That's the consensus of the Bible. Jesus affirmed it. The apostles that he's trained taught it that, yes, men were used to write the Bible, but God was the one who was guiding them and inspiring them and protecting them from error.

So what we have here, yes, has been written by man, but there is an agent behind them and that is God himself. Here's what we have, Psalm one ten. David wrote it. That is huge because you have people today who want to say that David didn't write this or try to twist it concerning David. That it was not written by David, but written for David.

And I'll get to the reason why that's important to distinguish. It's important to establish what? Listen. Psalm one ten, and you can get there if you want early. I didn't not going there yet, but you can prepare.

Psalm one ten is a messianic Psalm. In other words, it is a piece of work that prophesies of the Messiah, the anointed one, the chosen one that is to come to bring deliverance to the people of Israel. And ultimately, if you understand the wider scope of prophecy, to the world. And the reason why that is important again as I mentioned is because people try to dismiss it because Christ fulfills Psalm one ten. Now how do we know Psalm one ten is about the Messiah?

Very simple. You don't have to jump through many hoops. Some would say this is a psalm written by Abraham's servant. Like desperate attempts to try to make this not about Jesus Christ. Some would say again that this was composed to declare about David.

So when it says, the Lord said to my Lord, that second Lord is David. This is about David and his covenant with God. Well, you're gonna have problems there. Do you know why? The reason why we know that this is the Messiah being spoken of here is because of the content of the psalm.

You have a king who's going to not just rule in Zion, but rule from Zion. You have a king who also, listen to this, is a priest. And not just a priest, he's a priest who will have his priesthood and function and an operation for eternity. No other person fits that description of a kingly priestly role apart from the Messiah, apart from the one that not just David, but others before and after him declared about the one who is to come. He is going to be a king, but he's also going to be a priest.

That was illegal in the old covenant. If anyone attempted to do that, they were severely disciplined by God. But we now have this description of one who is not just only going to be a king and a priest, but he's also going to be exalted and praised by God himself. So he's approved in that function. So right there, that that ends the argument.

This Psalm, Psalm one ten is messianic. Now you can turn there. So let's turn to Psalm one ten. And I want you to see something because the Greek version of Psalm one ten here doesn't read in the same way that the Hebrew version does, and that's what we have in Psalm one ten. What we have in the gospels is the Greek translation of it.

But look at Psalm one ten. First verse, a psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, sit set on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Notice that the first mention of Lord is different than the second one in terms of spelling. If it's capitalized in your bible, then you understand this.

I hope that that is a reference to the covenant name of God. This is God's personal name, Yahweh. And the second mention of Lord is not the same. It's a more general term. One that can be granted to a human authority.

So you have Yahweh says to or And that word Lord, the second mention simply means master, and you have people in the Bible as examples who are granted that a term of respect. You're the master. You are an authoritative figure in my life, so I will call you Lord. So you have Yahweh, God's personal name, speaking to another figure, distinct figure, and addresses him as master. This is this is important to make it distinguish about because it can cause a lot of confusion otherwise.

Now Jesus doesn't go further in the Psalm. Right? He just he just sticks with verse one. Because verse one has enough to challenge the wrong thinking of his foes. And why is he mentioning this?

Very simple. In verse 37 of Mark 12, he says, David himself calls him Lord, so how is he his son? Do you understand the question? If this is a messianic Psalm and they've already established that the Messiah is gonna be a son of David, then how is it that David can call his son his Lord? It's very simple.

David's son naturally would be inferior to David in terms of honor and rank. I was talking to my dad about this last night and I said, dad, not in terms of human dignity and value, we're the same in that. But because you're my dad, you have greater honor. You have more authority. And so if David's son is in that way inferior, then how does David dare to call him his master?

Do you understand now what Jesus is trying to convey? Now, it goes even deeper than that. If David is the king of Israel, which he was, then there really isn't anyone else from a human standpoint that is above him. He holds the highest position of authority known to man, at least in this realm. And so for him to call anybody his master implies that this person holds a position that's not in this world or not of this world.

