The Sacrificial Lamb

What is a sign?

We see signs on the road—they can serve as warnings. Big flashing lights that inform you of something. But we also have signs on front of a building. If you see a big yellow M what is it? You’re likely going to get a happy meal or a burger. Or if you see Wal-Mart you know you’re about to spend $100 even if you went in for some shredded cheese.

A sign points to something else. It’s an indicator. It’s first definition in the dictionary is: an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. It’s an evidence, a proof, a signal, a mark.

When you see this thing you’re going to know that this thing is taking place. It’s a word that’s used often in the New Testament connected with Jesus doing some sort of miracle. So listen for that word as we read Luke 2:8-14

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So you have shepherds watching their flock. Doing their jobs. Common people. Everyday job. And an angel comes. Much has been made about the shepherds and we’ll dig into this more in a couple weeks. Shepherds were considered to be unclean. Their testimony wouldn’t even hold up in court because they had a reputation of being lying thieves. But it was also an image that the Lord picked up all throughout the Old Testament. Israel being sheep and God Himself being their Shepherd. Jesus will pick this up later and call himself the Good Shepherd.

But these shepherds are doing their job. An angle comes. They have the typical scared response to seeing an angel says, “chill out, I’ve got good news.

Unto you is born in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. The promised King. The one who is going to fix everything. The rescuer has been born.

And this will be a sign for you....

Okay…so that’s our word. This thing is going to happen and it’s going to point to something else. Your going to find a baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths.

As you might know we’ve been preaching through the gospel of Luke on Sunday mornings. I was reading ahead just a little and came upon this in Luke 2:8-14....we will be there a couple of Sunday’s from now so I won’t be saying everything there is to say on this text. I just wanted to highlight one little thing here.

So as I’m reading that—we’re going through Luke on Sunday mornings. I’d read ahead some. I’m asking the question…what kind of sign is this? I mean it’s certainly unusual. You don’t find babies in mangers very often. But what is it pointing to. How is this pointing to something?

Here is one possibility. Now I want to say that this is something that I had a really difficult time finding historically verified. I’m not even confident that it’s legit or plausible. There are a few holes in this that I want to shore up before I could say “here is what happened…here is what that sign was.” I don’t yet feel comfortable enough to do that. So you can’t leave here and say, “pastor said this is what happened....”

But I want to share this theory with you and then I want to tell you WHAT really matters in this. So here is the neat little story I stumbled upon from Brant Hansen...

Mangers are odd little things. They're feeding troughs, of course. In ancient Israel, they were made of stone.

They're not super-comfortable, but you know what? In a pinch, they can be kind of protective.

That's why experts -priests who lived near Bethlehem, near a hill known for raising sacrificial lambs- would put lambs in them.

Not all the lambs; just the ones they thought were without blemish and suitable for the blood sacrifices that took place twice a day. Sacrifices to cover sin.

These were the lambs Bethlehem was famous for. There was a hill there with a tower, "Migdal Eder", and the flocks nearby were the ones that yielded lambs for sacrifice.

The priests wanted to keep the lambs without bumps and bruises. So they'd wrap them up tightly. They'd swaddle them, wrapping them in cloths, like precious and terribly fragile bottles of wine.

And they'd lay them in a manger.

"Manger" is only mentioned in one account of Jesus' birth. (It's in Luke.) And it makes sense. There's really only a small group of people who would understand it's significance. And they are the very ones who hear the words:

"You will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger."

Shepherds! The shepherds of the sacrificial flock.

They knew what the cloths and the manger meant.

"This will be a sign to you," the angel said. And it was. It wouldn't have been a sign to many. But to them? Most definitely. And this sign was staggering.

The long-expected King wasn't headed to a palace. No, this was going to be different.

He was going to be sacrificed.

They knew where the Messiah was born... but they also knew where He was headed.

"Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners, reconciled."

Again there are a few things in this that might not be 100% accurate. There were special lambs used for sacrifice and many of these would come from Bethlehem. There really is a tower called Migdal Eder and it does have some significance in the Old Testament. Jesus really was born in a manger—a horse trough—primitive.

And regardless of every exact detail I really do believe that this sign here—whatever it was carried for these shepherds the idea that this baby was going to be the one who was going to bring peace. The angels testified to this in verses 13-14.

He WAS born to die. He was the sacrificial lamb to take away our sin. He was spotless. He did cover us. He does bring peace.

He alone brings peace.