Life is a Journey - Lesson 8

There’s a character in the New Testament called John the Baptist, and he was quite a character. Part of his mission was to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming. When he did see Jesus coming, he cried out, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John chapter 1:29). This is an important verse if we’re going to understand what Jesus did on the cross.

I. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb

The technical term for what Jesus did on the cross is the word “atonement,” which describes what actually happened when the Lamb of God died on the cross and took away the sin of the world.

When John calls Jesus the Lamb, he’s not making reference to some cute farm animal, but he’s making reference to the fact that Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. Jesus was going to be a lamb who would be sacrificed. And there’s no better place to go to understand what this means than in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament.

Leviticus is all about explaining the holiness of God, the sinfulness of all human beings, and specifically how sacrifices allow God to forgive sin. Turn in your Bibles, please, to the first chapter of the book of Leviticus. The context is that someone has sinned, and in order to be forgiven of their sin, the person is going to make a sacrifice.

The question is, how did they make a sacrifice? Leviticus tells us how. In chapter 1 verses 10–13 it says, “If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, you” —  meaning the sinner — “are to offer a male without defect.” In other words, not a defective animal; the best that you have — “You” — the sinner, not the priest — “are to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. You” — the sinner — “are to cut it into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. You” — again, the sinner — “are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.”

This is a rather graphic description, isn’t it, of how people in the Old Testament went about being forgiven. However, the book of Leviticus is in the Bible if for no other 
reason than to help us understand what it means for Jesus to be the Lamb of God.

Principle #1: Sin is serious

There are at least two principles in this passage of Leviticus that comes directly into John the Baptist’s message. The first principle is that sin against the Holy God is a serious thing. It’s very clear, isn’t it? It’s something that is punishable by death. Can you imagine going to the altar and slitting the animal’s throat and hacking its body into pieces? That would send a pretty strong message that sin is really, really bad and punishable by death.

Principle #2: God is merciful

The second principle that comes out of Leviticus is that God is a merciful God. As a merciful God, he will accept the death of a sinless substitute in place of the sinner, and he will forgive our sin. Sin is so horrible and vile that it requires death, but God, in his mercy, will accept the death of a sinless substitute in our place.

These two principles help us understand what it means for Jesus to be the sacrificial Lamb of God. It means that we understood that our sin must be punished. As Paul tells the Roman Church, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23). But we also understand that God, in his mercy, will accept the death of Jesus in our place. That’s why theologians sometimes call it the “substitutionary atonement.”

Atonement is what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and it was accomplished by his being our substitute, his being our sinless sacrifice, substituting his death for our death.

This is what the prophet Isaiah was talking about in Isaiah 53, some 700 years before the time of Christ. Isaiah knew that Jesus was coming, and he knew that Jesus was going to die. He knew that Jesus was going to die as a substitute for our sin. And so he writes in chapter 53, verse 5, “But he” — meaning Jesus — “was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him” — meaning Jesus — “the iniquity of us all.” Jesus is the Lamb of God. Our sin requires death, but God, in his mercy, allows the substitution of a sinless sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin.

II. Takes away the sin of the world

That’s why John the Baptist continues, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” On the cross, God took our sin away from us and laid it on Jesus. Paul tells the Corinthians that “he” — meaning Jesus, — “who knew no sin, was made to be sin so that you and I could be made the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:2). Our sin was taken away from us and laid on Jesus. He was made to be sin because he had lived a sinless life, and therefore his death was the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

There are two ramifications that are important to focus on when we think about Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

1. Only Jesus can forgive

The first of those ramifications is that only the Lamb of God can take away sin. Jesus and Jesus alone is the only acceptable sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin. Sin is not taken away by being a good Muslim because Mohammed didn’t live a sinless life and die in your place. Sin is not taken away by being a good Hindu. Sin is not taken away by being a good Buddhist or a Baptist. Sin is not taken away by being a nice person or being a religious person. Sin is not taken away by doing certain things like attending church or confessing to a priest or being baptized.

