The King is . . . Our Unblemished Lamb -- 03/14/2021
The King is A Lamb
Last Sunday, we began a new sermon series The King is a Lamb, which will carry us through Easter. In this series we will see King Jesus as our Unblemished Lamb, our Suffering Lamb, our Submissive Lamb, and finally as our Glorious Lamb. Last Sunday our focus was on our King-Lamb entering Jerusalem. In looking at Jesus’ three predictions of his death and then how Jesus used the Parable of the 10 minas to reinforce that message, we saw that . . .
Jesus Entered Jerusalem with a Heavy Heart
When Jesus the Messiah entered Jerusalem surrounded with celebration, only He understood the cost this day, foretold. Men will slaughter him. Men will hate his disciples and slaughter them too. Because the Jews did not receive their Messiah, Rome will sack Jerusalem and destroy the Temple.
“You unbelieving and perverse generation, . . . how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? . . . Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” . . . But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it. (Luke 9:41, 44, 45)
Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus’ disciples did not understand what kind of Messiah Jesus intended to be. Because their “unbelieving and perverse generation” shaped what they could see and hear, they could not grasp who Jesus was or what he was doing.
Therefore, we asked the question . . .
Is the unbelief and pervision of our own generation keeping us from seeing, believing, and responding to God’s work in our own day?
We learned from God’s word last week that we must be diligent not to let our culture blind us to the movement of God in our times. We must be diligent not to become intertwined in the unbelief and perversity that is all around us so that it controls how we feel, think, and act. The way we live in the culture without the culture living in us is to allow Jesus to live through us so that we become increasingly like Jesus. We can do this by following Jesus’ command in John 15. We must remain in him by allowing his words to remain in us so that we do what he commands and not what our culture demands.
This morning we will see a protrait of King Jesus as our Unblemished Lamb. We create that portrait by answering three questions:
What Does God Require?
What Does God Sacrifice?
What is Our Benefit?
What Does God Require?
God Requires an Unblemished Lamb
In this morning’s Scripture reading, the Children of Israel are, figuratively, in “the eye of God’s hurricane.” Because of Pharoh’s hardness of heart toward God and his people, God wasted the land of Egypt with nine plagues. Now, in the calm, before the 10th and most deadly plague, God pauses and gives Israel special instructions for their first festival as the Chosen People of God - the festival of Passover.
As an act of faith, God calls His people to expect and celebrate his deliverance before that deliverance arrives. Before God’s glorious deliverance comes, God commands the Israel to remember and celebrate their deliverance in the first month of every year. The Jewish people keep this command to this day.
Concerning the lamb chosen for the Passover festival, God said,
The New International Version Chapter 12
The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect
As you can see, other translations often translate the Hebrew word “tā·mîm” as “unblemished” or “without blemish”
Exodus 12:5
NASB95 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old;
HCSB You must have an unblemished animal,
KJV 1900 Your lamb shall be without blemish,
ESV Your lamb shall be without blemish,
“tā·mîm” means . . .
Lexham Theological Wordbook תָּמִים
(tāmîm). adj. complete, whole, sound, blameless, perfect. Describes a spotless animal, something complete or whole, and a blameless or upright person.
A lamb can meet the physical requirements of being unblemished, but it cannot meet the requirements to be blameless or upright. Therefore, the lamb is a symbol that points us to something beyond the physical animal. Here, the unblemished lamb points to God’s other requirements for his people. The first is . . .
God Requires an Unblemished Life
A part of the Hebrew defintion of “unblemished” is to be whole, complete. God requires that his people be unblemished in the sense that they are wholly and completely committed to him. The first commandment makes this clear,
Exodus 20:2–3 NIV
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
God desired Israel’s total devotion to him so they would be a holy people, a people set apart from the unbelieving and perverse people and cultures that surrounded them. God told Israel,
Leviticus 11:45 NIV
I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
God’s instruction to consume completely the Passover Lamb is a picture of God’s requirement for total devotion from His people. The unblemished lamb points to God’s requirement that His people live a life fully devoted to him and set apart from the unbelieving and perverse culture in which we live. Therefore, the unblemished lamb teaches us that . . .
God Requires Unblemished Service
The Lord said to Israel,
Exodus 19:6 NIV
you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
And . . .
Isaiah 49:6 NIV
he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Again, the manner of eating the Passover meal points us toward the life of an unblemished servant. Dressed for travel, Israel devoured the lamb. During the meal, they were to expect God to act and be ready to obey at once when God tells them to move out.
God requires His people to do His will in the world. Our obedience to God’s will is a light to the unbelieving and perverse generation in which we live. This is the unblemished service God commands.
God’s rule of an unblemished lamb points us to God’s requirement that we live a life of perfect devotion to him and a life of perfect service for his glory. The problem is . . .
We don’t deliver perfection!
Our inability to deliver an unblemished life and the unblemished service God demands is not merely an unfortunate limitation because we are human. From the very beginning of time men and women have shown themselves incapable of this life and service, because, by our own choices, unbelief and perversion ingrained in us prevent us from giving ourselves fully to God.
We don’t deliver perfection. Therefore, we need God to cover our sin and forgive us. Now, the unblemished Passover Lamb points us forward to the sacrificial system and how God forgives sin. The unblemished Passover lamb was both sacrifice and nourishment. The people selected and slaughtered a perfect lamb. They sacrificed their best lamb. Families applied the blood of the lamb to the doorframes of their houses. When God saw the blood of the lamb, which covered his people, God spared them the judgement that fell upon the unbelieving and perverse nation of Egypt (Exodus 12:12-13). The perfect lamb substitutes for the lack of perfection of the persons offering it.
