(1 Corinthians) Christ Our Passover — Brian Brodersen

Christ Our Passover and the Deliverance from Egypt

Paul says, for indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. The Passover was, of course, a Jewish feast that celebrated an event in the history of the nation. It really was a celebration of the birth of the nation in many ways.

For it was when they were in bondage in Egypt that they celebrated the first Passover, which was really proclaiming their deliverance from that bondage. And so as you go back into the historical account there in Exodus, you find that the children of Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, going back to the time of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And then, of course, Moses was sent along with Aaron to deliver the people. And there was that confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. That was a quite lengthy confrontation. You remember the number of judgments that were brought upon the Egyptians and Pharaoh's resistance to God's command to let his people go.

And there came a final judgment upon the Egyptians. And it was going to be a judgment against all of the firstborn in the land. And the Lord declared that he would go through the land on that night and he would strike the firstborn in every house.

And so Moses was instructed by God and Moses instructed the people. He said, take for yourselves a lamb and slay that lamb and take the blood and put it over the doorpost of your home and gather as many people in your home as you can.

And he said, for on this night the Lord is going to pass through Egypt and he's going to slay the firstborn, but he will pass over the home where the blood is there over the doorpost. And so as many as believed Moses responded to his instruction, not only the Israelites, of course they did, but some of the Egyptians, it implies, they also believed the word of Moses and were delivered because of that.

So they slew that lamb, they put the blood over the doorpost of their homes and then that night, as God had promised, the angel of death came through Egypt and there was not a house in all of Egypt where there was not someone who was slain, except those homes where the blood was over the doorpost.

So the blood was the thing that delivered the people from the judgment and brought about what Moses declared would be the Passover. God will pass over you. And so this then led to the final liberation of the people.

It was this final judgment upon Pharaoh and his house that brought him to the point of releasing the people. And so as Israel was to go on and inherit the land eventually, they were to keep the Passover on an annual basis, on the 14th day of the first month of the year.

This was the beginning of a new life for them. And so every year they were to celebrate this Passover by remembering what the Lord had done for them and how the Lord had protected them through the covering of the blood and how he had spared them and delivered them.

So now the apostle here, he says Christ our Passover. So he takes Christ and connects him to the Passover, which is of course something that the Passover was indeed a prophecy of, but at the time the people didn't realize that.

I don't know that there was anybody in the nation at the time of the Passover who necessarily understood the full ramifications of what was going on. Not only was God delivering the people, not only was he setting up a memorial for them to observe throughout their history, but God was also prophesying of something that would take place in the future.

The Seven Feasts and Their Messianic Fulfillment

Among the Jewish people, there were a number of feasts that were given to them to celebrate annually, and they were known as the Feast of the Lord. There were seven of them. And each of these feasts had something to do with their deliverance from Egypt or their sustaining or being sustained by God in the wilderness in their journey.

Each of the feasts had something to do with that, but they also, each of them had a prophetic aspect to them, which wasn't really made entirely clear until the time that Jesus came. So there was a messianic element in each of these feasts that wasn't realized completely until the Lord came and brought that deeper insight.

So the Passover, being the first of those seven feasts, was not only to commemorate God's deliverance of the people from bondage in Egypt, but it was also a prophecy of what God would do in the future.

Jesus as the Lamb of God

When Jesus was just embarking upon his public ministry, John the Baptist, you remember, he was baptizing these multitudes of people that were coming to him, and he had baptized Jesus also. And you remember, there were these men who had begun to follow John.

They recognized that he was a prophet. They even thought maybe he was the Messiah. So they were following John, and they were anxious to find out just exactly what all of this meant. And they came to John one day, and they were there anticipating John's instruction.

And John said to them, as he no doubt looked away from them, and glancing maybe into the crowd and fixing his eyes upon an individual, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He was pointing them to Jesus. He was pointing them to the Messiah. He was saying to them, You followed me thus far. It's now time to follow this man. But he referred to him as the Lamb of God. Now, for those who aren't all that familiar with the scriptures, when you read about Jesus being the Lamb of God, sometimes the thought is, well, that is talking about the fact that Jesus was so gentle.

But it really had nothing to do with anything like that at all. When John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, he was identifying him with that sacrifice that was necessary for the forgiveness of sin.

