Monday, February 24, 2014

Why was Jesus called the “Lamb of God”?



 

Those who first heard these words would have looked upon Jesus with utter amazement as the lamb was at the center of one of the most significant events in Israel’s’ history, their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. God commanded each family to take a lamb, keep it for three days and then kill it at midnight. Blood from the lamb was then put on the door posts and lentil of the house. That night, an angel was sent to kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt but he passed over every house with blood on the door posts and lentil. Israel’s deliverance immediately followed and this deliverance has been commemorated every year since at the Passover feast.

 
Christ fulfilled the Passover when He died on the cross as God’s Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). He was crucified on the very day Israel commemorated the feast (Mark 14:12). As Isaiah wrote, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

The gory nature of what was commanded is naturally offensive but it points to the true cost of sin in the eyes of God. The blood of the lamb was required in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. The blood of Christ was required to ensure man’s deliverance from sin. The question is ... how is this applied to you?

God would have you “Behold the Lamb of God.” You can have deliverance from sin in Him. 

Friday, February 21, 2014

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Gospel of John 1:29)




You have probably heard these words many times but do you really understand what they mean? For instance, why is Jesus called a “Lamb” or “the Lamb of God”? Why does the Bible speak of hell if the sin of the world is “taken away”?  What is the “sin of the world”? Why “sin” rather than “sins”? These questions will be addressed over the next few weeks but we must first begin by laying a foundation.

From the very beginning, God demanded that man approach Him by means of an animal sacrifice. This is not an invention of man but the demand of a Holy God who cannot overlook sin and remain perfectly just and holy. It would be important to pause here and contemplate this one statement.

All that God commands is rooted in who He is. This is the primary message of the Bible (not salvation, heaven or hell!). You will never grasp the significance of why He does what He does without a clear knowledge of who He really is. The Bible is God’s self-revelation. It is the only true foundation. That Jesus is the “Lamb of God” is one thing. Why “Jesus is the “Lamb of God” is far more significant.

God is either an idol (something created in the mind) or, the true God revealed in the Word of God. One demands a payment for sin the other is rather easy going. Which “God” do you have?