December 15, 2011

Jesus, the Lamb of God

John 1:29-36

John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29

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Jesus is the Lamb of God.

That is why he was not born in a palace but in a stable. He was not placed in a golden cradle but in a feedbox lined with straw. He was not born to live in luxury but to suffer and die on a cross in your place and mine.

In the Old Testament, on the night of deliverance from slavery in Egypt, each Israelite family was directed to kill a flawless lamb and to sprinkle its blood on the doorposts of their house. On that fateful night, the plague of death took the life of the firstborn son in every household, but it passed over the homes that were protected by the blood of the lamb. The Israelites were saved from certain death not by their works but by the blood of the lamb. (See Exodus 12.)

Jesus is our Passover Lamb, the substitute lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He died in our place. By his death we receive life, and by his blood we are forgiven and accepted as righteous before God the Father.

There is no way we can make our own sins disappear. But the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, purifies us from all our transgressions and opens for each one of us a new and living way to God.

May you always be praised, my God and Savior, for in Christ, the Lamb, my debt is canceled and the forgiveness of my sins is absolute. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

About the author — Hernandes Lopes

Rev. Hernandes Dias Lopes grew up in a Christian home in Brazil. Following his 1981 graduation from Seminário Presbiteriano do Sul in Campinas, Brazil, he served two congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil. In 2000, he earned a doctor of ministry degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. Rev. Lopes has been the voice of the television program Verdade e Vida (“Truth and Life”) since 2006. In 2010 he was appointed Portuguese ministry leader for Back to God Ministries International. Rev. Lopes and his wife, Tinha, have two college-age children.

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