“GOD’S LAMB – OUR REDEEMER”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES
I. Introduction
Our problem began in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, the very pinnacle of God’s creation, the only creatures made in His likeness and in His image, rebelled against Him. They chose to turn their backs on His love. They chose to disobey His lawful commands. They chose to follow after their own desires. Satan, in the form of the serpent, tempted them, and they willingly succumbed to his temptation. As a result of their sin against their Creator, God drove them out of the Garden and away from His personal presence.
That very day, Adam and Eve, designed by God to be eternal, began an inexorable slide toward death. Sin took eternal life and turned it into eternal death. Adam and Eve’s phy-sical bodies, as well as the entire creation they inhabited, began to die. Sin kills! It may kill instantly or it may take many years, but regardless of how long it takes, it kills. Sin took perfection and contaminated it, and so, death has reigned in this world ever since.
Just as you do not get a lamb from the union of two pigs, neither do you get a sinless child from the union of two sinners. Thus Adam and Eve’s children were contaminated with their parent’s sin and, as their offspring, you and I are contaminated with it too.
And that’s the problem we face. In our flesh, our natural condition, we are members of a race of sinners. That is what King David meant in the Psalms.
Psalm 51:5
5 Behold, I was brought forth (born) in iniquity, and in sin my mother con-ceived me.
So we are sinners by birth, or by nature. Theologians call this inherited sin. You got it from your parents. But you can’t blame them for inherited sin because they got it from their parents. This inherited sin is sufficient to condemn us.
But inherited sin isn’t our only problem. Before Moses’ received The Ten Command-ments, man had no specific knowledge of God’s Law. Therefore, specific sins were not counted against him. Man was still a sinner, he was still condemned as a result of his inherited sin, but once man received God’s Law, it got worse. Every single violation of God’s Law was now counted against man. This is what theologians call imputed sin.
Paul addresses imputed sin in his great doctrinal thesis, the Book of Romans.
*Romans 5:13-14
13 for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam…
By the way, it is this very principle of imputation that saves us. God used it to count our sins against Jesus on the cross, and to count His righteousness to all who will repent and put their faith in Him and His finished work. This supernatural transfer of our sin to Jesus, and Jesus’ righteousness to us is also found in Romans 5.
*Romans 5:18
18 So then as through one transgression (Adam’s) there resulted condemna-tion to all men, even so through one act of righteousness (Jesus’) there resulted justification of life to all men.
The use of the words “all men” in this verse can be confusing until you view it in its lar-ger context. Think of the first use of the words as referring to all the lost, i.e., virtually everyone; and the second use of the words as referring to all the saved, i.e., all Christians.
So you and I have the problem of inherited sin and the problem of imputed sin. We are sinners because we were born that way, and we are sinners because we have broken God’s Law – His commandments. We have these two strikes against us, but as if that were not enough, there is more. It gets still worse. Strike three comes in the form of our own personal sin. You might think of it as individual sin.
Individual sins are wrought by every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth. They are sins of omission as well as sins of commission. They are found in what we say, as well as what we don’t say. And most subtly, they are present in the dark recesses of our minds. They all dishonor God by the breaking His most perfect and holy Law.
In all this we see that we are “three way” sinners. Inherited sin, imputed sin, and indivi-dual sin together condemn us. So if God does nothing to save us we are left without hope. He is the One who can forgive us because He is the One who has been offended. And while our sins always have an effect on other people, the real offense is against God.
For example, David’s sin of adultery was devastating to the people involved. It led not only to Bathsheba’s shame and the loss of her child, but it brought about the death of Uriah. But in all of this, David knew his sin was against God. He says so twice.
2 Samuel 12:13a (confessing his sin to the Prophet Nathan)
13a Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Psalm 51:4a (confessing his sin to God)
4a Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight…
But God is merciful to him. That mercy is seen in one of the greatest promises in the NT. God will forgive us if we will just agree with Him about ourselves and our sin.
