The Perfect Lamb
The world is in chaos. A swirling vortex of noise and confusion which threatens to pull me in. I confess. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes I wonder if God even sees. I point to the strife, violence, and destruction. “Look here,” I say. “Can’t you do something about this?”
As Passover approaches, I find my thoughts turning more and more to Jesus, and his final days on the earth. The world was in chaos when he came on the scene. Rome’s oppression of the Jews had them looking in earnest for the long-awaited Messiah to come riding in and save the day. Surely, he would soon break the Roman yoke from their necks.
God had a different plan.
“Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
If only they’d understood what it was they truly needed to be delivered from, they would have recognized Jesus was what they’d been hoping for.
Gentle and meek, he came into their midst. In hindsight it seems so obvious, but they weren’t watching for a lamb. All their lives they’d been told the story of the ram supplied in Isaac’s stead. Yet, when their substitutionary sacrifice came to take their place, they were looking for a warrior king.
“And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain...”
It was the tenth day of the month of Nisan. The day set aside long ago for the passover lambs, required to be male and the firstborn of the mother, to be selected. When Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowd shouted “Hosanna” which means “please save us.” Thus, they selected him as their Passover lamb.
During the next four days the chosen lambs were observed and examined to ensure they had no defects. Jesus too was questioned and examined during this time. On the fourth day, Pilate declared the Lamb acceptable when he said, “I find no fault in him.” Then he washed his hands of the matter and let the those who demanded he be crucified have their way.
On the fourteenth day of the month when the ceremonial slaughter of the selected lambs commenced, Jesus was nailed to the cross. He hung there as lamb after lamb was slain. After the high priest sacrificed the last one, he called out “It is finished.” It was at this same time Jesus cried out “It is finished” and breathed his last breath. The soldiers came to him, prepared to break his legs in order to expedite his death, but he was already dead.
“These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’”
Jesus had saved the day. He had waged war on the real enemy not with a sword and an army, but by laying down his life.
I ponder how thoroughly Jesus satisfied all the requirements of a Passover lamb and my anxious heart is quieted. Nothing has been left to chance. From the beginning, the perfectly laid plan of God has been executed. Why would I think that he will not carry it to completion?
Perhaps the thing I need to be delivered from is not what I thought. Perhaps God has a different plan. I need only to trust him.