That's why he said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So you see, Jesus was a fulfillment of what the Passover was really all about. And Jesus was prophesied through that Lamb, that Lamb that was slain on the Passover and the blood that was shed and the blood that brought protection to the people from the judgment of God.

This was all a prophecy of what the Messiah would come and do in the future. So when you follow through the Gospels, you have these references to Jesus as the Lamb. And then you find that Jesus, he comes after three years of ministry.

He comes to the end of his public ministry. He comes to the time of his death and his death is to occur on the very day of Passover. See, Jesus didn't die just any day. He died on that specific day in fulfillment of the prophecy.

When the day of unleavened bread had come, the Passover must be sacrificed. It was on that day that Jesus sent out his disciples to make ready for the Passover. It was on that day that they shared in that meal together.

And it was on that same day that Jesus was taken and tried. And before that day was through, Jesus had been crucified on that day. You see, it was all in fulfillment of the prophecy. So the Passover was a prophecy of Christ.

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

Now, as I mentioned, there were several feasts that the Jews were to hold. Passover was the beginning of the first of four feasts. Then there was a lengthy period of time that separated the first four feasts from the three final feasts in the year.

But it all began with the Passover. And then on the following day, the 14th of the month, the month of Nisan, was the Passover. On the following day began the feast of unleavened bread. And here in our passage in Corinthians, Paul, he brings up the subject of unleavened bread.

He mixes the two things together because the feasts were, in a sense, one. They were inseparable. The lamb being offered and then the unleavened bread. The unleavened bread, I think, actually had a dual interpretation.

The unleavened bread was also a reference to the sinlessness of Christ. You remember Jesus when he took that bread and he broke it on that night. Remember, that was a Passover meal. I think that's one of the things that sometimes we as Christians have forgotten.

Having moved away from the Jewish roots of Christianity, we've forgotten that these things that Jesus instituted at that time, they were connected to something else. They were connected to a long history.

It wasn't just that Jesus decided to have a supper with his disciples. And at the supper, he decided to have bread and a bit of wine. And then took those things and said, OK, we're going to start something new here.

No, he was connecting two things together through the ceremony. And so there they are at this ceremony. And Jesus takes this bread, the unleavened bread. And he takes this unleavened bread and he breaks it and he says, this is my body, which is broken for you.

So the unleavened bread that Paul is referring to here would also back in at the time of the feast have been prophetic of the body of Christ. But I think it would have also been prophetic of the body of Christ in a larger sense, speaking of the church.

And that's definitely the application that Paul gives it here in the seventh verse for speaking to the church. He says, therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened.

So in the Passover, you have the ministry of Christ and the feast of unleavened bread. You have the nature of Christ, but you also have a hint at the fruit of the ministry of Christ, which would be the church.

This new body of people that are to live free from the power of sin. In order that God might be glorified now following the feast of unleavened bread, you would have then the third feast, which would be the feast of the first fruits.

Firstfruits, Resurrection, and Pentecost

And that would fall on the day following the Sabbath. That would fall on Sunday. The first day of the week on that first day of the week, what would happen is the priest would take the first fruits of the harvest.

He would bind a sheaf of wheat together and he would present this before the Lord as the first fruits of the harvest. That would represent the harvest in its entirety. Now, it was on the feast of the first fruits that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

So you see, he died on the Passover. He was in the grave during the feast of unleavened bread or the beginning part of the feast. And it was on the feast of first fruits that he actually was raised again from the dead.

We celebrate what we call Easter, which is really quite an unfortunate way to refer to our celebration there because Easter was a pagan celebration. And the church, moving away from its historical roots in biblical Judaism, embraced different aspects of paganism as time went on.

And instead of maintaining that biblical festival calendar, they incorporated some of the pagan things. So Christ, his resurrection began to be celebrated under the the title of Easter, which was a celebration of a pagan goddess and really a celebration of the beginning of spring and, you know, connected with nature worship and those aspects of paganism.

But but actually the day is the feast of first fruits, Christ rising from the dead. Now, from that day they were to count. This was the beginning now of a period of time that would conclude 50 days later from the day of Passover.