Let me make that case further. Go to Psalm 89 with me. Here's another Psalm concerning David by his covenant with God and his descendants. Look at Psalm 89 verse 20 just to make sure that we know that this Psalm is in fact about David. Psalm 89, and we can go to verse 20 to get that clue.

I have found in David my servant with my holy oil I have anointed him. Now why don't we just read on to the rest of it? So that my hand shall be established with him. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him.

The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.

He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Pause. There's a misconception among Christians that when Jesus came, he introduced to us God as father. No, he didn't. God is referred to as father in the old testament as well.

You just saw one example of it. The difference is now the fatherly relationship with God has now been extended to the gentiles. That's the difference. Look at verse 27. This is the part that I wanna mention.

And I will make him the firstborn. Who's him? That's David. I will make him the firstborn. I'm I'm hesitant to throw a lot here, but I'm I'm gonna do it.

And it's recorded so we can revisit it if it's too much, just to chew on it more. Was David the firstborn among his family? So why is he called the firstborn here? Because the Bible's dictionary is different than ours. Firstborn, in many cases in the Bible, refers to preeminence, not order of chronology of coming into existence.

You know why that's important? Because your friendly neighborhood, Job as witness, will use Colossians to say Jesus is the firstborn. He's the first created thing. And so they'll say that Jesus was created, and then through him, everything else was created. But you have to come to Psalm 89 verse 27 to show them that firstborn doesn't need to mean first to come into existence.

It can also mean preeminence, to be above, to be elevated. And this is what we're being told about David. He will be the firstborn, and the second part reinforces that truth. And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. So David is not just king.

He's the highest of the kings of all the earth. And yet in Psalm one ten, in speaking about his descendant, he refers to the son of David as what? My lord. How? You're the king that's king above all the other kings on the earth.

Who is this son who by just nature is inferior? Who is he for you to say that he is your master? And the answer to that is when you look at Psalm one ten, that this Lord of David's is no ordinary Lord. He's an otherworldly king, and the makeup of that king is described in Psalm one ten. Let's read.

It's very brief and you will understand exactly why David said what he said. Because by the spirit, he had this revelation. Verse two. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies.

Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments from the womb of the morning. The dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are priests forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand.

He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head.

When you read this, you realize that the composition, the makeup of this king is something beyond human. You realize that he has been invited and summoned to sit at the right hand of God. You realize that he's not just gonna be a ruler, he's gonna be a priest and not after the order of Aaron. Hebrews tells us that the order of Melchizedek, which is another sermon for another time, is superior to that of Aaron because the priest of Aaron died and replaced the other. But when it comes to this priesthood, we read what?

You will be priest how long? Forever. So he's a human ruler over a human government. Yes. He's been elevated to sit by the hand of right hand of God, but he's also eternal.

He doesn't cease to live. He doesn't just rule in Zion, he rules from Zion. And though you are convinced, I'm sure, that there's something supernatural about this person, you come to verse seven and you realize what? That he drinks by the brook. Denoting what?

That his activity is still human like. And this is who? No other than the person of Jesus Christ. And if you're not convinced of that, for whatever reason, realize that Jesus in the final book of this library of holy scripture, in the final chapter, reinforces and builds upon what he taught here in Mark 12. Go to Revelation 22 and see with your own eyes in verse 16.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. I'm not just the descendant of David. I'm the root. I was before David and I came after David.

If the Messiah, the Christ is David's son, why does he call him Lord? Jesus answers it. Because he existed before David. He created David. He made the covenant with David.

And at the perfect time, according to Galatians four four, he came into this world, born of the flesh, specifically from the line of David, The root and the descendant. Notice that he didn't say, I was the root and the descendant of David. He says, I am the root. I am the root and descendant of David. For him to say, I am the root, I get it.

But for you to say in the present, I am the descendant, you know what that means? Revelation 22, is Jesus on earth or is he in heaven? Oh, please, answer yes. He's in heaven. Right?

He's in heaven and yet he can say I am still the descendant of David. Do you know why? Because he's still in the flesh, glorified. That's why he can say, I am the descendant of David. Because, yes, he did take on flesh, but he also resurrected in the flesh.

