Chapter XXX--The Lamb of God
Pilate, after interrogating Jesus, returns to the chief priests and the crowd outside his palace and said, "I find no basis for a charge against this man." (Luke 23:4) With this judgment he confirms the claim made by Peter that Jesus was "a lamb without blemish and without spot." (I Peter 1:19) The chief priests again accused him of many thing, but to Pilate's amazement "Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge." (Matthew 27:14) As Isaiah had prophesied hundreds of years before, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." (Isaiah 53:7)
The lamb played a prominent role in the history of Israel and frequently portrayed an image of the Christ to come. It began when the lamb offered by Abel was declared as acceptable in God's sight.(Genesis 4:4) When Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God, the ram caught in the thicket took his son's place when the angel stopped him. "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh," which means "The Lord Will Provide." (Genesis 22:14) And it was the blood of a lamb "without blemish" that was required on the doorposts of the Israelites that caused the Lord to pass over them when the firstborn sons of the Egyptians were slain. (Exodus 12) When John the Baptist proclaimed, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) it didn't take Andrew, one of his disciples, long to seek out his brother Simon Peter and say, "We have found the Messiah." (John 1:41)
Yes Jesus, falsely accused and innocent, made no reply. There was no denial; no "I didn't do it"; no "This is so unfair"; no "I want my rights." He stood there silent knowing "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them...God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (II Corinthians 5:19-21) The spotless, sinless Lamb of God was to become the sacrifice for our sins. I know that I will never, this side of heaven, fully understand why He would do this for me, but I look forward to the time that I will be able to join with those described by John in Revelation 5:11-12, "Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
The lamb played a prominent role in the history of Israel and frequently portrayed an image of the Christ to come. It began when the lamb offered by Abel was declared as acceptable in God's sight.(Genesis 4:4) When Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God, the ram caught in the thicket took his son's place when the angel stopped him. "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh," which means "The Lord Will Provide." (Genesis 22:14) And it was the blood of a lamb "without blemish" that was required on the doorposts of the Israelites that caused the Lord to pass over them when the firstborn sons of the Egyptians were slain. (Exodus 12) When John the Baptist proclaimed, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) it didn't take Andrew, one of his disciples, long to seek out his brother Simon Peter and say, "We have found the Messiah." (John 1:41)
Yes Jesus, falsely accused and innocent, made no reply. There was no denial; no "I didn't do it"; no "This is so unfair"; no "I want my rights." He stood there silent knowing "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them...God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (II Corinthians 5:19-21) The spotless, sinless Lamb of God was to become the sacrifice for our sins. I know that I will never, this side of heaven, fully understand why He would do this for me, but I look forward to the time that I will be able to join with those described by John in Revelation 5:11-12, "Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"