Christmas, 2020 Part 2: Christ the Lamb

Christmas, 2020 Part 2: Christ as the Lamb of God Today is Christmas message Part 2: Christ as the Lamb of God. As we know, in this series of messages to prepare us to worship the Lord on December 25, we're only glancing at the birth of Jesus but gazing on who he was before he was born and even now, as he sits at the right hand of the Father. And we will spend some time in a couple of weeks proclaiming Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, returning to earth in great power and glory. And speaking of Christ's return, I for one am longing for that now more than ever. One day, the Lord will crack the sky, destroy his enemies and set up his kingdom that will have no end. In that day, all elections will cease! No ballots needed then. King Jesus won't run for election or for re-election. Gloriously, any political rival will be met with a rod of iron! Praise God for the soon return of His Son! Last week, we took the time to see Christ as Creator, the Word of God, the Second Person of the blessed Trinity. We marveled at the display of the miracles he brought about. The miracle of creation through the word. The miracle of the incarnation--the word of God, Messiah Jesus, made flesh. And the miracle of salvation of his people because of the death and resurrection of Christ--the word of God made flesh. Today, we glance at the birth of Christ as a baby sheep, the Lamb of God. And who better to include in our story today than the experts of all things sheep, the shepherds. Remember how the angels told them, "unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Indeed. We will remind ourselves today that "Savior" and "God's Lamb" have a vital connection, for it took God's Lamb to save us. This isn't a new thing. This idea of Christ as Savior, referred to as a Lamb was introduced all the way back in Garden of Eden, where God spilled the blood of innocent animals because of our sin. As we review the story of the announcement to the shepherds, we may get a clue as to when, and where Christ was actually born. Spoiler alert! He was not born on December 25! Just like the tradition of the visit of the Magi on the day of Christ's birth, December 25 as Jesus' birthday is only a tradition. Most likely he was not even born in the winter! Today, I want us to return to the creation story, Genesis 1-2. I want to make a couple of comments in passing, then tell you where we're going in the message today. My prayer is that we will gain a much deeper appreciation of what Messiah Jesus, the Lamb of God did for us, which will hopefully lead us to a deeper worship of the Lord and his grace and mercy poured out for us in the blood of His Son. There is a reason why God inspired Moses to write the creation story. In a word? Witness. See, by the time the people of Israel came on the scene, a number of long standing, pagan religions was ongoing. The gods people worshipped were very bloody. Very uncertain. Very shallow objects of worship. But that's what happens when we suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Practically all the pagan religions had 3 things in common. First, they were polytheistic--the people worshipped many gods. So when God's people came on the scene, and all their neighbors saw they only worshiped 1 God--who, by the way, claimed superiority over all the so-called gods the pagans round about them worshiped, that was totally radical! And threatening to them. Second, the worshippers of pagan gods saw them as just bigger versions of themselves, like super heroes. Ironically, the pagans also saw their gods afflicted with the same frustrations, problems and fickleness they had--totally unworthy of worship. In the words of the Hulk when he pounded Loki into the ground in one of the Avengers' movies, they were "puny gods." The 3rd thing I want to point out about the pagan religions of Israel's neighbors is was what it took to please the gods, as in sacrifices. Sometimes it was animal sacrifices. All too often it was human sacrifice. There was a long standing meme built into paganism regarding this very thing. The prophet Micah, who ministered to God's people about 800 B.C. actually quoted it in Micah 6.7: Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Horrifically, the pagan priests taught the worshipers that the gods were so unpredictable, that on a whim what they required was that parents sacrifice their already born children to the pagan fires. We call that infanticide. Abortion is unspeakable. Infanticide by fire--no words for that. Enter the Torah, the truth of the Living God, who inspired Moses to write it down. A blessed relief to contrast the pagan practices of the day with that of the true and Living God. God wanted the pagans to know the truth for 2 reasons. First, to get the story straight, especially about who was really in charge. Through God's people and his written word, the truth had a platform from which to proclaim a witness to the pagans around Israel. One thing I deeply appreciate about the Lord. The amazing dignity he gives all of us. We have the ability to make real choices. We