Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings friends and new listeners, and welcome to the Sound of Faith. I'm Sharon Knotts, thanking you for tuning in today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Today's message, "The Crucifixion Conspiracy," examines the plot to kill Jesus with the behind-the-scenes intrigue we generally don't focus on. Prepare to be engaged in the theater of your mind in "The Crucifixion Conspiracy."

R. G. Hardy: You may be seated this morning. If you want to follow with me in your Bible, then you need to exercise your index fingers. And like I used to tell the little kids when I first started teaching Sunday school—I taught the little ones: two, three, four-year-olds. And it's really glorified babysitting. Crayons and songs and you can teach them, but I used to always tell them, "Put on your thinking caps," whenever I was going to tell them something special that I wanted them to remember.

And you know, it really worked because they really did think something special was about to be said, and they would put on their caps. Well, I'm going to tell you adults today: Put on your thinking caps because we're going to go through a lot of material. And I do think, though, that it's going to be such a blessing to you. As I went through the material, it really blessed me. Amen. And so I'm excited to share it with you today.

And since today is Palm Sunday, amen, that's where we're going to begin: at the original time of what we call today Palm Sunday. So Exodus, the 12th chapter and beginning with verse 1. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This month, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye to the congregation of Israel, saying, "In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house.

And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb."'" It was important that if they didn't have enough people in one house to eat a whole lamb in one night, then they had to go get their neighbors who also didn't have enough people in their house, because God said none of it could be left over. It had to be eaten by morning. So that's why He gave them these instructions.

"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the goats or out from the sheep: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month." So they've got to take the lamb four days early and keep it for four days. "And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Everybody at the same time, four days later, would all kill their lambs at the same time. Amen. "And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses where they shall eat it."

Okay, let's drop down to verse 11. "And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover." Now we know that they're getting ready to exit Egypt. We know that finally their deliverance has come after 400 years and 10 awful plagues. They're finally going to get to leave. And God said, "Before you leave, I am starting something new." I just love this. God started a brand new calendar!

Did you read it? "This is going to be the first month for you." In other words, this is such a fantastic, fabulous, awesome deliverance that God says it is so magnificent, you're going to start a brand new calendar from this point. I'm giving you a new calendar because your past is over. Egypt is over. It's past history. And I'm going to make such an impression on you of what I am doing that I want—let's start a brand new calendar.

Because how many know that today when we think of the Jewish New Year, what do we think of? We think the fall, right? Rosh Hashanah. Don't they always celebrate it September, October? Rosh Hashanah. That's their civil calendar. But this is their religious calendar. This is the one that God gave to them when they came out of Egypt. He said, "I'm giving you a new calendar," and right now it was springtime. If you read on in Exodus, you'll find out that it says it was springtime.

And the month is the month of Nisan. N-I-S-A-N. Nisan. And so it was only thousands of years later when they went into captivity to Babylon that they adopted the Gregorian calendar, and then they forgot this one. But this was the one that God gave to them. He said, "It's a new beginning." And the rabbis teach that the reason why He brought them out at this particular time is because it was spring. It was neither too cold or too hot for them to be traveling on their journey in the wilderness. Amen.

And so He said, "Now here's what I want you to do: On the 10th day of this month, on Nisan 10, I want you every household to get a lamb." And you know, if you look at it, you see where he says—he starts off and he says, "Everyone get a lamb," and then he says, "The lamb should be without blemish," and then he said, "Your lamb." So he went from "a," which is an indefinite article, to "the," which is a definite article, to "your," which is personally possessive. Amen. You have got to receive the lamb for yourself.

So he says on the 10th day of the month, everyone go and pick out a lamb. And the lamb had to be without blemish. It had to be a perfect lamb. It had to be in the prime of life. First of all, it had to be a male, one year old, because that would have been the prime life for that lamb. And without blemish. We won't go there, but we read later in the chapter it says that none of its bones could be broken.

And that is significant because if you know the story of the crucifixion, you know that when Jesus was on the cross and the soldiers came to make sure that He was dead—because they had to take the body down before 6:00 because the Jewish day started at 6:00; it was going to be a holy day, and they could not be dealing with a dead body after 6:00. And so what they would do is if the people that were being crucified were still alive, they would come and the soldier would hit his kneecaps with a hammer and break both kneecaps.

And what that would do is, you know, their feet were on a little lift because they had to stand on something. And in order for them to breathe, they would gasp. And every time they gasp for breath, their feet would push up on the little lift. But if they broke their kneecaps, they couldn't anymore and they would die quicker. But when the soldiers came to Jesus—remember, He had a thief on either side of Him—and he broke their knees, but when he came to Jesus, the soldier marveled that He was already dead.

So he didn't break His kneecaps, because the scripture said His bones cannot be broken. And instead, what he did just to make sure was he took the sword and pierced Him in His side, and the water and the blood ran out. Amen. So all these little details are so amazing. Okay, Nisan 10. Everybody get your lamb. Choose it. Get the right one. Take it with you to the house. Don't leave it outside in the herd with the rest of them. Bring it in the house for four days.

