It's about a Lamb

Happy Easter everyone! I wanted to share a great message with you today; the message of Easter. If you get your information about Easter from television or by walking through the grocery store, you may think it's about bunnies and baskets and eggs and candies, but the good news of Easter is that it's about a lamb.

In the beginning, God created us to bring Him glory by worshipping Him, honoring Him and giving thanks to Him. But our sins against God's perfect law (Exodus 20 & elsewhere) bring us physical and spiritual death, as well as eternal seperation from God. Therefore we can't in our own power be who we were created to be.

In the Old Testament God provided animal sacrifices for sin. The life of an animal was substituted as payment for people's sins. However these sacrifices were not perfectly acceptable to God and could not excuse sin once and for all. So these sacrifices were offered over and over again. This substitutionary death for human sin, is best seen in the story of the passover lamb in Exodus 12. God commanded the Israelites to slaughter a male lamb without defect, and to place the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house. If they followed God's directions, when He passed over their houses, He would see the blood and accept it as payment for their sins. The houses that did not follow these instructions would wake up and find their firstborn children dead. In other words, the firstborn would receive the judgement for sin. It happened just as God said. Those who had the blood of the lamb were passed over, and judgement was witheld.

In Isaiah 53 and elsewhere in the Old Testament we read about a savior who would come who would be like a lamb. He would be pierced, crushed, punished and ultimately killed for our sins. Then this savior would be raised to life showing his defeat of sin and death. His blood would cover our sins just like the passover lamb of the Old Testament.

There are many prophecies througout the Old Testament about this savior, whose blood would cover the sins of the world. Only one man has fulfilled these prophecies, and His name is Jesus.

John the Baptist first recognizes Jesus as the Lamb of God in John 1:29. All the prophecies point to Jesus being the Lamb of God. And as if that wasn't enough, Jesus was crucified during Passover, as if screaming to the world, "I am the Passover Lamb of God." And today, Easter 2012, we celebrate not because of bunnies or baskets or eggs or candies, we celebrate the Lamb of God who was killed for our sins and then raised to life!

As I've stated previously we have two responses. The first is to believe in Christ's death for our sins and his resurrection from the dead. As our passover lamb, Jesus pays the penalty and God passes over our sins giving us eternal life with Him in Heaven. The second response is to deny Him, and pay the penalty ourself. The penalty is spiritual death and eternal separation from God in Hell. I choose to accept Jesus as my passover lamb. My prayer is that you will do the same. That is the only way Easter will be to you all it was meant to be.

The Greatest Rescue

If you've ever watched the movie about Apollo 13, you know that mission turned into one of the greatest rescues ever undertaken. Scientists worked around the clock to get the three astronauts aboard the spacecraft home safely. There were so many variables that could go wrong, yet they never gave up trying to get them back. The final obstacle to overcome was possible damage to their heat shield due to the explosion earlier in the flight. If the heat-shield was damaged, the astronauts might burn up while descending through the earth's atmosphere.

During re-entry, radio blackout was supposed to last 4 minutes. So if they weren't back in 4 minutes, everyone would know they burned up . When the radio blackout was expected to end, Mission Control began calling the spacecraft. "Odyssey this is Houston, do you read me....Odyssey this is Houston, do you read me?" They took 33 seconds longer than expected, but finally the parachutes appear and the call is heard, "Hello Houston this is Odyssey, it's good to see you again." Everyone in Mission Control erupts with cheers. People are crying, laughing, hugging, jumping up and down. The astronauts had returned home safely, and those who worked to bring them home were ecstatic.

This is one of my favorite movies, so I tend to watch it every once in a while. But the other day, I looked at the end of this film with a different perspective. The story suddenly reminded me of the story of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. I understand parts of these stories are far from parallel, but they are both stories of rescue and celebration at their core. Even though the prodigal son left home in a state of rebellion, when the son returned, the father had compassion and ran to meet his son when he arrived. In fact, he threw a party for the son because he was ecstatic that he had returned. The father says, "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found." His son had returned home safely and he was overcome with joy.

What a picture of God's love for us. He didn't just stay awake for hours on end for us. He didn't just do the arithmetic and spend time in a simulator to bring us home. He sent his son Jesus to die on a cross. He died and rose again to pay the penalty for our sins, that we can have eternal life with Him and bring glory to God. And when we repent, and trust in Jesus' death for our sins, he doesn't sit there and look up at us with shame, he runs to us, brings us home and rejoices that we are saved. Jesus did the ultimate work to bring us home. He is our heat shield and parachute into the ocean of God's love. The celebration at the return of the astronauts pales in comparison to the celebration God throws when His people are saved through faith in Jesus Christ!

Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Atheists?

As I was reading through news headlines over Christmas, I came across a headline which read, "Atheists 'hijack' Nativity Scene, Critics Say". I clicked on the link and read through the LA Times story about how Atheists won a local lottery in Santa Monica that decides who gets to use park space during Christmas. Normally nativity scenes are set up all around the park to tell the story of Christmas. This Christmas, the atheists brought their view to the park, claiming that Christmas is a myth.

If this group of Atheists really had the agenda of speaking out against myths, why not show up at the mall and pull off Santa's beard? It is not myths they have a problem with, it's God and His claim on their lives. Groups like this cause a lot of frustration for Christians around Christmastime. For some reason, we think that the world should wake up once a year and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. It should not be a surprise however, that people continue rejecting God at Christmas just like they do the rest of the year. Christ speaking in John 15:23-24 says, "He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles and yet they have hated both me and my Father." This truth that Christ spoke thousands of years ago still rings true. People do not want to give up sin, and any display that reminds them of their guilt, brings out their hatred toward God and His standard.

The public reaction to Christmas is not surprising, what is surprising is that this is one of the only times many Christians stand up for God. I believe these public outbursts are just a friendly reminder from God to all of us, that we need to proclaim His truth every day, not just at Christmas. In Matthew 28:19-20 Christ says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Our lives as Christians have been bought with the blood of Christ. He didn't just call and make a reservation for Christmas. He commanded that our lives be about sharing his good news: that He created us, that we rebelled against Him, and that the only way we can be forgiven is having faith in Christ's death for our sins. The Bible tells us that the cost of following Him is great, but the reward of eternal life with Him, is even greater.