Rhythms of Graceنموونە

The Garden, The Passover, and Jesus

In Genesis, the setting is the Garden of Eden. In John, the setting is the Garden of Gethsemane. When it comes to gardens, Jesus seemed to spend a lot of time in them. Because of man’s sin in the Garden of Eden, Jesus was sent to die to pay the price for our sins. Fast forward to the Gospel of Luke, we see Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying for not His will to be done when it comes to the cross, but for the Father’s will to be done. Within these gardens were turning points for the entire world. Jesus is called the Second Adam in 1 Corinthians, and He has come to undo what the first Adam did wrong. He came to obey. He came to say not His will, but the Father’s will. Unlike the first Adam who fell into temptation and sinned, like we all do, Jesus came to offer new life and freedom from sin. This is good news.

In Exodus, the Israelites are held captive as slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, even after God sent 9 plagues to the whole land that affected the welfare of everyone. The tenth plague that God sent was the death of the firstborn male of every family. However, God sent His people specific instructions on how to be protected from this plague. The instructions were to find a pure animal to sacrifice, take the blood from the animal, and cover the doors of their homes with that blood. God promised that they would be protected from death if they did this. Like the Passover lamb, Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice that God provided so that we may be protected from death and given eternal life by being covered in the blood of the Lamb.

What took place in Genesis and Exodus were only foreshadows of what was to come; The final victory over sin by Jesus. We worship and serve the Savior of the world. These are only two events that took place in the Old Testament where we see the connection to Jesus. As we continue through this week, we will look at more ways that Jesus is interwoven throughout the entire Bible.