Sermon: Behold The Lamb! Easter 2014

I preached the following sermon at Stonebrook Church, Easter 2014. You can listen to the audio on the Stonebrook Web site.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 (ESV) — Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…

The resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, is the central fact of history, and it is the foundation of The Christian faith. If the Resurrection did not happen, historically and physically, then there is no Christian faith, and as Paul says here, we have believed “in vain”. But it did happen, just as the Scriptures predicted it would and just as the scriptures said it did.

“In accordance with the Scriptures” means “in agreement with the Scriptures.” Paul was asserting, as Jesus did, that the Old Testament scriptures prophesied his death, burial, and resurrection on the Third Day, which it does. Another way of talking about this is that there is a “line through the scriptures” that His death, burial, and resurrection line up with. And that line is that:

God rescues His people through the Blood of the Lamb!

The line starts all the way back in Genesis chapter 3, but we will pick it up in Exodus, chapter 12. God’s people have been enslaved by Pharaoh, and God has visited Egypt with nine plagues to show His power and wrath in judgement, and God is about to unleash the tenth and final plague, and He tells His people to prepare, by choosing a lamb, a flawless one, and sacrificing it.

Passover

Exodus 12:7–13 (ESV) — “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

At the Passover, the event that freed them from slavery in Egypt, the blood of a lamb caused the Lord’s wrath in judgement to pass over the Israelite’s houses, so that they would not be destroyed along with the Egyptians. This Passover meal became the highest holy day for the Israelites, repeated each year to remember this event.

Atoning Sacrifice

When the Israelites were freed from their captivity and were about to set up their own nation in the promised land, God gave them a perfect system of Government and religious observance that would keep them in right standing with God. One of the central points of the law was the burnt offering, a sacrifice for sins, that would restore them to a right relationship with God. This sacrifice could be a bull or a lamb. The blood of these lambs atoned for the sins of the Israelites.

There are multiple feast days, rituals and types of sacrifices for all different purposes described in the Mosaic law in the Old Testament, and many of them required the blood of a lamb, which would atone for the sins of the people and the nation of Israel.

God designed it this way, to point to His son. God had a New Covenant in mind, one that would make a perfect sacrifice, once for all.

Jesus is that Lamb

The lamb of atoning sacrifice

Isaiah 53:7–11 (ESV) — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

John 1:29 (ESV) — The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

This would have been a jarring statement. The Jews were familiar with the ideas of their lambs being sacrificed to atone for the sins of Israel. But God’s lamb? Taking away sin? The sin of the world? Not just Israel? This would have been new material for them.

In the days before His crucifixion, Jesus lets us know that He now is the passover lamb, and the perfect atoning sacrifice.

The passover lamb

Luke 22:14–20 (ESV) — And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Matthew 26:28 — for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The Perfect, Once-For-All Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:11–18 — And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

The Resurrected, Glorified, Worthy Lamb of God

Revelation 5:1–14 (ESV) — Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”