How much do you know about Jesus Christ?
The Bible portrays Christ in a lot of different ways—as a Savior, a Military Captain, the Prince of Peace, the King of kings. But one of the most remarkable pictures of Christ is as a lamb.
When He began His ministry on Earth, the first time that the man called John saw Him, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
Why would John the Baptist call this man “the Lamb of God”? That was a reference to an Old Testament rite that took place every spring, called the Passover. Anciently, God commanded this of the Israelites for the very first time when they were slaves in Egypt. Each family was to select their best lamb, an unblemished lamb. On a certain evening, they were all to kill their family’s lamb, spread its blood on their doorposts, roast the lamb with bitter herbs, and eat it. That blood protected them from being killed by a death angel that God sent to take the lives of all the firstborn of Egypt.
These Israelites learned a profound lesson in the fact that the blood of the lamb protects us from death.
Jesus Christ is called “the Lamb of God” because He was God’s best Lamb—He was unblemished—and God sacrificed Him as a Passover sacrifice. All those who come under the protection of that blood are spared from the death penalty that comes upon us for sin.
The picture of Christ as “the Lamb of God” points to the fact that He was beaten and crucified to pay the penalty for our sins—so that we could live.
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
A lot of Christians don’t think a whole lot about Jesus Christ—except at Christmas, when they think about His birth, and Easter, when they think about His resurrection.
But did you realize that neither of those celebrations is commanded in the Bible?
In fact, Jesus Christ Himself commanded only one annual observance to memorialize Him—and it wasn’t to remember His birth or His resurrection, but His death.
That is the Passover. Its observance is commanded in several biblical passages. Jesus Himself, the night before He was crucified, showed us how this annual memorial is to be kept by New Testament Christians—not with an animal sacrifice but with unleavened bread and wine, new symbols of His broken body and shed blood. After Christ died, the Church He founded continued to keep it every year.
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