The Gospel is the “Good News” that has the potential to change a life and change a person’s eternal destination. When we talk about the Gospel, we are talking about Jesus and what He has done and continues to do in the life of a Believer. When we share, teach, or preach about Jesus, our focus should be on the Kingdom, the Cross, the Blood, and the Name of Jesus. There is power and authority in these terms that identify Jesus Christ. Today we will be looking at another Gospel term, “The Lamb of God”!Show More
Old Testament means of reconciling with God.
We see very clearly the practice of making offerings or sacrifices as a means of reconciliation with God in the Old Testament. These sacrifices had specific purposes and consisted of two types of sacrifices, burnt offerings, and grain offerings. The burnt offerings were sacrifices of animals and often involved lambs; by the way the term lamb can mean a lamb or a goat in the Bible.
Prior to the covenant the Lord made with the Israelites through Moses, which became known as the Mosaic Covenant or the Law, most pagan peoples worshiped pagan gods, and their worship was often a means of appeasement. By appeasement, I mean worship and sacrifices were made to prevent the capricious gods from becoming angry and punishing the people. Sacrifices were also made to make up for sins committed in the eyes of heathen gods. Heathens would also try to manipulate their gods with sacrifices for favor.
To some pagan religions, the greatest sacrifice was human sacrifice, but they also sacrificed various animals, including lambs. Often their worship and obedience were motivated by fear and not love for the pagan gods.
The Law
With the covenant of the Law (Moses), the Lord established an intricate system of sacrifices and offerings. All the sacrifices and offerings were not made as appeasement to hold back an angry God but as an effort to reconcile with the Lord when an individual or group strayed from the covenant. These atoning sacrifices were the means by which God would deal with the Israelites’ sin and provide a reliable system the Israelites could use to maintain their proper relationship with God when they did sin. Again, it is so important to recognize that these animal sacrifices were not offered by the Israelites hoping to appease a volatile and angry God.
The book of Leviticus describes several offerings that the Lord commanded the people of Israel to perform using a lamb as a burnt offering; here are some important examples:
Peace Offering, Leviticus 3. The Peace Offering had three possible purposes.
- Thankfulness for the Lord’s provision and protection.
- Votive offering; a votive offering is when a person or group of people make a vow; they make a sacrifice to show their commitment to fulfill the vow to the Lord.
- A Peace offering could also be a spontaneous expression of joy and worship of the Lord.
Sin Offering, Leviticus 4. Remember, the Hebrew Law or Mosaic Law consisted of the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). These five books were called the Torah. In these five books are instruction on how to approach God, how to worship Him, how to interact with fellow Jews and how to interact with “strangers” or non-Jews. As you can imagine, there were many rules and regulations alongside the Ten Commandments. Some calculate 613 of these commandments.
The Sin Offering was used when one of these laws was unintentionally broken.
Trespass or Guilt offering, Leviticus 5. The trespass or guilt offering was required when a person unintentionally violated some of the Lord’s holy things. “Holy things” would normally refer to things dedicated to the Lord, anything from the sanctuary itself to the portion of the offerings normally reserved for the priests.
The trespass offering was also brought when someone committed a violation against another person. In this case, the offender had to repay damages in addition to making the animal sacrifice.
The trespass or guilt offering is primarily about making reparations or restitution, and it demonstrates the seriousness of violations against God (even accidental ones) and against one’s fellow man.
The Passover Lamb (Exodus 12 & 13). When the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, the Lord sent Moses as a mediator to deliver them from slavery. The Pharoah of Egypt was reluctant to let them go free. So, the Lord sent ten plagues to convince Pharoah to let the people go. Through the plagues, the Lord showed that He was far greater than all the Egyptian gods put together. The final plague was the death of every first-born male in Egypt, and this included animals as well. However, God provided an avenue of escape from this tragedy to the Israelites and anyone else who would obey the Lord.