Sin can only be removed by the Lamb of God because only the Lamb of God was the sinless, substitutionary sacrifice for my sin and for your sin. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). Peter says in Acts 4.12, “Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Jesus is the only Lamb of God and only the Lamb of God can take away sin.

This claim that Jesus’ death was unique and exclusive is central and non-negotiable in our sharing of the gospel, and it runs totally contrary to our secular culture. The notion doesn’t run contrary to a lot of other cultures but it certainly runs contrary to our culture.

As a new Christian, you’re going to run up against this pretty soon if you haven’t already. What our friends and co-workers will tell us is that there really is no such thing as absolute truth. They’ll say, well there’s nothing really right or really wrong, there’s nothing that’s really true or false, everything is relative. Your truth is just as valid as my truth and that’s okay because in fact my truth may change between this morning and this afternoon.

Our culture says that there’s no such thing as absolute truth. So when someone says this to you, look at them, pray a quick prayer, and say, “No, there’s only one way for sin to be forgiven because there’s only one Lamb of God. There’s only one Lamb of God who died in my place and he took away the sin of the world.”

You’ll be told that all roads lead to heaven. Our answer is, “No, all roads except one lead to hell.” The answer is not because we’re arrogant but because there was only one Lamb of God who did something about sin and only one acceptable sacrifice. There is only one way for sin to be taken away. Only the Lamb of God can take away sin.

2. “Sufficiency”

The second ramification is wrapped up in the phrase, “the sin of the world.” John says, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” The Lamb of God takes away all the sin of the entire world. John tells us in his letter that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sin and not for ours only but also for the sin of the entire world (1 John 2:2). Jesus’ death is sufficient, and that’s the important word, sufficient to cover all of the sin of all of the world. In other words, all who ask for forgiveness can be forgiven.

The theological phrase for this important concept is the “sufficiency of the cross.” The doctrine of the sufficiency of the cross is that Jesus’ work on the cross is sufficient to take away the sin of all who believe. To put a different emphasis on it, Jesus did everything that needs to be done in order to remove our sin. Jesus does not need our help. He does not need the help of priests. He does not need the help of the church. Jesus’ work on the cross is sufficient, and he provided the sacrifice that is sufficient to cover the sin of all who will ask for forgiveness.

This doctrine of the sufficiency of the cross is powerfully illustrated at least two different ways in scripture.

1. “It is finished”

The first way in which it is illustrated is Jesus’ final words on the cross. As Jesus bore our sin, as he was made to be our sin, we believe that the presence of God the Father left him for the first time in all eternity. On the cross, Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In other words, when is this going to be over? When will I have paid the penalty for all sin?

When Jesus did realize that he had paid the full penalty, when he realized that it was over, he cried out, “‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and died” (John 19:30). When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he meant exactly what he said. It is finished. If we were to ask him, Jesus, “What’s finished?”, he might have answered, “The work that my father sent me to do is finished.” If we were to ask him, “What was the work you were sent to do?”, he could respond in the words of John 6.40. “My father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” he was saying, “My work is sufficient so that everyone who believes on me will be granted eternal life.” Everyone who believes on me will be raised up on that final day of judgment to spend eternity with our Father and our brothers and our sisters in heaven. It is finished. I have done what only I can do, and I have done everything that I needed to do, such that if you believe in me, your sin can be forgiven. It’s a powerful statement.

2. Temple curtain was torn

The other illustration of the sufficiency of the cross, and I think this is my favorite, is the fact that the temple veil, or a curtain, was torn in two when Jesus died (Mark 15:38).

There’s an area in the temple called the Holy of Holies. It’s the place where God’s presence used to dwell, and it was a very holy place. It was a place that only the high priest could go into, and he could only go once a year because he was going into the very presence of God. We know from secular sources that there was a curtain about six inches thick that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. The curtain was incredibly important because it represented the presence of God on the other side of the curtain, and it represented our separation from God as we stand on this side of the curtain and cannot go directly into the presence of God the Father.

