The Weekend Bible Study - with Ronald L. Dart

Before I get too involved in the study, there’s something I want us all to think about. The technical discussions about the Passover will never have an end. What’s important is that we do not let them distract from what is important. When we come to partake of the symbols of Jesus’ shed blood and broken body, it’s important that our hearts and minds are focused—not on some novelty or argument—but on Jesus Christ and what he has done for us.

With that said, grab a glass of milk and a cookie, open your Bible, and let’s take a look at what John has to say about the Passover.

5 After that he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
6 Then came he to Simon Peter: and Peter said unto him, Lord, do you wash my feet?
7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do you know not now; but you shall know hereafter.
8 Peter said unto him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash you not, you have no part with me.
9 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
10 Jesus said to him, He that is washed needs not except to wash his feet, but is clean completely: and you are clean, but not all.
11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, You are not all clean.
12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was seated again, he said unto them, Know you what I have done to you?
13 You call me Teacher and Lord: and you say rightly; for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

And he said unto them, Behold, when you are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he enters in. And you shall say unto the owner of the house, The Master says unto you, Where is the guest room, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour came, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. We are glad to be with you and thank you for allowing us to make this weekly service possible.

We continue with Ronald L. Dart’s timely series on one of the most sacred and widely-observed religious holidays—the Passover. Tonight, the Passover according the Luke.

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, You know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.

This is important as to intent and circumstances, because there is a theory that Jesus was indeed killed on the 15th, which was the Feast day. They wanted it out of the way before the Feast. But above all, this speaks to the decay of the religion of the Temple elite, that they would contemplate murder. Here is a question for discussion: They knew the commandment, Thou shalt not kill. How do you think they justified killing Jesus?

And the Lord spoke unto 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 also keep the Passover at his appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this month at evening ye shall keep it in his appointed season. According to all the rites of it and according to all the ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it. And Moses spoke unto the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study.

Tonight we continue our timely presentation by Ronald L. Dart on the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, and one of the most sacred and widely observed religious holidays, the Passover.

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study.

Join us tonight as we continue our special and timely presentation by Ronald L. Dart on the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, and one of the most sacred and widely observed religious holidays, the Passover.

In studying the Passover, I am reminded there is an illusion that people have a hard time shedding. It is that all questions of faith and practice are covered in detail in Scripture. It should be obvious that is not true. Why aren’t they? Because there isn’t enough paper in the world to print the law books that would require. And God is not a nit picker. He is the shepherd of our souls. Life is too complicated to run with a set of rules.

So what are we supposed to do? How can we know what is right? One approach is legalism. Everything is governed by the letter of the law. It doesn’t work and leads to all manner of misery. Another approach is authoritarianism. It keeps people together, but it destroys freedom, which is a fundamental biblical value. So how did God design things so we would know what to do?

God established, in Israel and in the church an authority structure to decide doubtful matters. It is the only way we can be held together on these things. What was the authority in the Old Testament?

If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between bloodsheds, between legal rights, and between assaults, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the Lord your God shall choose; And you shall come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment: And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they inform you: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will act presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in unto your houses to slay you. And you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study.

As Spring approaches, and the season of Christ’s last days before his death & resurrection draws near, we reprise Ronald L. Dart’s series of studies on the Passover—in both the Old Testament and New.

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in unto your houses to slay you. And you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was necessary for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.