Jesus the Lamb, part 3

Just think of how incredible it is to see the way God chose to be represented in this world! When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching, he recognized God’s representative to the world. For thousands of years the world groaned in agony, waiting for the day that God would appear to save the world. That groaning was answered when Jesus came to earth, born in a manger to a peasant girl. But consider how incredible John’s words were! He proclaimed this when he saw Jesus, “Look, The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Yes, incredibly, God came to the earth as a lamb; meek and mild, willing to lay down His life for the world. 
 

God came to earth as a Lamb. He would not come forcing the world to bow before Him. He would not force nations to surrender to Him. He would not destroy His enemies here on earth. He would not establish a Kingdom based on fear and power. Instead, He would come as a Lamb, offering Himself alone as reason to follow and submit.

Those who heard John must have thought that he was mistaken. If this was the Messiah then He must be a lion or a leopard, come with strength and speed to destroy the enemies of God. He must be a bear, fiercely defending the children of God with the legendary determination of a mother bear. He must be an eagle, swiftly pouncing on those who would not bow to God. But that’s not how Jesus came. He came as a Lamb. 

Why a lamb? For one reason: because a perfect lamb is the perfect sacrifice to God. He did not come to force the world to sacrifice to God; He came to be the sacrifice to God. He did not come to make people pay for their sins; He came to pay the  required price for reconciliation to God. He did not come to drive us into the house of God; He came to lead us to God. He did not come to kill; He came to die. 
 

Genesis 22:6-8 “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 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?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together” NIV. Now, of course, we know Abraham was speaking in faith to Isaac at this point (about God’s ability to provide a literal lamb to sacrifice); but he was also speaking prophetically concerning the coming of Jesus, the Lamb of God. 
 

When Israel was being delivered from Egyptian bondage, as the last of the 10 plagues – the death angel - was about to be unleashed, God established a sacred meal of remembrance for the people of Israel, Passover. The main focus of that meal was lamb, a lamb, without spot or blemish, a year old without any defects. Its blood was to be placed on the sides and tops of the door frames so the angel would pass by their home without killing the firstborn son. And without the sacrifice of God’s Lamb - who was perfect, without any spot of sin - being sacrificed for our sin, and His blood being spiritually applied to our hearts, we would have had to die in our slavery to sin, separated from God for all of eternity.

But God sent Jesus as His Lamb, to live a perfect sinless life and die as a sacrifice for our sins. And if we will trust in Him and repent of our sin, we can be forgiven and have relationship with the Father today and throughout eternity.

Continued tomorrow