The Lamb

Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

John 1: 35-36

In this narrative the apostle John relates the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus, and the apostle tells us that John the Baptist referred to Jesus as "the Lamb of God". The chapter also indicates that the previous day the Baptist had called Jesus "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."(v.29). The reference to Christ as the Lamb of God designates that Jesus fulfills the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. By offering Himself on the cross, He accomplished what the previous Temple sacrifices could only foreshadow: He became the propitiation, or expiation, or atoning sacrifice, for our sins (1 John 2: 2). He was the Sacrifice which once and for all satisfied God's holy demand for justice. Hebrews 9: 22 points out that "without the shedding of blood" there "is no remission" of sins, and Hebrews 10: 1-2 establishes that the only acceptable sacrifice is the Lamb of God Himself, Jesus Christ. It is His precious blood which has redeemed us from sin and death (1 Peter 1:19, Romans 8:3).

In fact, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews goes into great detail in chapters 9 and 10 to show that the sacrificial system of the Levitical priesthood was never intended to be the solution for sinners in need of redemption: " For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near." (Hebrews 10: 1 NASB).

Rather, the Levitical requirements demonstrated graphically that the Law requires justice which must be satisfied even when forgiveness is offered, and that no sacrifice from man can ever atone for sins or satisfy justice. Hebrews 10: 11 depicts the Temple priest standing daily, "ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins;" (NASB), indeed, Josephus records that in the last days before the temple's destruction in the first century, at one passover more that 250 thousand sacrifices were offered in a two-hour period! And yet, as the writer of Hebrews points out, not only did the temple sacrifices never truly remit sins, but after the perfect sacrifice offered by Christ, any further temple offerings were invalid because The Lamb of God had come and fulfilled all that the previous offerings had foreshadowed of Him (Hebrews 9:28, 10: 12,14, 18). He alone could satisfy the demand for justice in His atoning sacrifice offered at the cross.

The Old Testament sacrifices are a constant reminder throughout that era that the remission of sins would require payment, and that to be propitiatory, the sacrificial offering would have to be worthy and be sufficient to satisfy justice. The cross of Jesus both demonstrates and fulfills this requirement for all eternity. Those who recoil at the idea that the penalty for sin must be paid by an innocent Substitute have not come to appreciate how difficult the forgiveness of sins is to accomplish. Those who have been ransomed by the Lamb will praise Him in glory (Revelation 5: 8-14).

Superlatives

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

-- Matthew 24: 21-22

The NASB describes the great tribulation of verse 21 as "...such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." The NIV calls it "...unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again." The same superlative language is used in Mark 14: 19. The Old Testament book of Daniel (12: 1) refers to a time of distress "...such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time..."

Many claim that this prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when Titus invaded Jerusalem. But were its conditions satisfied then, or does it refer to a time yet future? Note the literal precision of Matthew 24: 2, which was fulfilled in 70 A.D. Why would the nature of the prophetic word transform from literal to hyperbolic within a few short verses? It wouldn't.

Yet in A.D. 70, while there was certainly distress and tribulation, it was not a time of distress "unequaled from the beginning of the world...and never to be equaled again." It was not a time in which all flesh was on the verge of extinction. And those days were not suddenly cut short.

The events of Matthew 24: 21-22 are yet future. How far in the future, nobody knows except the Lord. They precede the Lord's return to earth to cut short the time of distress and rescue believers who are on the earth at that time.

That is what Matthew 24: 15-31 tells us. We just have to read what it says.