THE LAMB OF GOD

February 11th | Pastor Gino

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” What a strange thing for John the Baptist to declare as Jesus entered into his ministry and was revealed before the people. The expectation of the Messiah was anything but that of a weak and helpless lamb. Most Jews expected a military and political leader who would free Israel and bring her, once again, to a place of prominence over the nations. But God had much greater plans in mind. Plans that would include even you and I.

The reason there are so many, and have been so many, wars, diseases, turmoil, and political adversaries in the world is because of SIN. Sin is the great problem and dilemma of our age, as it has been in every age. Sin is what has ruined God’s good creation and what has turned men’s hearts away from their Creator. Whatever enemy or threat we see in the world; sin is the greatest of them all. Sin is the thing God hates; the thing that brings chaos when there should be harmony; and the very thing that keeps us from enjoying the world as God created and envisioned it for his creatures.  

Dr. Joe Boot summarizes our condition well in his book Gospel Culture: Living in God’s Kingdom. He writes, “Fundamentally alienated from intimacy with God and disjoined from his proper calling, man is lost, cut-off from paradise in the apparent wilderness of time [because of sin], so that, concurrent and intermixed with the joys of life, come disquieting realities that traumatize him and make him yearn for release. In this sense, man has a homing beacon that signals his origins in Eden, even when he is not conscious of the truth of the biblical account.[1]

Sin ruined man and creation. BUT! God was determined to make the repairs. And He does so by sending his Son, not as a conquering Lion, but as a Lamb led to slaughter. But this was no ordinary lamb. This lamb would do irreparable harm to the very thing that has caused all the damage – He would destroy the power and effects of sin once and for all on His cross.

But that is not all. Through His life, burial, and resurrection, Jesus not only conquers sin and its effects in this fallen world, but is now restoring it piece by piece, bit by bit, and soul by soul, as He proclaims victory over His chosen people, and dominion over His good creation. The final blow will occur when He returns a second time, not as a sacrificial Lamb, but as the Roaring Lion and King who will reign over his creation and his people forever and ever.

Dr. Boot continues, “The gospel is not simply what Christ has come to do for us individually (ie. forgive my personal sins and grant me a place in the kingdom of heaven), but also what he has come to do with us and with his world, as our Creator, King and covenant head.”

When Jesus (the Second Person of the Holy Trinity) stepped into time, many were confused by what God was doing. It was difficult to see how this lamb was going to save the world. Could anything good come from Nazareth (John 1:46)? But what happened over the next many years astonished everyone and changed the course of history forever. This change continues today, as more and more people are won to the gospel and drawn into the kingdom of light. It will continue until the day Christ returns. As Dr. Patrick Schreiner has written, “The city of man and the city of God cannot coexist forever, no matter what the bumper sticker says. One will endure forever; the other will be destroyed.”[2]

The work of the Lamb has been accomplished. God has done what he set out to do thru the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. While we celebrate, worship, and praise the work of the Lamb in our lives and in the destruction of sin, let us also celebrate, worship, and praise the Lion who sits on the throne of the universe as well as the throne of our hearts. Look to Him and rejoice as Paul does in the prophecies of Isaiah:

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.
For the root of Jesse [has] come,
even he who arises to rule [all people];
in him will [all people place their] hope.
And may the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit
you may abound in hope.  - Romans 15:11-13

[1] Boot, Joe, Gospel Culture, Living In God’s Kingdom, Wilberforce Publications, December, 2016

[2] Schreiner, Patrick, Political Gospel: Public Witness in a Politically Crazy World, B&H Books, October 2022