A Slain and Saving Lamb

Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

EXODUS 12:6–7

...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 PETER 1:19

We are considering the wonderful story of the birth of Mary’s Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. At this Christmas season, we rejoice in God’s gift of His sinless, spotless Lamb. Today I want to take you back to the book of Exodus. Your celebration of Christmas will take on new meaning when you see that the Babe of Bethlehem was the Lamb of God. 

Did you know that the symbol of ancient Egypt was a serpent? I once visited the British Museum in London and saw the crown that the Pharaohs would wear. There on that crown was a coiled serpent. Here in the book of Exodus is a battle between a lamb and a serpent: a defenseless, gentle, meek, and mild lamb, against a venomous, hissing, poisonous serpent. 

The Passover lamb had to be a very special lamb (Exodus 12:5). One blemish would disqualify a lamb from being used for the Passover in Egypt. For generations after that night, Israel’s priests would examine the Passover lambs very carefully, checking for the slightest flaw. Jesus, the Lamb of Bethlehem, was also “without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). 

But not only was Jesus a special lamb, He was a slain lamb (Exodus 12:5). On the appointed day, the father of the Israelite family was to slay the Passover lamb and catch its blood in a basin— another prophetic picture of Mary’s little Lamb, Who would be slain on a Roman cross. 

This lamb was also a saving lamb. God told the Israelites to take the Passover lamb’s blood and put it on the doorposts and the lintel of the house (v. 7). Whoever came into the house would be saved from death because they came in through and under the blood (Exodus 12:13). If you know the Christ of Christmas, you are safe under the blood!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Making It Real for His People

Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, according to Hebrews 8:6. What does that mean? It means that his blood — the blood of the covenant (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 13:20) — finally and decisively purchased and secured the fulfillment of God’s promises for us.

It means that God, according to the new covenant promises, brings about our inner transformation by the Spirit of Christ.

And it means that God works this transformation in us through faith — faith in all that God is for us in Christ.

The new covenant is purchased by the blood of Christ, effected by the Spirit of Christ, and appropriated by faith in Christ.

The best place to see Christ working as the Mediator of the new covenant is in Hebrews 13:20–21:

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The words “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight” describe what happens when God writes the law on our hearts in accord with the new covenant. And the words “through Jesus Christ” describe Jesus as the Mediator of this glorious work of sovereign grace.

So, the meaning of Christmas is not only that God replaces shadows with Reality, but also that he takes the Reality and makes it real to his people. He writes it on our hearts. He does not lay his Christmas gift of salvation and transformation under the tree, so to speak, for you to pick up in your own strength. He picks it up and puts it in your heart and in your mind and gives you the seal of assurance that you are a child of God.

John Piper 

The Prophecy of the Lamb

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. . . . And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger . . .

LUKE 2:4–7

 . . . every man shall take for himself a lamb . . . Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. . . . EXODUS 12:3–5

When I was a little boy, I learned a nursery rhyme that went like this: “Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.” Well, Mary’s Christmas Lamb was the virgin-born Son of God! 

We read in Luke 2 that when the Roman decree went out for a census of the Roman world, Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. Now, we know that it was not incidental or accidental that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That little village about five miles south of Jerusalem would probably have passed into obscurity except for that one wonderful night. The event that took place that first Christmas had been prophesied centuries earlier by the prophet Micah (5:2). 

It was fitting that Mary’s Lamb would be born in Bethlehem. Why? Because for centuries, the Jewish priests had been raising Passover lambs in Bethlehem! In those shepherds’ fields outside Bethlehem, a very special breed of sacrificial lambs was raised and nurtured, that those lambs might be brought to Jerusalem. At Passover, those lambs were sacrificed to cover the sins of the people. 

Mary’s little Lamb came to be the final Passover lamb, the one sacrifice for sin forever. The destiny of the entire world is wrapped up in Mary’s little Lamb. 

Today I want you to see the prophecy of the lamb. That’s why you found Exodus 12 listed in today’s Scripture reading. This chapter has some crucial things to say about the Lamb of Christmas. The Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, groaning under the cruel bondage of Pharaoh. They needed to be redeemed. God had a plan to redeem His people and set them free, a plan wrapped up in a little lamb (Exodus 12:1–3). 

Notice the qualifications for this lamb: It had to be “without blemish, a male of the first year” (v. 5). This lamb had to be perfect. Why? Because it was going to die to redeem God’s people. What a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of Bethlehem!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Final Reality Is Here

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. . . . They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” (Hebrews 8:1–2, 5)

We’ve seen it before. But there’s more. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing.

