The Second Passover

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, have a little bit of coffee, get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. In this year 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews. So glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your Word. Father, we pray now that as we read your Word that you would help us. Father, it's easy to read your Word. It's hard to have it applied. God, we pray that You would please teach us today, that Your Holy Spirit would help us, and that You would indeed apply these truths to our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, so we are at Numbers chapter 9. Numbers chapter 9, kind of the first half of that chapter. So, Numbers chapter 9, beginning at verse 1.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it as its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it. So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses. So the children of Israel did.
Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so they could not keep the Passover on that day. And when they came before Moses and Aaron that day, and those men said to them, we became defiled by a human corpse, why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel? And Moses said to them, Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If any one of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, He may still keep the Lord's Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight they may keep it.
They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until morning nor shall nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man who is clean and is not on a journey and ceases to keep the Passover That person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger dwells among you and would keep the Lord's Passover, He must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony. You shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land." So, we need to ask ourselves our three questions.
A. What's this about?
B. What's the best verse to summarize this? And C. What are we called to do? Alright, so A. What's this about? Well, this is about the Passover, right? The Lord is instituting it, they're in the desert, here in the wilderness, and the Lord is saying, alright, it's the first month, it's the month of Nisan, you're going to take the Passover. And so, here's the regulation. So they do it, right? So that's what the Lord's commanded them.
But then, interestingly, They keep the Passover in the wilderness of Sinai according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. But in verse 6-7 there's some guys who go, well what about us? Maybe it's their uncle, maybe it's their mother. Somebody died and they touched a dead body and they're like, do we not get to take the Lord's Supper? And Moses says, hold on boys.
Stand here. Let me go talk to the Lord and I'll find out. Right? That's a good question. I don't know. Moses is the mediator, so he goes and he talks to the Lord. And the Lord tells him, there's a make-up day. Don't worry. Not the first month, but the second month. They can do it on the second month.
Same prescriptions, same laws, same everything, but if they for some reason were on a journey, or they were unclean, something like that, so they couldn't celebrate the Passover at the normal time, there's a backup date, okay? So, I don't want to purposely keep people from the sacrament, right? It's kind of what's going on here, right? But, someone was clean, and someone wasn't on a journey, and they just decided, I don't really want to take the Passover, right?
They're to be cut off. Why though? This is the interesting question. Why would that person be cut off? See, because they've missed the whole point of who they are as people and who God is as the Redeemer, right? The Passover isn't just a ceremony. The Passover isn't just like saying, eh, you know, I don't really feel like celebrating Christmas, right?
No, no, it's saying this is a renewal ceremony every year that I believe the historicity that I was a slave in Egypt. My ancestors were slaves in Egypt. And God really did these miraculous things and redeemed us out of the land of Egypt. And I am part of this nation. I am one of His people. I'm one of His redeemed.
And to say, I just don't really want to do that, is to remove yourself from the group. And the Lord said, if somebody's doing that, cut them off. move them away. And so, that's what this is about. Now, if a stranger wants to come and they want to celebrate the Passover, one law. For a native person and for a stranger, one law. That's what the very last part of this is getting at.
So, what is the best verse for this? Well, probably in my mind, I would underline verse 5, because that's them celebrating it in the wilderness, but I could see maybe somebody underlining 6 and 7. I don't know. Let me know down in the comments. What would you underline, right?
What are we called to do, though, right? Well, I think that this plays out, right, in the New Testament sacrament now, right? What was the Passover pointing to? The Passover was pointing to our redemption in Jesus Christ. So we partake of the Lord's Supper, not however we want, not willy-nilly, but examining our hearts, examining our lives, checking, have I rightly discerned the body and blood of the Lord? Am I at odds with people in the church? Is there unrepentant sin in my life that's ruling over me?
But also, one of the things that I think is incumbent upon elders to do is for those who have been removing themselves from the worship services and ignoring the ordinances, they don't come for the Lord's Supper, they don't care about baptism, they're indifferent. is to formally recognize that indifference that they've made.
They're still part of a people's family, and yet saying, you know, if you're going to be a part of the people, you've got to actually be a part of the people. And this is a really difficult thing to do, right? I don't think it should be done hastily or without any type of pastoral care and working with families on this, but the point is many, many, many churches' roles are filled to the brim with a whole bunch of people who never actually come to worship, who never partake of the Lord's Supper, who ignore the appointed times for the sacraments, because it's just not that important to them. But this is at the heart of who God is as our Redeemer, and us regularly partaking, so as often as we eat and drink, right, we remember the redemption and that He's going to come again. And to not care about that is a visible sign of where somebody's heart may be. So I think the elders need to chase down that person, try to talk with that person, but eventually if they're indifferent, being able to dismiss them as well and say, You've kind of removed yourself from the membership of the church, and so we're removing you officially from the rules also. It's a difficult thing to do, but I think it's a Christ-honoring thing to do. So, how does that apply to you? Man, drink deeply of that cup.
Eat with faith. take of the Lord's Supper, observe baptism, and rejoice that your Redeemer lives and that He loves you. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much that You are our covenant King. You are our Redeemer. You have given us our Passover Lamb, the Lamb who was slain before the beginning of the world, who takes away the sins of the world, and who reigns in heaven. Father, we pray that we would rejoice at the blessing we have in the redemption of our redemption in Jesus. Lord, please let us not forget what a beautiful picture and reality this is in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you rejoice today that your Redeemer lives and I hope that you love him more and more even this day. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.