And that was known as the Feast of Weeks or more commonly as Pentecost, because there was to be these these weeks that were to be celebrated. And at the end of these weeks, they would then have another harvest celebration.

At the end of these weeks and as we follow the New Testament account, Jesus died on the Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread began. He was resurrected on first fruits as the first fruits of those who rise from the dead.

Paul uses that in reference to Christ in first Corinthians 15. And then on the day of Pentecost, you remember what happened. Peter on that day stood up and proclaimed the gospel and 3000 souls were added to the church.

You see, the harvest was coming in at that point. And Pentecost or the or the Feast of Weeks was again a further celebration of the harvest. So those first four feasts out of the seven were fulfilled in the first coming of Christ.

The Three Feasts Awaiting Christ’s Second Coming

Now, there are three other feasts in the Jewish calendar and they are the three remaining feasts that have yet to be fulfilled. And it's interesting, just as in the Jewish year, these first four feasts were at the beginning of the year.

So the last three feasts were at the end of the year. And there was, of course. A time period in between. Jesus came and fulfilled the first four feasts at his first coming. There's been a great period of time that is elapsed.

The last three feasts will be fulfilled in connection with his second coming. And the last three feasts have much more to do primarily with Israel. The first four feasts having a broader application. The last three or at least the sixth one, especially having everything to do with Israel.

The three feasts that remain are, first of all, the Feast of Trumpets. Now, the Feast of Trumpets was a feast where the trumpets were sounded and the nation was gathered together. So there's coming a time when the trumpet will sound and Israel will be gathered together once again.

The Feast of Trumpets is followed by the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was that day on which the entire nation was atoned for, even to this very day. You know, Jewish people celebrate what they call Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement or the Day of Covering.

Israel’s Future Cleansing and the Day of Atonement

Now, when Jesus begins to do his work once again among Israel, there is going to be a Day of Atonement. Zechariah, the prophet, tells us about it when all of the nation is going to finally recognize the Messiah.

Zechariah tells us, or God speaking through the prophet, says, And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son. And there shall be great lamentation and weeping in Jerusalem.

And then it goes on to say, And on that day a fountain shall be opened in Jerusalem for cleansing. A fountain for cleansing from sin. And so on that day, the nation will be cleansed. The Day of Atonement, what it foreshadowed, the cleansing of Christ, will come to the nation of Israel.

The Feast of Tabernacles and the Millennial Kingdom

And then there will be, after that, there will be the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated not only by Israel, but the Feast of Tabernacles will be celebrated by everyone who will live through into the Kingdom Age.

And what the Feast of Tabernacles was really a prophecy of is the coming millennium. Not the millennium 2000 that's coming up here. I have to clarify that because talking about the millennium, somebody thought I was talking about the year 2000 and saying that Jesus was coming back in the year 2000.

I hope he is, but I wouldn't make any prediction that he is. The millennium, when we talk about the millennium, we're talking about a thousand year period of time that the Bible designates for Christ to reign upon the earth, sitting upon the throne of David.

Christ, of course, is going to reign eternally, but there's going to be after the thousand year reign of Christ, there's going to be a short interruption when Satan is released from his prison and so forth.

And after that short interruption, things will resume and then the eternal kingdom will be put in place. But there's going to be a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. That is going to be actually a time of feasting for a thousand years, a time of great rejoicing and celebration.

And that's what the Feast of Tabernacles foreshadows. You see, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the nation would gather together. They would live in tents to remind themselves of God's deliverance from Egypt and how he protected them in the wilderness when they were living in tents.

And they would gather together and they would spend this time together at this feast, just enjoying the presence of the Lord. And that, again, was a feast to commemorate something that God did in the past.

But it was also a feast that had a prophetic aspect to it. And so Zechariah tells us once again, the prophet Zechariah tells us that all the nations will come to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

So the millennium itself will be somewhat of a perpetual feast, but there will be in the course of the millennium, there will be all the nations coming up to Jerusalem on an annual basis to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Christ as the Fulfillment of Every Feast

So there's these wonderful festivals that God has in store for his people. You know, we talked about heaven and how so often as Christian people we have such a very limited view of heaven and to some degree a quite boring view.

