In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.
And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.”
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.”
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”
God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
So God had to make a provision for them, They were naked. In verse 21.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them
We read that, when God created living creatures, And God saw that it was good.
So this provision of Garment was made from a living creature (Animal). The Innocent Animal has to die to cover the Sin of Man and it was just a temporary solution foreshadowing what was about to come.
Hebrews 9:22
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
- Lamb as a substitute
In the Old Covenant established with Moses; the Law. In the Law, God explained in detail how the nation of Israel was to live and serve God. However, there was a problem: sin. But God also provided instructions for dealing with that too. In Leviticus we see 17 mentions of the use of lambs for offerings concerning people’s sins.
Throughout the Old Testament, a lamb was sacrificed at an altar as an act of worship to God and the means of atoning for sin. The word atonement means to “cover over.” The sacrificial lamb was a substitute. Instead of a man or woman dying for his or her sins, God provided the lamb to take the place of that person, and the blood of the lamb paid the penalty for their sin.
Passover was an event in which blood would be placed over the doorposts of the homes of God’s people to show that blood “covered” them. It was the blood of an animal that was seen as the life in the animal. In short, death would be required to cover sin.
Why the Lamb? Why the sacrifice? that death can be the death of a substitute
- Sacrifice be without blemish
Secondly Further, God mandated that the sheep presented to Him for sacrifice be without blemish. the Lord would not accept just any lamb to pay the debt of sin, it had to be one without blemish, deformity, sickness, or spot (Leviticus 4:32-35). If the lamb was not acceptable by the Law’s standards the Lord would not accept it and it would be a defiled sacrifice (Malachi 1:8). Why was this? Because God wanted Israel to see and understand that sin has a high price that must be paid, this was demonstrated by God’s requirement to kill something valuable, rare, and beautiful – a spotless lamb.
So the quest started , searching for a Sacrifice who is blameless, spotless.
God raised great men & women of God (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, Esther, Ruth, ‘n’ Number of Prophets) but no one was perfect or without blemish, without sin.
Because Adam and Eve Sinned, someone who is born through the physical relationship of a man & woman, they by default carried sin.
God opened my eyes into a better understanding of what I just mentioned above. I am thankful for this personal illustration, to God. My Daughter Abisha when she was 6 + months old. She was lying in the bed. She was crying , I lifted her up and again kept her down in the bed after sometime . Again, she started coughing , I lifted her again and patted her and again kept her down. She again coughed and that followed for ‘n’ number of times and God reminded me. God reminded me that How Sin is birthed in us from the time we are born. All the great men and women failed from the time they were birthed or born.
Let me bring some verses on the same:
Psalm 51:5
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
Ecclesiastes 7:20
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
We see this throughout the old testament when Men & women failed or in need of a perfect saviour. GOD hinted them about what was supposed to come.
Foreshadowing of Jesus
Genesis 3
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15, ESV)
There is a “He”, someone who will crush the head of the devil.
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21, ESV)
The Lord provided covering for Adam and Eve with clothes of skin. Skin was received through a sacrifice of innocent animals. One day God would provide a covering for us through the innocent blood of Jesus Christ.
Exodus 12
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
ISAIAH 25
8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9, ESV)
ISAIAH 50
6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6, ESV)
ISAIAH 53
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:1-3, ESV)
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6, ESV)
Zechariah 9:9
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9, ESV)
So, who is the perfect lamb which the scripture talks about? Who is perfect, spotless?
John 1
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
- Angel: “Virgin Birth”.
Isaiah 7:14 ESV
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:18-25 ESV
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for the conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: …
- Pontius Pilate: “I find no fault in Him”.
- Judas: “I have betrayed innocent blood.”
- Roman Centurion: “Truly this was the Son of God.”
Hebrews 7
26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
Today , we want to introspect our lives
Do we need a perfect lamb in our lives today? If Yes, Christ is the perfect lamb. You can find him. God sent his son for you and me. The cost was too heavy. Can we accept him today as our Lord and our personal Saviour?
Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community. The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Karanjade, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue.
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