04-10-2020 The Silence of the LAMB

Isaiah 53:6–8 ESV

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. 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. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Many ideas about Jesus circulate through the ages.... Some see him as a Revolutionary or a Rebel...

Jesus was NO REVOLUTIONARY - He commanded his followers to be faithful in their duty to God and to Caesar. He told the leaders of the people that he did not come to destroy the law an the prophets, but to FULFILL

Jesus was NO REBEL - He never rose up against Rome, nor did he defy the appropriate Authority of Scripture and those in whom God vested human authority. His passing did not bruise a slender reed or quench the smoking flax. Instead, he came, humble and lowly with no human station on which to depend so that he could reach out to the least among us...

But, By His Death:

He brought a REVELATION that was REVOLUTIONARY, and,

His SACRIFICE was for the Sake of REBELS...

After His resurrection and ascension into Heaven, as the good news of his payment for sins was circulating, we read the story in the Acts of the Apostles where Philip is moved to meet the Ethopian Eunuch. Philip finds the man seated in his chariot, reading from the Prophet Isaiah...

Acts 8:31–35 ESV

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

“He did not open his mouth...” It is not that Jesus never spoke during the Passion, but rather he never reached out in hatred, bitterness, anger or self-justification. His place was one of sacrifice and savior.

We could learn MUCH from Jesus… The SILENCE of the LAMB is an important lesson for us on this Sabbath, both in remembrance of the death of Jesus as well as in this time of Sabbath due to the circumstances of the current Health Crisis...

HUMILITY is the ultimate defeat of the great and first sin of PRIDE

The Bible Says in 1 Peter Chapter Two:

1 Peter 2:21–25 ESV

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

On this night, as we remember the SACRIFICE of JESUS for REBELS and SINNERS

Let us REFUSE PRIDE and replace it with HUMILITY

Let us REMOVE RETALIATION and replace it with MERCY

Let us REFRAIN from EVIL and replace it with GRACE

Let us no longer RELY on LIES and instead DEPEND on GOD’s GREAT TRUTH