Joe Amaral, producer of "Understanding Jesus" talks to us
about Good Friday, from the context of the life of Jesus and the land where
Jesus walked.
According to the scriptures, we know that Jesus was
crucified on the day of the Passover - the day the lambs were being sacrificed.
That is why Jesus is called the "Lamb of God". But what's beautiful is, as we
understand the day of the Passover, we start to see all the parallels in the
life of Jesus as the Passover lamb; how his blood was slain for us.
In the time of Mosses, when they sacrificed the lamb, they
have to take the blood of the lamb and apply it to the sides and top of every
home. You weren't saved because you were Jewish or because you were righteous. You had to take what the lamb did for you and
apply it to your own home. And when you do that, you are actually drawing the
Hebrew symbol for "Life".
As the Angel of Death comes, he will see the life in the
blood of the lamb and Passover the homes. That's the original Passover.
When Jesus was crucified, he died at the ninth hour. Joe did
some digging and realized the significance behind it all. He learnt that 3pm is
called the "twilight hour" in Judaism - where one day is ending and one day is
beginning. That's the perfect time to close off a holiday.
With Passover coming to an end, the assistant of the priest
would ascend the steps to the temple and blast the shofar at 3pm, signifying
the end of Passover and no more lambs can be brought in for sacrifice. To the
Jewish people, the shofar represents the voice of God.
So when the shofar was blown that day, it declares that it
is finished. At 3pm that particular afternoon, Jesus, the Son of God, was
crucified on the cross. From this point
on, it is finished. No other lambs need to be sacrificed anymore.
The blood has been shed.
It is FINISHED.
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