The Joy of Glory

Leviticus 16:15-22 (click here)
Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. (Leviticus 16:15)

Reflection
Death.

It is the inevitable result of sin. But why?

Scripture teaches us that God is the creator and sustainer of all life, and that sin is a rejection of him. If you reject the one who sustains life…there is no where to go but to death.

Further, God is holy, righteous and just. This means that he will deal with evil and ultimately eliminate it from his creation. We all long for this. We long for God to redeem and recreate all things free from the stain of evil…but if we have any evil within us at all, that would mean he must remake the world free from the stain of us!

Our evil must be eliminated and such elimination is death.

The wages of sin is death…in more than one way.

Yet, God in his great has love provided a substitute. One who was not guilty of sin could stand in the place of the guilty. The guilt could be transferred…death could fall on another so that the guilty could go free.

This was pictured and prophesied through the Old Testament sacrificial system such as the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16. However, the blood of bulls and goats could never really take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). An animal cannot be a substitute for a person.

We need a human who is without sin if there is really going to be a substitute to stand in our place. Yet, no human is without sin…only God is without sin.

We need God to save us and a human to represent us.

We need a God-man. We need Jesus.

God himself took on flesh. Fully human and able to represent us, yet fully God and able to save us.

All the Old Testament sacrifices pointed toward the cross…the ultimate altar.

All the Old Testament sacrifices point towards Good Friday…the ultimate day of Atonement.

All the Old Testament sacrifices pointed toward Jesus…the ultimate lamb of God.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Exodus 12:21-28 (click here)
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. [22] Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. [23] For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. [24] You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. (Exodus 12:21-24)

Reflection
Warning after warning after warning… Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he would not repent. An unrepentant heart walks a road that always ends in the same place…death.

The Lord’s just judgment was to fall upon on sin in the land of Egypt. How would anyone be saved from such righteous wrath?… for every last person in the land was guilty of sin!

The Lord provided a substitute, sacrificial lamb. For those who believed the Word of the Lord, a lamb could die in their place and its blood would cover them. The lamb gave its life in place of their life.

This was a rite to be observed among God’s people forever.

FOREVER.

If we are God’s people… why do we no longer observe this rite?…or do we?

1 Corinthians 5:7b, “…Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”

One lamb…Christ…for all people. One sacrifice…the cross…for all time…forever! We still observe the right of the Passover lamb…the true Passover lamb. Jesus is the lamb of God to whom all the other lambs were pointing.

His sacrifice stands forever and his blood covers us eternally so that the righteous wrath of God may pass over us. His just judgment has fallen on another that we may graciously go free!

Oh what love that the Father, Son, and Spirit would plan such a salvation! The Father lovingly sent his Son…the Son loving laid down his life…the Spirit lovingly empowered all this action ever step of the way!

What glorious good news that is good forever!

What a glorious, forever Gospel! Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Genesis 22:1-14 (click here)
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

…And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. [14] So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:6-8 and 13-14)

Reflection
Isaac was the child whom God had promised to Abraham. Through him, God has promised Abraham descendants that would outnumber the stars in the sky. Yet…in Genesis 22 God instructed Abraham to sacrifice this son of promise.

If Isaac died, all the promises died with him.

Isaac represented the future people of God and as their representative, he was now marching up a mountain, bearing on his back the very wood upon which he was to die. In Isaac, God’s people were walking up a hill to their death.

God ordered this death. God alone could stop this death. But how?

That was Isaac’s question. As he looked around at their sacrificial supplies, he noticed one key thing was missing…they had no lamb.

Fire?…check.

Wood?…check.

Lamb?…where is the lamb?

Abraham knew the answer…Isaac was the lamb…unless God provided a substitute sacrifice. God alone could do this… and God alone did it!

A ram instead of Isaac. A substitute. A savior.

God provided. And Abraham prophetically stated more than he could possibly have known… that one day… “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” And it has been provided.

We, the people of God, deserved nothing but death. God ordered this death for our sin because he is righteous and just and deals with evil…even our evil.

God ordered this death… and God alone could stop this death… but how?

We alone deserve to die… is there a lamb to sacrifice in our place? The question of Isaac echoes through the ages, “Where is the lamb?”

In John 1:29, John the Baptist answers Isaac’s 2000 year old question with the words, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Behold Jesus!

God’s own son, who marched up a mountain, bearing on his back the very wood upon which he was to die…and he did it in our place! God righteously, rightly ordered our death and God stopped it by taking it on himself!

On the mountain called Calvary, the Lord provided a substitute sacrifice for his people so that they, nor his promises to them had to die. Jesus Christ, the lamb, died so that we might live now and forevermore!

Behold the lamb of God! Behold Jesus!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.