Advent Day 11- The Lamb

Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh new start. A new day to rise and look to Jesus for salvation. He has provided a most amazing protection for all who believe in Him.

He chose to leave His seat on High and come to earth as a humble baby who would grow into a man who faced real temptation, but never sinned.

He chose to look at His precious creation who battled sin over and over again in destructive cycles of unbelief and have mercy on them.

He chose to offer up Himself as the sacrifice that would atone for all sins and break the curse of death.

He chose to offer up His own divine blood so that a protective mark could be placed on every believer in Jesus Christ.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus is called the Lamb? Why He needed to die as an offering? Why blood was needed?

The answers to these questions begin in the book of Exodus.

God’s people have been oppressed and forced into slavery. The Pharoah has been increasingly evil to the Israelites even making a decree that every newborn baby boy is to be thrown into the river. And this is the time that Moses is born and subsequently saved by the Pharaoh’s daughter. This baby boy would grow to be a great leader and lead his people out of Egypt by following the Lord’s directions.

Fast Forward to later in Moses’s life and he has become a man who speaks with the Lord. A man who has been called by the Lord to speak to the people and to the Pharoah to ultimately get the people released from captivity.

But the Pharoah isn’t cooperating. He is relentless in keeping the Israelites captive and even after 6 horrible plagues where after each one, he promises to release them, but then changes his mind and continues the tyranny.

Finally, the Lord executes a 7th plague. This is a terrible plague to imagine coming from such a kind, loving, merciful Lord. But remember, the Lord has given Pharoah chance after chance after chance after chance SIX times to let the people go in peace and the Pharoah has refused.

And even before the Lord executes this final judgment/plague on Pharoah and the Egyptian people, He sends Moses to tell him what’s coming. The Pharoah was told ahead of the awful 7th plague what it entailed and given another opportunity to release them. He doesn’t and so the plague of death is to be unleashed.

This would mean the death of every firstborn son of every household.

But, there was to be a protective covering, a mark, a seal that would cause the angel of death to PASS over a home and prevent the plague of death from harming anyone in that home.

The Israelite families were instructed to take a blemish free lamb and sacrifice it. They were to take some of the blood and mark their outside door post with it. And then, they were to have a meal in which they ate the lamb. This would be the first Passover meal and would be their last meal as slaves. Tomorrow, they would exodus or escape from the Egyptian Opression.

And so it happened, the Israelites and their firstborn children were spared from death by the mark of the blood of the lamb! Their homes were completely passed over while every Egyptian household was struck with the death of their firstborn.

The Pharoah relented and told the Israelites to go just as God had promised he would.

Deliverance from slavery AND total protection from death came from the mark of the blood of the lamb. AND notice, they ate the lamb. They partook in the eating of the body of the lamb that was slain.

So now let’s look to Jesus, our precious Savior and dig deeply into His name given to Him again and again throughout scripture: The Lamb who was slain.

When Jesus walked by John the Baptist, John declared, “Look, there is the Lamb of God.”

Precious Jesus, our Lord, chose to be the Passover Lamb who would cause death to “Passover” His people. And John the Baptist, the one who went before Jesus preaching that the Messiah had come, recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God!

When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are marked with a seal that causes death to lose all power over you!

You breathe your last breath on earth and you open them in the Presence of the Lord.

Death loses its sting. The curse is broken by the blood of the Lamb just as the blood of the lamb all those years ago caused the angel of death to Passover every home that was marked by the blood on the doorpost.

Now Jesus’s blood is a redemptive seal over our heart that marks us as a redeemed, child of the Living God and nothing, not even death itself can separate you from the Love of God.

And a few more beautiful connections to make…the Lord instructed the Israelites to continue to commemorate the Passover with a yearly celebration in which they ate a Passover meal and remembered being saved and set free from slavery. They were to teach future generations of what God had done for them by remembering the Passover and the power of the Word of the Lord that instructed them to mark their homes with the blood of the lamb.

Jesus’s final meal with His disciples was the Passover meal! The Jewish people still celebrated that Passover every year and Jesus was going to be crucified during Passover making Him the Passover Lamb who would usher in a whole NEW COVENANT with His people.

And just as the people during Moses’s time were instructed to celebrate the Passover every year to remember their freedom from slavery and protection from God’s judgment, now Jesus would teach His disciples to partake in communion as a remembrance of Him and His body and blood.

Look at what Jesus tells His disciples at that final Passover Meal:

Friends, Jesus became the Lamb that would save us from the slavery of sin and give us a redemptive seal that causes death to have NO hold over us!

And the act of communion is the remembrance of the Lamb that was slain for the remission of sins canceling death over all believers in Jesus.

Just as they ate the lamb of the Passover feast, so are we to eat the bread and wine of communion to symbolize the body and blood of Jesus, the perfect, spotless Lamb who chose to give Himself to save His people.

How amazing and wondrous is that?!

He loves us so deeply, so intensely,

He became the final sacrifice needed and made a new promise to His people. “Anyone who believes in Me will be saved!”

And what is still to come?? As I study the names of Jesus this Christmas, I am intrigued by how many of Jesus’s names are mentioned again in Revelation to show the final fulfillment of ALL prophecy.

And Jesus is called the Lamb in Revelation..

Look at these promises up ahead for ALL who trust in the Name of Jesus!!!

The Lord will wipe every tear from our eyes!!

We will be invited to the great victory celebration of the Lamb!!

And the Lamb will provide the Light!!

And FINALLY…….Every single curse will be broken! All things restored, the Lamb of God will reign and we will be marked by His Name!! He will shine on us forever and ever and ever for ALL of eternity!!

Wowzers!!!! All because of the Lamb, Jesus Christ who is the Lord Himself. He chose us before the foundation of the world to be His chosen people, redeemed, marked by Him to be saved and with Him for all of eternity.

When you place your hope and trust in the Lord Jesus as your Savior, NOTHING that comes against you on earth is permanent.

Every affliction is temporary and pales in comparison to the JOY AHEAD that the Lord is preparing for those who love Him.

The Bible is His love story to us. It’s filled with the truth of His Redemption of His people and the birth of Jesus that we are celebrating marks the start of a new covenant with Jesus. The Bible ends with a book of promises STILL to come!

Friends, if you don’t have a regular Bible reading routine, I encourage you to pray about it.

You don’t have to read the Bible to earn God’s favor, you already have that just by believing in Jesus. You are already marked for redemption by the protection of the blood of the Lamb.

But reading your Bible is such a blessing because it’s FILLED with promises from God to you. Filled with love and redemption and His mercy. Filled with His Words that have creative life giving power in them to make darkness flee and light shine in. If you are not sure where to begin, I encourage people to start with the gospels. Begin with Jesus. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And even if you don’t have a paper Bible, there is a free Bible app that is awesome!

Youversion Bible App gives you the entire Bible for free and even reads it aloud to you if you like that feature!

God has beautiful things to tell you!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You Lord for the gift of Jesus. Thank You for His divine birth, His model life for us, His sacrifice of becoming the Passover Lamb, His resurrection, His ascension, His gift of the Holy Spirit, and the PROMISE of His return! Give us a renewed hunger and thirst for You and Your Precious Word.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.