The Lamb Of God
Good morning and welcome to week 5 of our series, ‘Name Above All Names…’
A series of conversations where we are unpacking several of the names and titles given to Jesus in Scripture, in an effort to know better the one we have chosen to follow.
AND LISTEN – here’s the deal… What Jesus passionately prayed in the garden on the night of His arrest is true…
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. – John 17:3
AND REMEMBER B/S - Eternal life = not just quantity (as in forever) but also quality (as in life in all its fullness, as in living a life of shalom… a flourishing life of completeness and wholeness… with nothing missing)…
NOW SO FAR – we have unpacked the following titles,
MGCC - Jesus is…
• The Word become flesh
• Mighty God, Immanuel
• The Prince of Peace
• The Good Shepherd
AND LISTEN…
IF – all of those titles are true about Jesus (and they are)…
AND IF – you really see and believe them (and you should)…
THEN – it changes everything, YOUR…
Perspective, purpose, focus, confidence, hope, life…
NOW – the title that we are going to unpack this morning is found in the first chapter of John’s Gospel…
Let me pray us into our study…
Prayer
We will begin at John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
Man, I so love John’s response…
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
What do I say about myself?
I say about myself whatever God says about me…
Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
I myself did not know him,
but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” John’s Disciples Follow Jesus The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” – John 1:15-36
May God bless the reading of His alive, active and inspired Word.
MGCC – Jesus is the lamb of God.
QUESTION…
What does this title mean?
AND WHAT – images do you think flashed through minds of those who were standing with John the Baptist along the banks of the Jordan River that day?
NOW – I think, that it is safe for me to assume that lambs are not a part of your everyday life.
IN FACT – for most of us the only time we have ever encountered a lamb is at a zoo or on a plate as a lamb chop or in a Gyro (year-ro).
SO – lambs as a part of our lives, not so much…
BUT – lambs in the lives of the Jews in the first century very much – for very long – like a couple thousand years.
YOU SEE – lambs were one of the major animals used in the Old Covenant sacrificial system.
AND LISTEN – since time of Moses (~ 1400 BC) millions of lambs had been sacrificed.
NOW – you may be wondering what was the purpose of this sacrificial system…
WELL - I think Leviticus 17:11 does a great providing that answer.
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. – Leviticus 17:11
AND SURE – it may sound cruel to sacrifice an animal, but keep in mind that sin is pretty cruel. In fact, it is deadly and someone has to pay for it.
AND LISTEN - as unfair as it seems, I suppose it’s better that an animal pay with its life than a human with his.
NOW – the Word atonement is one of a very few theological terms that can be explained in a helpful way through its English form.
YOU SEE – this word signifies a reconciliation that puts people at one (or at-one-ment) with God.
Atonement = at-one-ment with God
AND LISTEN – the Hebrew and Greek beneath this word have a twofold meaning…
• The purging of defilement, and
• The restoration of peace between God and man.
AND SO – throughout the OT we see lambs being sacrificed for
• A sin offering
• A guilt offering
• To redeem the firstborn son
• If you were cured of leprosy
• To dedicate the Tabernacle, the Temple ad priests
• In fact, a lamb had been sacrificed, one in the morning and one in the evening for 1400 years (1,022,000)
BUT UNDERSTAND – all of these sacrifices could never take away sin once and for all, but were merely shadows pointing to Jesus.
These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. – Colossians 2:17
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. – Hebrews 10:1
Okay are you still tracking with me?
LISTEN – everything we have talked about so far is a necessary in understanding what it means for Jesus to be the Lamb of God.
AND NOW – what I want us to do, is unpack 6 phrases in the Bible that summarize what Scripture has to say about Jesus being the Lamb of God.
The first phrase is found in Genesis 22.
I. “Where Is The Lamb?”
Genesis 22… is where we find the account of Abraham taking his son Isaac up to the top of Mount Moriah.
Which by the way, is where Solomon would build the temple in Jerusalem.
NOW – Isaac was the child that God had promised to Abraham when he was 75 years old, a child through whom God would begin to build a nation whose descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore.
AND – just a short, 25 years later… Isaac was born.
UNDERSTAND – God always keeps His promises; however He keeps them on His time schedule not ours.
WELL – when Genesis 22 opens up Isaac is probably in his late teens 17 or 18… and God appears to Abraham and asks Him to do something, that had to be absolutely devastating and beyond understanding to Abraham.
Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—
Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
- Genesis 22:1,2
NOW - I cannot even begin to imagine what must have been going through Abraham’s mind! I MEAN…
• Isaac is his son
• His only son, that he loves
• The son of the promise
• Why God? I don’t understand
NEVERTHELESS
Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.
