The Baby in the Manger #14: Lamb of God

Lamb of God (heb: śê (lamb), grk: amnos tou theos (lamb of God))

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

We've already met the Lamb of God in these series, when we talked about Redeemer.  We were lost - sold as slaves to sin - and our rightful owner paid the greatest price possible to redeem us.  That is how much you are worth to God.

What blessing it is, therefore, to have a second 'bite at the apple' and look deeper at the Lamb of God.  This time, I'm going to zoom in on his willing act of sacrifice itself, starting with the words of Isaiah 53:3-7.  Isaiah wrote these words 400 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and yet they give us a prophetic prediction of the story we know so well - the crucifixion of Jesus on that first Good Friday:

He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our 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 its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

In these beautiful verses we see the whole breadth of what Jesus took on for us. 

He took on rejection by people - all the pain of fragmented relationships.   The crowds jeered, the soldiers mocked, and the friends abandoned him, as he died a criminal's death.

He took on pain and suffering - the physical agony and the mental turmoil.  He was whipped and beaten, carried a heavy cross, and then was subject to the most painful form of punishment devised by the mighty Roman empire, unable to breath with nails driven into his wrists and ankles and every bone out of joint.

Most of all, he took on our transgressions and iniquities - both the specific things we do wrong and the deeper waywardness of our hearts.  It is ironic that we too should be compared to sheep - but we are the ones who always wander off!  Our hearts are fickle - there's always something that appears more interesting or enticing than the love of God, and before we know it, we are lost.  In the midst of cycles of sinful and destructive behaviour, guilt abounds, and it can feel like God is no where to be seen.

I wonder which of these three things resonates most in your life?  And wonder if you've ever wondered if God understands, and if he cares?  Isaiah 53 couldn't be clearer - in all these things Jesus has gone before us.  He gets it.  And whilst we will rage against the injustices, tremble at the pain, and despair at our sin, Jesus went, silently and willingly to the cross, to take all those things for us.  And he took them - and put them to death.

The full implications of the once-and-for-all death of Jesus will be brought to fullness when he returns, with no more death, sickness or tears: all put to death for good.  But now?  We still live with pain, rejection, and sin, but Jesus has defeated their power.  Even in the midst of death and decay, death is swapped for life!  None of these things have the power to separate us from God, and the purpose and plans he has for us, now.  

The silent and humble lamb, who did not open his mouth, allowed himself to be lead to the slaughter, is victorious - victorious in his suffering and humility.  Picture the scene (merely an allegorical picture as the true one would be impossible to even contemplate!) described by John in Revelation:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”  (Revelation 5:11-12).

We do not have a God who is distant and who has never even touched the depths of human suffering and waywardness.  We have a God who not only got down amongst us, but took all of our pain on himself.  This is your God.