I have been away for a few months, and not out of laziness. Following the publication of my first book, Nothing, The Silent Destroyer, I am now wrapping up my second book, Rest: The Brutal Occupation. I have also begun writing on a different subject: predators behind the pulpit. This activity is all taking place while I am deep into Bible college classes to obtain a degree in divinity and theology.
Recently, I was asked to speak at a church. Seeking the Lord’s direction, I initially started writing on a different subject—which I will eventually share—but I was redirected. While reading the seventeenth chapter of John, the Lord simply told me, “This passage is the message.”
The title of this message is “Behold the Lamb.”
SERMON TITLE: Behold the Lamb
Core Texts: John 1:29, John 17
In John 1:29, John the Baptist sees Jesus and declares, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” For thousands of years, the Jewish people understood the devastating weight of what it meant to behold a lamb.
The Old Testament Lamb:
According to God’s law in Exodus 12, a family had to take a one-year-old male lamb without blemish on the tenth day of the month of Nisan to cover their home and make atonement for their sin. However, they could not kill it immediately; instead, they were required to bring the lamb into their home for a period of four days. During those four days, the lamb came under intense scrutiny and inspection to ensure it was without spot or blemish.
The Sacrifice:
On the fourteenth day of Nisan, four days later, the High Priest had to examine the lamb and then declare it without fault or blemish. The father would then walk the innocent Passover lamb to the altar and press his hand heavily upon its head, visually transferring his guilt to the animal. Then, the very master who had fed it, housed it, and comforted it would take a blade and end its life.
The Lamb of God:
Jesus tabernacled—He moved into the house—with the very human beings who were going to betray Him, on the tenth day of Nisan. Many millions of people observe this day as Palm Sunday. He then fulfilled the four days of examination by stepping into the Temple, where He was questioned relentlessly. Ultimately, on the fourth day after His arrest, the Roman governor declared, “I find in him no fault at all.”
The Choice:
This is the moment where the narrative could have changed, but never did. When the mob came, Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53). He could have snapped His fingers and wiped the world clean. Yet, as Isaiah 53:7 prophesied, He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and opened not His mouth. He hung on the cross, and at exactly 3:00 PM—the ninth hour of the Jewish day, the exact moment the blades were rising to slaughter the Passover lambs in the Temple—Jesus paid the price once and for all.
Writing the Covenant
Why would the Son of God willingly become the helpless sacrifice?
Because hours before the cross, Jesus looked up to heaven in John Chapter 17 and wrote a new covenant in His own words, signing it with His blood. He was telling the Father, “I am your Lamb for these people. When you look at them, you are to look at my blood.”
He did it to write the covenant of the L-A-M-B: Love so great that Atonement was given for Mankind, for those who Believe.
The L-A-M-B Covenant
L – Love So Great
The foundation of the cross is not a mechanical obligation; it is an overwhelming, covering love. The Shepherd looks at a flock that is prone to wandering, yet He loves them entirely.
- (Proverbs 10:12): “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.”
- (John 17:26): “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
In a world filled with strife and hatred, true love covers all. Jesus is telling the Father that His perfect love is going to cover every sin, every wandering, and every failure of His flock from that moment and forever.
A – Atonement Was Given
Because of that great love, the Shepherd volunteered for the slaughter. Atonement requires a spotless sacrifice to purge our iniquity.
- (Proverbs 16:6): “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”
- (John 17:19): “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”
“To atone” means to cover, and “sanctify” means to make holy. In the Old Testament, the priests would sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the top of the Ark, symbolizing that blood covered the law. To “sanctify” Himself in this moment means He is placing Himself on the altar. He tells the Father He provides the mercy and truth that purge our sins and make us holy. His blood covers the Law that would condemn our unrighteousness.
M – Mankind
The Shepherd’s sacrifice is deeply personal. He isn’t dying for the “world” as a vague, abstract system; He is dying for mankind—for the specific, fragile, breathing human beings the Father entrusted to His care.
- (Proverbs 8:4): “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.”
- (John 17:2): “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.”
Jesus stands between heaven and earth and takes ownership of us. He is using His power to give eternal life specifically to the people placed in His hands. The blood of the Old Testament lamb hit the altar for the sins of the owner of the lamb; the blood of Jesus hit the ground itself, paying the price for the entire world.
The covenant is written. The love is so great. The Atonement has been given. And it was done for mankind. But how does a wandering sheep receive it? They must simply hear the Shepherd’s voice and trust Him.
B – Believe
- (Proverbs 3:5-6): “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
- (John 17:20): “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.“
A sheep survives by trusting the shepherd rather than leaning on its limited understanding of the wilderness. Jesus prayed for His disciples in that upper room, but in verse 20, He prayed for you. He looked down the corridors of time, knowing the cross was just hours away, and He prayed for every single person sitting in this room right now who would hear the Word and simply choose to believe.
If you receive nothing else out of this message, know the Perfection of God: If you lay the Old Testament lamb over Jesus like you would with tracing paper, from the entrance into the house, the examination for any spot or blemish, the sacrifice, and everything leading up to His last breath align perfectly. At the exact same moment that the lambs were dying in the Temple, the Lamb of God was giving up the ghost on the cross.
The Old Testament lamb didn’t know why it had to die. But Jesus knew every single one of your sins, every one of your failures, and every one of your heartbreaks—and He laid His head on the altar anyway.
You do not have to clean yourself up to come to God today. The blood of the Lamb has already covered it all. Love so great, an Atonement given for all Mankind, for those who simply Believe.
If you are ready to stop leaning on your own understanding… lean on the altar, and behold the Lamb.
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