from Genesis to
Revelation
Sunday
Morning Bible Study
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2002
Introduction
For some reason, the world thinks of cute little bunnies at Easter
time. But the world has it all wrong. There another animal which is much more
appropriate. We ought to be thinking about
a Lamb. It’s not the “Easter Bunny”, but the “Resurrection Lamb”. We’re going
to follow the Lamb from Genesis to Revelation.
Genesis
(Gen 22:1-14 KJV) And
it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (test) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said,
Behold, here I am.
Moses was tested, and Moses failed his test. When the people were crying in
the wilderness for water, God told Moses to strike the Rock (Ex. 17:6) and
water would come out. This is what Moses did. But the next time the people
complained, God told Moses to just speak to the Rock (Num. 20:8) and water
would come out. But Moses was angry at the time and rather than speak to the
Rock, he struck it again.
Moses blew the picture. God was setting up a grand picture for us about
Jesus.
Jesus was “struck” when He died on the cross. Now that Jesus has been
“struck”, all we have to do is “speak” to Him and we are saved. He no longer
needs to be “struck”.
This would be a “test” for Abraham.
He will pass the “test”. He will end up providing us with a perfect,
prophetic picture of something in the future.
Lesson
Pass the test
For some of us, we know that we’re in the middle of a test right now. What
concerns me is that some of us don’t recognize that we’re being tested.
Illustration
“B” in Biology
A professor stood before his class of twenty senior organic biology
students, about to hand out the final exam. “I want to say that it’s been a
pleasure teaching you this semester. I know you’ve all worked extremely hard
and many of you are off to medical school after summer. So that no one gets
their GPA messed up because they might have been celebrating a bit too much
this week, anyone who would like to opt out of the final exam today will
receive a “B” for the course.” There was much rejoicing in the class as
students got up, walked to the front of the class, and took the professor up on
his offer. As the last taker left the room, the professor looked out over the
handful of remaining students and asked, “Anyone else? This is your last chance.”
One final student rose up and opted out of the final. The professor closed the
door and took attendance of those students remaining. “I’m glad to see you
believe in yourself,” he said. “You all have “A”s.”
Sometimes we “opt out” of certain things in life and don’t realize that the
decision to stick it out is the actual test itself. Don’t skip the “test”.
{2} And he said, Take now
thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.
Even though Abraham had another son through his concubine, Ishmael, Isaac
is the only son that God recognizes.
God makes a point of calling Isaac the “only son”.
Moriah was the name of the mountain that Jerusalem sat upon.
{3} And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with
him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up,
and went unto the place of which God had told him. {4} Then on the third day
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
Abraham had been living in Beersheba. From Beersheba to Moriah is about
fifty miles. It took Abraham three days to get there. An interesting number.
{5} And Abraham said unto
his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and
worship, and come again to you. {6} And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and
a knife; and they went both of them together. {7} And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said,
Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Isaac isn’t stupid. He knows that if they are going to perform a sacrifice,
there needs to be an animal.
This is the first occurrence of the word “lamb” in the Bible.
When it comes to understanding the Bible, it’s an interesting practice to
look at what’s called the “first mention”. You can learn some interesting
things by looking at what happens the first time things are mentioned.
Here, in the Old Testament, Isaac’s question is interesting, “Where is the
lamb?” For the folks in the Old Testament, that was the question.
{8} And Abraham said, My
son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went
both of them together.
It could be that the King James here is just a little awkward. The other
translations say things like,
(Gen 22:8 NASB) "God
will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."
(Gen 22:8 NIV) "God
himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."
But I like the idea of the King James. It accurately leaves open the
possibility not just that God would provide a sacrifice, but that God would
be the sacrifice. God Himself would be a lamb.
{9} And they came to the
place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the
wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the
wood. {10} And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his
son.
Abraham is an old man. Isaac could have easily overpowered him. Yet Isaac
submits to his father. He does what his father asks. Just like Jesus.
{11} And the angel of the
LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said,
Here am I. {12} And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou
any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son from me. {13} And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son.
We see here a beautiful picture of “substitutionary sacrifice”. The ram now
takes the place of the son. The ram dies in the son’s place.
{14} And Abraham called the
name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount
of the LORD it shall be seen.
Jehovahjireh –Y@hovah yireh – “Yahweh sees”
The modern translations all call this place “the Lord will provide”
But this is an interpretation of the Hebrew, the idea that if God “sees”,
then God will “provide”. But the actual Hebrew uses the word “to see”, and the
particular form of this word (Niphal) means “to present oneself; to be seen; to
be visible”. The King James really is best here.
It may be that Abraham was speaking of how God provided a lamb, but he is
also making a prophetic statement that on this mountain, “it shall be seen”.
It would be on this mountain that God would one day “provide Himself a lamb”.
It would be on this mountain that Jesus Christ, God’s “only son” would submit
to His father and become a sacrifice for others.
Exodus
We find another interesting passage about a lamb when the Israelites were
about to escape from their bondage in Egypt.
They had been living in Egypt for four hundred years and had become slaves
of the Egyptians. They cried out to God for help, and God sent them a
deliverer, Moses. God worked through Moses to bring plagues upon Egypt, trying
to convince Pharaoh to let the people go. But Pharaoh wouldn’t let go until the
tenth plague, when all the firstborn children of Egypt would be killed by the
Lord.
The Israelites were going to be protected from the plague, but only if they
followed God’s instructions. They were to take a young male lamb, one without
any kind of blemish, and they were to kill the lamb. The blood of the lamb was
then to be painted on the doorposts of their houses.
If the Israelites would paint the doorposts of their houses with the lamb’s
blood, they would be protected from the plague.
(Exo 12:13 KJV) And
the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I
see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
This is what the people did, and on the night of that first “Passover”,
every house that was painted with the blood was spared.