(I am pretty confident he did not tell Sarah… hug your mom, tears formed)
He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
First usage of the word worship in the bible…
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.
Hard not to see the foreshadowing of Jesus in this story…
Carrying the wood of His own cross.
As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” - Genesis 22:3-7
(probably a long pause…)
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
– Genesis 22:8
NOW – I am not sure what Isaac was thinking at that moment
But when they reach the spot, the reality of what was going down became clear, as…
• Abraham built an altar
• Stacked the wood
• Bound his son
• Drew back his knife
AND THEN – God stopped him… In fact, that was God’s intent from the beginning… He was just testing Abraham to see if he loved him even more than He loved his son.
AND ABRAHAM – (heart no doubt still racing) looks over and sees a ram caught in a thicket, and he sacrifices it as a burnt offering.
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” - Genesis 22:14
Maple Grove – Jesus is the lamb of God…
He is our provision
He is our replacement
UNDERSTAND – God could not have painted a more powerful picture of the Gospel then He did in the opening chapters of Genesis.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
OKAY – for the next phrase we need to fast forward about 600 years to Exodus chapter 12, where we see the phrase…
II. “Slaughter The… Lamb”
AS – Exodus 12 opens up God’s people had been in slavery in Egypt for about 400 years and the time had now come for their deliverance.
Moses who has returned from 40 years of hiding out in the desert, is standing before Pharaoh back by the miraculous power of God, demanding that he let God’s people go.
HOWEVER – despite all of the miracles God performed, Pharaoh was hard, and he would not let the Israelites leave.
SO FINALLY – to get His point across, God made plans to wipe out all of the firstborn sons living in the land of Egypt.
NOW – the only problem was that the Israelites had many firstborn sons as well.
SO - How could they be protected while God carried out His judgement on the Egyptians?
WELL – God had a plan to save His people (and He always does by the way)
The plan was for each Israel household is to take a year old male lamb without defect sacrifice it and prepare it for a meal and then smear some of its blood over the doorposts of their homes.
Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.
Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.
When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. – Exodus 12:21-23
AND SO – God’s people did exactly what they were told, ad God’ wrath passed over them.
MGCC – Jesus is the lamb of God…
Paul put it this way
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
– 1 Corinthians 5:7
Jesus is the lamb of God.
And when His sacrifice/His blood is applied to our lives God’s wrath passes over us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
- Romans 5:9
• Where is the lamb?
• Slaughter the lamb.
The next phrase is from Isaiah chapter 53…
III. “Led Like A Lamb”
NOW – when we read Isaiah 53 from our side of the cross it makes perfect sense to us that this is about Jesus.
BUT YOU KNOW – if they were many people of the other side of the cross that saw these words as referring to the Messiah.
UNDERSTAND – a suffering, slaughtered Messiah, made no sense to them whatsoever.
LIKE – even the disciples could not see it.
IN FACT - once after Jesus talked about how He must die.
Peter took Him aside and ‘rebuked’ Him
(epitimao) – same word that Jesus used to rebuke demons and the winds and waves.
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 its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
- Isaiah 53:7,8
UNDERSTAND – sheep do not fight or struggle when they are being slaughtered.
IN FACT – the term has become an idiom in our day.
If some does something or goes somewhere like a lamb to the slaughter, they do it without knowing that something bad is going to happen and therefore act calmly and without fighting against the situation. – Cambridge Dictionary
TRUE – Jesus was calm and He did not fight.
BUT LISTEN – it was not because He was unaware of what was going on. IN FACT – He said in Matthew 26:53 that if He wanted to He could call 12 legions of angels to come to his aid.
12 x 5000 = 60,000
I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. – John 10:17,18
Led like a lamb to slaughter…
And listen Isaiah makes it clear that our Lord’s death was substitutionary. He didn’t die for his own sins, for he had none, but for your sin and mine.
He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,
and by His wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5
Jesus is the Lamb of God…
• He is our provision and replacement
• His blood allows God’s wrath to pass over us
• He is our willingly substitute and by His wounds we are healed of our sins.
IV. “Behold The Lamb”
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! - John 1:19
2000 years earlier Isaiah ask the question where is the lamb.
AND NOW – John as He stands baptizing in the Jordan River point to Jesus answer that question…
BEHOLD – there He is the lamb of God
SURE – millions of lambs have and gone before but this is THE LAMB Of God.
He is God’s lamb
WHO – takes away the sins of the world.
NOW – the world translated takes away conveys the idea of taking something up and carrying it away, and in that sense destroying.
