How would you present Christ’s life if you had lived with Him as a young man? Now how would your telling of the story change if you much older and had grown in grace and knowledge of that same Lord and Savior?
Let’s turn to it and see….in the book of John
John apparently lived the longest – Tasked with taking care of Jesus’ mother; and writing the book of Revelation
More than likely read the other gospel accounts
He was the last to write his
So now we have his point of view and what he was inspired to write and bring to our attention.
John’s account focuses in on many things the others did not and brings into focus the timing of certain events that the other writers may have missed or they decided to concentrate on other aspects of Jesus Christ’s life.
John makes the effort to tie in feasts of God with events that Jesus was performing…and rightfully so.
The feasts of God lay out the plan of salvation for mankind and this is expressly what Christ came to earth to do…begin this plan of salvation by becoming our Passover.
We all know and are very familiar with the last Passover (which we will go over on the Passover in just under a week.)
John dedicates chapters 11 through 19 to Christ’s last Passover where He became that Passover sacrifice.
Keep in mind that there are 21 chapters in John and the last 2 chapters are about the resurrection, which of course is closely tied to the Passover.
A ;arge portion of the book was dedicated to just this one Passover
But Jesus had a 3 ½ year ministry that He would complete in accordance with the 70 weeks prophecy which would encapsulate 4 passovers
Today, let’s go over the first three passovers of Christ’s public ministry…all in the gospel of John
Introduction
John 1:1 earliest chronologically speaking
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
Shows us that Christ was God, (called the Word here)
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
:14 He became flesh so that He could die and become the Passover sacrifice
From the beginning John is laying the foundation for what Jesus Christ did.
He is God and therefore His value is greater than the sum of all mankind
But He came to give it up just as the Passover lamb was sacrificed each year.
John 1:29 The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
1st Passover – John 2 (Wine)
John chooses to skip many of the things that are covered in the other gospels because he has a mission that he has to focus on
Now chapter 2 we come to Jesus Christ’s first miracle. Not just an accident that this happened here and in this way
Let’s look at
John 2:13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
This is the context of this chapter…let’s keep this in mind as we read the chapter:
John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
John 2:2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
John 2:3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
John 2:4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
John 2:6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.
Significance of the water pots:
Mark 7:2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.
Mark 7:3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
Mark 7:4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
Jews were very concerned with washings and rituals – which had meaning, but they became Pharisaical about them.
This was also a season for a special purification process that led up to the Passover season
John 11:55 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
John 2:7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
John 2:8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.“ And they took it.
John 2:9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
John 2:10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”
Purification
This was a time of the year for purifying
1 Corinthians 11:27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1 Corinthians 11:29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Purified Washed with the blood of Jesus Christ
Interesting: six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews
He changed that to wine
That is because this only comes by the blood of Christ
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
One more thing
More than enough wine to go around
Maybe 150 gallons
Enough For All Mankind
John 2:11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
John 2:12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.
John 2:13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
His Custom
Luke 2:41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
Luke 2:42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.
John 2:14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.
John 2:15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.
John 2:16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”
John 2:17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE HAS EATEN ME UP.”
Psalms 69:9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
John 2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
John 2:19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
John 2:20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
John 2:21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
John 2:22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
John 2:23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
John 2:25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
We are the temple now
The temple is where God resides. Jesus Christ obviously understood this and this is why He drove out sin. These sinners and their sinful ways desecrated the temple of God…so they had to be removed.
Because we too now have God abiding in us through His power we need to view ourselves as the temple of God
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If then we are the temple of God then we need to drive sin out of our lives, especially if we want and expect God to dwell with us
2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”
2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.”
Purge
1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Psalm 51
[time before the Passover was a time of purification; Jesus Christ was doing that here; and He is doing the same with us and we are to have our part in helping out]
Psalms 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Psalms 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
Exodus 12:22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
This was to cleanse them from their sin by the “blood of the lamb” and set the apart from the sinful nation of Egypt and allow them to walk with God
Cleansing is a theme of Psalm 51
Chapters 3 and 4 are transitions between 2 and 5.
2nd Passover – John 5 (Washing)
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
John 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
John 5:5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?“
Made whole KJV and NKJV in other places, healthy complete
John 5:7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
John 5:8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
John 5:9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
WE are washed at baptism and made completely clean at that point. But as we walk through the world our feet become soiled.
John 13:10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean;,,”
“He who is bathed is completely clean but needs only to wash his feet
Now at the time of Passover, just our feet need to be washed, to make us completely clean again…to make us whole…to make us well…to be without sin so that we can continue our relationship with God.
We need to be truly right before God and we remember what Jesus Christ did for us and the necessity for us to do our part
3rd Passover – John 6:4 (Bread of Life)
John 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
John 6:2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.
[who wouldn’t; they were looking for the messiah and savior]
John 6:3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.
John 6:4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
Now understand that John put this in to draw attention to it and to what he is about to talk about. He is making a correlation.
John 6:5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
John 6:6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.
Once again we see purposeful action on the part of Jesus Christ – this was to convey a lesson – not only for Philip but for us today as well.
John 6:7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
John 6:8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,
John 6:9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
John 6:10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.“ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
John 6:11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
John 6:12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.“
[strange thing to say; should tip us off that something is up; He could have left the food with all the people, but He did not; why say so nothing is lost]
John 6:13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.
John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
John 6:15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
John 6:16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,
John 6:17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
So they went different ways
Then Christ a little later walked on water to go to them on the boat. The other Gospels focus more on that miracle, but we pick up the story in :25 and notice John’s focus:
John 6:25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
Now the spiritual side of the event is brought to the fore
John 6:27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
John 6:28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
John 6:30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?
John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD FROM HEAVEN TO EAT.'”
They focus on this one miracle of many. This shows their true colors.
John 6:32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
[speaking of Himself]
John 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
John 6:34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
John 6:36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
We really do not need to go any where else to explain this, because John continues with Christ’s own explanation
John 6:41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”
John 6:47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
John 6:48 I am the bread of life.
John 6:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
John 6:50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
Christ ties into Passover even though they did not realize this:
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
John 6:52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
[because they did not know that He was referring to the Passover symbols]
John 6:53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
John 6:54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
[Passover necessity]
John 6:55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
John 6:56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
[temple]
John 6:57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
John 6:58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.“
John 6:63 It is the Spirit [which] gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
[These same words in the Bible are just that!]
John 6:68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Matthew 4:3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ “
Conclusion
The largest portion of this book is dedicated to this subject
John 20:31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.