The Lamb of God

When Audrey and I were first married Aud was given a little lamb as a pet. She called him Boy, and he lived with us for 15 years which is a very old age for a sheep as their life is usually about 7 years. To tell the age of a sheep you have to look at their front teeth which are on the bottom jaw (they have no teeth on the top jaw at the front). A lamb is only classed as a lamb when it still has its “milk teeth,” and it can lose one of them sometime between 12 to 15 months of age. When that happens it gets 2 permanent teeth in the front and is called a “two tooth” or a Hogget (not a

lamb anymore). From then on it acquires 2 more teeth at about 6 monthly intervals, until it has 8 permanent front teeth, after which time you cannot tell how old it is.

Well-grown healthy, fat lambs are highly sought after in the sale yards, whereas Hoggets are not nearly as valuable. What I have just told you is relevant to what I’m about to comment on.

The one thing that we all have in common and are very good at is breaking the Commandments God gave us to live by, and that is known as Sin. Thousands of years ago, (because sin separates us from God), Moses (under God’s guidance) instituted various forms of sacrifice in order that people could show they were sorry and wanted forgiveness. A lamb (“without spot or blemish”), which was a very valuable item, became a recognised and popular sacrifice, so people brought them to the temple where they were sacrificed to take away their sin. That may sound like a reasonable solution, if a little messy, but people, being people, they developed the idea that they could sin, then sacrifice a lamb, or similar, and sin again as often as they wished but that defeated the whole idea because they were supposed to repent and endeavour to stop sinning. Besides that, there were so many animals being sacrificed that it became ridiculous and offensive to God.

Being our Heavenly Father and loving us very much, God decided to pay the price of our sin Himself so that we would all have the option of going to reside in Heaven with Him when our allotted days on Earth were ended.  He did this in a most unusual way by sending Jesus (also called Christ) to undertake this “assignment”. Jesus was the perfect man as he was “tempted on all points like as we are and was yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15) but He had to be even more than that if He was going to pay the price of the sins of all of us. He had to be, and was, Divine as well, to achieve this God had arranged that He would be “in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). To understand this, consider that a radio broadcast coming from a city station can be heard all over the country at the same time, Likewise God is a Spirit and can be in Heaven and everywhere at once. Thus John the Baptist realising who Jesus was said “Behold the Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

So when Jesus was sacrificed on the cross at Calvary He was the final “lamb”. After that there was no need to sacrifice any more ordinary lambs as He said himself “It is finished” and the apostle John confirmed this when he said: “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but inherit Eternal Life”(John3:16)

I know that this is a difficult concept for people of some religions to accept, so let me make it quite clear, that Christians believe there is only one God and Jesus was the “image of that invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 4:16) and that is why Jesus told Phillip: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Because of this remarkable “reconciliation” God has arranged for us, we have the great privilege of repenting, (making a decision to change our ways) and accepting His forgiveness, with a view to living the way He has directed us which includes loving our neighbour as we love ourselves, and that will lead us from here into Heaven for Eternity.  Wow! That is worth claiming. You see, it is a “done deal” so it is up to you to claim it.      Best wishes,  Tom.