After the Passover Celebration (Argument 3)

My family celebrated Passover as we always do, my father and younger brother reciting the prayers and eating the feast which my mother, female relatives and I always spend the whole day preparing. Thinking about the sacrifice of a perfect lamb and how all the Jews still kill an animal to atone for their sins, I remember again how free I am by the sacrifice of Christ’s blood. Our high priest and our sacrifice—both perfect and complete. We Christians are so free compared to our Jewish brothers… we are no longer bound to these rituals in order to be right with God, our sacrifice is complete! Because Christ as our sacrifice is far better than the animal sacrifice of our fathers, we are able to have a far better faith than our fathers, even better than our father Abraham.

Think about it: Abraham did not know how animals sacrifices substituted for his sins, yet we not only know why Christ had to die, but our sacrifice did not stay dead! Because we have such a better sacrifice, how can we return to an imperfect sacrifice once we receive Christ? I am concerned that you are still wavering as to whether or not you may hide your new identity in Christ as act as if nothing had changed in your life. You have been given the Holy Spirit and been given the mind of Christ and tasted the goodness of God, so how can you fall away and hope to be given grace while you are putting the name of Christ to shame and crucifying Him again? It is impossible to repent while you are sinning! To deny Christ now in order to avoid persecution would be presuming upon God’s mercy, just like the Kadesh Barnea generation of our fathers.

They continued to sin, thinking that God would always be merciful, and so did not realize when God withdrew His mercy, sending them into the wilderness to wander. That was a terrible judgment which all of that generation who were disobedient paid for with their lives. Even worse was when our kings and people denied God through idolatry, taking no heed to the word of the prophets who were sent to warn them of coming exile. And so our fathers were carried off in chains, some never to return, because they tested God. So decide now to obey God, while you are sure that you may enter His rest after this trial, because a more terrible consequence than our fathers suffered lies before us if we fail. In fact, the consequence is so terrible, that we should not even desire to know what it is… because only through experiencing the limit of God’s mercy can we know where the line of His mercy is to cross.

As long as we continue to obey God and claim the name of Christ, enduring persecution, we can be sure that God will be faithful to us, as He was faithful to our father Abraham. If we persevere, God will give us rest after the persecutions have ceased. We cannot be sure of mercy or judgment from God if we are disobedient, so let us not kindle the Lord’s righteous judgment against us. Remember the greatness of our High Priest and the magnificent sacrifice He performed so that you will not fall away: Our Jesus was not a priest as Aaron who had to offer sacrifices for himself before he could atone for the people, but He is a perfect priest, always able to intercede on our behalf. Remember the account of Mechizedek, the priest-king whom Abraham encountered? He was just and perfect in the entire record of his life. In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ lived and suffered as a man, but did so perfectly. Why would you want to turn back from the perfect to the imperfect?