Behold the Lamb of God - GraceLife Church of Pineville

Introduction: The First Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday, we read the Scriptures about Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem (see Matthew 21:1–17). The Gospel of Matthew records children even praising Christ that day:

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” (Matthew 21:15–16)

One might ask, “What could children possibly understand regarding the importance of such a moment?”

That question that we might ask of that first Palm Sunday recorded in the first Gospel is checked somewhat by what’s recorded in the last Gospel. John describes Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem like this:

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. (John 12:12–16)

As we are reminded this Palm Sunday of the possibility of praise from children, our question is not only What could children possibly understand regarding the importance of this moment? Our question is, What do we as adult disciples fail to understand—just as these first disciples failed to understand?

What do we as adult disciples fail to understand—just as these first disciples failed to understand?

Is there a story being told in Scripture that we need to know? A story that we need to remember? A story that we need to re-remember?

The remembrance of these disciples of “things … written of Him” are obviously things written in the Old Testament—that’s all they had written down at that time. And while recent sermons have encouraged us to be grateful for the revelation of the New Testament, we must not forget that the story of Jesus is woven throughout Moses and the Prophets.¹

What is that story? How is it told? What do we take for granted? Is there any imagery that is both familiar and forgotten?

Consider the context of Jesus’s words. This is a fairly specific verse and specific occurrence. Jesus is riding into Zion on a colt of a donkey. No one said, “Does this sound like what we read in Zechariah? You know—that bit about ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt’”?²

We look this Palm Sunday at the story of Jesus in Scripture—or, rather, the stories about Him, for they are numerous. It’s hard to know where to even start!

King of Israel & Lamb of God

Since we’re in John’s Gospel, let’s contrast this public declaration of who Jesus is—”the King of Israel”—with Jesus’s first public introduction in John 1:

The next day he [John the Baptizer] saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

We see a similar declaration a few verses later:

Again the next day John [the Baptizer] was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35–36)

Keep in mind that John’s whole purpose was to introduce this Christ, this Messiah, this chosen One. His life’s purpose was being fulfilled in this moment recorded in John 1, so his choice of words is important. And in this moment, of all the things he could have said, he chooses to say, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

Consider, then, this fairly familiar term, “Lamb of God.” What comes to mind when hearing or reading this phrase? It’s a popular image of the Easter season. Lambs, pastels, melt-your-heart cuteness … hey, lambs are so cute, let’s just forget about this sin thing for a while!

Is that how it works?

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This prompts questions—namely, What does it mean to be the “Lamb of God”? Does this mean “the Lamb that comes from God”? is it “the Lamb that belongs to God”? Is it “the Lamb, which is God”?

As always, we will ask and answer as well as we can, to the best of our ability in the time given, “What does the Scripture say?” And we will see, as Scripture often does, it shares its truth in narrative, in story.

“Lamb” in the Bible

If you do a quick word study on “lamb,” you’ll find the term in about 184 verses in the Bible. However, the phrase “Lamb of God” only occurs twice in the New Testament—in the verses we just read above (John 1:29, 36), in both cases from the mouth of John the Baptizer.

What about other New Testament uses of “lamb”?

If we move to the book after the four Gospels—the book of history, Acts—we read of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, who was struggling to understand who the silent lamb in Isaiah was.³ We read that “beginning from this Scripture [in Isaiah] he [Philip] preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35). This passage, then, gives us the connection between Jesus and a lamb.

When it comes to the New Testament epistles, only one time is the term “lamb” used in relation to Christ: in 1 Peter 1:19.

The majority of references to “lamb” in the New Testament come in Revelation—more than 30 times, in fact (in chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 22). The lamb of Revelation is a strange lamb. He appears as a lamb that has sustained an injury brutal enough to have killed Him; and He has seven horns and seven eyes (print that on your Easter card!). The book says he is a warrior, a temple, and a lamp. And He also sits on a throne.

The majority of references to “lamb” in Scripture occur in the Old Testament and are referring to sacrifices. These are the stories that were available to those at the time of Jesus’s appearance in Jerusalem. And on this Palm Sunday, we look at the story behind the feast Jesus was celebrating the week He died: the feast we call Passover.

The Passover Lamb

To learn about the feast of Passover, we’ll open the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible (after Genesis). As Genesis ends, we see that in order to save the people, the family of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph—has now moved into the land of Egypt, where Joseph finds favor. However, a new Pharaoh comes to power who doesn’t know Joseph. And as the Israelites have multiplied in the land, they now find themselves in a position of slavery. Moses is called back to Egypt to face Pharaoh and asks that the people of Israel be let go (freed from their slavery, free to worship God). Pharaoh refuses, so there is a series of plagues that God sends. The land has just come out of the plague of darkness as we get to Exodus 11, where we’ll pick up the story:

Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. …

Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

For the Lord will pass through to smite 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 come in to your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite.And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” And the people bowed low and worshiped.

Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. (Exodus 11:4–6; 12:1–30)

Place yourself in the land of Egypt. Imagine you’re a part of Israel. There is excitement that you are about to escape from the bondage of Egypt, but there’s also fear because this destroyer is going to be hovering in the skies this evening. He’s going to pass over the land and destroy the firstborn, but he has promised to pass over and not judge some.

He’s been doing some incredible things in Egypt: Water has been turned to blood. There have been plagues of frogs and flies, locusts and lice. Cattle are dead; boils are breaking out on skin; hail is falling from the sky; and darkness covered the land for three days. As one who is part of Israel, living in the land of Egypt, you’ve been protected thus far; you haven’t had to do anything. But if you’re going to escape this death sentence, your only hope of escape is to follow the instructions about this lamb and this meal.⁴

Here are the instructions: Find a lamb that is …

Less than a year old;
A male; and
Perfect (unblemished).

This lamb will cost you something. You’re removing from the genetic pool a prime source of future offspring. You’re eliminating a means of sustenance in the form of a larger food source later on (this is a prize lamb, after all); or, if it wasn’t going to be a food source for you, it’s a lamb that you would be able to sell for a higher asking price.

Finding such a lamb also held the prospect of a tedious task. Reading through the law is like that. It can be exhausting. My professor of Old Testament (in seminary) reminded us that if we were exhausted at reading the law (and we were—he made us read it in one sitting), “That’s the point.”

Finding a perfect lamb was not easy. You couldn’t have DoorDashed this one and hoped the shopper brought you the right thing.

Imagine you go to inspect a lamb, and it looks perfect. You’re about to check out and pay for it. But then you realize it walks with a limp. That one won’t do.

You continue your inspection. You see another one, and you give it a once-over; the legs look good, the coat is nice, and you’re excited at the prospects of this one. Then, you discover a small scratch on its belly, just a little scab. Another that won’t do.

Your search continues.

Wait! Here! This looks like the one! But what’s this? Some infection in the ear, or a blurriness in one eye.

Lamb after lamb, you inspect, only to find the smallest imperfections—tiny blemishes that keep it from being spotless.

We can imagine a modern-day parallel. Maybe you go out to the store to find the perfect Easter outfit for the holiday, or you go shopping to look for the perfect Christmas tree. With each attempt, you grow slightly more anxious. Is this the one? Maybe. Or is it this one?

The smallest of defects renders the animal useless.

The smallest of defects renders the animal useless.

If you have a dog or other pet, go examine it now. Any blemishes? How about the inspection process—did you enjoy that?!

I almost forgot to mention one more detail: you need to find this perfect lamb within the next 10 days. Surprise, the calendar changed, too—this is now the first month, and by day 10, you have to find this perfect lamb. After you find it, you have to keep the lamb at your house for three full days.

Three days to wonder, Is it really perfect?

Three days to stress over, Can I keep it perfect? (Can you imagine this in a house with children? Kids, do not play with the lamb!)

Let’s say you make it to that point. What’s next?

You have to kill the animal and prepare it very specifically: Do this with the blood, do this with the meat, and do that with the guts.

All of this, remember, is to save the life of your family member. So you go through the steps, no matter how tedious. How many steps? Well, consider all of the commands surrounding this exercise:

First was the whole shift in thinking about how you order your life: the month you are now in is the most important; count it as the first month.
You have to find the lamb on the 10th—no picking early.
The lamb has to be the appropriate size for the household.
The lamb has to be unblemished/perfect.
It has to be male.
It has to be a year old.
You have to keep it for three full days after finding it.
You then have to kill the lamb at a specific time in coordination with the rest of the nation of Israel.

After doing all that, post-killing, you need to:

Put blood on two doorposts and lintel of the same house in which it is eaten.
Eat all the flesh.
Make sure it’s roasted.
Eat it with flat (unleavened) bread and bitter herbs.
Not eat it raw.
Not boil it.
Cook everything.
Eat everything edible, and burn everything else.
Not luxuriate: eat the meal clothed, sandaled, and ready to go, because you’re about to leave.

There’s a minimum of 20 commands associated with this evening if you want to make it out of Egypt alive.

