The Lamb of God

Dear Weekly Readers!  May God grant you a most Blessed Holy Week!

At this time of year we commemorate all that has been accomplished for us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  We must realize however, that the focus that we have during this week is really how we should live each day, and even more than that, it IS WHO WE ARE as Christians!  

 It is because of the events of this week, that allows sinful man to be reconciled with a Holy God.  

Live in this knowledge and in the power of the Living Lord Jesus!  

Our Message this week is by Pastor Elmer Yliniemi:

The Lamb of God

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1 Peter 1:18-21

AS PEOPLE, WE VIEW THINGS in time with human understanding. It is impossible for us to see from an eternal perspective because we are created beings. It is difficult for us to grasp the greatness of God. We often go on with our daily lives making our own decisions and plans as if there were no God. Yet, by His Word, He called all things seen and unseen into existence and set the universe in motion. As we meditate on the events surrounding Easter, may we see God’s eternal plan.

When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, their sin brought death to all mankind. There is no putting away of sin without a sacrifice!

God promised a Savior, the Lamb of God, from eternity past. The message from Genesis to Revelation is Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) A blood sacrifice for sin was required from the beginning. The role of Christ as Lamb of God was not God’s “Plan B” or an afterthought, but it was His plan from the beginning. Jesus is God’s Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Peter tells us He was foreordained from the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1: 20).

The sacrifice for Adam and Eve’s sin foretold the death of the Lamb when God made them coats of skin to hide their nakedness. Abel’s blood sacrifice was pleasing to the Lord. God’s covenant with Abraham involved the death of a lamb. The Passover required the death of a lamb, and the blood was necessary on the doorposts for the LORD to pass by. Throughout the Old Testament, the sacrificial system pointed to the death of the Lamb.

Hundreds of years before Christ, Isaiah the Prophet said, He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7) What God promises, He fulfills.

JESUS WAS ALREADY PRESENTED AS A LAMB at His birth. Where would a lamb be born? In a stable, and the shepherds were the first to know.

John the Baptist was called by God to introduce Him to the people: “Behold the Lamb of God...”

Jesus was silent at His trial and surrendered Himself to the cross as a lamb led to slaughter. He was not a tragic victim of the cross; He willingly laid down His life. He says, Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. (John 10:17-18)

The Passover Lamb had to be examined and found without spot or blemish (Exodus 12). Jesus the sinless Son of God was a Lamb without spot or blemish; therefore He could be our sacrifice and bear our sins. He died for all mankind. Jesus atoned for our sins by shedding His blood. His triumphant resurrection overcame death and crushed the power of Satan. Because Jesus arose, we too can live! Jesus conquered the finality and dread of death. Jesus was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)

God’s plan was perfect. It was initiated by God and completed by God. It is for all mankind, but all are not saved. Why? Because we must be united to God through repentance and believe that our sins are forgiven through the precious blood of Jesus. When the blood covers the doorposts of our heart, the LORD will pass over us and we can live with Him forever (Revelation 3:21).

Belief in the resurrection is an essential prerequisite for salvation. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)

There was no power on earth that could keep the Son of God in death and the grave. It was not necessary for the angel to roll away the stone on Easter morning so the Son of God could get out! It was so the women and you and I could see the empty tomb, so that we would believe. 

Jesus had already risen. Locked doors and stone walls could not hold the resurrected Lord. The stones of unbelief in our lives have to be rolled away by the power of God so we can recognize the Him and say as Thomas did: “My Lord and my God!”

The amazing fact is that the Lord loved each of us so much that He left the glory of heaven to come to earth in a human body so that we could know God. He willingly sacrificed Himself for us so we could be united with a righteous God through the forgiveness of our sins in His blood. This is truly good news!

When the Holy Spirit has revealed to us the living Lord, we are to go quickly and tell others the good news. “Behold the Lamb of God” means a steady looking or focus. Let us keep our eyes looking to Jesus. Because Jesus lives, we too can live! May you have a blessed Easter.