are not robots, mechanically programmed to do his will. Though we are fallen and deeply flawed, God allows us the freedom to choose our way through his world--whether to receive eternal life and follow him, or refuse him and his ways and live our own lives. Scripture makes it clear. God through his servants tells his people to choose. Moses told the people that God set before them life and death. "Choose life" in Deut. 30.19. Joshua gave a challenge to the people: "Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house we will serve the Lord" in Joshua 24.21. And who can forget Elijah's challenge to God's wavering people: "1 Kings 18:21: "How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." The point is that as image bearers of God, he gave us the ability to make real choices that affect the destiny of our lives. If the Lord is God, follow Him. Again, getting the truth out to the pagans was a major reason God inspired Moses to write the creation story. A second reason for the Torah was God letting the people know what he wanted by way of sacrifice. Human sacrifice, God said, never even entered his mind, when it came by way of people giving him an offering. But he did require sacrifice for sin. This offering was primarily a lamb. Other animals were sacrificed to be sure. But there was something about lambs that God often singled out for sacrifice--a picture of what the Lord wanted to show the world of how to get rid of sin. So today, we are going to take a quick trip through God's photo album so to speak by seeing sacrificial lambs in action, all pointing with increasing clarity to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, we are not going to spend much time on any one snapshot--the clock is so unkind. But it is my prayer for us that we will gain a profound appreciation of God's lamb and what he did, and why he did it. My prayer is that we will gain a renewed commitment and warmth of relationship with the Lord who cared so much for us to actually send us his lamb, who takes away not only our sin, but also the sin of the world. Our first picture is found in the Garden of Eden. The first sin. Adam and Eve directly disobeyed the Lord God. He gave them a warning before they sinned, "in the day you eat of the fruit, you shall die." We know that Adam and Eve were super intelligent. But did they even have a clue of what death was? Probably not. So, after they ate the fruit, God called them to account. He cursed them. But when that fateful day was done, they were still alive. Makes one go hmm. But a death did occur. Genesis 3.21: And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. They did not suffer death. But innocent animals did. How did that work? The simple but profound answer: substitution. The animals took the place of guilty sinners. The next picture is Exodus 12. The night of the 10th plague God was going to levy upon Pharaoh because he refused to let God's people go. That night the Lord would send the angel of death on the land. No one was exempt. Before the sun rose the next day, every household would experience someone dead. Unless. Unless God's Passover procedure was followed. In short, the blood of a killed innocent lamb was to be displayed on the doorposts of the house. When the angel saw the blood of the lamb, the angel would pass over the family, and the life of the firstborn would be spared. But it was a 5 day process. A 1 year old lamb was chosen on the 10th of the month--one without blemish. This lamb was brought into the house. On the 5th day the father would take a knife and kill the lamb. Why the 5 day delay? Could it be that the lamb would be sort of like a pet--accepted as a part of the family? What would life be like for the kids to have their lamb killed? Can you imagine the questions? The sorrow? This innocent lamb, killed for me to protect me from the angel of death. And as God promised, the angel of death came. When he saw the blood, he passed over the home. And the nation of Israel--the descendants of Jacob, God's people were spared. Fast forward many centuries. In writing about the Messiah, Isaiah says something significant about his relationship to not just the nation of Israel, but of the whole world. Isaiah 9.6-7: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. This is in the context of the chapter where the Messiah will be ministering to a land belonging to the Gentiles, the prophet calls it "the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations." In other words, Messiah will indeed be of benefit for every person on the planet, not just Israel. Then came that glorious night. It had been right at 40 weeks since Gabriel told Mary she would bear the Messiah. And on March 20, 6 B.C., myriads of angels appeared to shepherds. But they were no ordinary shepherds. They were what was known as Levitical shepherds. And their job was to tend the flocks, members which would be used for sacrifice in the temple, to include Passover. Their job was extremely important in Jewish life. God said the lamb must be without spot or blemish. Let's pick up the story in Luke 2.10-18: