The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Day 28, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, part 2

Psalm 51:7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

John 19:29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.

Hebrews 9:19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.

The first instruction regarding hyssop was on the initial day of Passover. God told the people, through Moses, to anoint the doorframe with the blood of the lamb using a branch of hyssop.

Hyssop also played a part in the crucifixion. When Jesus said, “I thirst,” they gave him vinegar to drink using the hyssop.

A bushy plant in the mint family, hyssop was used for a variety of medicinal techniques in Bible times. But most of the time when mentioned in the Old Testament, it was relied on for its sturdy structure and cleansing properties.

Hyssop dried and purified. It could act as an astringent or antiseptic. But often when used for religious ceremonies, it didn’t have time to use the abilities God gave it. Instead, just knowing what it could do symbolized what God would do.

The Passover Lamb needed the hyssop to impart cleansing and safety from death. The dead creature could not apply its own blood to those who needed it. And the efficacy of its blood only lasted until the next Passover.

The Lamb of God did not need hyssop, but he used it. Accepting the vinegar from the hyssop referred to the purification needed by all people—the one he offered. The hyssop referred to not only what he could do, but what he would do.

His blood would cleanse us all from all of our sins for all time. Humankind simply had to let him apply it the doorframe of our lives. And for whoever does that, he becomes both the door and the way.

As Simeon had said, his sacrifice was prepared in the presence of all peoples.

 

Or as Jesus himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

A Sixty-Day Countdown to Christmas


More Days

Introduction to The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Holding Jesus

Day 3, A Sketch of Simeon

Simeon Was a Godly Man

Day 5, Simeon's Testimony

Day 6, Prophecies for the Gentiles

Day 7, Blessing to Nations

Day 8, A Holy People

Day 9, Welcoming God's Firstborn

Day 10, The Name of Simeon

Day 11, Staying Alive

Day 12, Following the Spirit

Day 13, Taking Up Jesus

Day 14, God's Slave

Day 15, True Peace

Day 16, Seeing Reality

Day 17, The Intent of the Law

Day 18, For All Peoples

Day 19, Making Mary and Joseph Marvel

Day 20, A Blessing

Day 21, Hinting at the Rest of the Story

Day 22, Mary Will Grieve

Day 23, Making Simeon into Simeon

Day 24, Prophet to the Prophets

Day 25, A Priest Like Melchizedek

Day 26, Destined for Sacrifice

Day 27, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, part 1

Day 28, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, part 2

Day 29, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, Part 3

Day 30, Jesus as the Lamb (con.)

Day 31, Simeon as a Man of Gratitude

Day 32, Sacrificing Lambs in the Old Testament

Day 33, The Silent Lamb

Day 34, The Messiah as Light

Day 35, Jesus the Stumbling Block

Day 36, Jesus as the Rock

Day 37, The Precious Cornerstone

Day 38, The Stone in Zion

Day 39, The Cornerstone and the Gate

Day 40, The Stone of Judgment

Day 41, Into Zion First

Day 42, Restoring the Booth of David

Day 43, Forgotten Stones

Day 44, Blessed to Receive

Day 45, Crown Him with Many Crowns

Day 46, Identifying the Son of God

Day 47, The Best Storyteller Ever

Day 48, In Bethlehem, the City of David

Day 49, Born a King

Day 50, The Living Jesus

Day 51, The Mountain Tree (Part 1)

Day 52, The Mountain Tree (Part 2)

Day 53, The Root of Jesse

Day 54, David's Branch

Day 55, The Cursed Tree

Day 56, Time Fulfilled

Day 58 through 60

Day 57, Born David's King