Now you know, if you have a little lamb in your house for four days, you're going to get attached to that little lamb. How many know they're kind of cute? They're kind of lovable. Amen. And it's just like you get a new puppy and you bring him in your house for four days, amen, you can get attached to them. And so that's exactly what happened during those four days. The family would get attached to that little lamb, and they would love that little lamb. But guess what? They had to sacrifice that little lamb after four days. Amen.

Now here's the thing about it. On Nisan 10, I want you to picture in your mind all of the different families, the head of the family going out into their herds and choosing their lamb and bringing that lamb into the house. And with that in mind, turn with me to Matthew, the 21st chapter, because we're going to see that is exactly what we call Palm Sunday is Nisan 10 in the time of Jesus. So what would have been happening in Jerusalem if it was Nisan 10? What would have been happening in Jerusalem?

All over the city, in fact, all over Israel, the family member who was responsible for it would have been going and picking out a lamb and bringing it into the house. And this is what happened on Nisan 10, Matthew 21. "And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying, 'Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass: ye shall find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.

Okay, we've got a mama donkey and we've got her son, the colt. You see that? Loose them and bring them to me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, "The Lord hath need of them," and straightway he will send them.' And this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 'Tell ye the daughter of Zion, "Behold, thy king comes unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."' And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon." So let's stop and see what's happening here.

It's Nisan 10, what we call Palm Sunday, which we'll see in a second. And so Jesus tells two of His disciples, "I want you to go to this town opposite us, and you're going to see a donkey, a female donkey tied up, and next to her will be her colt. I want you to just go untie them and bring them here. And if somebody stops you and says, 'What are you doing?' you say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and they'll let you have them." I want you to imagine that you're sitting in your living room in your home and you hear somebody starting up your car in your driveway.

And you get up and look out the door and you see somebody is in your car, getting ready to back out of the driveway, and you run out there and say, "What are you doing?" And they say, "The Lord has need of your car." I wonder what we would say to that. Well, we won't even answer that. But these people said, "Okay, take them," because you see, when God is doing something, He always moves on all ends. And the scripture doesn't tell us anything about who the owners were and what their response was, but apparently it was okay because they didn't stop them.

They said, "Go ahead and take them," amen. And it says it was fulfilling the prophet. And what prophet is that? That would be Zechariah. And it says in Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king comes unto thee. He is just and having salvation; he's lowly and riding upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass." Now Jesus didn't ride on both of them. He didn't like hop on this one and then hop on that one, so don't be confused.

Luke tells us, and I believe also Mark tells us in their gospels, that the colt was unbroken; it had never been ridden on. And if you know anything at all, you know that the first time that somebody tries to ride a horse or a donkey that's never been ridden on, how many know they can give you a hard time? They can try to throw you off. So they brought the mother, because bringing the mother with the colt would have calmed the colt down.

And letting the mother be tied together and leading them along, the colt would have been okay, and the colt would have allowed them to put the clothes on him and for Jesus to ride on him. So it's no big deal when you read that one gospel says it was a colt and the other one says it was an ass and a colt, and you're trying to think, "Well, how did He do that?" It's very simple when you really look at the facts. Amen.

And so that's what happened. Now Jesus is sitting on the colt, and let's read on. "And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before and that followed—before Him and following Him—cried, saying, 'Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, 'Who is this?' And the multitude said, 'This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.'"

This is Nisan 10, folks. All over the city of Jerusalem, people are going out and picking out their lambs and bringing them into their house because in just four days it's going to be Passover and they're going to sacrifice them. Amen. And imagine, imagine that at the very time that people are picking out their lambs and bringing them into their houses, God has picked out His lamb! His lamb! And He is seated on the colt, and they are leading Him to the house of God, because that's where Jesus went.

When He got into the city gates, He went into the temple. And at the exact moment when lambs all over the place were "baa, baa," as they're being led into the homes all over the place, but the people, the multitudes that would have been there for Passover—not just the locals, not just the Jerusalemites, but all the people that came because Passover was one of those three feasts where, if at all possible, the Israeli men at the very least were supposed to go to Jerusalem to celebrate it.

And they were there, and they began to say "Hosanna." What does that mean? "Save us now." They cried out, "Jesus the Passover lamb is sitting on the donkey," and they're taking the palm branches and they're putting them down on the ground and they're waving them. And this is such a festive thing, amen. Such a celebration! And they begin to cry out, "Hosanna, son of David." And Mark says they said, "Blessed be the kingdom of our father David."

What were they saying? They were attributing to Jesus a messianic title. "The Son of David" is a messianic title, and they were in this festive celebration. They were crying out, "You are Messiah! You're the Son of David! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord! Baruch haba b'shem Adonai" is what they were saying. And they were attributing that Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the Messiah. And so here on Nisan 10 that we call Palm Sunday.

