Chapter 8: Roll Away the Stone - Part 2

1. Compare this Old Testament prophecy in Exodus 12:1-7  with the actual death and resurrection of Jesus, the Lamb of God:

      The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month... of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family....  If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor...
       The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect.... Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs."

     How has discovering the connections  between events in the Old Testament and New Testament helped you to understand more fully what Jesus has done for  you?

2. People at the time of Jesus who believed that He was the Messiah recognized His role as the sacrificial Lamb of God. Early in His ministry, what did John the Baptist say about Him?

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
      "Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”  (John 1:29-34)

3. In Hebrews 9:11-15, what do we learn about the importance of Christ's sacrificial death and God's covenants with man?

When Christ came as high priest.... He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption....
        How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
       For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Heb 9:11-16)

4. After Jesus died, who came to claim the body and where did he put it?  (See Mark 15:43-46)

Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
       Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died.  When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock.

5. a. How often had the tomb been used? (See (John 19:38-42)

"Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
       Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. ...  At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid."

   b. Joseph of Arimathea's gift of a tomb for Jesus' body was a great sacrifice, even for a wealthy man. Would you be willing to do this? Why or why not?

6. According to John 20:1-8, what could people outside the tomb see?

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.  So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
        So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.  Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
       Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed." (John 20:1-8)

7. Long before Jesus shed His blood as a sacrifice for sin, God had established he Day of Atonement as a special day of sacrifice to cover His people's sins. Every year, the high priest approached the presence of God to make this sin sacrifice. The blood of Jesus, however, purchased eternal redemption for us -- a one-time payment for the sins of the whole world.

   a. How did Jesus' death and resurrection affect your access to the very presence of God?

   b. Does it lead you to take your sin more seriously or less seriously than if you still had to offer animal sacrifices for sin?

8. a. In Revelation 19:6-8, what do the "Lamb" and His "bride" symbolize?

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
     “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
     Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
     For the wedding of the Lamb has come,  and his bride has made herself ready.
     Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”  (Rev 19:6-8)

    b. In light of the symbolism of the cup, what are we, in effect, saying to God when we drink the cup during Communion?

9. The church, the bride of Christ, comprises every believer who has accepted the cup of salvation that Jesus offers. As we learn and realize how much Jesus sacrificed for his bride, we gain a more complete picture of the depth of His love for each of us.

     To what extent which we are called to give our lives to Him if we accept the cup of salvation?

     What does He promise us when we respond to His call?

     He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)