However, participation in the benefits of the blood of the unblemished lamb required obedience at every level. God gave the instructions for the Passover to the entire community. The families applied the instructions. The faithful obedience of individuals secured the benefits of the blood for their families and for the nation.
The blood of the unblemished lamb . . .
• Signifies God’s sure deliverance
• Protects from judgement
• Distinguishes God’s people from those who are not’s God’s people
There was nothing magical in the blood of that unblemished lamb that brought about these benefits. The physical application of the blood symbolizes the hearts of the community, with its families and individuals, placing their total trust in God’s love, mercy, and provision for their deliverance. In this way . . .
The Unblemished Lamb points to Messiah
The Jewish midrash is a collection of Jewish commentary on the Scriptures. One commentary on Exodus 12:2 explains the Jewish Messiah will come at the time of the Passover.
THIS MONTH SHALL BE UNTO YOU THE BEGINNING OF MONTHS … and Messiah is called ‘first’, for it says: The first [E.V. ‘harbinger’] unto Zion will I give (Isa. XLI, 27). God who is called ‘the first’ will come and build the Temple which is also called ‘first’, and will exact retribution from Esau, also called ‘first’. Then will Messiah who is called ‘first’ come in the first month, [1]
The unblemished Passover lamb points us forward to God’s deliverance of his people from sin and the provision of a messiah who will restore the relationship between God and his people. However, the sacrifice of all the unblemished lambs in all the world in all time would not cover the sins of God’s people. That kind of perfect deliverance could only come from a sacrifice from God himself.
What Does God Sacrifice?
God sacrifices his unblemished Son
John 3:16–19 NIV
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
The Greek word translated “gave” in John 3:16 carries the sense “to sacrifice (relinquish) v. — to endure the loss of someone or something.” [2]
Therefore, we can legitimately read John 3:16 like this, “For God so loved the world that he sacrificed his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God sacrificed His one and only Son to show that a human completely devoted to God could . . .
Live an Unblemished Life
Jesus live a sinless life. Hebrews 4:15 tells us
Hebrews 4:15 NIV
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Jesus claims his own sinlessness when he asks the Jews this question,
John 8:46 NIV
Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
At his trial, Jesus’ sinlessness was on public display
Mark 14:55 NIV
The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any.
God sacrificed His one and only son that a human completely devoted to the Father could live an unblemished life and
Offer Unblemished Service
Jesus fully obeyed the father in all things. Jesus said,
John 4:34 NIV
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus carried out all the work His Father prepared in advance for Jesus to do for the Father’s glory. Before his arrest, Jesus said to the Father,
John 17:4 NIV
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
Yet, the last measure of Jesus’ unblemished service was his submission to suffering death on the cross. The Apostle Paul wrote,
Philippians 2:8 NIV
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
God sacrificed His one and only son to show that a human completely devoted to the Father could live an unblemished life and offer unblemished service, so that Jesus would be for us,
Our Unblemished Lamb
The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus’ perfect sacrifice is the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Jesus.
Hebrews 5:7–9 NIV
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
The Apostle Peter put it this way,
1 Peter 1:18–21 NIV
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Persons in the Old Testament put their hope in God’s forgiveness through the shedding of blood of an unblemished lamb pointing toward the Messiah. Likewise, our hope is in God who sacrificed his one and only Son, Jesus the Messiah, to be Our Unblemished Lamb by the shedding of His blood for the complete forgiveness of our sins.
In view of Jesus the Messiah’s unblemished life, unblemished service, and unblemished sacrifice . . .
What is Our Benefit?
In Jesus the Messiah, We are Unblemished
God counts believers as blameless in his sight because of Jesus Christ's death for them. In Jesus . . .
We Live an Unblemished Life
The Apostle Paul describes this unblemished life like this,
Ephesians 1:4 NIV
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
Colossians 1:22 NIV
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
Because in Christ we live an unblemished life,
We Offer Unblemished Service
Hebrews 9:14 NIV
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
The Apostle Paul describes how the perfect life, service, and sacrifice of Jesus enables us to offer unblemished service in these words,
Romans 8:1–4 NIV
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
King Jesus, our unblemished Lamb, sets us free from the law of sin and death. The Holy Spirit produces Jesus’ life in us so that we do not live according to what our bodies and our culture demand. Rather, we obey the Spirit, doing God’s will in the unbelieving and perverse culture in which we live.
Because in Jesus we live an unblemished life and offer unblemished service
We Are an Unblemished Sacrifice
The Apostle Paul wrote,
Romans 12:1 NIV
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
When we follow Jesus’ command in John 15 to remain in him by allowing his words to remain in us, we cannot help but be living sacrifices to the glory of God in this unbelieving and perverse generation. For Jesus has said to us,
John 15:16 NIV
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Let me summarize God’s word to us this morning like this,
God requires perfection we don’t deliver, then makes us perfect in Jesus so that as individuals, as families, and as a church family, we do His will and bring Him glory by living where we live and doing what He daily gives us to do.
Go live this week with this joyful assurance:
1 Corinthians 1:8 NIV
He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Huckel, T. (1998). The Rabbinic Messiah (Ex 12:2). Philadelphia, PA: Hananeel House.
[2] Faithlife Corporation. (2021). to sacrifice (relinquish) (Version 9.3) [Computer software]. Logos Bible Software Bible Sense Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation. Retrieved from https://ref.ly/logos4/Senses?KeyId=ws.sacrifice.v.01.
[2] Difransico, L. (2014). Sacrifice. D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.