The Lord instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb, take its blood, and paint it on the lintel and doorposts of every home. When the Angel of death came to fulfill God’s promise, it “passed over” every home marked by a lamb’s blood. It was the blood of the Passover Lamb that protected the Israelites from the death angel who passed over all of Egypt and killed all the first-born males in the land.
The Scapegoat Leviticus 16:8, “Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the Scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the Scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the Scapegoat into the wilderness.”
On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would bring two goats. One goat was sacrificed as a burnt Sin Offering unto the Lord. The other goat was set aside as the “Scapegoat”. The high Priest would lay hands on the head of the goat and transfer all the sins of Israel upon it, then release it into the wilderness. The idea is that the Scapegoat carried the sins of Israel away never to return. Thus, Israel atoned for its sins.
New Testament means of reconciling with God.
One glorious offering of Jesus, the Son of God, once and for all who would believe in Him. The book of Hebrews was written for Jewish Christians and therefore written from a Jewish perspective. The author of the book of Hebrews identified Jesus as the great High Priest (Hebrews 9:11) who replaced the system of animal sacrifices with a once-for-all sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:12-28). In the light of Christ’s full and final offering for sin, Paul urged Christians to “present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).
When John the Baptist first saw Jesus approaching him, he prophetically proclaimed, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” This is testified in all four Gospels (John 1:29, Matthew 3:13, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22). In the book of Revelations, the term Lamb of God is used 24 times to describe Jesus.
The Old Testament Law, which was for the Jews, was replaced by the New Covenant Grace, which was for all, Jews, Gentiles, Slave, and Free, man and woman. The Old Covenant Law, which is what the Old Testament Bible reveals, is but a shadow of the real found in Jesus Christ and the New Covenant found in the New Testament Bible.
The New Covenant is called “new” in contrast to the “Old Covenant” or the Mosaic Covenant (Jeremiah 31:32; Hebrews 8:6-13). The new replaces the old because the old Mosaic Covenant was limited. The Old Covenant could only point to the things that the New Covenant fulfilled; the child of God living a victorious life consistent with God’s righteous commands and character.
The New Covenant fulfilled (consummated, completed) all previous covenant revelations. It also established something infinitely greater, a Savior! Thus, it exceeded all previous covenants. All that was promised by God, all that had been revealed in the previous covenants by prophetic foreshadows, was now completed, and embodied in the Person of Jesus Christ. There was much that the prior covenants could not do or were inadequate to perform. The prior covenants could not:
- Open a way of salvation as a gift of grace to all people.
- Change a person’s heart and nature.
- Give every recipient of God’s salvation the power, ability, and gifting, through the Holy Spirit. That wouldenable them to lovingly obey God, be transformed from within, and live victoriously.
All that the prior covenants could not accomplish is now fully realized in the New Covenant. It is all available through Jesus Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit now living within every believer!
Jesus, by His death and resurrection, was the Lamb of God so that He alone would become the Peace Offering, the Sin Offering, the Trespass or Guilt offering, and the Scapegoat for everyone who would put their trust in Him. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
In closing let me remind you of a story about Abraham, the father of faith.
God the Father gave us a type, or a shadow of what Jesus would do when in the Old Testament Abraham was told by the Lord to take his son, Isaac, and sacrifice him on the Mountains of Moriah. Genesis 22:2, “Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 22:7, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” To which Abraham responded, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So, the two of them went together.
Here is the wonderful truth about this episode of Abraham and Isaac, the Lord did provide a sacrifice at just the right moment. We can see this starting in Genesis 22:11, “But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham! “So he said, “Here I am.”12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So, Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”
Jesus is your Lamb of God and He offered Himself so that you would have eternal life and live your life here on earth as a son of the Most High. God has demonstrated His great love for you, by giving His own Son so that you might have life and life more abundantly. All the Lord expects from you is to learn how to walk with Jesus by learning to be led by His Holy Spirit. Walking in truth and righteousness. Jesus has fulfilled all the Old Testament sacrifices, offerings, and prophecies. All that the Lord expects from you is found in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
