Xanthe Hancox

Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you.’  Genesis 22:2

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

It seems only fitting to end off our month of animals in the Bible to look at the most power animal metaphor in God’s Word – Jesus as the Lamb of God. The story of Abraham and Isaac is probably another of the ones you know well, and there’s a good reason for that: it contains the essence of the Gospel.

In the Old Testament, the offering of the lamb symbolically atoned for the sins of the people so that they could commune with God. Jesus became the once-for-all offering for our sins (Hebrews 10:1-18).

We see a foreshadowing of Jesus as the sacrificial lamb in the story of Abraham and Isaac (read the full story in Genesis 22:1-14). Abraham took his son to Moriah, at the instruction of God, with the intention of sacrificing him. When the boy asked where the sacrificial lamb was, Abraham replied, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. Abraham was prepared to offer his child to God, but God stopped him from so doing and supplied a ram to be sacrificed instead. On a greater scale, God provided the Lamb for us – his own Son. Only the sacrifice of God is truly enough for our atonement.

It is by his sacrifice that our relationship with God is restored and by the covering of his blood that we are spared spiritual death and granted eternal life.

Prayer: Father, may we never stop being amazed at what your love for us cost you. We praise you that you did not spare your Son but gave him up for us. We praise and thank you, for in Christ, the Lamb, my debt is cancelled, and the forgiveness of my sins is absolute. Amen