When Jesus died, his death was sufficient to take away the sin of the world. It was sufficient to guarantee direct access to God the Father. And to make that clear, God ripped the curtain in two, from top to bottom, from his side to ours, and we can now move directly into the presence of God because Jesus has done everything that was necessary to grant us full forgiveness and to enable us to live fully in the presence of God.

Another part of the imagery may be that the tearing of the curtain demonstrated God the Father’s deep grief for what his Son was going through. In ancient cultures, and perhaps still today, deep grief often leads people to tear their clothing as an expression of their pain. God the Father was not a dispassionate observer. He loved his Son and was deeply grieved at what our sin cost him. That curtain was torn from top to bottom, and there was no partial tear. It was torn all the way. Why? Because Jesus’ death was sufficient to take away the sin of all who repent.

One of the sad commentaries on human life is that religion has been busy ever since trying to sew that curtain back up. So many times religion says, “Jesus’ death wasn’t sufficient. He didn’t quite do enough, and we have to help him out. In fact, if we are going to be forgiven and come into the presence of God, we have to help him.” So religion likes to add on religious activity to what Jesus did. If we just do certain things to earn God’s favor, perhaps go out and knock on enough doors and witness to Jehovah, another name for God, then somehow we will have finished ripping the curtain and have forgiveness of sin.

I heard a man speak who had knocked on over 70,000 doors, witnessing for Jehovah, and then he became a Christian. He said the problem was, how many doors do I have to knock on? Maybe it was 71,000. So you see, he didn’t really believe that Jesus’ death was sufficient, and he had to give God a helping hand by earning favor, by doing religious things, by witnessing to Jehovah, sewing up that curtain as fast as he could.

Other religions would tell you, no, no, you can’t come into the presence of God. That temple curtain isn’t really torn. If you’re going to confess your sin, you don’t confess them to God. You confess them to a priest. Certainly you can’t come directly into the presence of God.

These are all ways in which, frankly, we thumb our nose at the work of Christ. We say, no, you didn’t take away the sin of the world. No, your work on the cross was not sufficient to guarantee me forgiveness and full access to God. But the Bible says that Jesus died as the Lamb of God. He and he alone takes away the sin of the world. There is forgiveness of sin in no one or nothing else. Jesus did all that needed to be done. His work on the cross was sufficient to take away the sin of the entire world.

That’s the doctrine of the atonement, what Jesus did on the cross. But the atonement does no good unless we respond to it.

III. Necessity of response

We’re not universalists. We don’t believe that Jesus’ death automatically paid the penalty for all people, so all people automatically go to heaven. That’s never been Christian doctrine. Christian doctrine has always required that we respond to the message of the cross, that we respond to the atonement, that we repent of our past misunderstanding of who Jesus is and repent of our sin. John 6.40 says, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life.” If a person does not look to Jesus, if that person does not believe in Him, that person is still in their sin.

When Peter was preaching his great sermon in Acts chapter 2, the people responded by asking, What shall we do? Peter didn’t say, “Nothing. Jesus paid the price of everyone’s sin, so everyone automatically goes to heaven.” Peter didn’t say that. He said, “Repent to be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). You have to respond.

Paul tells the Ephesian church, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). Grace is God’s gracious gift of the Lamb, and faith is our necessary response, our believing that Jesus was the Lamb of God, our believing that He and He alone sufficiently paid the penalty of our sin.

Conversion is crucial because no one is born a Christian. No one who was baptized as an infant automatically goes to heaven. But when we respond to the gospel, then we are saved by an act of God’s grace.

My mom was a relatively young Christian when I was born, and the hospital wanted to baptize me. They were insistent, I’m told. Mom had to threaten to sue them if one drop of water touched her baby’s head. Because being baptized as an infant doesn’t do anything but confuse people. There is no family plan. No one goes to heaven because of his mom or dad or his brother or sister or his uncle or his great aunt and whether you’ve been baptized or not. Everyone, individually, must respond to the message of the atonement for forgiveness to be granted to you and to me.

