"Like a lamb"

 

The surprising conclusion to the story of God’s plan of redemption and the climax of each of the four Gospels, is that “the Lamb has conquered” (Rev. 17:14) — not by military might — but being killed and then conquering death itself! The introduction of Christ to the world in John’s Gospel was delivered by John the Baptiser when he declared- 

¶ 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 is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me,
because He was before me.’
John 1:29-30

In each of the Passover meals that are recorded in the Gospels (where the central elements were the pascal lamb, the unleavened bread, and the unfermented wine) not once is there any reference to the lamb. Even the bread and wine are given new and richer significance by the Very Lamb of God when He announced, “Take eat, this is My body”, and of the wine “This is My blood which is shed for you.” It was the presence of the True Lamb that made any reference to the shadowy sacrificed lamb  absolutely redundant. In each of the three Passovers that Jesus celebrated with His disciples, it was only the last one, on the night He was betrayed, that they celebrated it a day early. This significance of this is often overlooked by many who have not paused to consider just how odd yet profound this apparent wrong-datedness was. On the day that the Passover (“Pascal”) lamb was being roasted, Jerusalem and the houses that surrounded the holy city would have had the smell of thousands of households exuding its smoke from their roasting ovens giving the precinct a cloud with the distinct aroma of barbecued roast lamb. The night before this, Christ met with His disciples and instituted the New Covenant ordinance of the Lord’s Supper (1Cor. 11:20). Thus, the following day, just when each household fired up their roasting ovens, Christ was charged, tried, convicted, condemned, and crucified — as the True Passover Lamb. When Christ was beaten and bloodied and bruised and stripped naked and nailed to a Roman cross and left hanging while pinned with three nine-inch iron spikes to that tree, Jerusalem was progressively being filled with the aroma of thousands of emblematic lambs all pointing to the One True Lamb just outside the city walls (significantly) to the west of the once holy city.

In the eyes of the Jewish and Roman authorities, the “Jesus problem” was now dealt with. With Christ dead the Jewish leaders had dealt with the problem of the One who threatened their power over the people. With Christ dead the Roman authorities had dealt with the problem of the One that tens of thousands of Jews believed was the Messiah-Deliverer. How infinitely wrong they both were!

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
First Corinthians 5:7

The death of the Eternal Lamb of God which led to His victory over death and the powers of evil itself resulted in the greatest and most decisive military victory in the history of our cosmos! In the closing book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, the One whom John the Baptiser had previously described as the amnos of God (John 1:29), is referred to twenty-eight times in its twenty-two chapters as the arnion (‘little lamb’).

¶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb [arnion] 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.
Revelation 5:6

The closing book of the Bible delivers a literary twist that not even the most creative writer could hav ever dreamt of. The mightiest military and combined religious forces of the then known world with all its might, power, and glory, was no match for a little lamb!!!!

They will make war on the Lamb,
and the Lamb will conquer them,
for He is Lord of lords and King of kings,
and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful.”
Revelation 17:14

The Almighty Eternal Omnipotent God and Creator of the Universe entered into space and time and became like a lamb and demonstrated that true power, true greatness, and true might, are not measured by the things that the rebellious world considers necessary! The first Easter established once and for all who was the True Lord, the One True God, and His claim to summon peoples from all lands and languages to lay their lives down in surrendered worship of Him. And this is what we do in constant memory and celebration of the One who is worthy of our adoration, devotion, and worship each Sunday and especially during Easter!

¶ And I saw no temple in the city,
for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb…
But nothing unclean will ever enter it,
nor anyone who does what is detestable or false,
but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:22-23, 27

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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