Symbols of God's Love (4)

The Lamb of God: God’s Atoning Sacrifice

As we come to this last week before Easter, Resurrection Sunday, my prayer is that we take extra time over the course of this week to reflect on the cost of our salvation.

Today is Palm Sunday. This is the day that we remember Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey. There were crowds that laid cloaks and branches on the ground, and many that waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

This day was significant to the Jewish people and obviously, it was significant to God.

This morning, I’d like to look at Jesus, the Lamb of God and how He gave Himself as our atoning sacrifice.

Let’s start by reading

John 1:29–34 NLT

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.”

Are you the One?

The day before Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, the religious leaders had sent their assistants out to John to find out if he was the Messiah?

Obviously John was causing quite a stir. He was calling people to repentance and he was immersing people in the Jordan River.

Once the religious leaders realized that John wasn’t the Messiah, the one that they were waiting for, or Elijah, or one of the prophets, they asked him, “What right do you have to baptize then?”

Here is John’s response,

John 1:26–27 NLT

John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.”

John the Baptist made it clear that he was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Here’s how Matthew tells about this encounter,

Matthew 3:11–12 NLT

“I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

The next day...

John makes this proclamation,

John 1:29 (NLT)

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

What an interesting way to introduce the Messiah.

How can you introduce a king as a lamb? How can this Lamb deliver Israel?

Isaiah 55:8–9 NLT

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Let’s look at

The Lamb...

When we look at the lamb in Jewish culture and religion, it carried great historic weight.

During the plagues in Egypt, it was the blood of the lamb that was painted on the door frames of their houses that protected the firstborn in their houses.

They sprinkled the blood and yet they roasted the flesh of the lamb and ate it before they were forced to leave Egypt, the land of their bondage.

Every year, at Passover, the 14th day of Nisan, a lamb was slain for each family. This symbolized and helped them remember that God had delivered them.

At Passover, Jews take bread and drink wine to help them remember that God delivered them.

Every year, before Passover, it was incumbent upon the Jewish people to take a lamb from their flocks. According to Exodus 12, they were to bring a year-old male, without defect from the sheep or the goats. On Nisan 10, which was the first month, four days before Passover, they were to bring this animal into their homes.

Can you imagine going to your flock and deciding which one that you would choose for your Passover meal? It couldn’t be blind, or lame, it couldn’t have a fault. You spend four days with it, and you find no blemishes.

On Nisan 10, Jesus came into Jerusalem. He would be examined to see if there was any blemish in Him, and ultimately He would be slaughtered as our Passover Lamb.

The Triumphal Entry fulfilled prophecy...

Psalm 118:14–29 NLT

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly. The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things! The strong right arm of the Lord is raised in triumph. The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things! I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done. The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not let me die. Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord. These gates lead to the presence of the Lord, and the godly enter there. I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory! The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Please, Lord, please save us. Please, Lord, please give us success. Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, shining upon us. Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.

As the people enter the city with shouts of joy, they were proclaiming Jesus as their King! It would be quite a scene as the sheep were coming into the city as people were preparing for Passover, and Jesus comes in riding a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9 NLT

Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.

But...

What was the purpose of the Lamb?

The purpose of the lamb was to die.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

This Lamb, Jesus came to bare our sins.

If Jesus had plans to have an earthly kingdom, He would have fought for it, but He told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

He is our atoning sacrifice...

Jesus did everything that was required to satisfy God’s demands for our sins.

1 John 1:8–2:2 NLT

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

I came across a story called

"NO RECORD"

Several years ago Bob Sheffield of the Navigators told a moving story picturing the essence of what it means to receive God’s forgiveness.

Before he became a Christian, Bob played professional hockey in Canada. He was tough, loved to fight and found himself in jail one night after a barroom brawl. Later, Bob and his wife became Christians through the Navigator’s outreach ministry. They grew in their newfound faith and accepted a temporary assignment with the Navigators in Christian ministry in the States.

Bob had to apply for landed immigrant status, which would allow him and his wife to continue in ministry in the United States. But because he had a criminal record, his request was denied. Fortunately for the Sheffields, their daughter had been born in the U.S., and this worked in their favor. This loophole allowed them to receive the visa they needed to continue their work in the United States.

It was a troubling experience for the Sheffields. Bob realized that they would have this same problem every time the Navigators assigned them to a new ministry in another country. After much thought and prayer, they decided to apply in Canada for what is called the "Queen’s Pardon." A thorough investigation was conducted. The pardon was granted. Bob Sheffield received the following notice in the mail:

"Whereas we have since been implored on behalf of the said

Robert Jones Sheffield to extend a pardon to him in respect

to the convictions against him, and whereas the solicitor general here submitted a report to us, now know ye therefore, having taken these things into consideration, that we are willing to extend the royal clemency on him, the said Robert J. Sheffield, we have pardoned, remitted and released him of and from the said convictions, and of and from all and every penalty to which he was liable in pursuance thereof."

On any document from that time forward on which Bob was asked if he had a criminal record, he could honestly answer no. What the pardon meant was that he had been released from any possible punishment that could come from the crimes he had committed, and the record of the crimes themselves had been completely erased. When his fingerprints go to the Canadian Mounted Police and they run them through the computer, the printout comes back reading, "No record."

Author Tom L. Eisenman wrote: "This is the kind of pardon we have in Jesus Christ. When we have received forgiveness, we are set free from any penalty or possible punishment that was due us according to our crimes against God. When Satan requests from the heavenly computer our list of sins punishable by eternal death, it will always print out, "No record. Pardoned by the blood of Christ."

(Source: Tom L. Eisenman, Temptations Men Face, pp. 21-22. From a sermon by Wayne Presnell, "Sound the Alarm!" 2/10/2009)

Jesus’ death on the cross...

pays the penalty for the punishment that each of us deserve.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If it wasn’t for the Lamb of God, if it wasn’t for Jesus taking the punishment that we deserve each of us would deserve punishment in Hell, but because of what Jesus has done, we have been adopted into the family of God.

This is foolishness to humans...

In our educated society, how can we believe in such an archaic form of redemption? How is it possible that God would die for humanity?

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NIV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

There is no other way. We can’t preach another gospel. We can’t leave out the cross. We cannot preach that everyone goes to heaven.

God hasn’t given us that option.

Romans 5:6–8 NIV

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is the message that we preach, Christ crucified. He died so that we could live. In fact, He died so that He could live in us.

Galatians 2:20–21 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

My encouragement this week is that we would go and live this message and share the hope we have in Christ.

Let’s pray.