Crucifixion Foreseen

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Crucifixion Foreseen

Matt. 26:18-19

18 And [de] he said [epo] , Go [hupago] into [eis] the city [polis] to [pros] such a man [deina] , and [kai] say [epo] unto him [autos] , The Master [didaskalos] saith [lego] , My [mou] time [kairos] is [esti] at hand [eggus] ; I will keep [poieo] the passover [pascha] at [pros] thy house [se] with [meta] my [mou] disciples [mathetes] .
19 And [kai] the disciples [mathetes] did [poieo] as [hos] Jesus [Iesous] had appointed [suntasso] them [autos] ; and [kai] they made ready [hetoimazo] the passover [pascha] . KJV-Interlinear

18 And He said, 'Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says,' My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.' 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. NASB

We covered some of these verses yesterday, but now we'll cover them in more detail. The disciples did not know where they were going to celebrate the Passover. A one day celebration, and actually it is a one evening meal celebration in memory of the death angel passing over the Israelites immediately prior to the exodus.

The sacrifice is a reminder of Christ's work on the Cross. The blood of another (the innocent substitute) was to be offered rather than the blood of the condemned (mankind). Jesus Christ was certainly human, just as you and I are human, but He was of course much more than human, He was and is, God as well.

The blood of the animal sacrificed is representative of the spiritual death which Christ would endure while on the Cross. Christ did not die physically until after the judgment of all of mankind's sin had been judged. He did not bleed to death either.

You might want to review the Cross Chronology chart on the Index page, if you have not yet down loaded all of the charts, to familiarize yourself with the events surrounding the Cross.

The sacrifice of Christ was to occur on the very day of Passover, in the afternoon, between the hours of noon and three o'clock, as were all sacrifices performed between those hours, and had been every year for about 1500 years now, since the exodus.

The place of the Passover meal was kept secret because Judas was getting very close to revealing the whereabouts of Jesus, when he knew Jesus would be away from the crowds. Timing here was critical in Gods plan. There is a time for everything in life and there is a time, a predetermined time, for events in history. God controls history, and with that no one and nothing can change Gods plan for history.

This is a principle that we all need to consider even within our own daily lives. You may have times when you think you do not need God. You may have times when you think you will never get Gods help. You may have times when you don't care either way. But rest assured, your life was pre-recorded in heaven as well as being currently recorded simultaneously as your life unfolds. The two separate records will be identical. God does not make any mistakes. You might want to review the life of Nebuchadnezzar, in the Book of Daniel, for the principle of this concept, which we have already studied. You will recall that Nebuchadnezzar was warned of going mad or of being great, then he made his decisions in life, even knowing his own future (both alternatives). The angels compared the records and passed their concurrence with the judgment prescribed for the king.

The phrase, 'My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover' is Jesus own statement that He was to participate in this final Passover in the Age of Israel, and He was to participate with His disciples. 'My time is at hand,' is a reference to a specific day and hour which had been predetermined at some point in the past. In this case that past was eternity past when God declared the divine decrees.

The phrase, 'I am to keep the Passover,' means that Jesus kept all of the laws as written by Moses. Everyone was to keep those laws, sacrificial observances, and so forth. And in this Jesus did without failure. He not only comes to the Cross as a morally and ethically perfect man, but without sin, without any transgression in His life. He fulfilled all of the requirements of the Law, Matt. 3:15, 5:17. He was the perfect offering without blemish and without defect.

The disciples were to go into the city, which we now realize has swelled to huge numbers, find a man, a total stranger, carrying a pitcher of water, Mk. 14:13, Lk. 22:10. Speak these words to him, and then be led to a home and up to an upper room in that home, which had already been prepared (furnished and ready), Mk. 14:14+.

We can presume that an angel had made prior arrangements by giving instructions to someone (the home owner perhaps) to make such preparations. This type of communication was done with Zacharias when the birth of John the Baptist was foretold, with Mary when the birth of Jesus was foretold, with Joseph when he was instructed to go to Egypt with the child, and on other occasions in the Bible.

The disciples, Peter and John, followed their instructions immediately and without question. It is easy to follow instructions when things are going reasonably well in life, and when things do not appear to be too risky. However, when the pressure is on, that is when the real spiritual giants are separated from the spiritual mice. This evening the disciples are treating all of these events as just another Passover meal. Just as they have for the past couple of years. But in a very few hours, they will all disappear into the dark of the night. A preview of verse 31 coming up.