that's what the Baptizer, John, called Jesus when he showed up where John was baptizing ..
lamb ..
that was Jesus first 'public' appearance in his Earth-ministry, somewhere around 30 years old ..
"the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" ..
what's with that ?
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we don't like the Older Covenant much any more; few ever read it, except maybe the Psalms
we see too much 'harsh' there: harsh God, harsh people, harsh life; so we like to move on ..
what we should see is that God is dealing with people at their level of understanding at the time; he accommodates their worldview
so God reveals Godself progressively, as the world advances through time
scripture is a progressive revelation
i say that to context the sacrificial system designed for Israel back in the day
not much fun to watch animals' throats being cut open, blood running free everywhere ..
but back then sacrifice was common among the nations, some even sacrificing their children
but .. the point of sacrifice .. what was the point?
the issue was sin
when sin manifested, the entire cosmos was affected, all of it, all created things everywhere were touched
a cancer was loosed
the rebellion and comeupancy that sparked sin was to spit in the face of the creator God that made all things
even the sin-ner ..
it betrayed an arrogant attempt to displace and replace the God of Glory ..
trust in the goodness of God took a hit
God, being 'holy', is 'set apart' from sin
it antithesises who God is at heart ..
something had to be done
the new damaged cosmosview couldn't simply be allowed to persist, the cancer to spread for ever
something had to be done
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in creating humans, God decided to infuse something of himself - scripture calls it 'in God's image, according to God's likeness' ..
that means a couple things, at least
these creature are direct reflections of God; God has invested Godself in them, therefore they are highly valued
and too they are endowed with some form of independence; that is, they have a right to choose, they're not robots or slaves or puppets; they're people in whom the imago dei resides
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so then, there's a sinned-against God, an injured created-cosmos, a Godpeople under the influence of sin's destructivity
wow .. what's a God to do?
well, first off, these Godpeople must realize that this is quite abnormal; this is not the way things should be
further, they need to see the awfulness of sin
of their sin
something serious has to be used, fitted to their time in history, to drive the point home that sin bears a huge cost
enter sacrifice
God used a familiar system to teach his new nation (Israel) something new: namely that sin brings death; if not yours, then the death of a substitute (animal)
and this is fully consistent with the telling of the early human experience where the sin of the first humans resulted in their being cut off from the tree of Life - death was the outcome of their failure to trust Creator God = sin => death
but unlike some other cultures, there was no human sacrifice (God even presupposed that when Abraham raised his sacrificial knife over Isaac, his son - God belayed that action and pointed out a ram, tangled in a bush, which became the sacrifice)
later on, Abraham's descendants are enslaved in Egypt, and God moves to release them
God sends Moses and proceeds to challenge the gods of Egypt through 'plagues', increasingly horrible manipulations of Earth phenomena, like frogs everywhere, as in everywhere, and the Nile turned into bloody water
the pharaoh stubbornly refuses this God, choosing his god as his god, even as the plagues worsen ..
the final and most horrific plague was the life of the firstborns of Egypt
God reintroduces sacrifice to the Israelites by initiating a particular one we refer to as the Passover Lamb .. as the angel of death descended on Egypt, the Israelites have killed a lamb, pasting it's blood on the doorposts of their dwelling, effectively marking the homes as to be spared from this horror, to be passed over ..
that very ritual is very telling, since God repeatedly identifies as the 'God who led you out of bondage in the land of Egypt'; so it's not a light thing; it's a significant and pointed event in the history of that nation that God built
and the passover lamb played a central role
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the next lesson is typified in the Levitical priesthood and the system of Tabernacle
sacrifice becomes a regular thing in Israel
but although it's regular, it certainly is not normal
the sacrifices were not to engender the pleasure of the gods or to invoke their blessing in terms of rain/crops/fertility etc.; they were instituted as a means whereby the people could have their sin 'covered'
God was willing to overlook the sin of the people, effectively postponing the judgement of sin until the time where the perfect sacrifice could be made ..
that, my friend, is love in grace
the grace of God, effectively releasing people from their sins, while teaching them that sin bears a dire consequence - death
sacrifice portrays a sad and serious consequential phenomena - the dread destructivity of sin must be dealt with
imagine the person seeing an animal lose its life in a bloody ritual, and knowing it was because of their sin ..
my sin
i caused this
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that's why two distinct points are made in scripture
- the life of the flesh is in the blood
- without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin
sin is a life-forfeiting phenomena
one other point is made there:the blood of God's son, Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all sin
he is the perfect sacrifice
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more to come
peace to you
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