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Jesus, the lamb of God

I must say with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb Jesus who was slain for me. I must sing it.

I must bow down to the Messiah Jesus. He and He alone is worthy.

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” | Revelation 5:12

Here are the key ideas:

  1. We know there was a sacrifice involving lambs daily at the temple in Jerusalem. Every morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the temple for the sins of the people. These daily sacrifices, like all others, were simply to point people towards the perfect sacrifice of The Messiah on the cross.
  2. The time of Jesus’ death on the cross corresponds to the time the evening sacrifice was being made in the temple. The Jews at that time would have also been familiar with the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, who foretold the coming of One who would be brought “like a lamb led to the slaughter” and whose sufferings and sacrifice would provide redemption for Israel. Of course, that person was none other than Jesus The Messiah, “the Lamb of God.”
  3. While the idea of a sacrificial system might seem strange to us today, the concept of payment or restitution is still one we can easily understand. We know that the wages of missing God’s goal (aka sin) is death and that our sin separates us from God. We also know the Bible teaches we are all sinners and none of us is righteous before God. Because of our sin, we are separated from God, and we stand guilty before Him. Therefore, the only hope we can have is if He provides a way for us to be reconciled to Himself, and that is what He did in sending His Son Jesus The Messiah to die on the cross. The Messiah died to make atonement for sin and to pay the penalty of the sins of all who believe in Him.
  4. It is through His death on the cross as God’s perfect sacrifice for us and His resurrection three days later that we can now have eternal life if we believe in Him. The fact that God Himself has provided the offering that atones for our sin is part of the glorious good news of the gospel that is so clearly declared in 1 Peter 1:18-21:

“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 The Messiah, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

Jesus is the lamb of God. He alone is worthy.

  • Revelation 5:8–12 — 8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
  • Revelation 7:9–10 — 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
  • Revelation 15:3 — 3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Master God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!