And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ--or Messiah--the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. If you have been with us over the past few years, you remember some fantastic detail about the shepherds, and exactly where Jesus was born. I mentioned to you that in the area between Jerusalem and Bethlehem were fields where the Temple shepherds kept their flocks at night. It was in the spring because it gets pretty cold in Israel in the winter so they are not out then! But I came across some even better information about the Temple shepherds, and places, or should I say place where they birthed the lambs for sacrifice. This info was written by a Baptist pastor and author Dr. James Scudder. "Due to recent archeological evidence in Israel, we now know what these signs the angels declared to the shepherds pointed to. If swaddling clothes were a common practice after the birth of a child, how would this be a sign? If a manger were a feeding trough for stable animals, it wouldn't be a special sign. Instead, they together pinpointed the exact place the shepherds could find baby Jesus. These signs pointed the shepherds to a structure called the Tower of the Flock. The Tower of the Flock was on the outskirts of Bethlehem and overlooked the fields in which the Levitical shepherds kept their flocks for the Temple. When a sheep was about to give birth, it was taken to the tower. The newborn lambs were placed in a manger, a clean stone bed, to be examined with swaddling clothes, white linens which would be used to find any blemishes. Because the sacrifices had to be without spot or blemish, much care was taken to make sure that the lambs were free of any infirmities. Scudder says that there was only one place in Bethlehem that had a manger and swaddling clothes-the Tower of the Flock. He continues: "The shepherds immediately recognized the signs as they were implements that they were familiar with. They would have no problem finding the babe since they knew exactly where He was." Scudder finishes his thought this way: "How incredible is it that the 'Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world' was born in the exact place that the sacrificial lambs for the Temple were born?" What a picture! In addition to this, in one of the Jewish writings there is a prediction that the Messiah would make himself known from the Tower of the Flock. Time passes so fast! Now move forward from Jesus' birth to the bare beginnings of his ministry. One day he meets John the Baptist. And John introduces the Lord this way in John 1.29: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! The one whom the Lord called to be the forerunner of the Messiah introduced him to the world by calling him the Lamb of God. It is instructive to remember that John did a whole lot of baptizing--that's why he was referred to as the Baptist. His baptism was a baptism for repentance from sin. But Jesus' mission was to separate people from their sin, taking it away. How? Just like the Father showed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden--substitution, where an innocent one would die for the sake of another. In order for the Lamb of God to take away sin, he would die for the sins of others. And this is exactly what he did. Fast forward to about 3 years later. Palm Sunday. The 10th of the month, with Passover on the 14th. Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey, in fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy of their king coming to them in Zechariah 9.9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. How the people adored him! Palm branches, putting their own clothing on the ground for the donkey to walk on, complete with shouts of "Hosanna!" One would think that this would be a very happy time. But it wasn't for Jesus. For Jesus wept over the city. And why would that be? Remember what would happened in the days leading up to the Passover as told in Exodus? The lamb would be welcomed in the home, accepted as a member of the family, only to be slain. Jesus, on lamb selection day, was rejected by the religious establishment. Through Jesus' tears he said, they "did not recognize the time of your visitation" by the Lord. He offered them himself as their Messiah but they rejected him. And Matthew recorded some of the most scary words uttered by the Lord when he said in Matthew 23.37-39: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " As a direct result of the Jewish leadership rejecting Christ as Messiah, Jesus tells them their house is left to them desolate. A couple of days later, Jesus was led like a sheep to the slaughter. He, the sinless one, died in the place of sinners as the sin of the world was placed on his shoulders. His death took place at the 9th hour of the day. 3pm. At the exact same time when the high priest took a knife to kill the Passover lamb. And Jesus cried out, "It is finished." The work of salvation was done. Gloriously, God's Lamb rose again three days later, never to die again! He ascended to the right hand of the Father. Now the ascended Lord will be our eternal reminder of the grace of God. In Revelation 