Jesus the perfect Lamb of God.
All God-all man, the begotten not made who could offer His sinless life in our place that we could live and abide in God forever. In Him all the promises of the Father to His chosen people were fulfilled. Through Him the world could be saved.
John 1:28-34 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” 32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
An allusion to the symbolism of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:3). Jesus is the Lamb of God—the lamb provided by God to atone for the sins of the world in a way no animal ever could. This reference foreshadows Jesus’ death as the ultimate fulfillment of the annual Passover sacrifice (Exodus 12).
Similarly, the Apostle Paul equates Jesus with the ultimate Passover sacrifice in 1 Corinthians 5:7. The Lamb’s role in taking away sin alludes to the Servant imagery in Isaiah 53:12. Isaiah 53:7, in the Septuagint uses the same Greek word amnos (“lamb”) used here. In Exodus 12, each family is commanded to sacrifice a lamb without blemish on the 14th day of the first month. The blood of the lamb was spread with a hyssop branch (John 19:29) on the doorposts and lintel of the entry to each house (Exodus 12:22). The lamb’s blood protected Israel’s households from the judgment of the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn. The lamb was to be killed and cooked whole: none of the bones were to be broken (Exodus 12:46; John 19:36). John’s symbolism clearly places Jesus in the role of Passover lamb, including the day of His death and the treatment of His body.
The purpose of John’s ministry was preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah. Here, John the Baptist simply testifies as a witness to the event. The event itself is spoken of in the past tense. John did not know Jesus was the Messiah until God revealed it to him. John the Baptist is functioning as a formal legal witness to Jesus’ identity. Faithlife Study Bible
In the Old Testament, the Israelites sacrificed lambs at the Passover feast (Exodus 12:21) and as offerings (Leviticus 14:10–25). Jesus Christ is the Lamb that God would give as a sacrifice for the sins not only of Israel, but of the whole world (Isaiah 52:13–53:12). John and Jesus were cousins, so they probably knew each other. But John apparently did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. All John knew was that he was to baptize with water and that the Messiah would be made known to Israel through him. God had given John a sign by which he would know the Messiah, namely, the descending of the Holy Spirit as a dove.
He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit: Seven times the New Testament mentions this ministry of Jesus. Five are prophetic (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5); one is historical (Acts 11:16–18); one is doctrinal (1 Corinthians 12:13). The NKJV Study Bible
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Mark 1:8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John 1:15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
1 Peter 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Revelation 5:6–6:1 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne…
Isaiah 53:3-6
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
What does God require of us?
Be fair.
Be ready to forgive.
Always, always be humble.
Jesus, the Creator of the world, came in humility and in peace.
He offered salvation that was only available to mankind in Him. He died for the sins of the world. He is the only way to restoration with the Father. In Him all the promises to the forefathers was fulfilled. In Him redemption came to the world. Carla
The bombs that go off around us take different forms… violence, natural disasters, loss of faith, cruelty, misinformation and deception, personal and emotional breakdown, fragile health. When it happens, it seems out of the blue. But it all adds up to wreckage. In our spirit. In our hearts. In our relationships. And when heaviness shifts the narrative, we feel at the mercy of, as if our power of choice is gone.
The good news? Jesus invites all who are weary and heavy laden. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
A pause, and a place, where our soul can catch up to our body.
More than ever, I want us to live more consciously and compassionately.
Let me rephrase; more than ever, I want to live more consciously and compassionately.
And I have been remiss. So, I need to return to those places where I am grounded.
Words are easy, and frames are pretty. But choices. Well, that takes chutzpah. When we are not grounded (depleted or lose our way) we need awareness and replenishment. And let’s remember that living compassionately goes both ways, for others and for our self. Care of every kind begins with self-care.
The Hebrew word for rested, vyenafesh, can mean rest; or ensouled, breath, as in to catch one's breath, sweet fragrance, passion, and inner being of man. A nefesh can also mean a living being—to live consciously. In the context of Sabbath replenishment, God ensouled this day when He rested. Rest is what it means to be grounded.
But here’s how it plays out for me. When I’m weary, I don’t feed my soul. And lethargy gives way to bleakness (loss of hope) and the desire to quit. I sense myself shutting down. Like living with a restrictor plate on my heart. (I still wrestle with shame from my childhood about ‘fessing up to the dark and broken parts in my spirit. Which only exacerbates the spiral.)
It’s straightforward really. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.” (Dr. Martin Luther King)
To show compassion, love and redemption.
The light of hope, perseverance and connection.
The light of civility, beauty and compassion.
When I am reminded of this truth my heart expands. And the good news? A full heart always spills. Excerpt from “Sabbath Moments” Terry Hershey
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl
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