Lamb of God

20180401 Lamb of God Isaiah 53:7 (Opening) 7  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.  Introduction Who was Jesus, and why is it important that He died, was buried, and rose again? That’s the big question, I guess, and especially this time of year when about one-third of the world population is thinking about the resurrection of Jesus. So, why is all that it important? Lamb of God Let me see if I can lay out a few points that will help. Let’s start at the beginning. Before Jesus was born, before Mary and Joseph were married, but after Mary was discovered to be pregnant, Joseph thought about splitting up with her, because it was obvious to him she had committed adultery with someone. Matthew 1:20-21 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” That’s kind of an odd reason for the angel to say to name the child Jesus, “He will save His people from their sins.” But if you understand where the name comes from and what it means, it’s a little clearer. Jesus is a Greek version of a Hebrew name. The Hebrew name is Joshua. Joshua was the name that Moses gave to his assistant Hoshea who ended up leading Israel into the Promised Land. The name Hoshea was a plea to God from his parents, because the name means “Save us”. But Joshua, which is a shortening of the full Hebrew name Jehoshua, means Yahweh is Salvation or Yahweh Saves. Appropriate name, I think, for the Son of God. The angel told Joseph to let everyone know through His name what Jesus was going to do. Many years later, John the Baptizer pointed out Jesus to the crowds around him. John 1:29 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! What did he mean that Jesus was the “Lamb of God?” What did that mean to the people who heard him say it? We know what it means to us because of our point of view looking back at history. But when John said this, how did his hearers understand it? The phrase “Lamb of God” isn’t used specifically in the Old Testament anywhere. There was an understanding that any lamb offered as a sacrifice to God belonged to God, so the concept is everywhere in the Torah, but the actual phrase isn’t there. John would have known Isaiah 53, which talks about the lamb being led to the slaughter. Jeremiah 11 also refers to the same thing, but in the first person. Jeremiah 11:19 19  But I was like a gentle lamb  led to the slaughter.  I did not know it was against me  they devised schemes, saying,  “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,  let us cut him off from the land of the living,  that his name be remembered no more.” But John, the apostle and writer of the Gospel not the Baptist, followed the theme that Jesus was the Lamb of God throughout his Gospel, tying Jesus to the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. There are hints about it in the other Gospels, but John’s references are the most obvious. Passover Lamb Luke makes a veiled reference to the Passover early on, in chapter 9, when he tells about the events on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured while Peter, James, and John were with Him. Luke 9:29-31 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. For us in English, it’s a very veiled reference. We can’t see it unless we look at the scriptures in Greek. When Luke writes that Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about “His departure”, the Greek word there is “exodus”, which brings back thoughts of leaving Egypt, and the Passover itself. Moses and Elijah are talking about Jesus’ return to the Father, but from our perspective, it is His exodus from our world. All the Gospel writers include Jesus’ return to Jerusalem the Sunday before Passover, what we call the Triumphal Entry. They all write about how He interacted with the teachers of the Law, the scribes and Pharisees during His time in Jerusalem prior to the Passover. This is another parallel with the Passover lamb. When God gave the instructions for Passover to Moses, this is what He told him about the lamb. Exodus 12:3 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. So, this year, like when Jesus was crucified, Passover started at sundown on Friday. That would be the beginning of the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan. The lamb is to be brought in on the tenth day of the month, Monday, or sometime after sundown on Sunday, since the Jewish day starts at sundown, the evening and the morning as it says in Genesis. I see these five days of Jesus meeting with the teachers of the Law, the scribes and the Pharisees as His time of inspection to show that He was truly a lamb without blemish. After all that time, once He was betrayed by Judas and arrested, Luke tells us Luke 23:13-15 13 Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. 15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. Neither Herod nor Pilate could find anything to charge Him with. He was sinless. You could say He was “without spot or blemish.” Of course, that didn’t stop them from crucifying Him. Jesus was crucified around noon on the day before the Sabbath, Friday. He died within three hours of being on the cross. But since the Sabbath started at sundown that evening, the Jews asked Pilate to expedite the process of the crucifixion. The Romans were good at torture, and they had become exceptionally good at crucifying people. The whole idea of crucifixion was not specifically to kill the person who was on the cross, but to make them suffer as long as possible, and to be a deterrent to people who would think about doing the same crime the person being crucified was accused of. The amount of pain inflicted during a crucifixion is unbelievable. In fact, the word excruciating is derived from the word crucifixion; ex meaning from, and crux meaning the cross. The Jews didn’t want people being crucified on the Sabbath, so they asked Pilate if the soldiers would break the legs of the people on the crosses, so they would die much faster. That would complete the execution part of the crucifixion, but it would limit the deterrent part, because the Jews needed the bodies taken down before the Sabbath started at sundown. Pilate agreed, and sent the soldiers to break the legs of those who were crucified. But when they got to Jesus, He was already dead. Just to make sure, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and water and blood came out. That was a sign to the soldiers that Jesus was dead. Because Jesus was dead, they didn’t need to break His legs. John, in his Gospel, uses this as another pointer to Jesus being the Passover lamb. John 19:36 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” John is quoting from Exodus 12:46, referring to the requirements for the Passover lamb, that none of the bones were to be broken. Paul, in his first letter to the congregation in Corinth, refers to Christ as our Passover lamb. He uses that comparison to tie in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and say that we, as Christians, should be different than the world around us, like the Jews were different than the nations they were surrounded by. Paul was chastising the Corinthians for accepting sexual immorality in their congregation and being proud of it. