Behold the Lamb
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Charles Spurgeon said: - “The world was lost. God must punish sin. He sent His Son to take our sin upon Him that He might honor the Law of God and establish God’s government by being obedient to the Law of God and yielding Himself up to the death penalty. He whom Jehovah loves beyond all else came to earth, became a Man and, as a Man, was obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. It is He who is called, “the Lamb of God,” the one Sacrifice for man’s sin. There is no putting away of sin without sacrifice there is only one Sacrifice that can put away sin and that is Jesus Christ, the Righteous. He is Divine, yet Human the Son of God, yet the Son of Mary, He is Theanthropos the God-man. He yielded up His life, “the Just for the unjust,” the Sinless for the sinful, “that He might bring us to God,” and reconcile us to the Father. That is the story and whosoever believes in Him shall live. Any man, woman, boy, or girl the world over, who will trust themselves to Christ, God’s great Sacrifice, shall be saved, for this is our continual witness, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.” “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
My desire is not to teach a lesson that will make you shout; it is not my desire to tickle your ears with enticing words and shallow thoughts for that has no benefit of salvation. It is my desire to present to you the unadulterated Word of God that will cause you to stop and “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world”.
There are scarlet threads of prophecy weaved throughout scripture to reveal a glorious tapestry of redemption. One such prophetic symbol is the sacrificial lamb. Throughout the Old Testament, a lamb was sacrificed at an altar as an act of worship to God and the means of atoning for sin. The word atonement means to “cover over.” The sacrificial lamb was a substitute that covered the sins of mankind instead of a man or woman dying for his or her sins. God provided the lamb to take the place of that person, and the blood of the lamb paid the penalty for their sin. John McArthur said: - “There’s a simple principle; to be delivered from judgment requires death. Second, critical, that death can be the death of a substitute. God was saying, “I will spare you; I will deliver you from this judgment if there is the death of an innocent substitute”.
My desire is to show you through what is called progressive revelation a movement of God bringing you through theological infancy in the Old Testament to maturity in the New Testament. Now for those that may not be familiar with Progressive Revelation it is best explained as follows: - Progressive Revelation is like a window blind being gradually raised. The light of the sun outside (analogous here to God’s truth, the glory of the Gospel) is unchanging but through this stepwise revealing, ever more of this pre-existent light becomes apparent - J. Sidlow Baxter.
PRAYER
Behold the Lamb:- This is a very powerful statement that I feel loses so much in our modern translation. In the original Greek used by the Apostle John, who wrote the Book of John, he uses the Greek word ide for behold, meaning “look,” “see here,” or “consider.” He uses amnos for lamb, meaning exactly that a young sheep. And he uses theos for God, referring to “the one true God.” He also uses the word airo for takes away, which means “carries away” or “gets rid of.” He uses hamartia for sin, meaning "wrongdoing.” And he uses kosmos for the word world, referring to the entire world that is, the universe, not just the local place in which he is situated.
Essentially, John is saying: “Look, it’s God’s lamb who gets rid of the wrongdoings of the entire universe.” Matthew Henry says “John saw Jesus coming to him, and pointed him out as the Lamb of God. The paschal lamb, in the shedding and sprinkling of its blood, the roasting and eating of its flesh, and all the other circumstances of the ordinance, represented the salvation of sinners by faith in Christ. And the lambs sacrificed every morning and evening, can only refer to Christ slain as a sacrifice to redeem us to God by his blood.
Behold the Lamb!
1st is the Lamb of Necessity Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them”. Many Bible scholars believe, and it is the opinion I hold as well that the coats of skins were made from a lamb for it was a lamb slain by an offended yet loving and compassionate God to provide covering and salvation for our fore parents who sinned eating the forbidden fruit and then realized they were naked. The necessity of their condition caused blood to be shed for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
2nd is the Lamb of Efficacy the Lamb that produced a desired result. Exodus 12:13 “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt”. God promised that when He came to pass judgment upon Egypt and saw the blood of the Lamb on the door post and mantle of the door that the death angel would pass over producing deliverance from the penalty of sin which is death. So we see that the blood of the Lamb is efficacious or produces desired results for it satisfies God’s Law which requires a penalty for breaking the law and it protects and delivers us from the penalty.
