Why Christ is Called The Lamb of God

This is an easy matter to answer. All we need to do is read John 1:29 (BBE) which reads, "The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, 'See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'"

But what does that mean? It's a reference to sacrificial lambs which were slaughtered each Passover. The first such Passover was recorded in Exodus 12:3 and 4 (BBE). "Say to all the children of Israel when they are come together, In the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb, by the number of their fathers' families, a lamb for every family: And if the lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbour have a lamb between them, taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man."

After explaining when and how to kill and cook the lamb, God explained why blood had to be smeared on the door posts of each Israelite house in Exodus 12:12 and 13 (BBE). "For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord. And the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are: when I see the blood I will go over you, and no evil will come on you for your destruction, when my hand is on the land of Egypt."

So, what does this have to do with Christ's death and us today? Luke 22:19 and 20 (BBE) gives us the answer when Christ instituted God's new covenant. "And he took bread and, having given praise, he gave it to them when it had been broken, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you: do this in memory of me.' And in the same way, after the meal, he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new testament, made with my blood which is given for you.'"

We also read of the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53:7 (BBE) which likens Christ as a sacrificial lamb. "Men were cruel to him, but he was gentle and quiet; as a lamb taken to its death, and as a sheep before those who take her wool makes no sound, so he said not a word."

Since we can't earn God's forgiveness, only the sinless one could atone for our wickedness. This is what I'll emphasize in my next book, You Think You're Going to Heaven?On Saturday, unless the Lord returns first, I hope to post about a song regarding an unfortunate truck driver.

The Law is Holy but We're not

Have you ever wondered why the Old Testament laws were so strict? To modern ears, they sound barbaric. But God meant those laws to be a blessing and a lesson to the Israelites.

First of all, God is the one who made us so his word is law. In Ezekiel 18:4 (BBE), God spoke, "See, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: death will be the fate of the sinner's soul."

God shows his justness in Ezekiel 18:20 (BBE) when he instructed that only those who commit sin will die for it. "The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself."

But this lets nobody off the hook since we're all destined to perish. In Genesis 2:17 (BBE) God gave Adam and Eve one simple command. "But of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not take; for on the day when you take of it, death will certainly come to you." They didn't fall down dead, thanks to God's mercy, but all Adam's descendents owe God their forfeited lives.

How then can we say that we'll have eternal life when we have the sentence of death in our DNA? Jesus gave Martha the answer. John 11:25 (BBE) reads, "Jesus said to her, 'I am myself that day and that life; he who has faith in me will have life even if he is dead;'"

Many of the Old Testament commandments were prophetic illustrations of Christ's work on the cross. As I've pointed out before, the Passover is symbolic of Christ dying so that spiritual death won't come upon us. The blood of the Passover lamb was put on the doorposts to show the death angel that God's people were within the house.

Another seemingly trivial point was that none of the Passover lamb's bones were to be broken. Exodus 12:46 (BBE)  says, "It is to be taken in one house; not a bit of the flesh is to be taken out of the house, and no bone of it may be broken."

And as we read in John 19:36 (BBE),after roman soldiers broke the legs of the other two crucified men, "These things came about so that the Writings might be true, 'No bone of his body will be broken.'"

I'll be writing more about the crucifixion of Christ and it's eternal ramifications in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? There are some people who see Christ's death on the cross as his ministry going wrong. But we who know our scriptures realize that it was planned long before the first atom was created.

On Thursday, I'll post about why Christ hasn't returned yet. He actually has a great reason for waiting so seemingly long to come back to us.