Thought For Today - December 18 - Behold the Lamb Of God !

 Thought For Today December 18
 Behold the Lamb of God!
By: Robert A. Searles

    At the very beginning of our Lord's ministry on earth, John the Baptist pointed to him and cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." John 1: 29.

    Now the time had arrived when the Lamb of God would be brought to the altar of sacrifice and be offered up for us all. As the blood of the Passover lamb had to be sprinkled on the door post and lintel of the houses of the children of Israel to insure their safety when the angel of death passed over the land of Egypt, so now, the blood of the Lamb of God must be spilled and applied to the hearts of men and women, boys and girls to insure their salvation, and to save us from the penalty of sin and the wrath of God.

    There is no escape from the wrath and judgment of God unless God sees the blood of his perfect Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ received by the sinner as a free gift of his grace and applied by faith to our hearts.

    As the spotless, innocent lamb of the Passover was brought to the attar, a knife was plunged into its throat, and the blood poured out and caught in a basin and sprinkled on the doorpost of the houses of the children of Israel. So now, the innocent spotless Lamb of God is being led to the altar to once and forever offer up the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

    "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" Isaiah 53: 6

    What a terrible night of agony and depression and sorrow in spirit that our Lord had just gone through in the garden of Gethsemane. The pressure that he was beginning to experience was because of the sins of all people that were being laid on him, and the agony of the thought that he would be separated from his heavenly Father caused him such anguish that he already began to shed his blood even before he was offered up on the altar of the cross.

    ''And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44.

    He even cried out to God that if it were possible that God would remove this cup of suffering from him: "Saying ,Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will but thine, be done." Luke 22: 42.  

He knew that he was the appointed Lamb of God, and for this purpose he had come into the world, so he willingly submitted himself to the will and purpose of Go They came after him with staves and swords lanterns and torches ,and led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest.

 "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Isaiah 53: 7.

 "When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: and when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor." Matthew 27: 1,2.

 "And Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him saying, art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests, and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marveled greatly." Matthew 27: 11-14.

 What did Isaiah prophesy? "As a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" .
    Pilate could find no fault with Jesus. He wanted to release him. It was the custom during the passover to release one of the prisoners, so Pilate thought that this would be a good opportunity to get Jesus released. There was another prisoner who was being held who was notorious. He was a rebel and murderer, and really deserved to be in prison. Pilate offered the people a choice, thinking they would want Jesus to be released. Instead they cried out for Barabbas.

 "Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, let him be crucified." Matthew 27: 22.

    From the very beginning of creation, even way back in the garden of Eden, people have had to make choices. God ordained it that way because he did not create robots, but made man in his own image ,and desired that they would have free choice in making decisions as to whether they would believe and obey him, and choose good rather than evil.

    Here the people had a choice between the lovely; the pure; the kind; the compassionate; the true; the beautiful; the peaceful; all the goodness and blessing of God, and they choose the ugly, dirty, mean, sinful, lying, murderous, thieving Barabbas. If you had been in that crowd that day, what would your choice have been? The majority of the people in the world today still hate and reject Jesus. They love the things of this world, the hateful, ugly, murderous, thieving Barabas type of things. Where do you stand? Do you stand with Jesus or Barabbas?

    Suppose you had to make some choices today, for example: You see one of your Christian friends at school witnessing and speaking for the Lord, and there are ten of your other friends standing around laughing and mocking at him, whose side will you choose to be on, the one person who is witnessing for the Lord or the ten who are laughing?

    Suppose all of your friends get together and told you that if you didn't go along with them and smoke, or drink alcoholic beverages, and try some dope, that they would no longer be your friends, and you know that as a Christian, your body is the temple of God and you are to keep it pure, and undefiled, and dedicated to God's service. What would your choice be, Jesus or Barabbas? If you had your choice what would it be? Would you rather play a silly game or do something that made you think about God? Would you rather watch television or read God's word, or a good book that would improve your mind and make it more useful to God? Would you rather go to a ball game or to a movie, or some sporting event, or would you rather go to church or Sunday school and worship God?. Would you rather be with separated Christians, or would you rather be with the rebellious crowd? These are just some of the choices we all must make daily. Will it be Jesus for you or Barabas? The world says crucify Jesus - give us Barabas. Whose side are you on?

