Tag Archive for Lamb of God

The Lamb of God

2018-05-03 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 5:1-7,
John’s vision of the Lamb of God

The stage is set.
The glowing introduction has built to a climax.
We eagerly await the next moment,
when we will finally meet the One so long promised:
the Mighty Conqueror,
the Root of David,
the King of all Kings,
the Lion of Judah.
At last we are about to see the One who is worthy
to bring to living reality all the
magnificent plans and
magnificent promises of our sovereign, loving God.
All the sprawling creation is about to meet
the One through Whom it was created,
its hope,
its Redeemer.

But behold the Man!
The Lion is a Sacrificial Lamb.
The Mighty Conqueror is One slaughtered,
still bearing His wounds.
The King of all Kings is a Servant.
The Lord of all Lords is a homeless peasant, without
power,
status, or
any attractiveness whatsoever.

Yet this One has overcome
all evil
everywhere,
for all time.
This one has conquered
through self-sacrifice, not self-fulfillment,
through complete dependence, not complete self-sufficiency,
through weakness, not strength.

And this One stands with His arms outstretched,
calling to each of us and all of us:

“If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself, and
take up his cross and
follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24, NASB)

This is our all-conquering hero.
This is our Leader,
This is the One against whom
all rightness,
all success
all victory is measured:
He is Christ crucified.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Christ Crucified
Recording
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All-conquering Love

2018-02-20 Hymns No comments

A Hymn based on
Christ, the Conquering Lamb

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Sovereign, all-transcending Lord,
Holy mystery, feared, adored,
In Your mighty Son we see
All Your love’s humility.

Christ the Lion, now the Lamb,
Gives Himself, the great I AM.
Christ, the Prince of Paradise,
Dies a slaughtered sacrifice.

Christ the Victor, in defeat,
Makes Your victory all complete.
As He prays His final breath,
Sovereign life now swallows death.

In His conquering strength we see
Deep and glorious mystery
Glowing from Your heart above:
Holy, fierce, all-conquering love.

Lamb of God

2015-02-01 Devotional with Hymn, Uncategorized No comments

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6, NIV)

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, NIV)

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24, NIV), but His sin-bearing did not begin on Golgotha.

As He emptied Himself of all that made Him equal to the Father (Philippians 2:5-8), He was taking our sins upon Himself.

John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, NIV), not at the end of His ministry, but at its very beginning. The first public act of this sinless One was to humble Himself, line up with sinners, and symbolically die beneath the waters of the Jordan. There, from day one, He bore our sins.

For forty days He faced extreme deprivation and temptation in the wilderness,  all that we might have a high priest…who has been tempted in every way, just as we are…that he might make atonement for the sins of the people (Hebrews 4:15; 2:17, NIV).

Throughout His ministry He bore all the fruits of our sin. Homelessness, rejection, hatred, poverty, and persecution were His daily experience. He took upon Himself the needs of the thousands that flocked to Him—their ignorance, disease, demon possession, grief, and hunger.

Finally, He laid down His life before those who hated Him and thirsted for His blood. He silently surrendered Himself to their humiliation, torture, and cruel execution.

But this was only the culmination of His self-sacrifice. He bore our sins, not for a few hours, but for His entire holy life.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: You Bore Our Sin, O Lamb of God
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