Jesus - The Ultimate Sacrifice Chapter 1 (Mt 26:1)
Mathew 26:1
1And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples,,
There are three 'finished' in the bible that are of great importance. Once here in Mt 26:1 the others are in Gen 2:2 and Jn 19:30.
Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
In Gen 2:2 God finishes creating everything in Spirit and then rests. And in Jn 19:30 Jesus before dieing, it is written that He said 'it is finished' before giving up His Spirit.
In the Gospel of Mathew when we read 'when Jesus had finished all these sayings,' you will find that the chapters before Jesus gives many instructions, teachings, parables with explanations to the people and to the disciples. It is after all this teachings that it is written 'when Jesus had finished all these sayings,'
The Word that God wanted to give to mankind to heal mankind for eternity was completely given at this point.
Now lets look at the life of Jesus, he start his ministry at the age of 30. I asked why 30 why not 22 or 25? And I found the answer in book of Exodus.
When God send the plaques on the Egyptians, they were actually against the Egyptian gods. In the last plaque the Israelites were not spared all thou their first born were not killed in Egypt, for they too worshiped the Egyptian gods. When they came out of Egypt, God took away the Levis as a ransom instead of killing the first born of the Israelites.
Numbers 3:11-13
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12 And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;
13 Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD.
In the Old Testament the Levis’ were a ransom for the first born of the Israelites, in the New Testament Jesus was the Levi.
1 Timothy 2:6
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.
Hebrews 9:15
15 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.
As God had commanded the Levis’ to serve at the Tent of Meeting after the age of thirty so did Jesus start His ministry after the age of thirty.
Like not every one is first born, in the same way all are not the children of God because they have not made God as the Lord and master of there lives. They have some other gods as their kings, who rule over them. God refers to them as 'children of nothingness'. Only if they change their hearts and change their lives and be born again will Jesus be a ransom for them.
In the New Testament Jesus was the Levi; He was the ransom for the people who are born again.
Now we also learn that Jesus’ ministry on earth was only for three years. He could have preached for a longer time and reached more and more cities, His fame was growing day by day. If you look, after death Jesus went in Spirit to the lower regions of the earth (Abbacy) to save all the souls till the days of Noah.
Ephesians 5
9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
1 Peter 3:18-20
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, …
Why only all the souls up to the days of Noah were to be saved why not up to the days of Adam?
You will learn that the first covenant between God and man was made between God and Noah. A covenant is like a contract, if God is a party to the contract He stands true to every word of the contract, even if we fail.
Genesis 9: 8-17
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."
It took the Lord just three days to save the souls till the time of Noah, but on earth He had to teach for three years and wait for a long time to save the rest of us. This shows how weak we are when we are in the flesh / natural.
When God created all creations – it is written ‘finished’
When God gave His Word to heal man – it is written ‘finished’
When God saved man and made all provisions for him – it is written ‘finished’
Preface 