1 John 1:8-9
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 (but) if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So David confessed. But how can God forgive? Didn’t He say that the payment for sin is death? He did! “For the wages of sin is death…(Romans 6:23a)” This is not only phy-sical death, but spiritual death, eternal death, what the Bible calls the second death.
*Revelation 20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose pre-sence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the result of God’s righteous anger and judgment against sin. The second death is the final wage, or payment, for the sins of men. However, God has provided forgiveness for sins. He offers it to all who hear the good news of the gospel and receive it. I ask again. How can God do this when perfect justice demands payment for sins committed? He takes the punishment Himself. That is, He chooses to lay the punishment for your sin and mine on His own Son. And that was His plan from the beginning.
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II. Text
God’s plan begins to be seen in Genesis 22. He displays it by using Abraham and his only son, Isaac. And, for the first time in Scripture, we see that a lamb will be involved in God’s plan of redemption.
*Genesis 22:2, 6-8a
2 And (God) said (to Abraham), “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8a And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
Let me just say a word about v. 2. Many theologians believe that Mount Moriah is today the temple mount in Jerusalem, and that Calvary, the hill upon which Jesus was crucified, is the very hill that was climbed by Abraham and Isaac over two thousand years earlier.
In any case, the entire account of Abraham and Isaac is a detailed prophecy of God’s sac-rifice of His own Son two thousand years later. The writer of Hebrews tells us that this is a typical prophecy or a prophecy of type. In Genesis 22, Abraham is a type of God the Father and Isaac is a type of God the Son.
Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;
18 it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.”
19 He (Abraham) considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.
Looking back we are able to understand the prophecy with great clarity.
The next major step in understanding the significance of the lamb and God’s plan of redemption is seen in Exodus 12. Today we know it as Passover. Five hundred years after Abraham and Isaac climbed Mount Moriah, God used Moses and Aaron to paint a picture of what would be done in Jerusalem fifteen hundred after that. And again, a little lamb was a central figure.
*Exodus 12:1-3, 5a, 6-7, 12a, 13a
1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.
3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their father’s households, a lamb for each household.
5a ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old…
6 ‘And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.
(the month in v. 2 is Nissan – approx. March 15 – April 15 – so the 10th day is late in March and the 14th day is around April 1)
7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
12a ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast…
13a ‘And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you…’”
Notice the prophetic details that apply to the sacrificial lamb here in Exodus 12…
• In v. 5a, the lamb will be young and it will be perfect, that is, without any (visible) deformity or defect.
• In v. 6, the lamb will be kept around the house. Then after a little while, the family will kill the lamb before sunset. And this will be done in front of the entire nation.
• In v. 7 the picture is this: The lamb’s blood on your temporary dwelling place (your physical body) will indicate your obedience to God’s commands. Then, by passing through the blood and passing under the blood…
• In vv. 12-13, …eternal death will pass over you.
This prophetic picture is amazing. Eternal life in your eternal dwelling place is assured by the blood of the Lamb.
We’ve seen that God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. We have seen that the sacri-ficial lamb must die. Blood must be shed. Why? Because the wages of sin is death and God’s perfect and holy justice requires blood as the only satisfactory payment for sin.
Leviticus 17:11
11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”
Over the next fifteen hundred years the Jews shed the innocent blood of millions of little sacrificial lambs. Each one was testimony to Israel’s obedience to God’s demand for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins. But still…the problem remained. Why?
Hebrews 10:4
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
All those millions of little lambs could not take away sin…they could hide it for a little while. They could temporarily cover it up, like new paint on an old car. King David fully understood the difference between sin that is temporarily hidden from view and sin that is permanently gone. In what seems to be a sequel to Psalm 51, David says…
Psalm 32:1
1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!
“Covered” in Hebrew is the word, “kāsāh” (kaw-saw΄). It refers to something that is unseen or concealed. So the sacrifice of all those animals merely provided a shadow of what was to come.
John the Baptist, the last of the OT Prophets, was especially privileged by God to be the one to make the presentation of the Substance to us.