UNDERSTAND…
• Jesus took away our sin by bearing it upon His own body (1 Peter 2:24)
• Jesus took the charges that were against us and nailed them to the cross (Colossians 2:14)
• Jesus removed our sin as far away from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12)
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! - John 1:19
AND LISTEN – here’s the deal…
YOU - need to decide if John the Baptist right or not?
Is this who Jesus is?
Is this the savior I need, because if John was right, then your biggest problem and my biggest problem, it’s not our lack of education, it’s not the politics, whether we get the right people or the wrong people in there, it’s not our most challenging circumstances.
Your biggest problem and my biggest problem is the same: Sin. We’re sinners. And we need a savior.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! - John 1:19
Where is the Lamb?
Slaughter the lamb
Led like a lamb
Behold the lamb, and
V. “Worthy Is The Lamb”
UNDERSTAND - the term lamb is used more times in the book of Revelation than any other book in the entire bible, 30 times.
YOU SEE - everything in the Book of the Revelation relates to the Lamb.
• The Shepherd who will wipe every tear from our eyes and leads us to springs of living water, is the Lamb (7:17)
• the song that is sung by the victors is the song of Moses and the Lamb (15:3)
• the one who triumphs is the Lamb, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings (17:14)
• The throne is the throne of the Lamb (22: 1)
• The heavenly city is the temple of the Lamb (21: 22).
• The light in the city is the Lamb: (21: 23).
• The marriage is the marriage of the Lamb (19: 7)
• The bride is the wife of the Lamb (21: 9).
• The book that has the names of the saved in it is the Lamb’s Book of Life (21: 27)
NOW – we first meet the Lamb in Revelation in chapter 5…
YOU SEE IN - this chapter the apostle John sneaks into the throne room of God and HE gets a glimpse of the Almighty.
IN – His right hand God holds a scroll, written on both sides (seemingly representing God’s decreed plan for history)
AND LISTEN – John is curious as a cat, LIKE - he wants to know what is in the scroll.
HOWEVER – in all of the glories of heaven, all the power angels hanging around, all the elders, all the beasts, all the creatures, not one of them in worthy to open the scroll.
John is heartbroken, as he wonders.…
• Who will carry out God’s plan?
• Is there anyone worthy?
• Will God’s purposes go unfulfilled?
• Will His people be left unheeded and unloved…
AND SO - John begins to cry…
NOW - the word used (Klaio… kli o) is the same word used of Jesus when He looked over the city and wept in Luke 19… and of Peter when after denying Jesus 3 times went out and wept bitterly.
OKAY – so John is weeping uncontrollably…
AND THEN - one of the 24 elders comes over to comfort him and saying…
“Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5
AND – the drum roll begins.
AND – John turns expecting to see the great and powerful King of the beasts, the powerful lion of the tribe of Judah.
BUT INSTEAD….
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain,
Though slain this lamb is very much alive, and this Lamb (who is clearly Jesus) is…
standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Seven horns = perfect power
Seven eyes = perfect knowledge
Why is Jesus pictured as a Lamb?
BECAUSE – HE, exhibited His strength through meekness.
AND ON – the cross, HE conquered through sacrifice.
YES – the lion of Judah is a Lamb!
Revelation 5 continues…
He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.
Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. – Revelation 5:5-14
• “Where is the Lamb?” That is the question of the ages.
• “Behold! the Lamb of God!” is the answer to that question.
• “Worthy is the Lamb” is our worshipful response to Jesus our Savior.
NOW – this last phase from Scripture that I want us to consider as we unpack what God’s Word has to say about Jesus the lamb of God…
To be honest is one I would rather skip…
I MEAN – like ending with worthy is the lamb, would have been … more fun, sweeter, easier.
This final phase is found in the very next chapter of Revelation, chapter six…
VI. “Hide Us From… The Lamb”
A graphic picture of the final judgment when Jesus returns…
Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of Their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?” - Revelation 6:15-17
Who can stand… no one
That is except those who have surrender their lives to the lamb
UNDERSTAND – that is the very next picture we see painted in Revelation chapter 7… where God gives John a vision of all of His people throughout history…
A vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! - Revelation 7:9,10 (HCSB)
The One seated on the throne will shelter them: They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any heat. For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; He will guide them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. – Revelation 7:15-17
There’s the story told of an artist named Steinberg who had taken in a beautiful gypsy girl to pose for his paintings. At the time he was working on his masterpiece "Christ on the Cross" and the girl used to watch him work on this painting. One day she said "He must have been a very wicked man to be nailed to the cross like that."
"No, he was a very good man, perhaps the best man that ever lived. He died for others."
The girl looked at the painting for a long time and then looked up at him and asked. "Did He die for you?"
At the time, Steinberg was not a follower of Christ, but the gypsy girl's question touched his heart and not long afterward he became a believer in Jesus.