You know, I've actually heard Christian people say that they weren't really sure that they wanted to go to heaven because they thought it might be a bit boring. Well, let me tell you, it's going to be anything but boring.

Couldn't even begin to use such terms. It's going to be the most glorious thing ever. But when heaven comes to earth during the reign of the Messiah, oh, what a glorious time it's going to be. It's going to be a time of just great festivity, a time of just consistent rejoicing and blessing.

So Paul, he puts Christ right at the center, of course, of the Passover, but also at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But as we follow through the scriptures, Christ is at the center of all of these feasts and he is ultimately the fulfillment of what they were just a shadow of.

The Church’s Jewish Heritage and Christian Practice

I think it's a bit unfortunate for us as Christians living in this age that those in the early centuries of the church didn't maintain that Jewish heritage. Instead, they repudiated that and embraced really more of a Gentile culture and heritage.

Really a tragic thing because there's so much richness that was there available to God's people the church coming in and entering into this rich heritage that was already there. The apostles, of course, they were all Jewish.

They never gave any indication that Gentiles should not participate or have any place in the things that were legitimately Jewish in the sense that they were scriptural. Here, Paul is speaking to a primarily Gentile church and he's talking to them about the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

He obviously taught them and showed them the significance of these things for themselves as Christians. And it would have been so much more healthy for the church in those early days if the church would have maintained a solid biblical heritage and been able to glean from these things and to bring the church up under the tutelage of these kinds of things.

Had they been brought up being able really to even celebrate to some degree the Passover or at least in the breaking of the bread and the cup to really be able to make the connection of what was going on, to understand what that bread signified, to understand what that cup signified.

It would have been so much better for the church had it happened that way. But unfortunately, it didn't. And too much history has gone by to really do much about that. But yet, of course, we can study the scriptures.

We can have a good foundation and a good basis. And we can enjoy some of that heritage to some degree as well. Because this was all a prophecy of our Lord Jesus who would come and give himself. And we can do those things as Christians.

The Feast of Pentecost. Some of the churches have continued to celebrate that as a time of feasting and so forth. That's great. Commend the church for holding on to that. I think it would be good even today to shake using the term Easter to refer to the day of our Lord's resurrection.

I prefer to refer to it as Resurrection Day. But you could even refer to it as the Feast of Firstfruits. But then, of course, nobody would know what you're talking about, would they? But maybe it would be an opportunity to explain to them.

It's nothing to be dogmatic about. It's nothing to get legalistic over. But yet, again, how much better it would have been for the church had the church maintained that beautiful heritage that it had received instead of embracing pagan things.

Christ’s Blood as Protection from Judgment

Looking once again at the verse, we've emphasized Passover, we've emphasized Christ. But now let's look at our Passover. For that's what the Apostle says. Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. You see, what the Lamb slain in Egypt and that Lamb's blood was to the Israelites.

So Jesus Christ crucified and his blood is to us. What was it primarily? Primarily it was protection from the wrath of God. It was safety from judgment. That's what the Passover Lamb was all about. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.

You will not experience the judgment of God when the blood is there. So Christ has been sacrificed for us. His blood has been shed and we have come under the covering of the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, the wrath of God has no impact on us.

We will not be touched by the wrath of God because we are under the covering of the blood. So when God judges sin, which he's going to do, when he judges this world that is in rebellion to him, we can be certain that we will not partake of that judgment.

Why? Because of this one thing and this one thing only. When I see the blood, I will pass over. You see, nothing else will protect me from the wrath of God. There's not another thing that's possible to protect.

Just as it was in Egypt, the only difference from person to person was the house they were in and whether or not the house had blood over the doorpost. That was the only difference. It didn't matter if it was a house full of Israelites.

If they refused to put the blood on the doorpost, then there was no protection. They would have suffered just like anyone else. And so it is today. It doesn't matter what a person's background might be.

It doesn't matter what their religion might be. It doesn't matter how they might view themselves as a better person than other people. None of those things are relevant when it comes to judgment. The only thing that will be considered is whether a person is covered in the blood of the Lamb.

That's the only consideration that will be made. And if that person is under the blood of the Lamb, then there's deliverance from judgment. But if that person has rejected the covering of the blood of the Lamb, in other words, rejected Christ as their Savior because that's what it all amounts to, then that person has no deliverance but yet will become an object of God's wrath.