3rd is the Lamb of Purity. Leviticus 14:10 &19 says, “And on the eighth day he shall take two he lamb without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering”. This was the process of declaring a person clean after they had been contaminated with leprosy. When you understand how leprosy destroys you, causes you to live in shame, solitude, separated from family friends, and loved one, humiliated, destitute, and in despair, but who by the Lamb of Purity are cleansed and you see how sin causes us to live in shame, despair, humiliated, degraded, in solitude and often destitute but the Blood of the Lamb of God washed us and cleansed us made us white as snow. It causes us to sing that great song What can wash away my sins nothing but the Blood of Jesus What can make me whole again nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh Precious is that flow that makes me white as snow no other fount I know nothing but the blood of Jesus.
4th is the Lamb now has Personality. Up to this point in our journey of progressive revelation we have seen the necessity, the efficacy, and the purity of the Lamb. Now it is time to personify the Lamb, give him personality. What I find interesting is the biblical meaning of 4 represents the demarcation of time for on the 4th day of creation week God completed the material universe the sun moon stars which were made to be a signal to mark off days, years, season and appointed times (moed). It is the appointed time that the Lamb be given personality. Isaiah 53:1-8 says “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken”. Isaiah prophesied about Him, personifying the Lamb giving the Lamb personality, characteristics and setting the stage to truly identifying the Lamb of God.
5th the Lamb id Identified. 5 the number of Grace we see the Grace of God here when the Lamb of God is Identified, and we are told Behold the Lamb of God. John the Baptiste is preaching about the Lamb the Christ and is asked if he is not the one why does he baptize says in John 1:26-27 “John answered them saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose”. VS#29 says, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. John introduces the Lamb of God to a sin sick, lost, dying world. John literally says: “Look, it’s God’s lamb who gets rid of the wrongdoings of the entire universe. It is the Lamb of God, the paschal lamb, in the shedding and sprinkling of its blood, the roasting and eating of its flesh, and all the other circumstances of the ordinance, represented the salvation of sinners by faith in Christ. This is the one we have been waiting for, this is the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lamb of God. This is Jesus – He is the Lamb of God (Grace metamorphosized).
6th the Lamb is Crucified. The Gospels tell us the manner His blood is shed for the forgiveness of sin. Remember the Law of God requires a penalty when broken the Blood of the Lamb satisfies that requirement and protect all who will accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior from the judgment and punishment. Isaiah 53 prophesied how He would be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. However; Jesus said how the shedding of His would establish God’s new covenant with His church Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”.
7th the Epistles Typified the Lamb. 1 Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now all things happen unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come”. They are instructing us, the New Testament church that the Passover lamb with and the shedding of the blood produced protection and pointed to Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us”. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”.
8th Revelation 5 the Lamb is Magnified. When something is magnified understand it doesn’t get larger but our perception of it increases. In Revelation 5 the Lamb is magnified we see Him receiving praise honor and worship 6 “And I beheld and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beast, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 8 And when he had taken the book the four beast and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 11. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many round about the throne and the beast and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessings. 13. And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beast said Amen. And the four and twenty elder fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever”.
9th the Lamb is Glorified. Revelation 22 the Lamb is now Glorified and ruling on the throne “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruit and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And the shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him And there shall be no night there and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever”.
CLOSING: Through this manner of Progressive Revelation of the Lamb from Genesis with the coats of skins to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve to the glorification of Jesus the Lamb of God reigning on the Throne in Heaven after having been slain and purchasing our redemption reconciling us back to God we understand that salvation is only through the Lamb.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
