The Holy Lamb

{This is the sixth part of a twelve part series attempting to answer the question "Who is Jesus?". The song "I AM" by Mark Schultz is utilized in this series as a reference point, and the lyrics can be found in the "I AM series" post found earlier.}

The Holy Lamb

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

These are the words spoken by John the Baptist when he sees Jesus approach. What does the phrase Lamb of God mean? It means that Jesus was the final necessary sacrifice for purification from sin. Up until the time of Jesus's death, animal sacrifices were necessary to cleanse the Israelites of their sins.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:11-12)

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:13-15)

This new covenant is not something that Jesus or the early Christian church fabricated; the Israelites had been waiting for a new covenant since the days of Moses.

"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new convenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people... ...For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

As we have seen, what does this new covenant require? One perfect sacrifice. This sacrifice will be the final necessary sin offering. This sacrificial "lamb" was spoken of well before the time of Jesus.

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our trangressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." (Isaiah 53:4-7)

The Israelites were waiting for a new covenant, they were expecting a suffering servant to be a sin offering, yet when it happened, many did not care or believe. Those who did come to believe, and indeed, Gentiles too who profess faith in Christ, can barely fathom the sacrifice made by Jesus. He was the perfect man, without sin, deserving no punishment, yet he took the brunt of God's wrath so that our sins would be forgotten.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

This series of posts is leading to Christmas, the day that Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. Why do we give gifts to each other? Why is the Christmas season full of love and compassion? What better way to celebrate Christ's birth than to imitate his actions. Jesus, full of love and compassion during his life, was even more so in his death, and in his death he gave us the greatest gift of all, the hope of eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)