Moral Reversal and the Coming Judgment

I believe the judgment of God is very near. Back in the time of the prophets, the prophets, of course, were prophesying about a immediate judgment that was near to fall upon Israel. But they also prophesied about the final judgment that would come upon all of the world.

But one of the things that was common at the time that judgment fell was a complete rejection of righteousness by people and replacement of righteousness with wickedness. And a phrase that went something like this, what is evil is good and what is good is evil.

And the prophets said, woe to those who exchange evil for good and good for evil. And that was a sign of the impending judgment, the attitude of the people exchanging evil for good and good for evil. Woe to them.

That was the pronouncement of the near judgment, woe to them. And that's exactly what's happened in our world today. What is good and right according to the biblical standard is today being seen as evil.

To seek to live righteously is to be seen as an evil today. To proclaim any kind of righteousness is to be seen as to be a troublemaker in society. Then on the other hand, the things that God states are evil, oh, if you embrace those things, then you're praised.

You're seen as someone who is to be admired, someone who is to be looked up to. And we've seen that today, an actual embracing of evil in the place of good and an entire rejection of good. That which is actually and truly good is now being regarded as evil.

So the Bible within the classroom, oh, this is an evil book. We can't have this book. We can't have this being pushed on the children. This is an evil thing. It's going to give them false views and ideas about right and wrong and things like that.

So the Bible has to go. But we can replace that with books on the occult. We can replace that with a curriculum that will teach five-year-old children about various aspects of sexual perversion. This is good.

This is all good and healthy and necessary. I find people saying things like that today, and it's not an isolated situation. It's happening all over the place. So because we're living in a time when men are referring to that which is truly good as evil and that which is truly evil as good, we can be certain that the judgment of God is coming.

And the only escape of judgment is through Christ. He's the only deliverance. Now, whether or not the wrath of God in the sense of this sort of judgment, whether or not this comes in our lifetime, we cannot say for sure.

It seems as though that it will. But there's also another aspect of judgment, and that, of course, is the judgment that everyone faces, whether or not they experience it in this life, the judgment that they must face once they leave this world.

Judgment After Death and the Need to Be in Christ

Because, as the Scripture says, it's appointed to man to die once, and after this, the judgment. You know, there are people that have lived very wickedly and yet have not really experienced the judgment during this lifetime.

And the Bible tells us that that would happen. Paul the Apostle said some men's sins, they precede them to judgment. Some men's sins are known and manifest and it's all dealt with here in this life, or not all, but, you know, it is dealt with to some degree here in this life.

He said, but the sins of others, they follow after. So there have been some people who have lived wickedly, have lived rebelliously, and have seemed to escape judgment. You think for a moment about Adolf Hitler.

I mean, think of the atrocities that he was responsible for. Think of the horrendous crimes that he had committed. And then really think about the way he died. He committed suicide. At least that's what most people believe.

Now, for a person who wants some sort of justice, that seems a bit frustrating. Wait a second. This man perpetrated this on these multitudes of people. He tortured them. He made them go through unthinkable types of torments and sufferings.

And then he simply got out of it by maybe putting a gun to his head and that was the end. Is that it? I mean, there's a problem here. There's an imbalance. But it would seem that for the amount of suffering that he brought upon the human race, he was repaid very little in return for that.

It seems like quite an injustice. He seemed to have lived quite pleasantly up until the end. But you see, of course, that was just the end of this life. And he might have escaped judgment on this level.

But he certainly did not escape the judgment that he was confronted with once he left this world. You see, there is another judgment. There is a judgment for every man once they leave this world. And again, when it comes to that judgment, there's only one issue that matters at that judgment.

And that's whether or not I am in Christ. How does God see me? Because on that day, if I'm in Christ and if I've been redeemed by his blood and cleansed by his blood, then just as those ancient Israelites in Egypt, again, the wrath of God passes me over.

There is no condemnation. There is no judgment for those who are in Christ Jesus. But if I'm outside of Christ, regardless, again, of what I might think of myself or what my friends might have thought of me or what the whole world might have thought of me, none of that is a factor.