V. Communion

There is a wonderful teaching tool in Scripture that helps us understand the immensity of the atonement. That teaching tool is communion. Some churches have other names for it. Some call it the “Lord’s Supper.” Some call it “Eucharist.” They’re just different words to describe the same thing.

Communion is a ritual. It’s one of the two rituals that Jesus gave us. He gave us baptism and he gave us communion. But communion is a good ritual, and it’s one of those good rituals because it’s there to teach us as well as to remind us about the nature of the atonement.

1. Background

When the Jewish nation was enslaved in Egypt around 1400 BC, God saved them through a series of plagues, and then God brought them out of Egypt. The word Exodus means the “going out,” the going out of Israel, out of slavery and out of Egypt. The Jewish people look back at the Exodus as the greatest salvation act in history.

We read in the book of Exodus chapter 12, the instructions that God gave his children to get ready for the 10th plague, the most horrible plague. These instructions provide the backdrop to understanding communion. I’m going to skip around a bit, but these are the instructions starting in Exodus chapter 12, verse 3.

It says, “Each man” — meaning the father — “is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor.” — In other words, they wanted to make sure that there was enough people to eat the whole lamb. It was a family affair — “All the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them in twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and the tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night, they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.” — The unleavened bread was symbolic of the fact that God was going to save them quickly. There wasn’t even time for the bread to rise. And the bitter herbs are there to remind them of their bitter years of slavery in Egypt.

Verse 11 goes on to say, “This is how you are to eat it, with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals. And I will bring judgment on all the gods of Israel. I am the Lord.” Egypt was killing God’s firstborn, the nation Israel. So now God is going to kill the firstborn of Egypt.

Verse 13, “The blood will be a sign for you on the house where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”

As the instructions continue, God makes it clear that this was to be a yearly festival, a yearly celebration of the salvation of the Lord. Among other things, it was to continue to be a family time of instruction. Verse 25 and following says, “When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, what does this ceremony mean to you? Then tell them, it’s the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.” That’s the background to the story of Passover. 

2. Jesus reinterprets the Passover meal

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, it was that Passover meal that Jesus and the disciples were celebrating together. As Jesus was celebrating the Passover, he was reinterpreting the Passover. Jesus was reinterpreting the Passover meal so that it would help us understand the atonement.

Paul says a famous verse in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 23 to 26. “For I receive the Lord while I also pass on to you. The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body.’” And I have no doubt that Jesus’ emphasis was on the word “my.” This is not the lamb. This is my body. “‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this wherever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup” — in other words, whenever you do Passover — “you proclaim the Lord’s death” — my death, Jesus says — “until he comes.”

Jesus is reinterpreting the Passover meal, and he’s saying that the cross is now the greatest act of God’s salvation. The Passover bread now points to Jesus’ death, Jesus’ body broken on the cross, and the drink represents his blood.

When Jesus says this is my body and this is my blood, we don’t believe that it literally becomes flesh and blood. We believe that the “elements,” as we call them, represent Christ’s body and represent Christ’s death. Sometimes we use unleavened bread in reflection of the historical background of communion. Sometimes we use crackers that break. Sometimes we use bread that tears. These are all ways to help us understand that this stands for Christ’s body, which is broken and torn on the cross for you and for me.

The Passover cup now points to Jesus’ death, his blood shed on the cross. It’s why we use a dark liquid and not a light liquid. The dark liquid helps us remember Christ’s blood, the blood of the Lamb of God, who died for you and me as a substitution to pay the penalty for your sin and mine.

VI. Jesus is the Lamb of God

Jesus is the Lamb of God. He’s the only one who ever died for your sin and mine. His death is sufficient to cover all of your sins and mine, all of the sin of all who believe.

The gospel is good news, is it not?