John 1:29
29 “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
“Takes away” in Greek is translated from the word, “airō” (ah΄ee-ro).
“Airō” does not refer to something that is merely unseen or concealed from view, but something that is eliminated or gone. God’s Lamb not only rendered our sin invisible, He removed it as far as the East is from the West. God’s Lamb became our substitute.
The next point about God’s Lamb and His substitution for us is found in Isaiah 53.
*Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
The NT speaks of this substitution as well.
1 Peter 2:24
24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Here is where we can see the direct application for us. This is the doctrine of the substi-tutionary atonement of Christ. We were dead in our sin, but now, as Christians, we are alive in Christ. This is why we can say that Jesus died for us. This is why we can say that the blood Jesus spilled was spilled for us. Jesus Christ has redeemed us.
Ephesians 1:7-8a
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8a which He lavished on us…
What exactly is redemption? The Greek word translated “redeemed” means “to release on payment of a ransom.” How does it apply to Christians? Think of yourself as having been enslaved by Satan. He owns you. He will set you free on one condition only. The Son of God will have to take your place. If Jesus will just turn Himself over to Satan, the devil will release you. Satan wants to keep you in his power. He wants you dead. But even more than that, he really wants the Son of God in his power. What he really really wants is the Son of God dead.
So Jesus voluntarily takes your place. On the surface it almost appears that Jesus submits Himself to Satan’s will. He becomes your substitute. He voluntarily pays the ransom, and the ransom is He, Himself. The Lamb of God sheds His blood for you. The Son of God willingly lays down His life in place of yours.
So the ransom is paid and you are released from Satan’s grip. You have been set free. You have been redeemed. There is only one Redeemer. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Every Christian has been redeemed by His blood. Every Christian’s freedom from slavery has been bought with a price. The price was the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Peter speaks of it.
1 Peter 1:18-19
18 …knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Fanny Crosby got it right when she wrote these words…
“Redeemed how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am.”
We think of our Redeemer at the first ordinance of the church, baptism by immersion in water, and we think of Him again at the second ordinance of the church as well. This morning our focus is on the latter – The Lord’s Supper, or Communion. Just as the first ordinance is only for Christians, so too is the second.
If baptism is symbolic of us in Christ, Communion is symbolic of the second aspect of our salvation. In it we focus not on ourselves being in Christ but on Christ being in us. In Communion we consume the elements and symbolically take Jesus into ourselves. Just as physical food and drink sustain us physically, so too spiritual food and drink sus-tain us spiritually.
We remember God’s Lamb and His perfect sacrifice as we come to the table to receive the elements that so eloquently represent Christ’s body and blood. They are a picture of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement and our redemption.
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III. Conclusion
So our problem began in the Garden of Eden. It was solved on the hill called Calvary. It was there that you were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Your eternal life began the moment you received Christ and put your faith and trust in Him. God’s Lamb redeemed you from the curse of sin and eternal destruction. Today we will remember Him.
I want us to close with what I believe is the greatest example of pure praise found in all of Scripture. In Revelation 5 John is telling us that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy to open the book sealed with seven seals that will bring about final judgment on this earth and it inhabitants. But when John looks to the Lion he sees something else…
*Revelation 5:6, 8-9, 12-13
6 And I saw between the throne…and the elders a Lamb standing as if slain…
8 And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb…
9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book, and to break its seals; for You were slain, and did purchase for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation…”
And then uncountable millions upon millions of voices cry out…
12 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wis-dom and might and honor and glory and blessing”
13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”
If you are a Christian you are welcome at this table. If you are not, let me urge you to turn from your sin, ask God to forgive you, and put your faith in Jesus, the Lamb of God.
Before we partake of the elements please ponder this: If you are a Christian you will spend eternity in the presence of God and among all the saints of all the ages… and in the presence of the Lamb whose blood has redeemed you. What will that be like?
*Revelation 22:1-5
1 And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
2 in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him;
4 and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
5 And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever.
Please join me at the table…