Special Study Outline

THE LAMB OF GOD
On the night before His death, Jesus instituted what we call “the Lord’s Supper”: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins. But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:26-29). This is a very important part of Scripture, and we should seek to understand it. It is important to the proper interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel and it is also important to the proper interpretation of the Gospel of Christ itself. This section is of course included in Matthew’s record of the events leading up to the crucifixion. Parallel accounts can be found in Mark and Luke. Matthew’s inclusion of it would have perhaps been the most easily understood to his readers, since he was writing primarily to a Jewish audience. When Matthew tells us that they “were eating,” the Jews understood that they were eating the Passover. Those of us who are Gentiles need to understand some background information, to be sure, in order to understand the significance of what transpired in the upper room that night. We may read in our Bibles about the Passover celebration in the Old Testament books of Exodus (12:1-13:16), Leviticus (23:4-14), Numbers (28:16-25), and Deuteronomy (16:1-8), as well as many other references scattered throughout. The Passover was the first of what we might call “the big three” celebration festivals of the Israelites. The significance of the feast goes back to the time when the Hebrew people were captives in Egypt, and were spared from participating in God’s judgment upon their oppressors. The Hebrews put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts as a sign of God that He would “pass over” their houses. This was during the time when God was destroying all the firstborn Egyptian male children to force Pharaoh to let His people go. “For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever.” (Ex. 12:12-17). So the Passover feast (or Feast of Unleavened Bread) commemorated the hasty departure of the Hebrew children from their slavery in Egypt. The unleavened bread was used as a reminder of the fact that the Israelites did not have time to put leaven in the bread for their last meal in Egypt. The Old Testament Passover, both the event that it memorialized and the feast itself, was a picture of Christ. The Old Testament is, of course, about Christ from beginning to end. Jesus said that the Old Testament Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from judgment, just as the blood of Christ saves us from judgment. This is the significance of the statement from Christ concerning His blood: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28, NIV). His blood protects us from the wrath of God and the subsequent judgment of God upon sin. “[Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:14, NIV). “[Jesus] gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Gal 1:4, NIV). So Jesus’ statements here concerning the bread and the wine show conclusively that the Passover feast was really about Him. It is an interesting and thoroughly enlightening exercise to take note of the preparations that God made for the sending of His Son into the world. Take the night of judgment upon the Egyptians, for example. What was the purpose of God’s requirements of the Hebrews that night? Why did He make them put blood from a sacrificed lamb upon the door? Some have argued that this is an Old Testament picture of New Testament obedience. We have heard sermons and lectures where this matter was discussed and the whole emphasis was given to the necessity of obedience—that God always requires man to do something to demonstrate his faith before blessings are bestowed. While it should be agreed that faith must be accompanied by action, if that is all we get out of this story from the Book of Exodus then we have woefully missed the point. This account is not about the faithfulness of the Hebrew people, but about the faithfulness of God. While it is true that the Israelites had to do what God said concerning the matter of putting the blood on the doorposts, just as all of us who receive blessings from God must obey Him, the purpose of the act was not merely to compel obedience, but rather to teach them a lesson concerning God’s mighty act of salvation which He was even at that very time in the process of accomplishing. We speak, of course, of His sending His Son into the world to save us. This is the point of the story. The Passover story pointed to John the Baptist’s announcement: “On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The drama that was unfolding and in which the Israelites were major players was what we call “the scheme of redemption.” God was in the process of preparing His people for the appearance of the Messiah. Jesus Christ would be God’s ultimate Lamb, the only one whose death could adequately deal with the problem of sin. Christ as God’s lamb was prepictured in several ways in the Old Testament. When God commanded Abraham to offer His son Isaac upon the altar, it was an object lesson about God’s redemptive intentions. We remember the story, and the question that Isaac asked his father on the way up the mountain: “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son. So they went both of them together.” (Gen 22:7-8) Pay careful and close attention to Abraham’s answer: “God will provide himself the lamb.” It could be said that is the summary statement of the Old Testament in preparation for the New Testament story. This is what God was trying to get across to His people in the Old Testament: God Himself will provide the Lamb. Sin requires death—and God Himself will take care of it. Man is alienated from God because of sin—and God Himself will bring man home. Man deserves wrath and judgment because of sin, but God Himself will bear that wrath and judgment. God has provided for Himself a Lamb. Speaking of Jesus centuries before His birth, Isaiah said, “He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Peter wrote a post-Calvary declaration concerning Christ’s blood that informs us that the cross was the end to which the Old Testament sacrificial types, including the Passover, pointed: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Pet. 1:18-19, NIV). The people of Israel had to admit that it was God who delivered them. “For Jehovah our God, he it is that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and that did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.” (Josh 24:17). Just as the people of Israel had to admit that it was God who delivered them, so we too must make the same admission. “It was the Lord God Himself who saved me.” This is what the gospel story is all about. The gospel announces an accomplished salvation. Before we heard the message of salvation through Christ, it was finished. Many Bible passages allow us to make this statement with the greatest of confidence. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to him-self in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:18-21, NIV). “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Rom. 5:10-11). “And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Eph. 2:16, NIV). “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” (Col. 1:20-22). We respond to what God has done by putting our faith in Jesus Christ as the atoning Lamb of God. We must trust what He did. It is by faith in what Christ did that we are justified (Rom. 5:1). “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-16, NKJV). “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Matt. 28:19-20, NKJV). When a sinner believes in Jesus, repents of his sins, and then is baptized upon a faith in the crucified and risen Lord, he receives the benefits of Christ’s atoning work and is added by the Lord to the saved body of believers, the church (Acts 2:38,47). Because of what God Himself has done in “providing a Lamb,” we should live our lives in service to Him. Everything that we do should be done in His name (Col. 3:17). Because Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, we should offer our bodies as “living sacrifices” to Him (Rom. 12:1). A gift this extraordinary requires our very lives. Are you living for Jesus, the Lamb of God? Bryan Dunaway Grace and Peace Ministries www.gandpministries.org

