Collision With Prophecy

Collision With Prophecy #4:
Behold the Lamb of God

Introduction

Welcome to this meeting. Last tim we met, we saw how heaven foretold that false teachers would come in the end of time and spin even such basic doctrines as what sin is. Tonight, here's what we're up to: we are moving as rapidly as possible to the point where we can plainly explain the mark of the beast. Revelation thirteen is the "mark of the beast" chapter. Look with me, and see what it says in verse 11:

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

In the book of Revelation, the word "lamb" occurs 29 times. All but one of these refer to Jesus; and that one is precisely this verse in the mark of the beast chapter. Here in Revelation 13:11 is a prophetic beast, described as having "two horns like a lamb." That is, we can refer to this as the lamb-like beast. He speaks "as a dragon," but in appearance, he is lamb-like. Therefore, to understand the lamb-like beast of Revelation 13, we need to discover what the real Lamb is like.

"But brother Larry, you're going to tell me about Jesus, and I've already heard about Him. You're going to waste my time." No, I'm not going to waste your time. In fact, this presentation may be the most important of all. Let's look at why that might be. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11:2-4:

I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Paul was concerned that the people whom he worked with might one day be turned away from the real Christ to "another Jesus," one whom Paul had not preached; a false-christ.

An anti-christ.

Friends, I don't want to scare you or hurt anyone's feelings, but it is my observation that today the vast majority of Christians have already been led to believe in "another Jesus" than the one whom Paul preached. Their teachers have taught them a false rendition of Christ--He's been subtly portrayed as one unable truly to save. The end result will surely be that many will be led to accept the antichrist. Understanding who and what Jesus is as the true Lamb of God is terribly vital.

Join with me now in the gospel of John, chapter one, verse twenty-nine as we move into our topic today, Behold the Lamb of God . . .

John was baptizing in the Jordan and announcing the coming of the Messiah. Imagine the anticipation in the crowds lining the riverbank, and their stunned and electrified reaction on that giant morning when suddenly he stopped preaching. Locking his eyes upon Jesus standing on the shore, pointing at him like an arrow, awesomely John pronounced, "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

John's pronouncement raises several questions that anyone wishing to understand the book of Revelation must answer.

1. Why is Jesus called the Lamb?
2. What is "The sin of the world?"
3. Why did Jesus come in a human body, and how much like us was He?
4. How does Jesus take away the sin of the world?

Why is Jesus Called the Lamb?

Let's start with the question, "Why is Jesus called the Lamb?" As early as the book of Genesis, lambs were offered in sacrifice to God. In Exodus 12, when the last plague came and the angel of death went through Egypt killing the firstborn, the Hebrews had been instructed by God to kill a lamb in sacrifice and put its blood on the doorposts of their dwellings. God's wrath would pass over the people inside who had partaken of it and were thus under the blood. The Bible teaches that blood represents life. Genesis 9:4-6; Leviticus 17:11.

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4, 20). Death is the penalty for sinning. To sin is to break God's law. "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). His law is capsulized in the Ten Commandments, from the first commandment "Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me," to the last commandment, "Thou shalt not covet" (Exodus 20:3; 20:17).

Sin is an intruder in the earth. It is not natural. It is not necessary. In fact, the human race is 6000 years behind what it could be exactly because of sin. The devil is the initiator of sin. The Bible calls him the "father of lies" (John 8:44). We know that he is in direct opposition to God. His very name, "Satan," means, "the adversary." You can be sure that if God has a law--Ten Commandments, defining what sin is--Satan is ready to oppose that law. He knows the Scriptures better than we do. He knows that in James 2:8 God's law is called "the royal law," and that in James 2:12 it is called the "law of liberty." And he understands James 2:10 between those verses, that says, "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." He knows that all he has to do to cause a person to be lost, is to lead them to break one part of God's law--just one!--and then keep them distracted or confused long enough that they don't seek the true change of heart that our Father offers through authentic forgiveness.

Jesus is the Lamb because without a sufficient sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sin, we would be doomed to death, for "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23). The penalty for sin must be paid or we will receive our just wages. And that means we would die. Only a life equal in value to the broken law could be offered to pay the penalty of that law. And no one's character is equal to God's character except God's own. Only the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit could pay the penalty.

