But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, 'Abraham, Abraham! Since this verse makes no mention of an atonement for sin, I do not believe that this account between Abraham and God makes a direct reference to our verse in John However, I do believe there is an indirect reference when we consider the terms: sacrifice, substitute and servant. In obedience, Abraham was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice. However, God in His grace substituted His own sacrifice, whereas Isaac could be saved.
In the same way that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, God willingly gave His Son to be a substitute and sacrifice for the sins of the world. Moses in this Genesis account said that Abraham did not spare his son. And God's Son, Jesus Christ, willingly like Isaac went to the altar of sacrifice, in submission to the Father, wood strapped to His back, prepared to give his life for God's glory. Both accounts are very similar, yet there is one profound difference. Isaac was spared by the substitutionary lamb.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the substitute and spared He was not. God prevented Abraham from plunging the knife into Isaac's breast, but He did not prevent the Roman soldiers from driving nails in Jesus' hand and feet, and thrusting a spear into His side.
God surely did provide a lamb for Abraham's sacrifice, but it pointed to the greater Lamb He would provide for our sacrifice. Jesus was our substitute in that we may be forgiven and declared righteous. Second, the Lamb of God was also personified. In the Genesis account we just discussed, the Lamb of God is prophesized, but the future lamb's identity remains unclear.
However in Isaiah 53, the revelation progresses. The lamb is prophesized, but now also the Lamb is personified. His identity is clearly a Man.
Turn if you would to Isaiah From this text in Isaiah alone, what can we learn about the coming Lamb of God? First of all, the Lamb of God would be an ordinary man in appearance, showing why John the Baptist needed a sign to identify Him.
Isaiah says in verse 2, "For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
Second, the Lamb of God would be rejected by those He came to save. Verse 3, "He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Third, the Lamb of God would be destined to be God's appointed agent to die for our sins. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. Fourth, the Lamb of God would be gentle, humble and forgiving in His sacrifice. Verse 7, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
Fifth, the Lamb of God would be spotless, without stain. End of verse 9, "Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. Sixth, the Lamb of God's sacrifice would be pleasing to the Lord. Though denied by the Jews until this day, the connection of Isaiah 53 with Jesus Christ is rather obvious.
As a matter of fact, the Christian who accepts the inspiration of Scripture, is left with no doubt as to this conclusion. Turn to Acts 8. Do you remember the account in Acts 8 when Luke recalls the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch? Beginning in verse 32, "Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: 'He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He does not open His mouth.
In humiliation His judgment was taken away; Who shall relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth. Of himself, or of someone else? There can be no doubt, Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about Jesus Christ. It puts human flesh on the Lamb of God and clearly predicts His rejection and sacrifice for sinners. Any of us who have any inkling of the Old Testament Scriptures, know that the nation Israel was commanded to offer sacrifices. These sacrifices came in many ways: Some were offered on behalf of the nation, others for specific individuals.
Some sacrifices were animals and vegetables; others were made with incense. Some were made by the priest; others were made by the community. Some were made to honor God; others were made to atone for sin. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Revelation tells us Who fought the ultimate battle. The blood of the Lamb washed us clean of all sin and overcame death and hell for each of us and gave us eternal life with Him.
The blood of the Lamb gave us a new identity—we are blameless and holy before Him, sons of God—carrying all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, having the mind of Christ, having authority to speak and do the will of God to establish His Kingdom on the earth. We are not victims, we are victors through the Lamb. And when this is our testimony, and becomes the life we live, He is seen and heard. The blood of the Lamb frees us from the fear of death and we are able to live out all God calls us to do in faith.
Yeshua—the Lamb, made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians Revelation declares praise that each of us needs to shout from the housetops every single day. God has always required life for sin. This is why, year after year, lambs were sacrificed for the sake of the people under the Old Covenant.
It was the blood of an animal that was seen as the life in the animal. In short, death would be required to cover sin. Further, God mandated that the sheep presented to Him for sacrifice be without blemish. Of course, most sheep were not unblemished, which necessitated the watchful care of a specific kind of shepherd trained to look out for sheep to ready them for sacrifice.
Lydia and Asa are waaay into Jesus being the Lamb of God. We got that whole thing solidified at Christmas! So, to build on the Lamb of God born in Bethlehem and add the spotless, sinless Passover Lamb was really cool.
After reading and talking about the verse we got some white carnations and put them in a vase. Then we put some red food coloring into the water. I explained that in a few days the flowers would soak up the red dye and their petals would no longer be spotless-but covered with red dye. Just like Jesus took our sin on himself while He was on the cross.
The flowers have been sitting on our mantle for about a day now—still no red in the petals.
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