THE LAMB OF GOD
Exodus 21:5; John 1:29

Today’s meditation on the cross is taken from Exodus 12::5 “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year, ye shall take it out from the sheep. Or from the goats.”(KJV). In John 1:29 it says, “…Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” (KJV). Notice the two terms in these verses, “Your lamb” and the “Lamb of God”. The first, "your lamb", is a lamb that belongs to man, while latter, the “Lamb of God”, obviously belongs to God. Both lambs were slain to save a people. The first “lamb” was slain to save the first born of Israel from the angel of death by sprinkling the blood of the lamb on the door posts of the Israelites’ houses. The marks of blood saved the Israelites. Only those without the marks of the blood were slain by the angel of death, in this case, the Egyptians. The “Lamb of God”, on the other hand, the “Lamb of God” was slain to save a kind of people, the sinners. The first “lamb” is limited to the Israelites, the “Lamb of God” includes the whole world because the whole world is under the condemnation of sin. The first “lamb” is limited in power and scope – to save the children of Israel from physical death. The “Lamb of God” has unlimited power – to save all those who believe in Him from spiritual death. Unlike the first lamb, the power of the blood of the “Lamb of God” is not bound by time and space. It transcends time and space because His blood was shed only once and its effect is for all the peoples of the world and for all time – that includes us.

John, the Baptist as well as John, the Evangelist identify Him. He is Jesus, the Lamb of God. We now remember His sacrifice every Sunday through the Lord Supper. This is one of the confessions that believers have to make that Jesus died for our sins.