But God alone has immortality (1 Timothy 6:16). God cannot die. A Being who cannot die, cannot offer His life in payment. Jesus, therefore, came to the earth to become human. He took upon Himself our broken humanity. He crossed the incredible line between Creator and creation, and became as human as we are. So that He could be offered for us. So that He could die in our place. So that "whosoever would" could accept that sacrifice and live.

Just as a real lamb offered in sacrifice is innocent, Jesus was innocent. He was sinless. Like a real lamb offered in sacrifice, Jesus' life was represented by His blood. While the lambs were symbolic of the ultimate arrival of the true sacrifice, still the true Sacrifice must finally come. And Jesus was the true sacrifice. He was the Lamb of God.

The book of Revelation calls Him "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). God didn't want man to sin, but He gave him a free choice. Had more time passed—had Adam and Eve trusted God and matured a bit more—humankind never would have fallen. But they didn't trust and wait, and thus they did fall. We may thank heaven though, that as soon as there was sin, there was a Savior. Jesus promised to come to earth as a man to die for man in the fullness of the time. Through that promise He was already as good as crucified--as good as murdered--in that dark moment right after their sin, as Adam and Eve stood in the garden, looking at each other in ripening fear and apprehension, a realization of what they had done starting to sink in.

A sacrificial lamb must be without fault. It couldn't have visible defects or be suffering from sickness or disease. But even lambs are born into a fallen world impacted by the curse of sin; in this sense, none can truly be said to be born whole. Some are born more visibly impacted by sin, some less; some through mistreatment become maimed. The Bible tells us that while Jesus came--and came to us as human as we are, bearing the fallen flesh of fallen humanity--He was sinless and undefiled (Hebrews 7:26). He was separate from sinners in that He never sinned, but He was one with sinful men in that He took their very nature. A hand isn't guilty for stealing, but the mind that controls the hand. And human flesh isn't guilty for being sinful flesh, but a person is guilty when they follow the pull of that fallen flesh to fulfill its lusts.

Jesus never did that. He is our sinless Savior.

What is "the Sin of the World?"

What is the sin of the world? It is something that must be taken away or humankind will be destroyed. It is the sin of unbelief. The world stands feeble and condemned before its Creator. God came to humanity in His Son. John 1:11 tells us that "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." But the next verse informs us that "as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." John 3:19 tells us that men are condemned because light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light. God reveals their wickedness, their fallenness, their need to be repaired, but they balk at this revelation. He sends His Son to repair and change them, but they refuse to take advantage of it. And so they are condemned.

The sin of the world is unbelief. It is to love sin while seeing what righteousness is. It is to fully identify ones' self with sin in a world where that isn't necessary. Our world. God has opened the door of salvation for the whole race. But many never take Him up on it. They remain in the darkness while the light gets brighter and brighter that finally shall cook them.

The sin of the world can be removed. Jesus can take it away. But He can only take it away by one method: He must Himself enter fully into the race. He must identify Himself fully with fallen man. He must live a blameless life. He must never sin. He must offer that uncondemnable life up to His Father, pure as the driven snow. He must voluntarily become sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Why did Jesus come in a human body, and how much like us was He?

Now the devil knows all about this. He knows exactly how close Jesus came to man. He has exerted his temptations upon Jesus to the maximum. But still Jesus, although "tempted in all points like as we are," remained "yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Satan knows this so very thoroughly. It rankles him. Had he been able to provoke Jesus to sin just once, heaven's plan would have gone down in flames. Satan might have actually won the battle between good and evil. But he didn't.

For thousands of years, Satan had successfully been tempting angels and men. But then Jesus came. He came in a human body. And Satan was filled with hope and wonder and fear.

Hope, because tempting people through their fallen nature was what he was good at. He had had thousands of years of practice. Up to that point in time, all men, from the most illustrious on down, had sinned. Even Moses never made it to the promised land because the devil had successfully provoked him into sin. Now Jesus came in that same humanity. Satan knew there was a real chance that he could tempt Jesus successfully through the weakness of His humanity. He knew that humankind—including that of Jesus' humanity—was inwardly "without strength" to do right. Romans 5:6. "Maybe, just maybe," he thought, "God has gone too far out on a limb. This is my chance!"

Wonder, because the devil had asserted that God was as selfish as he was. But the fact that He would condescend to come to live in the situation of a fallen man spoke volumes against that charge. Satan himself was shocked. God becoming a Man? Could the infinite Mind have miscalculated? Satan wondered.