Now in our calendar, we always do it on a Sunday. We always make Easter a Sunday, and we always make Palm Sunday a Sunday, amen, but you know on their calendar it doesn't always fall the same way ours does. In fact, Passover begins tomorrow for the Jewish people. Amen. But here's the point. The point is that what we are doing today, when we say, as the choir did earlier, "Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest," amen, is what they did on the day that they chose their lamb.

Now the priest was responsible for certifying the lamb to make sure that the lamb was acceptable for sacrifice, because as we read, the lamb had to be without blemish. They couldn't take the runt of the flock. They couldn't take the one that was blind. They couldn't take the one that was crippled and thought, "You know, this lamb is not doing me much good. I think I'll make that the one I'll sacrifice; I won't be out very much." No, that's not the way it worked.

They had to take the best. They had to take that male that was a year old. They had to take that one that was without blemish, that was perfect. Amen. And the priest is the one that had to certify the lamb. Now if Jesus is our Lamb, and Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7, "Christ our Passover, our Passover Lamb, is sacrificed for us." So that means that if Jesus was the Lamb, and we all agree that He was, amen, but He had to be certified by the priest.

It had to be a priest of the sons of Aaron. It had to be someone that could follow the priestly protocol to certify the lamb. Well, there was in the time of Jesus a priest whose name was Zacharias, and he served in the temple. And he was married to Elizabeth, and she also was of the lineage of Aaron. So we have Zacharias of the lineage of Aaron, and we have his wife Elizabeth, also of the house of Aaron. And they were old and they were childless.

But we know that he received a visitation from the angel Gabriel and said, "You and your wife are going to have a child, a son, and he's going to be a prophet, a great prophet, because he is going to prepare the way of the Lord, of the Messiah." Amen. And so in their old age was born to them a son, John. Says John the Baptist. But he wasn't a Baptist; he was actually a Pentecostal because he was filled with the Holy Ghost in his mother's womb.

What it really means is he was the baptizer. Okay, so that's what I want you to understand. John the Baptizer. John the Pentecostal Baptizer. He was the full-blooded priest on his daddy's side, on his mama's side. He was the full-blooded priest, amen. And he was preparing the way of the Lord. Turn with me to John, the 1st chapter. We'll read a few verses there. John 1:6, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. Now he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light, that was the true light which lighteth every man that comes into the world." Dropping down to verse 15, "John bare witness of him and cried, saying, 'This was he of whom I spake: he that comes after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.'" So we see here legal terms in reference to John.

John came to bear witness of the Christ. Right? Amen. He came to give legal witness. He came to certify. He came to certify someone. And if we go all over down to verse 29, we see that one day when John the Pentecostal Baptizer was baptizing people in the Jordan River, he saw someone coming toward him. And when he saw Him, he said, "Behold, there! Right there! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

He certified Jesus the Lamb according to the priestly protocol. He certified Him and he said, "He's the one! Behold the Lamb! The Lamb that God has selected." Now this was before Jesus even got started on His ministry. This was before He was baptized of John and then went out officially and performed His ministry. And how long was He in ministry? Three and a half years as far as we can ascertain according to the scriptures. Amen.

So that would mean that in the fourth year of His ministry, the Lamb that was certified by John was then offered up as the sacrifice. Amen. So He was certified according to the scripture. Behold the Lamb. John identified Jesus Christ. And remember, He had to be perfect, without blemish. And scripture says in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53:9, "He had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth."

And Peter confirmed in 1 Peter 2:22, "who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." And then when Jesus was baptized of John, we know the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove and landed on His shoulder. And then God Himself spake out of heaven and said, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." Amen. And John said in John 1:34, "And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God." So John, who was a priest according to the lineage of Aaron, certified the Lamb.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Amen. I hope you're blessed by this intriguing examination of each of the players who had a major role in the plot to kill Jesus. Every detail of Old Testament protocol was fulfilled in the sacrifice of God's final Passover Lamb with astonishing accuracy and New Testament revelation. Every player, from John the Baptist who first declared Jesus the Lamb of God, and then later Judas the betrayer, to the corrupt high priest who certified Him to be put to death for the nation, to Pilate and Herod, and the soldiers—each one stepped onto the stage of the Son of God's final hours and cast their votes to crucify the Christ.

All played their crucial roles that changed the course of human history. But ultimately, Jesus laid down His life. He laid it down so He could take it up again. "The Crucifixion Conspiracy" can be ordered on CD for a love gift of $10 or more to help pay for the cost of airtime on this station. Request SK193. Mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203, or go online to soundoffaith.org, where you will find a plethora of resources on many biblical topics.

But to order by mail, send a minimum love gift of $10 and request SK193 to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Now, if you're not ordering the CD, we still need to hear from you if you enjoy the program. We need financial help to keep this program on this station, so please prayerfully consider a love gift for the radio ministry today. Until next time, this is Sharon Knotts saying, "Maranatha!"