JESUS THE LAMB OF GOD
Show the significance of Jesus’ death, tying together the old and new testaments
Why were shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem the first people to be told the good news of Jesus’ birth? What is the significance?
Maybe it was in keeping with the manner of Jesus’ birth - humble, poor, ordinary - to be shared with ordinary, poor, humble shepherds.
But it was more than that!
In JOHN 1:29 -
Jesus, at the beginning of His earthly ministry, is baptised by John who calls Him "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world". In fact, Jesus is called a lamb or compared to a lamb more often than any other figure. The sacrificial lamb was a common sight to every Jew and had great significance to them.
Lambs were sacrificed to:
1. make atonement for a trespass against the Law.
2. give thanks to God.
3. commemorate a feast or special day.
4. keep the Passover.
LEVITICUS 1:10 tells us that all sacrificial lambs were to be males without blemish.
EXODUS 12:1-6
describes the Passover lamb - namely:
one year old, a male, without blemish, separated from the flock on the 10th day of Nisan (our April, or their spring), inspected/kept apart for 5 days, and then killed on the 14th day "in the evening" or "between the evenings" which meant at the end of the day between 3.00 and 6.00 pm (Jewish days started and ended at sunset ( still do).
Many people would flock to Jerusalem every year in April to eat the Passover (as did Mary and Joseph regularly, and Jesus many times too). As it was difficult to bring your own year-old lamb with you and still hope to find it "without blemish" when you arrived in Jerusalem, it became the custom to buy a yearling when you got there. For this purpose many lambs were especially bred in the countryside around Jerusalem, and Bethlehem (8 km away) was one of these places.
Shepherds would tend their young sheep out in the open countryside for 6 months - from April (spring, just after Passover, when many lambs were born) until October - and then bring them into enclosures after the Feast of Tabernacles, for the winter.
The shepherds out on the hillside were no doubt tending the Passover lambs when the Lamb of God was born under their noses - very apt that they should be the first to hear about it.
But let’s follow the last few days of Jesus’ life and see how the shepherds and lambs fit into the picture.
A reading of the gospels makes it plain that Jesus died during the feast of the Passover, and Mark clearly details the last 5 days of Jesus’ ministry.
MARK 11:1-11 [Day 10 of Nisan]
Get the day by working backwards
Jesus enters Jerusalem amidst a crowd shouting "Hosanna in the Highest - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
On the same day shepherds were entering Jerusalem, driving their flocks before them - the flocks that would be sold for sacrifice at the Passover in 5 days’ time. Maybe some of these same shepherds had been on that hillside in Bethlehem some 33 years before ??
MARK 11:12-19 [11 Nisan]
Luke 13:6-9
6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, `For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?´
Jesus throws out the money-changers and their tables. These evil men were selling Passover lambs (without blemish) and doves for sacrifices to Jews who had come from afar. They were also changing foreign money into Jewish coins so they could be used to pay for sacrifices and offerings in the temple.
Jews from other countries who had come to celebrate the Passover were ripped off heavily but could do nothing about it - until Jesus put a stop to it.
MARK 11:20-13:37 [12 Nisan]
Jesus is grilled by all the Jewish leaders. He is questioned/tested to see if they could find fault with Him and thus have something for which they could accuse Him - but they were unable to find a single thing.
At the same time, all over Jerusalem, families were inspecting their
year-old lambs to see if they could find any blemish in them.
MARK 14:1 and 12 [13 and 14 Nisan]
Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.
Two more days of grilling and trying to find fault with Jesus makes the chief priests desperate to get rid of Him, but "not on the feast day"
As the 14th Nisan begins (evening, remember) Jesus and His disciples eat the Passover meal in an upper room about 18 hours before the rest of the nation.
Jesus is arrested later that night and taken to Pilate.
JOHN 18:28 [14 Nisan]
John 18:28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.
The chief priests, early in the morning, did not want to defile themselves by entering a Gentile building on the Passover day because they would be eating the Passover meal a few hours later (between 3.00 and 6.00 pm).
JOHN 18:29-38 [14 Nisan] - EARLY IN THE MORNING
Jesus is interrogated by Pilate many times in order to find a fault, a
blemish - but Pilate can find no fault (18:38, 19:4, 19:6).
ISAIAH 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.describes Jesus as a lamb led to the slaughter, opening not his mouth, just as in countless houses in Jerusalem, other lambs were being given the final checking-over by the head of the household and being declared fit for sacrifice - no blemish.
MATTHEW 27:45 [14 Nisan] - NOON
Matthew 27:45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. Darkness occurs for 3 hours while Jesus is on the Cross - from noon to 3.00 pm. During this time the Passover lambs are alone, frightened and only hours away from death.
MATTHEW 27:50, 51 [14 Nisan] - 3.00 pm
Jesus died at 3.00 pm - just about the time all the Passover lambs are being slaughtered all over in Jerusalem. In the temple, as the High Priest is bringing his knife down on the Passover lamb, so God is doing the same to the Passover Lamb of the world, and the temple curtain is sliced open from top to bottom as if by a large, invisible knife.
This signifies the LAST PASSOVER: no more sacrifices are needed: the temple is no longer needed - Jesus, the fulfilment of all Old Testament types/shadows/pictures has died to take away the sin of the world and make the way open/clear to the presence of God.
1 PETER 1:18 and 19
1 Peter 1:18,19
18 You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever. 19 You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb.
we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ - as of a lamb WITHOUT SPOT OR BLEMISH.
HEBREWS 10:1-6, 12-14
the sacrifices of the Old Covenant could never wash away sins, but Jesus’ one sacrifice cleanses us all as white as snow.
The picture of Jesus as a lamb does not stop there. We read in Revelation 5:1-5 that only the Lion of Judah is worthy to open a certain Book, but when John looks to see this Lion, he beholds a Lamb (Revelation 5:6 and 7) which looks as if it had just been sacrificed. When this Lamb takes the Book to open it everyone in heaven falls down and worships the Lamb (Revelation 5:8-14).
In Revelation 17:14 we see that the Lamb that had been slain, i.e. Jesus, is God himself.
But the greatest joy of all is that God’s son, the Lamb will be married, and His bride is the Church (Revelation 19:6-9).
Just as the humble shepherds were blessed by the joy of being able to witness the newborn Lamb of God, so will many be blessed at the marriage of the Lamb to His Bride (Revelation 19:8-9).
You may have had a humble beginning, but if you have applied the blood of the Passover Lamb to your heart, you will have a great eternity, being joined to God in an intimate union that we cannot even begin to comprehend now.
God has made a way for us to be part of His family
Psalm 8:3
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
Exodus 13:3
3 And Moses said to the people: "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
Isaiah 53:1-3
1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