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Paul is using leaven as an analogy for sin. Jesus used it that way many times in His stories. The Feast of Unleavened Bread followed Passover, so Paul is saying since Jesus was our Passover lamb, we should be removing any of the leaven of sin in our lives. Peter, in his first letter, uses a similar comparison to Christ as a perfect lamb. But Peter’s imagery seems to combine Passover and another sacrifice, either a sin offering, or the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. 1 Peter 1:17-19 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. As our Passover lamb, Christ’s blood protects us from the destroyer, if we accept His sacrifice was for us. Instead of the doorposts and lintel of our house, Christ’s blood is applied to our heart when we are immersed into His death. Atonement But Peter is comparing Jesus to more than just the Passover lamb that was without blemish or spot. All lambs for sacrifice were supposed to be perfect. The Passover lamb wasn’t a ransom, but a sign. But six months later there’s a Jewish festival to ransom all of Israel, every year, and pay for the sins they did. That was the Day of Atonement. When God told Moses how to build the Tabernacle, He explained there would be two main rooms, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. The Holy Place was a tent that was 15 feet wide and 30 feet long. The Most Holy Place, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, was 15 feet square, and was separated from the Holy Place by a thick embroidered curtain. When Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu offered incense with strange fire to God, their punishment was immediate; fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died. Leviticus 16:1-2 1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. The High Priest was the only person who was ever allowed to enter into the Most Holy Place behind the veil, and he was only allowed to do that on the Day of Atonement, once a year, and only after specific sacrifices. First, the High Priest would sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself, to make atonement for himself and his family. Then he would take two goats and choose between them by lot. One was chosen to be sacrificed to God, and one was chosen to be released. The High Priest would confess the sins of the people over the goat to be released, and that goat would be lead out into the wilderness and released. The other goat would be sacrificed as a sin offering for all of Israel. The High Priest would go into the Most Holy Place and sprinkle the blood of both the bull and the goat that were sacrificed on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. The writer of Hebrews compared the High Priest and the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement with Christ, who is our new High Priest. Hebrews 9:11-12 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption The earthly High Priest could only go into the presence of God in the Most Holy Place once a year, but Jesus is not just in the presence of God now, but He is seated at God’s right hand. Jesus didn’t need to sacrifice a bull to make atonement for himself, because He was without sin. But instead of using the blood of a goat to allow entrance into the presence of God, He did it with His own blood. He could use His own blood because He died as a sinless man and was resurrected. But why all this blood? Because God commanded it. Leviticus 17:11 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. So, all these sacrifices were required to make atonement. But the problem with all those sacrifices was they didn’t really accomplish any real change in the person who was offering them. They were a payment for the sins committed, and they were an appeasement, an atonement for the sins committed but the conscience never changed. Hebrews 9:13-14 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins and died in our place. Because of His resurrection, He is seated at the right hand of God. But He had to die for another reason. Not just to be a sacrifice, but because of conviction. Not His, but ours. John 16:7-11 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The ruler of this world, Satan, is judged. Death has lost. The beginning of the end has started, and the curse of death will be completely lifted for those who are in Christ. Conclusion Jesus is the Son of God. He was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind. He was examined by the priests at the Temple and they found no sin in Him. They had to make up charges against Him, and even then, the Romans didn’t want to put Him to death. Instead, the Jews had to ask for a murderer to be released instead of Jesus. It’s important that He died as a sacrifice for our sins, but it’s more important that He was resurrected on the third day, and that death has no power over Him. It’s also important that He died so the Holy Spirit could be sent to convict the world of sin. One of the final images John shares with us of Jesus is in Revelation. It starts in chapter 5, with John having a vision of God’s throne in heaven. Revelation 5:6 6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw 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. The Lamb of God was sacrificed on that Friday so many years ago, to take away the sins of the world. When He rose again on that Sunday, He showed His victory over death, the penalty for sin that has plagued mankind since the first sin back in the Garden of Eden. Now He sits at God’s right-hand interceding for us if He knows us. How can we be sure He knows us? We must have faith that He is truly the Son of God. We must believe that He died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that He was buried and rose again on the third day. We must repent of our sins, turn and walk away from them. We must demonstrate our belief in Him by being immersed into His death through baptism for the remission of our sins. Then we must follow His will as much as we can and strive to improve when we fail. And we must continue to learn about Him and what He expects from us and share that with others. If you have questions about that, or think you need to do any of that, let’s get together and talk about it.  Hebrews 4:14-16 (Closing) 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 12