We don't believe in a spiritual resurrection. No. No. No. No.

He rose bodily. He rose bodily and he's returning bodily. We're not waiting for an invisible return. Every eye will see him, and they all recognize that he is the root and descendant of David. So Jesus, just with one verse, shows these men that the Messiah that they claim to be anticipating is more than a man.

Just from one verse, from one song. He stumps them and shows them and shows us that the Messiah who is to come from a prophecy that's been written hundreds of years before Christ's time is in fact divine. He holds a dual nature. He took on flesh. And when you read the character of Christ, the interactions of Christ, the acts of Christ, you'll be amazed to realize that he is no mere ordinary man.

He proved it with his life. And remember I told you that this Psalm would would be like a precious jewel deposited in our hands and we would look at it and enjoy it, but it's more than that. It's a truth that opens up our eyes to a world ready to be explored concerning greater revelations of Christ specifically in the Old Testament. I feel bad for Christians who do not engage with the Hebrew scriptures for many reasons. Let me tell you one of them.

You will not know the depth of the New Testament without it. You won't. You will always limit yourself as long as you treat the Old Testament as second to the first or the new rather. You can't do that. It's the foundation upon the truths that you and I enjoy and have been saved by in the new covenant.

And I just wanna take this time. We we could stop here and just rejoice in in Jesus' wisdom and his understanding of the word, being the word himself, but I just wanna just take a little trip with you and just travel through a few of the neighborhoods and the streets, so to speak, of the Old Testament to open your appetite and to see that Christ is everywhere. Everywhere. He's everywhere. And I'm sure many of us because many of you here love the word and you know the word.

You can you can shoot off references of the old testament that speak of Christ, but I even wanna explore the things and the places where we might have not seen him, but he's there. He is there. So let's just do that. Right? Let's let's do that this Sunday.

Jesus was born where? Bethlehem. Was that not prophesied by the prophets? It was. Micah prophesied in Micah five two that he would be born in Bethlehem.

But I wanna remind you today. Again, we're just just having a sample. I wanna remind you there was another significant boy who was born in Bethlehem. And when you understand his birth, the way the scripture mentions it, you'll realize that though it was a historical distinguished thing, it in fact carries prophetic weight, and I hope that cheers your heart to see Jesus even there. K.

Let's do it. Genesis 35. I'll wait for you. Genesis 35. Genesis 35, we're reading of here Rachel who is pregnant with Benjamin, but his name wasn't given yet.

She had a very difficult labor, and we read of that here in verse 17 of Genesis 35. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, do not fear for you have another son. And as her soul was departing, for she was dying, she called his name Benoni. But his father called him Benjamin, Benjamin. So Rachel died and she was buried on the way to Ephrath that is Bethlehem.

This points to Jesus. Because amid Rachel's deadly discomfort, she chooses in her anguish almost as a pathetic memorial to identify this boy as Ben Oni. You know what Ben Oni means? Son of my sorrows. And right there, Jacob, his father, interjects and says, no.

No. No. No. No. He's gonna be called Benjamin.

Benjamin. You know what that means? Son of the right hand. Some of you already got it. And this boy who was once Ben Oni and then became Ben Yamin was born where?

Bethlehem. The one you and I worship was born in Bethlehem, and he was destined for sorrow and suffering to the extent that according to the gospel of Luke, his earthly mother would have a sword pierced through her soul. She would be in anguish according to Simeon's prophecy based on the destiny that this boy would fulfill. And Isaiah tells us in fact that he was a man of what? Sorrows.

But what happens? After his atoning death, after his atoning suffering, the heavenly father summons him. And he says what in Psalm one ten? Sit where? At my right hand.

And he did so by way of resurrection and ascension. So even in a brief glimpse of the birth of one of the sons of Jacob, do you have prophetic perfume sprayed on it? Where you have the son of sorrows who would be the son of the right hand, and he was born in Bethlehem. Is there more? A lot more.

How much time do you got? So much more. One of my favorite truths about Jesus in the Old Testament in a non obvious way is with the cities of refuge. The cities of refuge were designated by God in the old covenant for the people when they entered into the promised land. There were six of them.

