The Lamb of God
April 18, 2010
Over this past year there has arisen a question that I have only recently been made aware of and that question is this: What does it mean that Jesus is the Lamb of God? Hang onto you seats as we are going to take a carpet ride through the pages of the Bible to get a better picture of Jesus as the Lamb of God.
We begin in the gospel of John, the young disciple of Jesus, who tells of Jesus’ baptism by another John whom we know as John the Baptizer. It is here at the Jordan River that Jesus is first called the Lamb of God. While this concept is foreign to us in 21st century America, every person standing within earshot of John’s voice knew exactly what it meant--that Jesus was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice for sin.
The imagery of shepherds and sheep are plentiful in the Bible. “The Lord is my shepherd.” “We are the sheep of His pasture.” “The shepherds were watching their sheep by night.” The sacrifice of animals and especially lambs played a very important role in Jewish life. The entire Old Testament sets the stage for the coming of Jesus who would be the final sacrifice for the sins of His people.
I. All the way back in Genesis we read the account of Cain and Abel, children of Adam and Eve. Both offered sacrifices to God. Cain’s was rejected but Abel’s was accepted and out of jealousy Cain committed the first recorded murder. Cain offered grain whereas Abel offered a lamb, and it was the offering of a lamb that was accepted by God.
II. On our carpet we now fly a short distance to Abraham and Isaac. Isaac was God’s promise to Abraham and the fulfillment of the covenant that God made to Abraham. Now God tells Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice (Gen 22:7-8). It absolutely made no sense, yet Abraham was obedient. Just before the sacrifice was to be completed God stopped Abraham and said, “Do not lay your hand on him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son from me.” And God provided a lamb to be sacrificed in the place of Isaac.
III. On our magic carpet, we fly quickly through time to the days of Moses. Because of famine God’s people migrated to Egypt where there was plenty of food because God had taken Jacob’s son, Joseph to Egypt many year before to prepare the way for Egypt to provide for the Hebrews. There arose a Pharaoh, a ruler over Egypt, “who knew not Joseph” but rather feared the Hebrews and enslaved them. After some 400 years of slavery, God sent Moses to deliver the Hebrews, not by the might of armies, not by the purchase of gold, not by the wisdom of Moses, but by God’s grace and power.
You know the story (Exodus 12). “Let my people go.” “No.” Then God would send a plague upon the Egyptian nation. Each plague would fly into the face of one of the Egyptian gods showing Pharaoh and the Egyptian people that God, Yahweh, was stronger than Egyptian gods. This happened 9 times and Pharaoh said “No” every time. Finally in anger and exasperation, Pharaoh told Moses that if Moses appeared before Pharaoh again, Moses would die. God told Moses that the death angel would visit Egypt during the night and that the eldest son of every household would die. But the Hebrews were to kill a lamb dip a hyssop branch into the lamb’s blood and put it on the doorposts and the lintels of each house. Those houses where the lamb’s blood was applied would be saved from the death angel. Those inside would be covered by the blood of the lamb because the death angel would pass over those houses that were marked by the blood.
That is exactly what happened. The eldest son of every Egyptian died that night, but the Hebrews were saved from the hand of the death angel by the blood of the lamb. To remember and never forget that historic event the Hebrews established a holy day to commemorate and to retell the account of their salvation. They called it Passover.
IV.As our carpet ride fast-forwards a bit, we travel to Mt. Sinai
and discover that the Hebrew people and God entered into a mutual covenant, an agreement that they would be God’s people and He would be their God. In this covenant there were certain stipulations required by both the Hebrews and by God. God promised to do His thing and the Hebrews would do their thing. This covenant became known as God’s law summarized in the Ten Commandments. A big part of that law would be the manner by which they would atone for their sins, i.e. their breaking their part of this covenant and God’s law. When a Hebrew broke one of the laws, then this is what they were to do to make things right. The ‘this’ was to offer a sacrifice depending on how egregious the breaking of the law was.
In this law God established one day each year called the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, when a lamb would be slain for the sins of the whole nation. The High Priest and only the High Priest and only on the Day of Atonement would enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. He would dip a hyssop branch into the blood of that slain lamb and sprinkle it on the mercy seat of God to atone, to make up, to cover the sins of the people. The High Priest would then go out among the people outside the Tabernacle, sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the people and declare, “By the blood of the lamb your sins are forgiven.”
V. Let’s get back on our carpet and put it into hyper-drive through the Kingdoms of Saul and David, through the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, through the major prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the minor prophets of Jonah, Nahum, Habbakuk , Zephaniah and the others. We zip past Bethlehem, Jesus at the Temple, Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan, the Sermon on the Mount, the healing of Blind Bartimaeus, and over the triumphant processional into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
We hover now over the Upper Room. Jesus tells His disciples to prepare for the Feast of the Passover, commemorating their salvation back in Egypt because of the blood of the lamb. It is during this meal that he informs them that one of them would betray Him and turn Him over to the authorities. During the meal he raises the cup of wine and says, “ This is my blood given for you for the forgiveness of sin.”
While the System of sacrifice in the Old Testament is quite foreign to us in Christian America, the concept of payment and restitution is one we can understand. When we do wrong, break the law, there is a penalty for that wrong be it a fine, probation, community service, maybe jail time. We have done wrong and there is a price to pay to atone for that wrong. In the same way when we break God’s law there is a price to pay. Sin, the breaking of God’s law, carries a price. We have done wrong and we have to atone for that wrong. Paying the price is atoning for that wrong, that sin. Because of the breaking of God’s law we are guilty and our relationship with God is broken. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:3). But God because of His love for us and because of His grace, He sent His Son, Jesus, to be the lamb of God and to take our place that we could live.
That is what John the Baptizer meant when he declared Jesus to be “The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus was the last and great sacrifice, once and for all so that you and I by faith can be restored to fellowship and relationship with the living God revealed in Jesus, the Christ. Jesus took our place.
Maybe this will help us to understand better. Jesus paid our traffic ticket. Jesus took our probation. Jesus paid our fine. Jesus did the community service. Jesus went to jail for us. Jesus gave His life that we would live. Maximillian Kolbe was a Priest in prison camp Auschwitz during WW II. A prisoner had escaped. The commandant of the camp selected a prisoner to be executed to pay the penalty for that escaped prisoner. The condemned prisoner fell to his knees begging for his life as he had a wife and several children. Maximillian Kolbe stepped forward offering his life for this prisoner. Amazingly the commandant agreed. Kolbe was executed. This Polish priest gave his life so that the prisoner could live. That is what Jesus has done for you and for me and for anyone who walks the face of this earth. He gave His life. He became the Lamb of God. By His blood we are saved. By His blood our sin is covered and atoned for.
VI. But it doesn’t end there. There is more for we now fly into the future and into the book of Revelation. We see the Lamb seated on the throne of God (Revelation 5). John records, “Then I saw a lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne…”
Let me simply read it to you. Rev 5:7ff.
Jesus is the Lamb of God who died in your place.
What are you doing about it?