From the beginning God had wanted fellowship with mankind, and from the beginning because of sin, mankind hid himself from Him (Genesis 3:8). Because of mankind’s choice, God cursed the earth. He did it for mankind’s sake (Genesis 3: 17 NKJV), with the clear intention that the consequences of our reaping what we sow, would bring us back to himself. But mankind resisted every step of the way.
From Genesis on, the Scriptures chronicle the pervasive spread of evil. In the midst of this God chooses a people to whom He could reveal Himself, and His ways. Because of the spread of sin and because of its deceitfulness, He needed to teach them morality. So he chooses Moses to reveal his 10 laws, or 10 commandments as we call them. So Moses goes up the mountain to receive these commandments, and when he comes down the people say to him “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19). And one of several ways to look at the Old Testament, is simply that it is demonstration after demonstration that this does not work. In particular we see that mankind is incapable of following God’s laws. In the New Testament Paul tells us, that the Law is our tutor to show us our need of a saviour, of Christ (Galatians 3:24)!
And this brings us to a radical discontinuity between the Old Testament, the old covenant, and the New Testament, or the new covenant. If mankind was incapable of following the Law, then God needed to reach down and provide a different way to reconnect with man.
But God knew this from the beginning, He was not caught by surprise as can be seen from the unity of the two Testaments. And because this is a post it is necessarily brief. So let me paint a simple, but profound Biblical picture. I came to this this morning as I meditated on the phrase “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).
So then one of the precursors to the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, is God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac on Mount Moriah. God is testing Abraham, and though He himself will follow through as will be seen, He never intends for Abraham to follow through. On the journey to the mountain, when Isaac questions him, Abraham tells his son prophetically “God will Himself provide a lamb for the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:7). From this and elsewhere, we get a picture of a lamb as a substitute.
The next precursor has to do with the Exodus. The plague that would finally convince Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go was the death of all the firstborn. The children of Israel were spared this when they took the blood of their lamb, and smeared it on the door posts and lintels of their houses. God tells the children of Israel “When I see the blood (of the Lamb) I will pass over you! It is the blood of the Lamb that saves!
Next comes he whole sacrificial system. We will pass over this too 😀, except to say it was all about atonement for sin, but that it was a picture of something that would work, rather than something that actually did work (Hebrews 10:4). Next, in Isaiah 53, the prophet speaking prophetically of Jesus (see Acts 8:35 in context), says of Him that He was like a lamb led to the slaughter, and that the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Coming to the New Testament, when John the Baptist sees Jesus approaching he declares “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Thus he identifies Jesus as the substitutionary Lamb!
The theme continues in Revelation 5:12 where we catch a glimpse of heaven where the saints praise the glorified and risen Christ with the words “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honour and glory and blessing!” And then finally we come back to the verse that prompted it all, the verse that speaks of Jesus as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
This theme, the Lamb of God, is just one of many themes that permeate both the Old and the New Testament and show its unity, and in my opinion it’s ultimate divine authorship. What is impressive is that this and many other other unifying themes come from multiple authors in diverse times and settings. Yet with one voice they testify to the truth and the beauty of the God who came down and became one of us, in order to reconcile us to himself.
Father, I praise and bless and glorify you this morning. Thank you for your amazing provision, patience and passion in sending your son to reconcile us to yourself. Lord help us, help me to live a life worthy of all that you have done for us. In Jesus Name Amen
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