And they were set apart by God as a means of grace for the one specifically who committed manslaughter involuntarily. So the one who accidentally killed someone else with no premeditation, with no envy or history of hatred in his heart could flee to one of these cities because in that law you also had God giving the right to a relative to avenge the blood of the one who was murdered by getting the one who did kill him. So these cities of refuge that have been placed strategically throughout the promised land, in a way by the way, that wherever you are in the promised land you can have access to it. No matter where you're parked, no matter where the sin was committed, you could find a nearby city of refuge. You know what that's a picture of?

Christ. That no matter where you've gone with your sin, no matter how far you are from hope and refuge, you can find it in Christ. But it's more than that. So this man who maybe in a workplace or maybe with, with without attention or care in the home, kills someone, was called to not delay, but flee. To flee to any of those cities of refuge.

It's also a picture of you not delaying coming to Christ. The moment that you've been made aware of your sin, you are not to be slow in running and throwing yourself at the foot of the cross. So this man was to flee. And once he fled and hid behind those walls, he had the council and the elders of that city determine his case. And if he was proved, in fact, to be innocent, he was safe from the avenger as long as he remained in the city of refuge.

Also, another picture of Christ. You wanna be safe? You have to stay in Christ. So much to say about the city of refuge, but there's one particular verse. Because you might think to yourself, well, okay.

So if I do this and I I leave, I flee, I'm also walking away from my home. I'm walking away from my livelihood. I'm walking away from my inheritance. I'm making a new way of life in this strange place. Yes, I'm grateful that it protects me, but is there any way for somebody who has fled to any of these cities to be free?

To be, like, really free and to go back to his life upon one condition? I'm not gonna give you the answer. You gotta turn there if you wanna see it in Joshua chapter 20. If you're more interested in the city of refuge than you were before you came in, look at Joshua 20 verses one to six in its totality, but let's just, for the sake of time, look at verse six. Joshua 20 verse six.

And he being the one, the manslayer, he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment. Check this out. Until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home to the town from which he fled. You would think that this was written in the New Testament.

It's not. It's in the Hebrew scriptures. There's very little written about this and I wonder why. There's a lot of hush concerning this. And I have a feeling, especially from non Christian writers and theologians, this shows us so clearly that there is something about the death of the high priest that carries substitutionary merit for the one who has committed involuntary murder.

How? What does the death of the high priest have to do with me who has committed a sin, yes, accidental, and allowing me to go free? You hit a wall with your understanding, but that wall is broken down when you understand the person and role of Jesus Christ. And listen, put that in your arsenal, please. Because the friendly neighborhood Jewish person who is serious about their faith will often criticize the Christian in their core belief that there is one who has been sent by God who laid down his life so that through his death and resurrection, we might receive freedom from sin, freedom from the wrath to come.

And with that criticism comes slander. That's unjust, that is cruel, that's barbaric. You believe in human sacrifice. And I say, have you ever read Joshua chapter 20 verse six? Because in the law of Moses, apparently, the death of the high priest grants freedom for the manslayer.

You know what that means? Jesus coming, dying on the cross for the sins of man is not contradictory to what the old testament has to say. It's consistent. You see the same truth here. Yes, it's a breath.

Yes, it's a whisper. But But when you understand the new covenant, it's a megaphone. And here we are missing these things because I'd rather read John than Joshua. Oh, you're missing out on John because you're not reading Joshua. And so we even see here that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the shadow.

But can I tell you something? He's not just a fulfillment of the shadow. He's a greater than anything that you find in the Old Testament. And even in this, yes, you have a high priest who dies and allows a manslayer to go free. But this is a sinful, sin infected high priest.

And though his death for some mysterious reason does grant liberty, it's only for accidental sin. You know why Jesus is better? It's even for sins that you've committed on purpose. It's not just for involuntary things that you've done. It's even for the things that you have premeditated, that you've consciously said, I'm gonna do this knowing that the word says this and I've been taught otherwise.

Even for those sins, the death of the high priest can cover you and set you free. He's greater than the high priest of the covenant of old. Because he's a greater high priest and his covenant is greater in ways that you can't even think. That we are granted truths to meditate on it, that we see through a glass dimly. Christ is everywhere.

