The Lamb of God

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The Plan of Love For Redemption

God loved mankind extravagantly even before creation. He wanted us to live with Him forever but knew we would need atonement for our sin. So God planned for Jesus to die in our place. Jesus is the Lamb of God! He came to restore us to God’s presence!

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God. 1 Peter 1:17-21 WEB

Adam & Eve

God created the universe and the first two people, Adam and Eve. They were created in God’s image and personally experienced the fullness of His love.  The Lord walked and talked with them in the garden of Eden.

In the center of the garden were two important trees—the Tree of Life and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat fruit from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  But they were encouraged to enjoy eating from all the other plants, including fruit from The Tree of Life.  Adam and Eve were full of the life of God!

The Fall

But the serpent, Satan, deceived them and Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit.  Suddenly they understood what good and evil was, but the result was not what they expected.  The curses they brought upon themselves changed their spiritual inheritance from life to death.  Instantly Adam and Eve realized they were naked.  In fear and shame, they hid from God and tried to cover their bodies with fig leaves.  But God came and called for them as a loving Father.

The First Picture of the Lamb

After speaking with Adam and Eve, the Lord sacrificed an animal to make leather clothes for them.  The animal sacrifice that clothed their bodies did not pay the price for their sin. It was only a picture of the Lamb of God, Jesus, whose blood would one day wash their guilt away.

And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22 NASB

Adam and Eve could do nothing to restore their broken relationship with God.  The fig leaves could not cover up their sin.  But there was something about the Father’s love that they experienced when He covered them with those skins.  They embraced a new dimension of God’s love that they had never known– His mercy and grace. Their relationship with God was restored.

Abraham & Sarah

Generations later, God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised to give Abraham and his wife, Sarah a son, and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Despite many seasons of doubt and sin, Sarah bore Abraham a son and they named him Isaac.  When the child was older, God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac as an offering.  Abraham obeyed and began the process that would end in the death of his promised son. But God stopped him.  The Lord was pleased with Abraham’s faith and provided a ram to be the sacrifice in Isaac’s place.

We, like Isaac, deserve the sentence of eternal death. But because of God’s great love and mercy, He sent His precious Lamb of God, Jesus, to take our place! Jesus is the Promised One– the Messiah!

Moses and the Blood of the Lamb

Many generations later the people of Israel were brutally enslaved by Egypt. But God had a plan. He raised up and empowered a leader named Moses who performed great signs and devastating plagues in Egypt.  Despite this, Pharaoh refused to free the slaves. On the night before their exodus the Lord instructed the Israelites concerning the final plague. The firstborn of any household that didn’t obey God’s instructions would die.

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 NIV

Those that applied the blood of the lamb escaped the plague and the next day they left Egypt! The slaves didn’t have to work for their freedom or fight their oppressors. They believed God, obeyed His simple instructions and walked away as free people!

We Overcome by the Blood of the Lamb

We were slaves to sin, condemned to eternal death and separated from the life-giving presence of God. But the perfect Lamb was selected for the Family! All who apply His blood to the doorway of their hearts will live forever in loving relationship with God! We cannot earn our freedom nor fight for it. But we can accept His wonderful gift of eternal life by faith!

And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death. Revelation 12:11 AMP

God’s Presence

God’s presence led the Israelites in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Moses and the people of Israel would wander the desert for forty years as they learned to trust and obey their loving God.

The Tabernacle & Temple

The Lord instructed Moses to build a tabernacle to house the presence of God.  It included a tent-like structure with two rooms, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies (or Holiest Place).  Everything about the tabernacle beautifully represented Jesus, their future Messiah.  And once a year on the day of Atonement, a perfect lamb was slain for the sin of the people.  This lamb sacrifice also represented Jesus, the Lamb of God!  And God’s presence came to dwell with them in the Holy of Holies. Many years after God’s people settled in the Promised Land, they built a Temple like the Tabernacle, but large and stationary. Israel continued the blood sacrifices off and on for centuries until the Temple was destroyed by the Romans.

The Lamb of God

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of humble circumstances. Thirty years later He began His ministry. Jesus taught scripture with authority and displayed the love of His Father through miracles, signs, wonders and healings. Large crowds came to see Jesus and Israel’s religious leaders were jealous of Him. After three years of ministry, the Jews turned against Jesus and nailed their own Messiah to the cross. They were looking for a king to save them from the Roman Empire, but the Father had sent the Lamb of God!

On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 NET

Despised & Rejected

The Jewish prophets spoke of Jesus. Israel’s scriptures painted a clear picture of the Lamb of God. Their psalmists sang about Him, and yet He was not recognized.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6 ESV

Worthy is the Lamb of God

Jesus shed His blood for the sin of the world and broke the curse of death. Those that believe receive eternal life in the presence of God! We are now His Temple! Glory to the Lamb!

 I looked, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. The number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who has been killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!” I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!” The four living creatures said, “Amen!” Then the elders fell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:11-14 WEB