On the night before His death, Jesus instituted what we call “the Lord’s Supper”: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins. But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:26-29). This is a very important part of Scripture, and we should seek to understand it. It is important to the proper interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel and it is also important to the proper interpretation of the Gospel of Christ itself.

This section is of course included in Matthew’s record of the events leading up to the crucifixion. Parallel accounts can be found in Mark and Luke. Matthew’s inclusion of it would have perhaps been the most easily understood to his readers, since he was writing primarily to a Jewish audience. When Matthew tells us that they “were eating,” the Jews understood that they were eating the Passover. Those of us who are Gentiles need to understand some background information, to be sure, in order to understand the significance of what transpired in the upper room that night.

We may read in our Bibles about the Passover celebration in the Old Testament books of Exodus (12:1-13:16), Leviticus (23:4-14), Numbers (28:16-25), and Deuteronomy (16:1-8), as well as many other references scattered throughout. The Passover was the first of what we might call “the big three” celebration festivals of the Israelites. The significance of the feast goes back to the time when the Hebrew people were captives in Egypt, and were spared from participating in God’s judgment upon their oppressors. The Hebrews put the blood of a sacrificed lamb on their doorposts as a sign of God that He would “pass over” their houses.

This was during the time when God was destroying all the firstborn Egyptian male children to force Pharaoh to let His people go. “For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever.” (Ex. 12:12-17).

So the Passover feast (or Feast of Unleavened Bread) commemorated the hasty departure of the Hebrew children from their slavery in Egypt. The unleavened bread was used as a reminder of the fact that the Israelites did not have time to put leaven in the bread for their last meal in Egypt.

The Old Testament Passover, both the event that it memorialized and the feast itself, was a picture of Christ. The Old Testament is, of course, about Christ from beginning to end. Jesus said that the Old Testament Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from judgment, just as the blood of Christ saves us from judgment. This is the significance of the statement from Christ concerning His blood: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28, NIV). His blood protects us from the wrath of God and the subsequent judgment of God upon sin. “[Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:14, NIV). “[Jesus] gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Gal 1:4, NIV).

