Active Obedience (pt 5)

Jesus’ Perfect Life Makes Him Satisfactory as God’s Perfect, Unblemished Lamb.

After Adam sins in the garden, Man is unholy and unfit to enter into the presence of God. Immediately following Adam’s fall God demonstrates His grace by killing an innocent animal (as a sacrifice) to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. This is the first illustration in the history of the world to the sure reality that “the wages of sin is death.”

God institutes the sacrificial system to symbolize the punishment that is necessary to pay for any sins committed against Yahweh. These sacrifices were never given to forgive peoples sins, rather they were meant to foreshadow the “once for all,” eternal sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God. The blood of these lambs symbolized the covering and the atoning nature of these sacrifices.

God was very specific in His requirements pertaining to these animal sacrifices. A key guideline established by God was that an animal with fault would not be acceptable to Him (Leviticus 22:17-33). Leviticus 22:19-21 teaches, “For you to be accepted-it must be a male without defect, from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you. And when a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a special vow, or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.” The characteristics of the sacrificial lambs were very significant because they symbolized (in many ways) the future Lamb of God.

When God instituted the first Passover, He commanded “Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.” Again God was very specific in the distinctive nature of the lamb that was to be sacrificed unto Him. Every year on the Day of Atonement the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and offer up a spotless lamb on behalf of the entire nation of Israel. The priests are strongly condemned in Malachi 1:6-8, for offering ceremonial unclean or blemished sacrifices that were strictly forbidden by the Lord (Deut. 15:21).

Why was God so concerned that the lambs sacrificed in the Old Testament and before Christ’s death be without blemish? This was important to God because Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of these Old Testament sacrifices, therefore it was an essential characteristic that the lamb’s picturing Him be without blemish as He Himself was spotless.

For God’s holy wrath to be perfectly satisfied and for man’s sins to be completely forgiven, it required the death of a perfect Lamb of God. Jesus Christ took on human flesh so that He could stand in mans place as his representative and Federal head. Isaiah prophesized in the 53rd chapter that the perfect Messiah would assume this role as the sacrificial Lamb of God. When the prophet John the Baptist sees Jesus He declares, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”

Jesus lived His entire life in complete submission to the Father’s will and as a result never committed one sin. Jesus asked the Jews in John 8:46, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” The crowds’ silence was a testimony to His perfection.
During the trial of Jesus not one valid charge of sin could be made against Him. The book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to demonstrate the perfect life of Jesus Christ. John gives testimony to the same truth in 1 John 3:5, “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.”

Jesus perfect life makes Him satisfactory as God’s perfect, unblemished lamb. He was the only candidate who could, through His death, satisfy the wrath of God and provide the remission of sins for all mankind. Isaiah 53:10-11 says, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, God will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many, as He will bear their iniquities.”