Where Is the Lamb?
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The query in Genesis 22:7, which was asked by Isaac, was most natural. He was on his way with his father to the place of sacrifice, he was carrying the wood, and his father was carrying the fire and the knife; as they journeyed along the way, Isaac said, "Behold the fire and, the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" Abraham's reply was, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering." The typical meaning of all of this stands before us in a plain and positive way.
In the purposes of God Isaac was not to be the lamb, but a ram caught by its horns in the thicket was to fulfil the type and was to be offered in the stead of Isaac.
1. The typology of the lamb. So far as Abraham knew, Isaac, himself, was to be the typical lamb. He went on with the full purpose in his heart, to sacrifice his own son at the command of God. He went in the full assurance of the resurrection. Not a resurrection, however, that lay far distant, but an immediate resurrection, inasmuch as he had honestly told the young men, "I and the lad will * * come again."
2. The voice of John the Baptist. As John stood by the waters of the Jordan, and beheld Jesus coming, he cried, "Behold the Lamb!" The voice of John seemed to be the response to every sacrificial lamb which had ever been offered since the days of Abel. All of these lambs had been typical lambs. Jesus Christ was the Lamb which responded to the types, and fulfilled them, taking away the sins of the world.
3. The statement of Paul. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, said, "Christ our Passover [Lamb] is sacrificed for us," Like John the Baptist, Paul seemed to gather up all of the Old Testament lambs that had been slain as he focused the fulfilment of their typical forecastings upon Christ Jesus, our Lord.
4. The message of Hebrews. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ is plainly set forth as the fulfilment of all the sacrificial offering's, commanded in the Old Testament. It is plainly shown that the blood offered from Abel to Christ, was not offered because it had any power to take away sins. It was offered, however, in anticipation of Christ, who, once in the end of the age, offered Himself for the sins of His people.
When, in these last days, we hear men mocking the Blood of Christ, and making it of no value so far as its redemptive power is concerned, we should remember that they not only take away from Christ the glory of His sacrifice, but that they also make the shedding of the blood of all Old Testament sacrifices no more than a heathen and barbarous rite, without any vital symbolical significance whatsoever.
I. THE LAMB WHICH GOD PROVIDED (Revelation 5:6)
It falls to our lot to show how the Book of Revelation sets forth Christ as the Lamb which God provided. We are not so sure but that Abraham was thinking not only of God's providing a lamb for his own sacrifice, but that, through that sacrifice which he was, himself, about to offer, he looked down through the years and saw Christ as the Lamb which God would finally provide,
1. In Revelation the dominant Name for Christ is the Lamb. When John heard the angel say that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah had prevailed to open the Book, John turned to see the Lion, and, behold, "a Lamb as it had been slain." That Lamb was Christ.
2. In Revelation, the Lamb slain, is the Lamb worshiped. The multitudes around the throne of God sang a new song to the Lamb, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."
3. In Revelation, the Lamb is proclaimed worthy because it was slain. To the Lamb slain was accorded wisdom, and power, and riches, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
4. In the Book of Revelation, it was the Lamb who opened the seals. It was also "the wrath of the Lamb," and, the day of His wrath" that had come.
5. In the Book of Revelation, the great multitude out of the great tribulation had come, having washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.
6. In the Book of Revelation, it was the Lamb who stood on Mount Zion surrounded by a hundred and forty-four thousand, who had their Father's Name written in their foreheads. These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.
7. In the Book of Revelation, those who worship the beast and receive his mark are tormented in the presence of the Lamb.
8. In the Book of Revelation, the kings of the earth make war against the Lamb and the Lamb overcomes them.
9. In the Book of Revelation the Marriage of the Lamb is described as having come, and His wife as having made herself ready.
10. In the Book of Revelation, as we get the last visions of Christ, He is spoken of as the Lamb. The angel says, "Come hither, I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb's Wife." The Lamb is described as the Light of the City; it is "the throne of God and of the Lamb."
II. THE APPROACH (Genesis 22:6-8)
We wish to bring before you two things concerning the meekness of Isaac as he approached the place of sacrifice. These two statements, in an Old Testament Scripture, describe Christ approaching the Cross.
