Session 3

According to us as humans- and here I do not mean as Christians- the Lord Jesus came, lived and died as the sacrifice of the Passover for all mankind regardless of their backgrounds or religions. For us He is the lamb of the Passover who came to redeem us as we read in the New Testament, and here I would like to ask you a question. Dr. Nagy, if the Lord Jesus, blessed is his name, is the Lamb of the Passover who came to redeem us, why did Jesus and the disciples celebrate the traditional Passover?

The Lord Jesus, blessed is his name, said that He did not come to eradicate the law but to fulfill the law. That was including the celebration of the feast of the Passover. He knew quite well that He was the real Passover, and that through His own sacrifice and His death on behalf of mankind He fulfilled the Passover meaning. But as a human, He had to celebrate the Passover, and He had to eat from the lamb. The Lord Jesus is God coming in the flesh and here we see the difference between the divine nature of God (or the essence of God) who revealed Himself in Christ and His human nature, His body which is like any other human body except that it was without sin. He is the only one who did not sin and had no guile in his speech. We already covered this issue in detail in the tape "Greater Than Man" It is a free tape that we send to anyone who requests it.

Can you please clarify the story of the Passover lamb, and how we can relate it to the fact that Lord Jesus Christ is God coming in the flesh? 
The story of the preparation for the feast of the Passover, that we have already discussed, says that the Lord Jesus sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go to a city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"' "Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us." So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He said to them; and they prepared the Passover. (Mark 14:13-16) Here we see that the Lord Jesus knew the future because He was already far from the city. How did Jesus, all Glory belongs to Him, knew that? How was He able to tell the exact timing in order for the disciples to go to the city and meet the man carrying the pitcher of water? This man was not just any man because the Lord told them that by following him, they will meet the host or the one who has the place to celebrate the Passover. God is one and has no partner or similar; the essence of God in Jesus, Blessed is His name, knew the future. But the fact that Jesus ate the Passover lamb, it shows that He needed as any other human being to eat and drink except that His body was without sin. God is the one who there is no god but He, the Living, The Self-support no slumber can seize Him nor sleep. As for the body of Jesus it needed all these things.
In Chapter 14 and verse 17 from the Gospel of Mark, the story of the cross begins. But, of course, as you already knows, that some people do not believe that Christ was crucified at all. What would you say to such people who do not believe in the cross of Jesus?

In the beginning, I would like to tell every one, who does not believe in the cross of Jesus for one reason or another, that if your own beliefs or your religion or your book said that the Lord Jesus was not crucified, I would like to encourage you to continue listening to this part from our studies according to the book of Mark about the cross of Jesus because it is very important for your life and eternity. I ask you to open your heart and mind to the Almighty until you are able to realize what is said for any fanatic attitude will hinder your understanding to this crucial part of the gospel. I would like to tell you here that, if God did write in His own book that the Lord Jesus came to earth and lived and died and crucified, and tens of thousands believed Him and paid their life defending this truth, then after 600 years someone came or another book came and denied those facts saying that this messenger did not die crucified. How would you reply? I think the best way would be to look for some evidence that lead to believe or reject the theory, and this is what we encourage you to do during this study.

After the disciples found the man who was carrying a pitcher went home and prepared for the feast of the Passover, the Bible says that the Lord Jesus told them," Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betrayed Me."(Mark 14:18) How did the Lord Jesus know that this was going to happen?
In this particular chapter from the book of Mark is full of evidences that the Lord Jesus, blessed is his name, knew what was going to come. He knew the future. In the beginning of the chapter, we see Him telling the multitudes that He was going to die, and that He was not going to be embalmed as common in the Jewish tradition. Then He told them that the gospel, or the good news, is going to be preached in all the nations, which in those days was not possible as we see it today. Today, we have TV, the Internet and the satellite. The fact that He told them ahead about the man carrying the pitcher of water, and that He was going to betrayed by one of his disciples and handed Him over to the Jews, indeed knowing the future; as no one knew except Judas and the Chief Priests and God himself. But the disciples knew nothing about this subject.
How do we know that none of the disciples knew already?
Because the story says that they started to grieve, and each one said "Is it I?" They kept wondering until the Lord Jesus said, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish." Then He added a very serious statement, "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."(Mark 14:21)
Why was it that serious, and why He said," The Son of man indeed goes just as it is written of Him." 

It is serious because it clarifies that the Son of Man i.e. the Lord Jesus, all Glory belongs to Him, was predestined to the Cross. He uses the term "Son of Man "because the essence of God that is in Christ cannot be delivered to the hands of men for the One who is sitting on his throne is untouchable. Here I would like to repeat that all this has been covered in great detail in the tape "Greater Than Man." As for what the Lord Jesus said, we can see that what led to the death of Christ was not the chief priests or their hatred for Him or the betrayal of Judas But it was already predestined from the beginning of the ages, and the Lord Jesus accepted it in order to redeem humanity and to save them from their sins.

Dr. Nagy, can you please clarify why, since it was already predestined, as you say, was Judas guilty?

It was necessary that Jesus would be handed over to the Jews, but Judas chose willingly to betray the Lord Jesus and to hand him over to the Jews. The fact that the Bible wrote about Jesus being betrayed, it was a prophecy that Judas fulfilled by his own free will. And Jesus, all Glory belongs to him, is ready to receive and restore every sinner who repents from all his heart going back to Him even if this person was the same one who betrayed Him.

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