Who is Jesus? Chapter 2 “ God Promises a Lamb as a Sacrifice”

 

Jesus is the Lamb of God

God lives in eternity, so with God there is no "time" as we know it. Time on earth began when God created the earth with the Sun for the Day and the Moon for the night. But God lives outside of “time” as we know it.

The Bible says in  2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God was not in a hurry to put His plan of redemption in place. There was much to do first. God slew an innocent lamb to clothe Adam and Eve and He promised that one day, He would send a mighty Deliverer and Redeemer.  (Genesis. 3:15).

Many of the things God caused to happen as recorded in the Bible, were for examples and pictures of a Savior who would become the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. The prophets often spoke of a Messiah who would be born in Bethlehem, of a young virgin, and would be anointed to heal the sick to set the captive free, and would die to become the savior of all mankind.

From Adam onward there were faithful men who loved God and refused to worship idols and false gods. One such man named Abraham was promised by God, to make of him a great nation. As time went by, there was a great famine in the East, and Abraham's descendants from his son Isaac - - (Jacob's family) went to Egypt to purchase food. They settled down and raised grain and sheep plus their families quickly multiplied. Eventually a new King of Egypt feared their great number, so he cause them to become his slaves.

The book of Exodus tells us of Moses being raised up to deliver the people from their bondage and after a chain of miracles somewhere between 2 and a half to 3 million persons left Egypt, and God destroyed their Egyptian enemies in the Red Sea.

At God's request Moses climbed up Mount Sinai, to meet with God and to receive the Ten commandments and the law. Most important was the first two commandments, to only worship God, and not make with their hands images or worship false gods, and not to take the Name of God in vain, but to honor and respect the Lord God.

Sorry to say, it did not take the people very long to break these commandments. The people worried that Moses was gone too long, and they requested Aaron to fashion a gold calf similar to the Egyptian gods they already knew about, so they danced and worshiped the gold calf.

This mutiny caused God to become furious and He told Moses he would destroy the people because they were so rebellious. Moses pleaded with God not to do this for what would the other nations think, if God just delivered the people from bondage and then wiped them out? God changed his mind, about destroying them; but in Exodus chapter 32 it is recorded: that He did send a plague as punishment, and many died, because they worshiped the calf, which Aaron made.

God gave Moses explicit and precise instructions for a tent tabernacle and details for how to make sacrifices for the sins of the people. God demanded a blood sacrifice of an innocent and pure animal to atone for the sins of the people. It was necessary for the people to bring a sacrifice many times, as they were habitually sinning.

All this was again a picture of a future event when only one sacrifice would be necessary and that one selected person (Jesus) would voluntarily lay down His life to rescue all who would willingly come to Him and invite Him into their life.

The prophet Isaiah records:- - 53:3-7 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

Another time, the children of Israel complained about the heavenly manna, and the people rebelled against Moses their appointed leader by God. In this case, it is recorded in Numbers 21:4-9 God was angry with the people and sent poisonous serpents that bit them and many died. Moses interceded for the people, and God provided a remedy.  He told Moses to make a brass serpent and lift it up on a pole for all to see. Any stricken person who looked at the serpent would immediately be healed. So, it is also a story of faith: When the people looked by faith, they were saved.

Jesus used this illustration when Nichodemus came to visit him in John chapter 3.   "Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up."

John 1:29 tells us of John the Baptist very busy baptizing in the River Jordan, those who repented of their sins, and as he saw Jesus approaching; He said of Jesus - - ‘Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’

Understand that Jesus was the Lamb of God and He took your punishment and your sin. If you have not already done so, will you receive Jesus into your life today? Just invite him to come into you heart and He will place His everlasting Life into your Spirit?