WHY YOU DON'T BRING A LAMB TO CHURCH
We believe that Jesus Christ…died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins…
Sacrifice – the idea that something is wrong in the world and that something must die to appease God/the gods to set things right again – is an ancient and almost universal concept in primitive religion. Most ancient religions sacrificed animals, but a few (the Aztecs most notoriously) sacrificed human beings.
Perhaps worst of all were those that sacrificed their own children. Some Canaanites practiced child sacrifice, as did a desperate King Mesha of Moab hoping to prevent a route in battle (2 Kings 3.27). The Israelites descended to that abominable practice a few times (2 Kings 16.3; Jeremiah 7.31), despite the Mosaic law’s prohibition of the detestable ritual (Leviticus 18.21; Deuteronomy 12.31).
The Law’s vigorous prohibition of human sacrifice, however, sets in bold relief the ancient account of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son, Isaac (Genesis 22). God had promised Abraham, not just a son, but a lineage from that son that would become a nation that would bring blessing to the world (Genesis 12.1-3). After years of childlessness, Abraham, at his wife Sarah’s prompting, uses her servant girl as a surrogate, and a son, Ishmael, is born. Abraham is exuberant, but God tells him Ishmael is not the promised son!
Finally, Isaac is born to Sarah, and Abraham rejoices over this special child. Then one day, perhaps in Isaac’s late teen years, God commands Abraham to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice!
Despite the outrageous demand, Abraham demonstrates faith in the goodness of the God who promised him a son. Abraham sets out for Mount Moriah with an entourage of servants and his son Isaac in tow. A few miles from the site of the sacrifice, Abraham tells his servants to stay behind with the donkey until he and Isaac “come back to you” (Genesis 22.5). As they head up the mountain, Isaac asks why they hadn’t brought a lamb, and Abraham replies “God will provide for Himself the lamb” (Genesis 22.8).
Isaac, showing the same faith as his father, allows himself to be bound and laid on the altar. Abraham takes up the knife to slaughter his son. We want to shield our eyes from the grotesque sight of Isaac’s blood, but our horror melts into relief when God halts the act and provides a ram to replace Isaac. The faith of both father and son is rewarded: Isaac goes on to become the father of Jacob (Israel).
Centuries later, on the same mountain, Jesus died on the cross. His apostles, led by the Holy Spirit, interpret that death, not as a criminal execution (which is what onlookers saw), but as the sacrifice of a perfect human being, the Son of God.
God the Father sacrificed His Son, and the Son, trusting the Father to raise Him up, willingly complied with the Father’s wishes. He climbed onto the altar of the cross and gave up His life.
The apostles interpreted Jesus’ death as the sacrifice of the lamb that finally takes away the sin of the world (John 1.29). The Law of Moses had demanded that flawless lambs die in the place of sinners to restore a broken relationship with God. But a lamb slaughtered, no matter how flawless, can ever make a man right with God (Hebrews 10.4). Only the sinless Jesus, true God and true man – the perfect human sacrifice -- tasting death for every man (Hebrews 2.9) could take away the sin of the world.
“Perfect human sacrifice” – that sounds primitive, ugly, and inhumane.
It is ugly and inhumane.
So is sin and all of its effects.
That’s the whole point.
God provided the Lamb to make us right with Him.
God commands us to believe that this sacrifice alone will forgive us and make us right with Him.
And THAT is the heart of the gospel and of the evangelical Christian faith.
That perfect sacrifice made animal sacrifice and all that attended it – priests, altars, temples – obsolete and unnecessary (Hebrews 10.12-14,18).
And that is why you don’t need to bring a lamb to church.
Sacrifice – the idea that something is wrong in the world and that something must die to appease God/the gods to set things right again – is an ancient and almost universal concept in primitive religion. Most ancient religions sacrificed animals, but a few (the Aztecs most notoriously) sacrificed human beings.
Perhaps worst of all were those that sacrificed their own children. Some Canaanites practiced child sacrifice, as did a desperate King Mesha of Moab hoping to prevent a route in battle (2 Kings 3.27). The Israelites descended to that abominable practice a few times (2 Kings 16.3; Jeremiah 7.31), despite the Mosaic law’s prohibition of the detestable ritual (Leviticus 18.21; Deuteronomy 12.31).
The Law’s vigorous prohibition of human sacrifice, however, sets in bold relief the ancient account of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of his son, Isaac (Genesis 22). God had promised Abraham, not just a son, but a lineage from that son that would become a nation that would bring blessing to the world (Genesis 12.1-3). After years of childlessness, Abraham, at his wife Sarah’s prompting, uses her servant girl as a surrogate, and a son, Ishmael, is born. Abraham is exuberant, but God tells him Ishmael is not the promised son!
Finally, Isaac is born to Sarah, and Abraham rejoices over this special child. Then one day, perhaps in Isaac’s late teen years, God commands Abraham to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice!
Despite the outrageous demand, Abraham demonstrates faith in the goodness of the God who promised him a son. Abraham sets out for Mount Moriah with an entourage of servants and his son Isaac in tow. A few miles from the site of the sacrifice, Abraham tells his servants to stay behind with the donkey until he and Isaac “come back to you” (Genesis 22.5). As they head up the mountain, Isaac asks why they hadn’t brought a lamb, and Abraham replies “God will provide for Himself the lamb” (Genesis 22.8).
Isaac, showing the same faith as his father, allows himself to be bound and laid on the altar. Abraham takes up the knife to slaughter his son. We want to shield our eyes from the grotesque sight of Isaac’s blood, but our horror melts into relief when God halts the act and provides a ram to replace Isaac. The faith of both father and son is rewarded: Isaac goes on to become the father of Jacob (Israel).
Centuries later, on the same mountain, Jesus died on the cross. His apostles, led by the Holy Spirit, interpret that death, not as a criminal execution (which is what onlookers saw), but as the sacrifice of a perfect human being, the Son of God.
God the Father sacrificed His Son, and the Son, trusting the Father to raise Him up, willingly complied with the Father’s wishes. He climbed onto the altar of the cross and gave up His life.
The apostles interpreted Jesus’ death as the sacrifice of the lamb that finally takes away the sin of the world (John 1.29). The Law of Moses had demanded that flawless lambs die in the place of sinners to restore a broken relationship with God. But a lamb slaughtered, no matter how flawless, can ever make a man right with God (Hebrews 10.4). Only the sinless Jesus, true God and true man – the perfect human sacrifice -- tasting death for every man (Hebrews 2.9) could take away the sin of the world.
“Perfect human sacrifice” – that sounds primitive, ugly, and inhumane.
It is ugly and inhumane.
So is sin and all of its effects.
That’s the whole point.
God provided the Lamb to make us right with Him.
God commands us to believe that this sacrifice alone will forgive us and make us right with Him.
And THAT is the heart of the gospel and of the evangelical Christian faith.
That perfect sacrifice made animal sacrifice and all that attended it – priests, altars, temples – obsolete and unnecessary (Hebrews 10.12-14,18).
And that is why you don’t need to bring a lamb to church.