Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29bIf you have ever had moments or times of doubt and questioned if God had a plan....if you have ever felt like maybe He has been playing catch up to get a step ahead of the enemy since sin entered the world, or He had to have plans B, C, and D in place just in case....rest assured. Rest very, very assured. This could not be further from the truth. God laid out His perfect plan for our redemption, our reconciliation of relationship with Him before the first Word of Creation was ever spoken. There is nothing that has ever caught God off guard, not even the events of the Crucifixion. One of the beautiful, reassuring, awesome ways we can see this truth is when we follow the threads that God has woven together to create the most amazing, beautiful tapestry of His love, truth, and salvation.
In the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, God uses pictures and types to reveal truths about Himself, His plan, and His promises. He masterfully and intricately weaves the pictures and types throughout the pages of Scripture and in the doing foretells what is to come....WHO is to come. The plan for Jesus to come as the Lamb of God and offer Himself in our place...was foretold in this way. We can see this unfold from Genesis to Revelation. Just like in the way He gradually unfolded His plan for the genealogy of the coming Messiah, God also gradually unfolded the revelation of the Lamb.
Genesis
The first hint God gave of the Lamb is in the first pages of Scripture in the story of Cain and Abel. A firstling of the flock was to be the acceptable offering - not the work of man's hands. Genesis 4:4-5
The first use of the word Lamb in scripture is in Genesis 22 when Isaac asks his father Abraham where the lamb for the offering is. Abraham's reply holds the first great reveal about the nature of the Lamb.
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. Genesis 22:8
Abraham called the place The Lord will provide as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the Lord it will be provided. Genesis 22:14
Exodus
Leviticus -
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. Isaiah 53:7
John -
The Lamb of God is revealed.
Now it was time for God's big announcement! It was time for the messenger John the Baptist to make the proclamation announcing the Lamb of God. John knew he would make the announcement, but he did not know who or when it would be. However, God had given him instructions and John followed them perfectly.
These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." John 1:28-34
His Name is Jesus!!
The Lamb is the Son of God
The Person...the Lamb of God has been announced. The thread from the Old Testament has come to this moment of revelation. The Lamb of God....His name is Jesus! Not only is He the Lamb of God, the public announcement has also been made of His deity. He is the Son of God.
In case anyone missed the point of John's announcement and to stand as witness to what John had just revealed, God confirms what John has said after John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan.
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:16-17
Three years later when His time had come, when it was time for the next part of the plan to be fulfilled, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, God Incarnate, Our Lamb, Christ Jesus, was crucified on a hill that had been prophesied by Abraham (Genesis 22), outside the gates of the city. He was perfect, without blemish, and was crucified in the prime of His life, around 33 years of age (Exodus, Leviticus). Although He was beaten and whipped beyond recognition before His crucifixion, He did not open His mouth to His accusers (Isaiah 53), nor was a bone broken as He hung on the cross (Exodus). Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan and died around the ninth hour, between the twilights when the national lamb was being slain at the Temple.
I cannot stop crying as I write these words. I am so overwhelmed by how much He loves me. I am so overcome with gratitude and feel so unworthy. It is my sin that He bore on the cross. I have leaned against the Lamb and acknowledged my need for His atoning sacrifice and asked for Him to be my propitiation. It is my sin that His blood washed clean. No one else could ask for me. No one else could lean on the lamb for me. Only I could do that, and I cannot lean on the lamb for anyone else. Only for myself.
But the picture of the Lamb does not stop with the cross....
The tomb is empty!! The Lamb is Risen!!
Revelation:
The Lamb that was slain will rule and reign...
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood [men] from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "You have made them [to be] a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, [be] blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped. Rev 5:6-14 NASB
The Lamb will be their Shepherd
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches [were] in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." And all the angels were standing around the throne and [around] the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, [be] to our God forever and ever. Amen." Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes." Rev 7:9-17
The Lamb is the Bridegroom
In case anyone missed the point of John's announcement and to stand as witness to what John had just revealed, God confirms what John has said after John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan.
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:16-17
Three years later when His time had come, when it was time for the next part of the plan to be fulfilled, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, God Incarnate, Our Lamb, Christ Jesus, was crucified on a hill that had been prophesied by Abraham (Genesis 22), outside the gates of the city. He was perfect, without blemish, and was crucified in the prime of His life, around 33 years of age (Exodus, Leviticus). Although He was beaten and whipped beyond recognition before His crucifixion, He did not open His mouth to His accusers (Isaiah 53), nor was a bone broken as He hung on the cross (Exodus). Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan and died around the ninth hour, between the twilights when the national lamb was being slain at the Temple.
I cannot stop crying as I write these words. I am so overwhelmed by how much He loves me. I am so overcome with gratitude and feel so unworthy. It is my sin that He bore on the cross. I have leaned against the Lamb and acknowledged my need for His atoning sacrifice and asked for Him to be my propitiation. It is my sin that His blood washed clean. No one else could ask for me. No one else could lean on the lamb for me. Only I could do that, and I cannot lean on the lamb for anyone else. Only for myself.
But the picture of the Lamb does not stop with the cross....
The tomb is empty!! The Lamb is Risen!!
Revelation:
The Lamb that was slain will rule and reign...
And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood [men] from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "You have made them [to be] a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, [be] blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped. Rev 5:6-14 NASB
The Lamb will be their Shepherd
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches [were] in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." And all the angels were standing around the throne and [around] the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, [be] to our God forever and ever. Amen." Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. "They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes." Rev 7:9-17
The Lamb is the Bridegroom
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
Rev 21:9
The Lamb is the Temple. The Lamb is the lamp of the New Jerusalem.
"I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp [is] the Lamb."
I am forever in awe of our God! I am eternally thankful! What confidence, what joy we can have knowing that even when we don't know all of the whats and the whys in our lives, we do know the Who and How. Our perfect Lamb hung on a wooden cross for you and me. He laid down His life for us. He took on sin and defeated death so that we could live in Him, through Him, by Him and with Him eternally. During this time of Resurrection week when we celebrate our risen Lord and what He did for us, and in all the days of our lives, let us live with hearts overflowing with gratitude, praise, and adoration for our precious, spotless, perfect Lamb - The Lamb of God.
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