The only factor is whether I'm in or outside of Christ. Just as for those Israelites, whether they were in or outside of a house with blood over the doorpost. So that's the final thing that every man needs to be concerned with.

I'm going to stand before God. And is Christ my Passover? Have I received the sacrifice that he made for my sins? And will I be exempt from judgment when the judgment comes? I might miss it entirely in this life.

I might live an entirely wicked life and never suffer the consequences of it here. But once I leave this world, there is another judgment that's certain, that no man will escape. Except those who have applied to themselves the blood of the Lamb.

Applying the Blood of the Lamb

And just as the Israelites had that same individual responsibility, so we also. You see, God gave them the instruction. He told them what to do. But they had to now apply what God had said to them. Jesus has come and he's made the sacrifice.

He's offered up himself. He shed the blood. The blood is available. But we individually must apply it. You see, the blood of the Lamb doesn't just automatically cover everyone. It covers only those who apply it.

And the blood of the Lamb is applied by receiving Christ. By asking him to be my Savior and to cleanse my sin. Because that's the whole basis for my sin being cleansed. My sin is cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.

Have you ever wondered why the Old Testament had all of these sacrifices? All of these multitudes of lambs that were slaughtered and various doves and pigeons and bulls and things. You know, all of this blood, all of this sacrifice going on.

Now, some people are appalled by this. They think it's just, you know, the explanation is that the Jewish religion was just a barbaric religion. But the reality is this. All of those sacrifices were meant to instill within the minds of these people that there was no forgiveness apart from the shedding of blood.

That was why this system was established and why daily there was blood being shed. And so every Jew was to grow up with, if nothing else, the realization that I cannot come to God except through blood.

I cannot be accepted by God except through blood. Now, of course, that whole system is abolished. That temple was destroyed 2000 years ago. Why was that temple destroyed 2000 years ago and why has it never been rebuilt?

It was destroyed because all of those sacrifices were pointing to one sacrifice. And the prophets themselves actually began to reveal that as time went on. And you come to Isaiah 53 and there you have the most clear presentation of the servant of the Lord who would offer his self as a sacrifice for sin.

The prophet made it clear that that's what the Messiah would do. So the Messiah comes and he sheds his blood. And what he does is once and for all so that there is no longer a need for this sacrificial system.

But every Jew should have recognized that they could not be right with God apart from the shedding of blood. They should have also recognized that this is what the Messiah would do. But they were blinded to that because of false teaching.

But they should have recognized once the temple was destroyed that they could not have a relationship with God apart from this blood sacrifice and the mediation of a priesthood. It should have at that point come to their realization that the Messiah must have come and we must have missed him.

Of course, he did come. And that's why there's no longer a need for these kinds of sacrifices. Jesus came and he himself was the fulfillment of what all of those things we're talking about. And he shed his blood once and for all.

And now that blood is still available to every single person who would simply ask him to forgive their sin. It's available to all people for the asking. And so for those who ask, the Lord cleanses them in his blood and that gives them that seal, that protection, that covering.

Final Appeal to Receive Christ

And so I know that I am not appointed to wrath. When God judges this world, he won't judge me. He won't judge you. He won't judge anyone that's under the blood of the Lamb. And when I leave this world and go before God, I'm not going to be judged by him there either because I'm in Christ and there's no judgment for those who are in Christ.

Instead, when I go stand before Christ, I'm simply going to be rewarded for what I've done in service to him here in this world. And so Paul's little statement there, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, as you can see, is so deep and so full of significance and meaning.

And I think the thing that we have to close with is just considering each of us ourselves whether or not Christ is our Passover. Is he our Passover? Have we personally made application of the blood of the Lamb?

Have we asked Jesus to forgive our sins and to come into our lives? If we've done that, then we can have that confidence that when the judgment of God comes, it will not touch me. If I haven't done that, then all I need to do is ask and I shall receive.

God is so good. His ways are so glorious and his salvation is so easily obtained. It's so easily, easily obtained because God doesn't want anyone to miss it. You see, it's all there for the asking. But that is the problem, isn't it?

Some people just don't want to ask. They refuse to believe that they need such a thing. Oh, the wrath of God is incoming, a judgment. Oh, we can't believe in that. But it certainly will come, either in this life or the next.