Fear, because if Jesus did indeed come and successfully live without sinning, all of Satan's demonic schemes would be ruined. Fear because it would spell the end of the great controversy and the final destruction of Lucifer. The devils believe and tremble. But when Satan saw Jesus, He didn't merely tremble--he was terrified!

How does Jesus Take Away the Sin of the World?

How does Jesus Take the Sin of the World Away? We might think of four options. He could (1) uphold His law and condemn every law-breaker; (2) He could bypass His law, forgiving or passing over the transgressions; (3) He could meet the penalty of the law Himself, thus upholding it and yet forgiving the law-breaker; (4) He could meet the penalty of the broken law Himself, forgiving the law-breaker, and repairing him.

The first option upholds justice at the expense of mercy. The second, mercy at the expense of justice. In neither of these solutions would God be acting in character. His mind is a divine mind, with a right moral balance between mercy and justice. By no means will He mis-use one attribute out of balance in relation to another. The third option sustains the law but provides no long-term solution to the sinner, slighting again the true character of our Father. But the fourth option upholds justice, upholds mercy, sustains the law, and provides a long-term solution for the sinner by changing him and bringing him into harmony with his Maker now, in the present.

God took that fourth option--really, the only option--and that's what we find reported in the Bible. It's no credit to those who have claimed to represent Him that so often the first three options have been taught in His name. Not at all.

What is Bible prophecy? It is God telling us how He takes away the sin of the world. It is His explanation of how He interacts with a fallen race. Bible prophecy is the telling of God's self- defense case. He has willingly promised to humankind—not that we necessarily deserve it--a full disclosure of why unselfishness is the only workable government, and for why sin and sinners must be destroyed.

God chose that fourth option. He fully upheld His law. It is still here. It is still in effect. It is still binding. God still stands ready to forgive the sinner. He grants the gift of repentance. But not as you and I have heard of it. How does God take away the sin of the world? Jesus comes to the earth as one of us. He lives a perfect life without sinning. He dies in our place. He goes to heaven to serve as our High Priest, to be our Mediator. He offers His life for ours, and in response to our prayers the life-changing presence of the Holy Spirit is sent into our hearts and minds. He doesn't stop short of saving us fully. He doesn't throw a white covering over a sin-blackened reality—He removes our sin and puts His power inside of us so that we can obey. He puts His righteousness upon clean vessels.

How does God take away the sin of the world? He conclusively, once-and-for-all puts an end to the sin problem. He shows the on-looking universe that there is no excuse for sin and that the universe can't run on Satan's selfish sin program. The Father demonstrates His unselfishness by giving Jesus to die for us on the cruel cross. The result of this is a changed people, a serious people, a people with Christ living in them (Colossians 1:27-29). His flame burns in their heart and mind and they live in obedience to His law. Their lives become centerpieces of His case for unselfishness. They show in a concrete form the difference made when one truly believes in Jesus. The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. But not several times. He does it once, and once will be all that's necessary. Then the conflict between God and the devil will be ended. That's where all this is going.

Do you recall the ending of the vision of Daniel two in our second meeting? Let's go there to Daniel 2:34, 35, 45 as we close tonight's meeting:

Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff on the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the Great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

This kingdom, which starts as a mere stone, collides with the image in Daniel's vision—not in the head of gold, or the silver or the bronze or the legs, but in the feet of the statue—the part representing our own day. It is in our day that all the mightiness of men will be shown to be nothingness. It will be in our day that the false gospels and the false Jesus of so much present Christianity will be blown away on the wind. It will be in our day that a people arise finally living the gospel in all its fullness. It will be in our day that God will say to the watching universe, "There is the Lamb, standing with the 144,000 on Mount Zion. The defense rests."

Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Come and see. See what He is ready to do for you. Perhaps the time has come for you to do what you may have been putting off for so long. To take your stand for Jesus.

Amen.

Conclusion and Preview

Our next few meetings lay crucial groundwork readying us to understand Revelation 13. At our very next meeting we'll go over " Yom Kippur and End-Time Prophecy." The meeting we've just had and the one that night will prepare us for the next meeting: The Longest Time Prophecy in the Bible." These topics provide the needed background for our identification of the religious bodies in Revelation 13. Don't miss them!

But now, let us pray . . .

Larry Kirkpatrick, Oct. 24, 2000