A Lamb As It Had Been Slain

Temple Baptist Church - 9-13-2020

Revelation 5:5-6

 

Introduction:

 

A.  In Verse 6, John sees Christ as “a Lamb as it had been slain.”  From Revelation 5:5 until Revelation 19:10, Christ Jesus is only called the “Lamb.”  I have not doubt that His Person as the Lamb of God will be an eternal reminder of what He did for us.  We will be in heaven based upon His vicarious sacrifice for our sin on Calvary.

 

B.  I want to look at an interesting verse found in Revelation, chapter 13:

 

Revelation 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 

“The foundation of the world” takes us to a time before the sin of Adam!  The “book of life of the Lamb” mentioned in the preceding verse is the record of those who have been saved by faith in the finished work of Christ.

 

C.  John’s vision looks at Lamb of God’s sacrifice from the future back as “it had been slain.”

 

Revelation 13:8, which reads, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” looks back the beginning of time, millenniums before Christ came to this earth and died for sins.

 

D.  It is important that we understand the foreknowledge of God.  I will not take the time to deal with the heresy of Calvinism but do want to look at the foreknowledge of God found in the Bible concerning the “Lamb of God.”

 

Acts 2:21-24  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (22)  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:  (23)  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:  (24)  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

 

Christ was delivered by the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.”  From the foundation of the world, God knew that this moment would come and had prepared the Lamb of God for sacrifice.

 

But we also see the personal choice of those who crucified Christ in the words “ye have taken, and BY WICKED HANDS, have crucified and slain.”  God’s determinate counsel and foreknowledge included the personal choices of those who delivered Christ to the cross.

 

1 Peter 1:19-20  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  (20)  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

 

E.  One of the most familiar verses in the New Testament concerning the coming sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ is a quote from John the Baptist in John 1:29: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

 

F. l The First mention of a sacrifice for sin is found when God sacrificed and animal for Adam’s sin and clothed both Adam and Eve with its skin.  Only the sacrifice made by God can cover man’s sin.

 

1.  The First Prophecy of Calvary - Genesis 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

 

2.  The First Performance of Atonement - Genesis 3:21  Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

 

G.  The First Mention of a man bringing a sacrifice to God is in Genesis, chapter 4.  It is a story of acceptance and rejection.  Man will either accept God’s demand of a blood sacrifice or he will be rejected based on self-merit.

 

Genesis 4:3-5  And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.  (4)  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:  (5)  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

 

H.  The First mention of the word “lamb” is found in the context of Abraham’s prophecy of Christ or Messiah’s coming.

 

Genesis 22:5-8  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again (the Gospel) to you.  (6)  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.  (7)  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?  (8)  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

 

J.  Throughout the Old Testament, from Adam’s day until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, lambs were killed and their blood shed.  That blood was an Atonement for sin.  The word “atonement’ is used 80x in the Old Testament. 

 

Atonement – to expiate, to placate, to cover.  One of the synonyms for expiate is to “apologize!”

 

Hebrews 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

 

K.  The word “atonement” is used only 1x in the New Testament.

 

Romans 5:8-11  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (9)  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  (10)  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  (11)  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

 

Our sins are gone forever through the precious blood of Christ.  God did not apologize for sin, He took them upon Himself and bore the shame and reproach.

 

Hebrews 9:6-14  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.  (7)  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:  (8)  The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:  (9)  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;  (10)  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.  (11)  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;  (12)  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  (13)  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:  (14)  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

L.  In heaven, we will “Behold the Lamb of God” who still bears the wounds in his hands, feet, and side.  He still bears the wounds of the crown of thorns and the beatings that He bore.  WE WILL FOREVER REMEMBER THAT JESUS CHRIST DIED THAT WE MIGHT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!