So Jesus’ statements here concerning the bread and the wine show conclusively that the Passover feast was really about Him. It is an interesting and thoroughly enlightening exercise to take note of the preparations that God made for the sending of His Son into the world. Take the night of judgment upon the Egyptians, for example. What was the purpose of God’s requirements of the Hebrews that night? Why did He make them put blood from a sacrificed lamb upon the door? Some have argued that this is an Old Testament picture of New Testament obedience. We have heard sermons and lectures where this matter was discussed and the whole emphasis was given to the necessity of obedience—that God always requires man to do something to demonstrate his faith before blessings are bestowed. While it should be agreed that faith must be accompanied by action, if that is all we get out of this story from the Book of Exodus then we have woefully missed the point.

This account is not about the faithfulness of the Hebrew people, but about the faithfulness of God. While it is true that the Israelites had to do what God said concerning the matter of putting the blood on the doorposts, just as all of us who receive blessings from God must obey Him, the purpose of the act was not merely to compel obedience, but rather to teach them a lesson concerning God’s mighty act of salvation which He was even at that very time in the process of accomplishing. We speak, of course, of His sending His Son into the world to save us. This is the point of the story.

The Passover story pointed to John the Baptist’s announcement: “On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The drama that was unfolding and in which the Israelites were major players was what we call “the scheme of redemption.” God was in the process of preparing His people for the appearance of the Messiah. Jesus Christ would be God’s ultimate Lamb, the only one whose death could adequately deal with the problem of sin.

Christ as God’s lamb was prepictured in several ways in the Old Testament. When God commanded Abraham to offer His son Isaac upon the altar, it was an object lesson about God’s redemptive intentions. We remember the story, and the question that Isaac asked his father on the way up the mountain: “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son. So they went both of them together.” (Gen 22:7-8) Pay careful and close attention to Abraham’s answer: “God will provide himself the lamb.”

It could be said that is the summary statement of the Old Testament in preparation for the New Testament story. This is what God was trying to get across to His people in the Old Testament: God Himself will provide the Lamb. Sin requires death—and God Himself will take care of it. Man is alienated from God because of sin—and God Himself will bring man home. Man deserves wrath and judgment because of sin, but God Himself will bear that wrath and judgment.

God has provided for Himself a Lamb. Speaking of Jesus centuries before His birth, Isaiah said, “He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Peter wrote a post-Calvary declaration concerning Christ’s blood that informs us that the cross was the end to which the Old Testament sacrificial types, including the Passover, pointed: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Pet. 1:18-19, NIV).

The people of Israel had to admit that it was God who delivered them. “For Jehovah our God, he it is that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and that did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.” (Josh 24:17). Just as the people of Israel had to admit that it was God who delivered them, so we too must make the same admission. “It was the Lord God Himself who saved me.” This is what the gospel story is all about.

The gospel announces an accomplished salvation. Before we heard the message of salvation through Christ, it was finished. Many Bible passages allow us to make this statement with the greatest of confidence. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to him-self in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:18-21, NIV).

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Rom. 5:10-11). “And in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Eph. 2:16, NIV). “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” (Col. 1:20-22).

We respond to what God has done by putting our faith in Jesus Christ as the atoning Lamb of God. We must trust what He did. It is by faith in what Christ did that we are justified (Rom. 5:1). “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-16, NKJV). “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Matt. 28:19-20, NKJV). When a sinner believes in Jesus, repents of his sins, and then is baptized upon a faith in the crucified and risen Lord, he receives the benefits of Christ’s atoning work and is added by the Lord to the saved body of believers, the church (Acts 2:38,47).

Because of what God Himself has done in “providing a Lamb,” we should live our lives in service to Him. Everything that we do should be done in His name (Col. 3:17). Because Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, we should offer our bodies as “living sacrifices” to Him (Rom. 12:1). A gift this extraordinary requires our very lives. Are you living for Jesus, the Lamb of God?

Bryan Dunaway

Grace and Peace Ministries