Everywhere I Go: Learning to See JesusSample

BEHOLD THE LAMB At the center of the Word of God, Old Testament and New Testament, there is a lamb. He is the sacrifice of Abel's offering. The substitute for Isaac, slain by Abraham on Mount Moriah. The Lamb is the centerpiece of the Passover, sparing Israel's firstborn from the death angel. It was a lamb that was killed on the day of atonement, its blood sprinkled by the priests on the mercy seat of the altar, and a lamb who received our punishment in Isaiah's Messianic prophecy. At the baptism of Christ, John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." And in John's vision of the New Jerusalem, the Lamb is on the throne. Who could guess that beginning in Genesis, the Bible would progressively reveal the Lamb, the Lamb, the Lamb . . . until all creation would ring with the phrase "Worthy is the Lamb?" What does the Lamb mean for us today? I'll tell you. The church that is dead and cold and lifeless is practicing the religion of Cain. They are worshipping God with a bouquet of flowers and fruit, but not by the blood of the Lamb of God. The shedding of blood is essential for the forgiveness of sins ﾖ and it is the Lamb's blood that atones for us. We don't like the sound of that . . . it seems messy and foreign and archaic. But there is no other way. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!" When the church ceases to lift Him up, it ceases to have life. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."