Less we forget—God is Real; God has a Plan; God is in Control and God loves us! Isaiah 45: 18 declares: “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), I am the LORD, and there is none else.” Then in Isaiah 46: 8-10 further expounds upon this principle: “Remember this, and be assured, Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Say, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” What is God’s purpose? Jesus connected the beginning to the end in Revelation 1:8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Peter in 1 Peter 1: 18-21 again ties the beginning of God’s plan to the end: “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave His glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” God’s plan is eternal as well as His foreknowledge! How great is our God!
From Genesis through Revelation God calls us to rehearse the truths of these passages. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE LAMB! We are going to walk through some major passages in order to Recall and Remember God’s plan of the ages.
After the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, we glimpse the first picture of Christ as the sacrificial Lamb in Genesis 3: 21 “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” It was God who slew the animals to make garments for them to cover these sinners in God’s Presence. Next, we see righteous Abel (Hebrews 11: 4) who offered an acceptable sacrifice that pleased God from his flock of lambs. (Genesis 4: 4) Then we see Noah and his family who were genetically pure and had not intermingled with the fallen angels of Genesis 6: 1-4 producing giants who would continually be the enemy of God—especially as they entered the Promised Land. His first act after exiting the Ark was to build an altar and offer pleasing sacrifices to God as the shedding of blood is for the forgiveness of sin. (Hebrews 9: 13-14) In Genesis 22: 1-14 we have the account of the great test of Abraham of obedience to offer Isaac on the altar as a sacrifice for sin. Isaac is a type of Christ “obedient to the point of death.” Abraham was a type of the Father who “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.” (Rom. 8:32; John 3: 16) The ram or lamb is a type of substitution—Christ offered as a burnt offering in our stead. (Heb. 10: 5-10) Genesis 22: 14 says: “Abraham called the name of that place THE LORD WILL PROVIDE, AS IT IS SAID IN THIS DAY, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.” It was on Mt. Moriah near the place where the Temple of Solomon would be built. The account of the first Passover where unblemished lambs were slain in order for the death angel to pass over their house is in Exodus 12. The Passover was a type of Christ our Redeemer. The blood applied without anything in addition pictures the perfect sacrifice of Christ without spot or blemish and constituted a perfect protection from judgment. The Passover was to be a memorial of redemption and was to be Remembered as a permanent ordinance on the first month, Nisan, on the fourteenth day of the month. Moses was given the Law and the pattern of worship and sacrifice for the Tabernacle and later the Temple. In its contents, the ark is a type of Christ as a prescribed blood sacrifice was required—a lamb’s blood and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat as the blood of atonement for sin. Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.” Christ sprinkled His blood upon the Mercy Seat after His death upon the cross—the slain Lamb. Hebrews 9: 11-14 provides the details of Christ’s work as our High Priest who entered through the perfect tabernacle in Heaven and offered Himself without blemish to God and making the way for us to become the children of God through Him. We have the record of 4 more Passover observances in the Old Testament. 1. First Passover in the Promised Land. (Joshua 5: 10) 2. King Hezekiah observes Passover. (2 Chronicles 30: 1-20) 3. King Josiah observes Passover. (2 Kings 23: 21-23) (4) First Passover observance after captivity. (Ezra 6: 19-21) It was John the Baptist who would connect the Lamb of the Old Testament to His appearance and fulfilment in the New Testament. In John 1: 29 we hear John’s announcement: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The prophets and the Law clearly proclaimed Jesus as Messiah and the Lamb of God. In Isaiah 53 the details of Christ’s sacrifice were presented—despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, smitten of God, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, with His stripes we are healed, oppressed and afflicted, opened not His mouth as a lamb to the slaughter, made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. In verse 10 we read: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; when thou shalt 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.” The religious Jews of the day rejected Him despite thousands of Divine Rehearsals they had performed!
Jesus fulfilled every detail in the Old Testament sacrifices of the Lamb—His life revealed His deity as He performed miracles and was completely holy in every way—the spotless Lamb—at the exact time that the priests would slaughter the sacrificial lambs on Passover, Jesus yielded up the ghost—gave up His Spirit on the cross. Jesus celebrated His last Passover with His disciples clearly explaining about His sacrifice but they did not fully understand until after His death on the cross. “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22: 19-20) The Jewish Passover consisted of drinking four cups—they were four expressions of redemption as they rehearsed the Exodus story. In Exodus 6:6-7, God promises the Israelites…”I will bring you out;” I will deliver you;” I will redeem you,” and “I will take you.” Jesus said in Mt. 26: 29 “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine (fourth cup), until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Jesus clearly predicted His return for His people in that fourth cup! Christ gave to His church a memorial celebration to observe until He returns to establish His Kingdom on earth—commonly referred to as Communion or the Lord’s Supper. Communion celebrates the passion of Christ at His death. Each time we celebrate Communion, “we proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (I Cor. 11: 26) Nothing or no one will thwart God’s plan of redemption! We as Christians continue to rehearse God’s plan of the ages until Jesus returns and fulfils His complete Revelation as revealed to John. The best is yet to come: no more curse, no more tears, no more pain, no more night for all whose name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Jesus’ last words in the Bible is “Surely I come quickly.” May we make ourself ready for His return and help get others ready! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!