Worthy is the Lamb
Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Bern Leckie answers:
What did I like about today’s passage?
Between the world we know and the future we want, God needs to grab our attention. Things are going to change! We already know that change can be scary. I like how this book of revelation from heaven prepares believers for massive change.
Times where life as we knew it comes to an end, let’s call them “end times”, will always leave us wondering whether anyone or anything is in control.
As unsettling as it is, this passage reassures me that heaven’s awesome power is an unstoppable force for change, ultimately for good. But it is locked away until released by a mysterious creature – a lamb, worthy and offered in sacrifice somehow to save people.
Sunday School question – who is the lamb? Hands up! Yes! It’s Jesus! (The right answer is always Jesus.) But what is it about God and lambs? And why did one have to be perfect?
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
Sacrificial lambs come up a lot in stories like the Passover and as precious offerings people were expected to make to God. We can see them as foreshadows of Jesus, but what else is special about them? Sheep are surprisingly social. They remember faces and bond relationally. Some say that sheep can be called by name to respond to a shepherd.
A fun thing I learned you can do with radio presenters is get them to adopt turkeys in the run up to Christmas. The idea is to enjoy how people get to know the animals and how their feelings about eating them for dinner tend to change over time. If a presenter names their turkey, you can pretty much guarantee they won’t be able to go through with the sacrifice.
Someone who offered a sheep to God had probably named it, but it may have been at the end of its life. Someone who offered a lamb was presenting something precious and full of potential. At Passover, people are expected to spend four days with the sacrificial lamb and grow to love it too. It is not meant to be a cheap, quick sacrifice, but a painful one. Offering a perfect, worthy lamb, would be a hugely painful, meaningful sacrifice - a show of love.
When Abel (in Genesis 3) made a pleasing sacrifice to God with the firstborn of his lambs, this showed the strength of his love for with God, something God wants to restore with us. This is the point: God is not hungry, but he wants us to love like this. He loved us first, shown by Jesus’ sacrifice. His blood carries the purifying power of love. And thanks to his restoration to life, this lamb becomes a shepherd to us, our source of love.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
I need to accept Jesus’ love, comfort and guidance as I deal with the stress of challenge and change as we look for a “new normal” in our life and work routines at the moment.
Who am I going to share this with?
As well as family, I’m looking for chances to share in work and school relationships about what is guiding my thoughts and decisions about the future. I want people to know: Jesus.