There’s a minimum of 20 commands associated with this evening if you want to make it out of Egypt alive.

Return to that process of selecting this lamb—and to the illustration of picking your Christmas tree or Easter outfit. What’s the stress involved in that purchase process? It’s purchase pressure—wondering:

What if I find one that’s a little better later? (The implication is that something’s just a little off with this one.)
What if I don’t buy this one now and someone else comes along and buys it? (Ever been to a Christmas tree lot and asked one of your kids, or your spouse, or a friend to stand guard at a tree while you keep looking around?)

And guess what, you have competition: all of Israel needs a lamb—not to be stylish during the holidays but to save someone they love!

How many unblemished lambs would have been needed? We can look at the number of people in Israel at the time and estimate how many we need to save. Exodus 12:37 says that “the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.”

That’s a lot of lambs.

The task seems improbable if not impossible. How will Israel find such a lamb? How will Israel find such a lamb many times over to save the entire nation? The answer to that question also comes to us through story.

The task seems improbable if not impossible.

God Will Provide

We have an answer from the mouth of the father of the nation Israel, from when he, like the Hebrew people, faced the potential loss of his son.

The first mention of lamb associated with sacrifice comes in Genesis 22, when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac. In that story, Isaac asks his father, “But where is the lamb?” Abraham replies, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.”⁵

And in this answer we realize the silliness of our worry, the smallness of our faith. We get caught up in questions like: Can we find a lamb? And what happens if we don’t find one without blemish, without defect? We worry over such things without stopping to think, there is nothing any of us could do to provide a perfect lamb, to create a lamb.

We don’t manifest the lamb’s perfection through our careful pursuit. There’s nothing you can do to create even an imperfect lamb! The process was all along about recognizing that which God creates and provides.

There’s nothing you can do to create even an imperfect lamb! The process was all along about recognizing that which God creates and provides.

The lesson from the beginning of the book of Moses is that God will provide for Himself the lamb. And by the time we get to Exodus, there was the need for lambs (plural). But these unblemished lambs point to something better.

These unblemished lambs point to something better.

They point to:

The blood of a male
The blood of that which is without blemish
The blood of one whose life was cut short
The blood smeared across beams to avoid the judgment of God

That is, they point to:

The blood of the man named Jesus
A Man without blemish
One whose life was cut short
His blood smeared across the beams of the cross so that the judgment of God would pass over you and me

I don’t pretend to know all the ways in which this story, this passage in Exodus, points to Christ. Study it for yourself, and you’ll find more. But here are just a few of the ways this story points to Him:

The lamb specifically was to have no bones broken. And John, in his Gospel says they did not break the legs of Christ on the cross “to fulfill the Scripture, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken’” (19:36).
Prior to this shedding of blood at the first Passover, there was a plague of darkness that covered the land for three days. Prior to Christ’s death on the cross, there was darkness that covered the land for three hours.
Christ’s triumphal entry on Palm Sunday many point to as being the day in which Israel would have been choosing lambs for the Passover. So when He enters Jerusalem, and the people call on His name and praise Him, they are effectively choosing Christ as the Passover when they declare, “Hosanna” (“You save us”).

What is explicit to us in the New Testament is this: Peter reminds us that we are redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). In a similar vein, Paul declares, “Christ our Passover … has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Christ our Passover … has been sacrificed. (1 Corinthians 5:7)

The Story of Scripture

There is a story being told in Scripture. It is a story of a Lamb—the Lamb of God.

To answer questions from earlier in this sermon:

He is the Lamb that comes from God
He is the Lamb that belongs to God
He is the Lamb which is God

The fact that He is the Lamb that comes from God reminds us that we can perform no work to earn His grace. He is the One who provides life.

In the reality that He is the Lamb that belongs to God, we are reminded that Jesus offered Himself up to God as a sacrifice on our behalf.

And in the fact that He is the Lamb which is God, we are reminded that only His perfect, unblemished life is worthy of being accepted by God.

Only His perfect, unblemished life is worthy of being accepted by God.

So God has invited us to partake in that life—by trusting that He does provide, that He does save.

The story of Scripture ends in Revelation. It’s in that book where we see that life from and by the Lamb will become life with the Lamb. There will be another supper of the Lamb⁶—not one in which He loses His life, but a celebration of His union with His church.

This Easter season I encourage you to behold the Lamb. If He’s capable of taking away the sin of the world, He’s capable of taking away your sin. And in His abounding grace, He invites you to life with Him, both now and forevermore.

If He’s capable of taking away the sin of the world, He’s capable of taking away your sin.

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