Lamb of God (part 2)

Romans 8:31

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

1 Peter 1:18-21

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 ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

• Reflect On: Romans 8:31-36 and 1 Peter 1:18-21
• Praise God: For His strong love.
• Offer Thanks: That nothing in all creation can separate you from God’s love.
• Confess: Any tendency to identify yourself so closely with your sin that you have difficulty accepting God’s forgiveness.
• Ask God: To increase your gratitude for His forgiveness.

… Have you ever wondered, at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry, why John the Baptist hailed him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”? Why didn’t John shout instead, “Hey, look, here comes the Messiah!” Or,“Look everybody, it’s the Lion of Judah.” Or “It’s the King of kings!” Instead of these powerful titles, John evokes a shocking image of Jesus as an innocent victim destined to become a bloody sacrifice.

The son of a priest, John would have been familiar with the sacrificial system. He would have heard the braying and the bleating of the innocent victims, would have seen the blood poured out, would have inhaled the pungent odor of burning animal flesh mingled with smoky incense in the temple. “Here comes Jesus, the marked man, the bloody sacrifice, the innocent Lamb who is going to be sacrificed for the sins of the whole world!”

The next time you think about Jesus as the Lamb of God, discard the image of a cuddly stuffed animal, the kind children like to carry around. Think rather of Jesus, the innocent victim who died because He loves you. Join me in thanking Him because as far as the east is from the west, so has He removed our transgressions from us. His sacrifice is so effective that when God looks at those who belong to Him, He sees the Lamb who loves us, the One that has peeled sin’s thick disfigurement from our souls, leaving now no barrier to God’s love. No wonder Paul proclaimed so confidently that nothing—“neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39)! Because our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, we have become like magnets to which God’s love is irresistibly drawn.