Daily Bread - DEC/25/07

John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Jesus was identified as the Lamb, the Lamb of Passover, rather than the goat of Yom Kippur. Jesus would be a passover lamb of a different kind. Jesus would be the Passover Lamb for the whole world and not just for Israel (John 19:14,33; Exodus 12:46; Isaiah 53:7; 1 Corinthians 5:7). He would pour out His blood on a different kind of post, and all mankind would be delivered from a different kind of Pharaoh. The post would be a cross, and the Pharaoh-like tyrant would be the Devil. The blood of the Lamb would become available to each person: anyone who would be willing to take His blood and apply it to their own lives.

John gave witness to Jesus before Satan was allowed to tempt Him in the wilderness and then again after the temptation. Jesus was the spotless Lamb who was without sin before He went up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Jesus also remained the spotless Lamb after the temptation to which John once again gave testimony. This examination by John was similar to the examination that the priest had to give to ensure that the offerings were without blemish. Jesus was not just any kind of lamb; He was the Passover Lamb. The Passover was used by Jesus to declare the New Covenant and, in fact, was changed by Him to be the occasion of celebrating the birth of the New Covenant. It is the Passover supper which is the model for New Testament communion (1 Corinthians 11:20-30). The fact that Jesus is represented by the Passover lamb of the Old Testament is further emphasized in that He was killed at the time of the slaying of the Passover lamb (John 19:14, 31; 18:28; also Jub. 49:10,19; m Pesach 5:1; Philo, Laws 2.145; R. Natan in Mek. Bo 5). Jesus was shown to be a Lamb without spot or blemish and His body was to be taken and eaten, and not a bone was to be broken - a treatment specifically required of the Passover lamb (John 19:31-37; Exodus 12:26; Numbers 9:12; John 6:51-56).

Paul taught that Jesus was the Passover Lamb in 1 Corinthians 5:7. "for Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Peter also taught that Jesus was a "lamb without blemish and without spot." Finally, Isaiah the prophet called him a lamb (Isaiah 53:7; Acts 8:32). The blood of the Passover lamb represents the power that broke the yoke of the 10th plague and of the domination and trickery that Pharaoh exercised over Israel (Exodus 11:1). The Passover night was the time that God laid the sins of the people upon the firstborn. Only the blood of Passover lamb - which represented the blood of the firstborn - could expiate for a family that night (Exodus 13:2; 11-16). The blood of the Passover lamb represents redemption; for it was on that night that God redeemed all of Israel through their firstborn (Exodus 13:15; 6:6). It represents deliverance because God delivered Israel form bondage (Exodus 12:27). It represents the beginning of God's Covenant with Israel; for it is "the beginning of months" and it is the event that set the covenant into motion that was promised to Abraham (Exodus 12:1; 13:9; 6:4, 7, 8; Hebrews 8:9). The Passover represents the very day that Israel was born as a nation, and, as such, the covenant people of God. Finally, it is the time that Israel was released from slavery to serve God and be His people (Exodus 13:3).

The particular Greek word used for lamb in Exodus 12:5 is 'arnos.' This Greek word first occurs in Exodus 12:5 and then is used 33 times in the Septuagint afterward. The Hebrew word that 'arnos' translates is 'seh', (lamb), which first occurs in Genesis 22:7 and 8 when Isaac ask Abraham his father "where is the lamb" Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself a Lamb," a statement that can be easily understood as a prophecy of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. The offering of Isaac as a whole burnt offering unto God is the perfect typology for the offering of Jesus Christ by God the Father. Jesus said that Abraham saw His day, and it makes perfect sense that at the moment that Abraham was offering the ultimate sacrifice of His only begotten son on what would become the temple mount that he would have looked up and not only seen a lamb caught in the thicket but also the Lamb of God which John the Baptist announced in this verse.

There are three other offerings similar to the Passover offering in the Old Testament: the whole burnt offering, the Peace offering, and the Thanksgiving offering. The whole burnt offering is the oldest of all offerings being the one described in Genesis 22. It is the whole burnt offering that came to be sacrificed every evening and morning using a lamb of the first year from the sheep (Exodus 29:38-42). However, it is the Peace offering and the Thanksgiving offerings that are eaten just as the Passover offering is eaten. These offerings are, in fact, the Old Testament equivalent of communion. The Greek word used here in John is 'amnos' and first appears in the Hebrew text in Genesis 30:49 where it translates the Hebrew word for sheep, 'kesev' (13 occurrences) , and also like 'arnos' it translates 'seh' one time in Leviticus 12:8. It is the Greek word 'amnos' that is used to translate 'keves', (122 occurrences) which is an identical but more common word for sheep. It is this word that describes the sheep-lamb used in the evening and the morning whole burnt offerings in Exodus 29:38. Primarily, when a whole burnt offering was made it was a sheep. It is the sheep that is seen in the daily sacrifice, the Sabbath sacrifice, and the festival sacrifice (Leviticus 9:3; 23:12,18; Exodus 29:38-41; Numbers 28-29; Ezekiel 46:13). In fact, goats or goat-lambs are not used for the public offering but are only brought as voluntary sacrifices made by individuals. To help clarify the usage of these Hebrew and Greek words we may understand the more common usage of the Hebrew 'seh' and the Greek 'arnos' as describing any lamb whether it was a young ram, sheep or goat (Exodus 12:5). Finally, it is the Passover offering that represents the salvation and redemption in Christ Jesus because it is the only offering whose blood is manipulated upon each house instead of on the altar of God. In other words, it is the blood that was placed upon the people and resulted in an immediate release form their bondage, whereas, Yom Kippur the blood is placed upon the altar to cleanse the altar and the temple. Also, the blood manipulation upon every house of Israel only occurred one time even as Jesus Christ has only shed His blood once for all. The final important typology is observed in the crossing over of Israel into their inheritance at the time of Passover (Joshua 4:19; 5:10-15).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen