History of Redemption: Blog Post 29

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! - John 1:29 NASB This week I challenge you to do a word search for the word “lamb” in the bible.  You will find that it appears 191 times in the ESV bible, all the way from Genesis to Revelation.  You will learn the importance of the lamb in God’s system of sacrifice for His people in the Old Testament, and you will see how Jesus was the Lamb who was sacrificed in one great, terrifying and glorious moment of atonement for God’s chosen people, His church.

I would ask you read Exodus 12 in which the Lord tells Moses and Aaron to take a lamb for each household, a “lamb without blemish”, and to put some of the blood from that lamb over their doorposts.  God tells them that “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are.  And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13).  This points us to Jesus, who was and is without blemish, and whose blood is now painted on doorposts of our homes, that God would pass over us in His judgement.

I would ask you read Leviticus 6 and the description of the lamb as an offering for sin.  “And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and HE SHALL BE FORGIVEN” (Leviticus 6:35). Also Leviticus 14, “And he shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary.  For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy” (Leviticus 14:13). This points us to Jesus, who was the great high priest who made final atonement, so WE MAY BE FORGIVEN.

I would ask you to go back to those words in Isaiah 53, describing the suffering servant, Jesus Christ.  “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).  This points us to Jesus, who was the lamb, led to slaughter on the mount of crucifixion.

I would ask you to read that glorious announcement of who Jesus Christ is, as John sees Jesus coming toward him and boldly declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).  And again, as Paul declares “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).  This IS Jesus, the Lamb of God, who has been sacrificed as our Passover Lamb, taking away the sins of the world.

I would ask you read Revelation 5, in which the elder John sees “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6), and who then sees “the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders” who “fell down before the Lamb” (Revelation 5:8).  This IS Jesus, who is worshipped day and night by the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, who alone is worthy to be worshipped, who alone is worthy of our complete devotion, our affections, our time, our talents, our money, our prayers.

Our God came to save us, not as a mighty warrior, or as a rich king, or as a brilliant philosopher, but as a lamb, innocent, submissive, humble, offering Himself as the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins, in fulfillment of the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation.  Who is the hero of every book of the bible?  It is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people an nation, and you have made them a kingdom of priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).