Christ is everywhere. Let's consider our final thought so I don't keep you too long. Yeah? Let's go back to Mark 12. What's happening in Mark 12?

You're gonna go to Mark 12, but I'm gonna take you somewhere else in a moment. What have we been studying the past few weeks? The grilling examinations against Christ by various groups from all angles. The Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, the scribes. And again, the timing of these examinations is important to identify the full prophetic significance of it.

This was during the final week where Jesus was prepared and being prepared to lay his life down as what? The Passover lamb, ultimately. Right? And what's happening around them? That same week where Jesus dies, the Passover feast is being celebrated.

And you have on that week, people coming in with their lambs and having them checked out and ensuring everything is put into place for that fourteenth day of the first month of the religious calendar, they could honor the Passover feast. Can you just imagine the sight here? You have Jesus in a temple going back and forth with these religious groups and all around them you hear the bleeding of sheep, the hustle and bustle of another festival. And I want you to see the original instructions for the Passover and how it parallels with Christ's experience even in what we've been studying in this chapter the past few Sundays. This is our final text that we're gonna explore.

It's in Exodus 12. Look at it with me, please. Exodus 12. It will be worth it. Look at verse three of Exodus 12.

This is the institution of the Passover feast. And it says here, tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, keep that in mind, the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons, according to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Verse six is important. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Israel, this is a feast that you will hold onto for generations. Here's how you're supposed to observe it. On the tenth day of this month, you are to go out and select a lamb.

And you are to ensure that that lamb is without blemish. And on the fourteenth day, you are to kill the lamb. So there is an interval period of four days that every household is to hold this lamb in possession before they sacrifice it. Why not just get it on the fourteenth day and kill it on the fourteenth day? Why get it on the tenth day, hold on to it to four days, and then kill it?

The context suggests this as the strongest reason why. Verse five tells us that that lamb should be what? Without blemish. I am persuaded that the reason why they were to hold on to it for ten days was so that they can inspect it from head to toe. Think about how much depended on the lamb being without blemish.

The destroyer, according to Exodus 12, was ready to sweep over the land of Egypt and destroy the firstborn of every living thing. And the quality of that lamb would determine whether or not that destroyer would pass over those homes. So imagine that was applied to you as an Israelite of that time. Here you are, you select the lamb, and you know four days from now, this lamb must be without blemish if it's supposed to be honored by God Almighty. What are you gonna do those four days?

Oh, you're gonna protect that lamb. And you're gonna look through it, and you're gonna look in the ears, and you're gonna flip it over and look on the belly, and you're gonna examine and inspect it because you wanna ensure this thing is right. And on the fourteenth day, if it passed the test, it would be an acceptable sacrifice. What was happening to Jesus before he would ultimately go to the cross? You've been studying it these past few Sundays.

One religious group after the next examining him. By what authority do you do these things? Pass the test. Should we pay our taxes to Caesar or not? Passed the test.

How does the resurrection work if a woman marries several men? Whose husband will she have and who will have the wife? Pass the test. Which, out of all the commandments, is the greatest? Pass the test.

And no one asked them the question afterwards. Finally, these Jews bring him before a Gentile named Pilate. And Pilate examines him. And in Luke 23 verse four, this is what he confesses. Then Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man.

So in the same time where those Passover lambs were being inspected and examined, you had the lamb of God from heaven undergoing the same thing. And what was discovered of him? No sin. No wrong. No error.

And he would satisfy the one who demanded a spotless land for the sins of mankind. Where is Jesus? Everywhere. Everywhere. I hope something in your heart was lit ablaze from this brief study.

We have a living God. This book is a living book. It scares me in a good way. I get scared from it. Because after all these years of reading it, day after day after day, it never fails to bring me to my knees and to show me you don't know anything.

You think you do. And I wanna tell you today that Jesus Christ is the lamb of God. And I want you to see the response of these people in our final verse of Mark 12 verse 37. David himself calls him lord, so how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly.