This was to become a yearly ritual, where every family was to sacrifice a
“Passover Lamb” and hold a feast to remember what God did on that night.
Every year the families were to remember that God delivered them through
the blood of the Passover Lamb.
New Testament
The first time we see the word “lamb” used in the New Testament is in:
(John 1:29 KJV) The
next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world.
This was at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, when He came to
be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
John the Baptist recognized that Jesus would be the fulfillment of the
prophetic picture of the Lamb in the Old Testament.
Just as the lamb of Abraham’s day, Jesus would take our place on the altar.
Jesus would die to pay for the sins of the world.
As the Passover Lamb, it is His blood that causes God to “pass over” our
sins.
Jesus in fact would die on the Passover (John 13:1)
Lesson
Where’s the Lamb?
In the Old Testament, the “first occurrence” of “lamb” raised the question,
“Where’s the lamb?”
In the New Testament, the “first occurrence” of “lamb” answers the question
as John says, “Behold the Lamb”. Jesus
is the Lamb.
Are you a person who, like the Old Testament, still doesn’t “get it”?
The Bible says,
(John 3:16-21 KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Just as God had asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son,
God gave His only Son.
{17} For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might
be saved.
Jesus didn’t come to condemn you, He came to save you. He
came to save you from the penalty of your own sins. He came to save you by
dying in your place.
{18} He that believeth on
him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Just as the Passover Lamb’s blood caused the Lord to not
judge a family, God will not judge you for your sins if you come to trust in
Jesus. God offers you the gift of forgiveness, but you must receive the gift
for it to be of any value to you.
{19} And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. {20} For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be
reproved. {21} But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may
be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
One of the reasons why people do not want to follow Jesus
is because they’re having too much fun killing themselves with their sin. Is
that you?
Illustration
“John, Greg and The Drawbridge”
John Griffith the controller of a great railroad drawbridge across the
Mississippi during the Great Depression. One fine summer day in 1937, John
decided to take his 8-year-old son, Greg, to work with him. At noon, John
raised the bridge to allow transit to any ships that might pass by and sat on
the observation deck to with Greg to eat their lunch. The minutes passed lazily
as the noonday beat down on them. Suddenly, John was jolted by the sound of
shrieking train whistle in the distance. He quickly looked at his watch. It was
1:07 and the Memphis Express, with 400 passengers was roaring toward the raised
bridge! He leaped up from the observation deck and ran back to the control
tower. Before throwing the master lever, he looked down to see if any ships
were passing below. The sight he saw caused his pounding heart to leap into his
throat. Greg had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the
massive gears that operate the bridge. His left leg was caught in the cogs of
the two main gears! Desperately, John’s mind raced to device a rescue plan. The
seconds were quickly ticking away and he knew there wasn’t enough time for him
to rescue his son before the train reached the bridge.
Again, with alarming closeness, the train’s shrill whistle cut through the
summer air. He could hear the wheels as they clicked along on the tracks. That
was his son trapped below! Yet there were 400 passengers on the train. John
knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the
lever forward to lower the bridge. Just seconds after the massive bridge
settled into place, the Memphis Express, with its 400 passengers barreled
across the river.
The Bible says,
(Rom 5:8 NLT) But God showed his great love for us by
sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Revelation
The word “lamb” occurs 31 times in the New Testament, and of those times, 27
of them are in the book of Revelation (all but one of them, Rev. 13:11, refer to
Jesus)
The first time we see the Lamb in Revelation, is in heaven. The scene is in
the not too distant future, when a search is being made for someone who has the
ability of taking the title deed of the earth and redeeming the planet from
Satan. There is only one qualified to do it.
(Rev 5:6 KJV) And I
beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into
all the earth.
Jesus, the Lamb, is qualified to redeem the earth because He is the “lamb
that was slain”. He is qualified to redeem the earth because He paid for it
with His own blood.
Note: In heaven, the Lamb “stood” “as it had been slain”. He had been slain, but in heaven He will be
standing. He could “stand” because He
rose from the dead.
Illustration
No Tomb to Visit
In one of the villages of Northern India a missionary was preaching in a
bazaar. As he closed, a Muslim gentleman came up and said, “You must admit we
have one thing you have not, and it is better than anything you have.” The missionary smiled and said, “I should be
pleased to hear what it is.” The Muslim
said, “You know when we go to Mecca we at least find a coffin. But when you
Christians go to Jerusalem, which is your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty
grave.” But the missionary just smiled
and said, “That is just the difference. Mohammed is dead; Mohammed is in the
coffin. And false systems of religion and philosophy are in their coffins, but
Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is to include all nations and kindreds and tribes,
is not here; He is risen. And all power in heaven and on earth is given unto
Him. That is our hope.”
Jesus died but He did not stay dead.
He is alive.
We’ve looked at a lot of “first mentions” of the Lamb. Now we’ll end with the “final mention:
(Rev 22:1-5 KJV) And he showed me a pure river of water of
life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
{2} In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her
fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations. {3} And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the
Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: {4} And they shall see
his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. {5} And there shall be no
night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord
God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Lesson
Heaven is with the Lamb
For those of you who have come to trust in Jesus,
REAL life is found with Jesus – the “water of life” flows from Him.
We will live forever with Him – we will eat of the “tree of life”.
There is healing in Him – the “healing of the nations”, there is no more
curse.
We will see God
There will be no more darkness
Illustration
I have hope in the future. The Bible speaks about bodies
being glorified. I know the meaning of that now. It's the time after my death
here when I, the quadriplegic, will be on my feet dancing.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada, quoted by John R. W. Stott,
"The Up-to-the-Minute Relevance of the Resurrection," Preaching
Today, Tape No. 79.