1. He is spoken of as a Lamb going to the slaughter. This vision of Christ is easily detected in the story of Isaac. The lamb, all unknowingly, and yet, all submissively, approaches the slaughter. Isaac did not know that he was to be the sacrifice, although he, doubtless, had certain surmisings because he said to the father, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" The Lord Jesus did know with certainty His coming death and He frequently spoke of the death which He would accomplish at Jerusalem. However, as Christ hung upon the Cross, there came an hour in which He lifted His face toward Heaven, and cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
2. He is spoken of as a sheep dumb before its shearers. This expression illustrates that, as the actual sacrifice took place, there was no spirit of resistance. The sheep before the shearers submits in all meekness to the hand that cuts away its wool.
As Isaac approached the altar he made queries to his father; yet, as his father bound him, and laid him upon the altar, there is nothing to suggest any hesitancy upon his part. He seemed quietly, even though wonderingly, to submit to his father with a confidence unshaken, and a love unabated.
As the Lord Jesus approached the Cross, and as He laid prostrate upon it, while the nails crashed through His hands and His feet; and, as upon the Cross, uplifted, He suffered and died, there was no cry of bitterness or of resistance to His Father's will. He yielded implicitly to the maddened mob, because in it He was yielding to God the Father. To Christ, the men who crucified Him were no more than the Father's executive. They were, so to speak, the Father's arm uplifting the knife.
III. THE INTENSITY OF GOD (Genesis 22:11)
Our Scripture says the Lord called unto Abraham, and said, "Abraham, Abraham": and he said, "Here am I." Wherever we find such a repetition of words, they suggest intensity. We may speak unto a friend without excitement and nervous strain, but there will be no repetition of his name. When, however, there is strong stress, or a sense of danger, or a moment of intense excitement, a repetition of words is invariably the result. Let us suggest a few Scriptures where this Divine repetition is set forth.
1. "Abraham, Abraham." This is the repetition in our lesson, and it displays God's intensity, first in His approval toward Abraham; and, secondly, in His unwillingness that Abraham should fulfil the type, and give his son in sacrifice, as He, the Father, willingly gave His Son.
2. "Jacob, Jacob" (Genesis 46:2). This repetition occurred on the night in which Jacob, the aged, was journeying with all that he had to stay with his son Joseph in Egypt. That night Jacob offered a sacrifice, and the God of Israel with love toward His servant, and in anticipation of the history of the Chosen Nation, cried out, "Jacob, Jacob."
3. "Moses, Moses" (Exodus 3:4). It was when Moses turned aside to see the great sight of a bush burning without being consumed, that the Lord cried out, "Moses, Moses," and continued, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
4. "Samuel, Samuel" (1 Samuel 3:10). This repetition marked God's intensity as He beheld the form of the youth, Samuel, eagerly listening for the voice of God. Gad was intent because, being compelled to set Eli aside, and to refuse his sons as priests over Israel, He had found in Samuel a man to fill in the gap.
5. "Martha, Martha" (Luke 10:41). Here is God's intensity made manifest toward a good woman who meant well, and who loved Him, but who was cumbered about with much serving. In "Martha, Martha," is the tinge of sorrow and disappointment toward the sister of Mary, and, withal, Divine approval toward Mary, who had chosen the good part.
6. "Simon, Simon" (Luke 22:31). This time we have the intensity of God, our Lord, toward one of His servants, who was about to be temporarily overcome by Satan. It was then that Christ said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."
7. "Saul, Saul" (Acts 9:4). We have now God's intensity toward one who was persecuting His children, and therefore, persecuting Him, God was also intent, because the hour had come that Saul's antagonism to Christ should be broken down, and the one who persecuted, should become the one who would preach and pray.
As you study these seven expressions of Divine intensity, you will find seven outstanding relationships, existing until this hour, between God and His saints, which yet cause God to be intense toward those who love Him, and whom He loves.
IV. THE DIVINE INTERVENTION (Genesis 22:12)
1. God had learned fully Abraham's absolute obedience and trust. Thus, the Lord said, "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only sort from Me."