5.6, the first time John encounters the Lamb after he is told, "Come up here" and was in the spirit, he saw Christ, a "lamb standing as though it had been slain." He, King of kings and Lord of lords, the mighty one who was worthy to open the scroll--the title deed of the earth. The Messiah who overcame death and now has the keys of death and hades. It is this one who stands as though it had been slain. It has been said that the only man-made things in heaven will be the scars we put on Jesus. But that is not all. One day, the Lamb will roar as a lion. He will return to smash his enemies, set up his kingdom and sit on his throne. This is Jesus. No longer a babe. But the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. So, what do we do with this? Let me give us 2 points to take to heart. First, how deeply do we appreciate the sacrifice of God's Lamb, slain for you and me? I believe the answer to that question is directly tied into this second question, this point to ponder. How deeply have you felt the weight of your sin in the sight of holy, almighty God? The one who not only provides for you, and loves you deeply, but is also pure beyond pure? When was the last time we recoiled in horror over our own sin, and cried out for deliverance? See, the sons and daughters of Jacob were enslaved for hundreds of years. Hard labor. They cried out for deliverance from their bondage. When was the last time you became really sick of your sin and begged God to deliver you from it? Jesus tells us the truth--he loves us enough to do that. One day, he was having dinner at the house of Simon, a Pharisee. As they sat at the table, a woman of ill repute came in, absolutely stricken at the sight of the Messiah. She felt the weight of her sin and began to weep. Uncontrollably. Puddles of tears ran over the feet of Jesus. And she unbound her hair and began to dry his feet and anoint his feet. But Pharisee Simon used that very tender moment to attack Jesus in his heart. See, Simon was too good of a person to be moved by the tears--probably fake tears from his perspective of a prostitute. "If Jesus were a real prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is that is . . . touching him." Then Jesus, reading his mind gave Simon a parable. And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher." "A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven-for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." Here's the truth. The depth of the love we have for the Lamb of God and others goes as far as we have realized the depth of our own spiritual poverty, and wickedness and sin. How deeply do you love the Lamb of God who has taken your sin away? Of course, I'm speaking of Christians. Those who are not Christians, I give you a warning. The wrath of God is coming upon all unrighteousness and sin. God loves. But God is holy. He will perfectly take care of sin where ever he finds it. And nothing escapes his notice. Right now, if you have not come to Christ like this woman did, broken, in desperate need of his forgiveness to take your sin away, its just a matter of time till the blast furnace of God's wrath will consume you. The truth is, all of us will either be consumed by the blast furnace of his wrath or we will have found shelter in him when the time comes. But the time to find shelter in him is now. It will be too late 1 second after you die. All of us who have embraced the Lamb of God have had our sins taken care of. We are right now standing behind him as he absorbs the wrath of God on our behalf. Where are you right now? Apart from the Lamb, or behind him? The wrath can come at any moment and you need to be ready. I think it is appropriate at this time that we take a moment to reflect on this. In a moment I want us to do business with the the Lord Jesus, God's Lamb who died to take away all sin. Has he taken yours away? If he has, how have your treated him? I quoted for you part of Michael Card's song last week, "To the Mystery". God incarnate and man deified is Christ the Creator. Let me quote for you the third stanza then we will ask the Lord to do business in our lives. But let me offer to you an opportunity to take a stand for the Lord. If you have never given your life, your heart to the Lord. If you have never embraced the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, in short, your sin still clings to you because you have never let him have your sin, I will invite you to do something brave. You are among friends. I'm going to ask you to simply stand. By standing you are saying, the Lamb of God has taken my sin away. I'm grateful for what he has done for me. I want to follow him now for the rest of my days. As you stand, you need to know that you are not alone. You have a family that you can count on to help you in your walk with the Lord as a son as a daughter of God. Hear now, Michael Card's "To the Mystery" Because the Fall did devastate, Creator must now re-create. And so to take our sin, was made like us so we could be like him. That is the mystery. More than you can see. Give up on your pondering and fall down on your knees.