That's a sad response. They heard him gladly. In other words, they enjoyed his mastery over the scriptures. They enjoyed how he was able to defend himself and shut the mouths of those who claimed to be experts. You know, it's possible for after a sermon like this or an old testament study for people to hear it gladly, and that's it.

What should have happened? Oh, they should have realized this is the one that the scriptures pointed to. This shouldn't cause just rejoicing. It should have encouraged repentance, But it didn't. It was just an intellectual stimulation.

It was just something that impressed them. Is that how you heard the sermon today? Oh, wow. I never thought the cities of riches that was something else. Oh, wow.

Yeah. I don't really know the old testament as much as I thought. That's not the response Christ wants from you. Yes. You should be moved by the word of God, but you should be moved by the God of the word.

And you should want to love him and surrender to him. And as our precious brother prayed earlier, if you don't know him, do you realize what you're dealing with? Do you do you realize that this was not compiled in two years by one author? But the cross references that we just did there was from multiple authors over a span of fifteen hundred years. This book is not just one book, it's a library of books.

Three different languages, different continents, 40 different authors, one consistent theme. Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. What are you gonna do with that? Like, what are you gonna do with what you just heard? Doesn't it at least cause you to be like, woah.

So you're telling me that Jesus fulfilled things from thousands of years ago that those authors were actually pointing to him that he didn't just show up on the scene as a moral teacher and died a martyr's death and Christians just appreciate him. You're telling me that he's something more. I'm telling you he's more. What are you gonna do with that? Are you just gonna hear it gladly?

Oh, that was nice. He was very passionate the way he shared those truths. You're missing it. You're missing it. And I would be a fool and I'm gonna stand before the living God if I presented in such a way.

Oh, here's a nice little collection of thoughts. Did you like it? Oh, good. Wonderful. I'm compelled to tell you, I just told you about the truths of God.

And that demands a response from you. You need to deal with that. You need to now make a decision. What am I gonna do with this Christ that in an hour, I've been told about in a way that can only be deemed as supernatural. I didn't write this.

I'm just the one who delivered the mail. So what are you gonna do with that? Are you gonna just brush it off like these people did? The great throng heard him gladly and it was just another Sunday. I hope that's not how you respond.

I hope you at least endeavor to say, okay. I have to do something with this and I'm gonna do my personal investigation myself. You do it. You do it now. You examine the lamb of God.

You search for error in this book. He authored it. You look at his person. You look at his character. You look at his dealings with man.

You look at his commentaries and his description and his and his revelations about our world, our universe. And I can guarantee you that if you do so with an honest heart, you will realize that this is no ordinary man and this is no ordinary book. I've done my part today. And I pray, I pray, really, I hope you hear my love. I pray that you would do yours if you do not know him.

Believers, I pray that you just love him more than you did when you walked in today. Let's ask him to help us do that. Lord, we thank you. And we love you. And we worship you, and we exalt you.

You are the name that is above every other name. You are the centerpiece of this word. You are the darling of the universe. You are the one in whom every person will see and behold, and every knee and tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is in fact Lord. But Lord, we don't wanna wait until that day until we acknowledge it.

We wanna bow our knees today. And we wanna realize and we wanna acknowledge and we wanna tell you that we believe that you are the Messiah, the son of God, the savior of the world, the only way to heaven. And Lord, if there's even one person who has not made that confession yet, The same grace that you showed to those Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians and scribes, by giving them a chance through the word to see the truth so that they can be saved by the truth, we pray that people would register the same thought and heart that you have. That you had for them is for them as well. Lord, we ask that on this day as we fellowship in a moment that we would celebrate the truth that we are in.

You saved us, and we have the truth, And we're in the truth. And there's more truth to explore. And there's more depths to discover. Thank you, oh God, that every week you remind us that you are eternal. And there's no time in this life, even in eternity that we will arrive at where we say we figured it out.

Thank you, oh God, for being a mighty God and for showing us that you are indeed splendid, glorious, majestic. We pray in the name of the one that we just heard about, Jesus. Amen and amen. Let's worship him. That's all I can say.

Let's stand and worship the living Christ. He's alive. He's alive.