    "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Isaiah 53:3. Is he despised and rejected by you today, or is he your Lord as well as your Savior?

    So they delivered Jesus to be crucified. they stripped him of his clothes and put on him a scarlet robe to mock him. The robe was a symbol of royalty that a king would wear. They were mocking him because he said he was king. They put a crown of thorns on his head. They spit upon him. They scourged him. They beat him. They hit him on the head. They led him away to a place called Golgotha to crucify him. They made him carry his cross on his already badly torn back. They nailed his hands and his feet to the cross - they crucified him, and they parted his garments among them. They sat down and watched him hang there on the cross. They wrote an accusation and put it above his head. It said: This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. In this they told the truth. There were two thieves crucified with him, one on his left and one on the right. One of the thieves cursed at him but the other thief recognized him as the Savior, and asked to be saved,. Jesus told him that today he would be with him in paradise.

    "Surely he hath borne our grief's, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53: 4,5.

    "About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, Lama, sabac thani? That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27: 46. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the Ghost And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Mathew 27: 50-53.

    In the temple there was a veil or a curtain which separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies where God dwelt. No one was ever allowed into the Holy of Holies in the presence of God except the high priest who went in once a year to offer up sacrifices for the people. Now, the perfect Lamb of God's blood had been shed. Now this veil, or curtain was torn or opened from top to bottom, signifying that Jesus’ sacrifice had been accepted as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of all people for all time. That he is now our great high priest, and now all of us who trust in his sacrifice have the privilege of coming directly into Gods presence with our worship and prayers when we come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53: 9-12. Yes, a lot of blood flowed that day down Calvary's mountain - divine blood, the blood of the Holy God himself.
    Like that night back in Egypt when the Israelites were behind closed and locked doors, outside was terror and screaming and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth because the death angel was passing over the land to destroy all those who did not have the blood of the sacrificial lamb on their doorposts. Can't you imagine a child asking his father, "Oh daddy, I'm afraid, will we all be killed? The father back in Egypt explained to his child that those who have the blood of the lamb on the doorpost wll be saved.
    Then the child looks up into his father's face and says, "oh, daddy, are you sure that we are safe? Are you sure that the blood of the Lamb is on the doorpost of our house? Oh, daddy go take a look just to make sure. To satisfy his child's fears and nagging, he opens the door and looks and to his surprise, there is no blood on his door post. He had neglected or forgotten to apply the blood to the doorpost, and he and his whole family were in danger. He hastened to find a lamb, kill it and put its blood on his doorpost before the death angel went past his house. He knew about the blood but just knowing about it was not enough to keep himself and his family safe. He had to apply it
    Men and women, boys and girls, readers of these lines, are you sure today that all of your sins have been washed away by the blood of the perfect Lamb of God that flowed down Calvary's mountain that day? Are you sure beyond a shadow of doubt that you, by faith, have accepted the blood of Jesus as the sacrifice for all your sins.? Do you, by faith have his blood sprinkled on the door of your heart? Why don't you take one more look just to make sure. Just to know about the blood is not enough. You must receive it personally and apply it. If you cannot ever remember a time in your life when you felt sorry for your sins, and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you and wash them away with his blood and come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior, you are not safe from the wrath and judgment of God. You can make sure that you are safe today and have the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ applied to your heart. Simply by faith believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died and shed his blood for you. Tell him you are sorry for your sin and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.
    By the grace of God we can all come to the well of salvation and dip our cup. "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." Isaiah 12; 3. When the cup is drawn up, it is filled to over flowing. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Psalm 23: 5/
    Anyone can dip his cup in the well of salvation free of charge, its on the house, God's house. "And he said unto me, it is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Revelation 21:6. "And the Spirit and the bride say come, and let him that heareth say, come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22: 17. We can dip our cup freely and enjoy the benefits of salvation. Access to the well of salvation is expensive, but the admission price has been paid for all of us who have, and those who will receive it. Consider the price of admission to the well of salvation, but also consider the gift that is yours by God's grace to draw water from the well of salvation. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Free to all who will ask, free to all who will take. Free to use but not abuse. Free to have and enjoy, but not to hoard and keep from others. It is our responsibility to advertise the gift, but make known the cost. "Freely ye have received, freely 
give."  

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