Hebrews 8:1–2, 5 is a kind of summary statement. The point is that the one priest who goes between us and God, and makes us right with God, and prays for us to God is not an ordinary, weak, sinful, dying priest as in the Old Testament days. He is the Son of God — strong, sinless, with an indestructible life.

Not only that, he is not ministering in an earthly tabernacle with all its limitations of place and size while getting worn out and being moth-eaten and being soaked and burned and torn and stolen. No, Hebrews 8:2 says that Christ is ministering for us in a “true tent that the Lord set up, not man.” This is not the shadow. It’s the real thing in heaven. This is the reality that cast a shadow on Mount Sinai for Moses to copy.

According to Hebrews 8:1, another great thing about the reality which is greater than the shadow is that our High Priest is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. No Old Testament priest could ever say that.

Jesus deals directly with God the Father. He has a place of honor beside God. He is loved and respected infinitely by God. He is constantly with God. This is not shadow-reality like curtains and bowls and tables and candles and robes and tassels and sheep and goats and pigeons. This is final, ultimate reality: God and his Son interacting in love and holiness for our eternal salvation.

Ultimate reality is the persons of the Godhead in relationship, dealing with each other concerning how their majesty and holiness and love and justice and goodness and truth shall be manifest in a redeemed people.

John Piper 

The Glory of Light

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. . . . He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

JOHN 1:9–14

Let us consider the glory of the light Who is our Savior and Lord, the Child of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ. Again, the apostle John says of Jesus, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

Do you know what glory is? It is the outshining of the light of Jesus’ grace and truth. It’s the Shekinah, the glory of God that filled first the tabernacle and then the temple of God in the Old Testament. The glory is the light of God that is in Jesus Christ, Who is Himself fully God. 

I’m sure you know that light is made up of a spectrum of seven colors. The number seven reminds us of the perfections of God. When you put all seven of the colors of the spectrum together, the result is pure light, which speaks of the holiness of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the One Who makes everything colorful, everything glorious! He is the glory of God. 

Let’s think for a minute about those who refuse the Light. It’s sad, but true, that many say no to the Light. John makes this clear in verses 10–11 of our text. Jesus came to that which was His own, but they refused Him. A person would be foolish to deny the existence of light just because he can’t see it. Some people can’t see the light of Jesus because they don’t want to see it. But we are called to take the light of Christmas to those who walk in the darkness. 

And the good news is that if people without Christ will only look to Him, He will shine His light into their hearts! The Babe of Bethlehem is the Light of the world. He will dispel the darkness with the glory of His presence for anyone who will ask.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Our Final High Priest

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. - Mark 16:19

1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. - Hebrews 8:1-2

23 If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, 

24 and he is merciful to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; 

25 let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor'; 

26 then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. 

27 He sings before men and says: 'I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. 

28 He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.' 

29 "Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, 

30 to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.  - Job 33:23-30

Sinner, Who intercedes for you before God?

Who is the last High Priest of the human race? 

Who alone has the power to be able to pay your ransom?

For God demanded payment!

Sin brings a penalty, it's death!

Who has been found worthy?

There is a great price that was paid! 

That price was death on a cross, the death and resurrection of an innocent man, not a sinner but the Son of God who came in human form!

Christ has satisfied your debt so that Satan can no longer accuse you before God.

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. - Revelation 12:9-10

1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.

2 And the LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."

3 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason."

4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.

5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."

6 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. - Job 2:1-10

What a gift, Christ alone saves the sinner from destruction!

Do you know Christ and His power? 

Trust Him for He is your ransom!

Replacing the Shadows

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. (Hebrews 8:1–2)

The point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has not just come to fit into the earthly system of priestly ministry as the best and final human priest, but he has come to fulfill and put an end to that system, and to orient all our attention on himself, ministering for us first on Calvary as our final Sacrifice and then in heaven as our final Priest.

The Old Testament tabernacle and priests and sacrifices were shadows. Now the reality has come, and the shadows pass away.

Here’s an Advent illustration for kids — and those of us who used to be kids and remember what it was like. Suppose you and your mom get separated in the grocery store, and you start to get scared and panic and don’t know which way to go, and you run to the end of an aisle, and just before you start to cry, you see a shadow on the floor at the end of the aisle that looks just like your mom. It makes you really hopeful. But which is better? The hopefulness of seeing the shadow, or having your mom step around the corner and it’s really her?

That’s the way it is when Jesus comes to be our High Priest. That’s what Christmas is. Christmas is the replacement of shadows with the real thing: Mom stepping around the corner of the aisle, and all the relief and joy that gives to a little child.

John Piper