God always knew Abraham's fidelity, but He had now proved it by putting Abraham to the test. God knows whether we will obey Him, but there is an added joy when that obedience is certified by our own acts.
2. God desired Abraham to stay his hand because He would not ask of His servant all, in the way of sacrifice, which He Himself, would gladly do. God freely gave His Son, His only Son, His beloved Son, as a sacrifice for us.
What we are suggesting is, that God will do far more for us by way of sacrifice and service than He asks us to do for Him. How gracious is the Lord. He asks us to give Him our tithes and offerings, while He gives to us His all in all, saying, "All tilings are yours." He withholds from us no good thing, whether it be things present, or things to come, they all belong to us.
3. There is a third reason that might be given. Man could not pay his own debt by any sacrifice which he might make. He must be saved by a substitute. For this cause also the Lord doubtless said to Abraham, "Stay thy hand."
V. BEHOLD * * A RAM (Genesis 22:13-14)
As Abraham looked about him, he saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. Then it was that Abraham called the name of that place, "Jehovah-jireh," the Lord will provide.
1. The message of substitutionary sacrifice. The ram was offered instead of the son. A similar thing occurred when the angel passed over Egypt. In every Egyptian home there was a son dead; in every Hebrew home there was a substitute, a lamb, dead. This same thing actually happened at the crucifixion of Christ when the people cried, "Release unto us Barabbas." "Let Him (Christ) be crucified." Barabbas could truly have said, "Christ died, and I live."
There was only one way open by which God could be just, and the justifier of those who believe. The Law of God must be sustained. The penalty of the Law must be fulfilled. The majesty of the Law must be upheld: God, therefore, gave Christ to die upon the Cross, When He died, we died in Him, "We live because He lives. He actually took our place. When people ask you concerning the theory of the atonement, tell them it is not a theory, but a fact. It is a blessed reality.
2. The message of Abraham's far-flung vision. We cannot but believe that when Abraham took the ram and sacrificed him instead of his son that he definitely saw the sacrifice of the Savior.
The fact is, as Abraham went out that day with his son to the place of sacrifice, he received him again from the dead, in a figure of the resurrection, not only of Christ, but also of saints at the Coming of Christ.
Yes, Abraham saw God's gift of His Son. He saw the Cross; he saw the resurrection; he saw the Second Coming; he saw the Children of Israel restored to the land, and possessing their possessions.
3. Jehovah-Jireh. Oh, the depth of the meaning of the name that Abraham gave to that place. He said, "It shall be called, The Lord will Provide." And God did provide a sacrifice, a Savior, a Risen Lord, and He will provide the Coming King.
That God has provided everything for us, physical, mental, and spiritual, we know; and for it we praise Him.
There is one thing we dare not omit. That is the marvelous statement of Genesis 22:16-18, in which God said to Abraham, "Because thou hast done this * * in blessing I will bless thee."
May we say it, a new love came into the heart of God toward Abraham, when Abraham proved his fidelity to God; and a new blessing came along with it?
The Lord said, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again."
God grant that we may prove our love by our deeds, and quicken in our God a new love toward ourselves.
AN ILLUSTRATION
THE PRINCELY SUBSTITUTE
"' If a prince, passing by an execution, should take the malefactor's chains, and suffer in his stead, this would be a wonderful instance indeed.' The deed would ring through all history, and be quoted as an amazing instance of heroic pity; and well deserved would be all the words of praise and sonnets of admiration which would record and eulogize it. Yet our Lord Jesus did this and infinitely more for those who were not merely malefactors but enemies to His own throne and Person. This is a wonder of wonders! But, alas, it meets with small praise. The most of men around us have heard of it and treated it as an idle tale, and multitudes more regard it as a pious legend, worthy to be repeated as a venerable fable, and then forgotten as an unpractical myth. Even those who know, believe, and admire, are yet cold in their emotions with regard to the story of the Cross. Herein is love which ought to set our hearts on fire, and yet we scarcely maintain a smouldering spark of enthusiasm. Lord Jesus, be more real to our apprehensions, and so be more completely the Master of our affections.