The Lamb that was Slain

In this Easter season, I wanted to share something with you. If you are like many people and finding it hard to get into Easter this year because of all that we have been through, this might help. Passover and Easter are celebrations surrounding stories. I would like to share with you a story surrounding the celebrations.

The Lamb that was Slain

There is a mist before us. Our grip on this present existence grows hazy. Where are we now and are we even ourselves:

Exodus chapter 11… Moses…announced to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD says: At midnight tonight I will pass through the heart of Egypt. 

All the firstborn sons will die in every family…

All the officials of Egypt will run to me and fall to the ground before me. ‘Please leave!’ they will beg. ‘Hurry! And take all your followers with you.’ Only then will I go!” …burning with anger, Moses left Pharaoh… 

but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart,

Exodus 12…The LORD gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: …

Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb…

The animal you select must be a…male…with no defects. Take special care of this chosen animal until…the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb…at twilight. 

The mist closes in and our footing in that time begins to slip. We see a man dressed in camel’s hair with a leather belt. Men in priestly robes approach him.

John 1…“Who are you?” 

…“I am not the Messiah.” 

“Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

“No,” he replied.

“Are you the Prophet we are expecting?”

“No.” 

“Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” 

John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the LORD’s coming!’” 

Then the Pharisees who had been sent 

asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?” 

John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 

Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” 

…“Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

The air is filled again with the vapor. We are back in Egypt. Moses continues his instructions like we never left.

They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal. 

That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter (herbs) and bread made without yeast… … the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, remove every trace of yeast from your homes. … 

The strange fog obscures him. In the mist we hear a quiet hiss …

“Yeast”

Matthew_16…  “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread?…Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’” Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Luke 12… Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. 

The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 

Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! 

The image vanishes in the rising mist, which clears to show Paul dictating his first letter to the Corinthians

Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?

Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. 

Time flickers and brings forth a new image of Paul speaking to a man scratching on a parchment addressed to the Churches of Galatia.

For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. 

But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 

…What is important is faith expressing itself in love. 

You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 

It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 

This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 

I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. 

As the scribe continues moving his pen, the room grows cloudy and then clears to reveal Moses before us again

“These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the LORD’s Passover. 

The air is clear only briefly and we are covered in the fog again until it moves away, and we see a group of men gathered around another man who has their full attention…

Mark Chapter 14 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?” 

So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 

At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 

He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 

So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there. 

In the evening Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 

Luke 22 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. 

Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. 

For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” 

Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 

For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.” 

He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 

After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. 

“But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. 

For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.” 

The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing. 

In the shadows of the room, we hear a wicked voice whisper…”Who Is the Greatest?”

Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. 

Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ 

But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. 

Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” 

They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 

He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 

He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 

He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 

“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” 

Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” 

Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 

When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say. 

When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 

Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!” 

Time and space warp inside the vapor that fills the air. A question echoes in the mist…Who is the betrayer? The voice is overcome by the shouts of Isaiah the profit as he appears before us.

He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.

He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

Isaiah vanishes in the Mist.

Through the fog, we see Moses sharing what God had told him.

On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD! 

But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. 

…Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb…and slaughter the Passover animal. 

Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses….

The mist returns and closes in around Moses. He raises his hand skyward. In it is the branch of…

The Hyssop

In a dance of time, we see Moses giving instructions to the priests and the priests moving in time and place performing rituals.

Leviticus_chapter 14  He will perform a purification ceremony, using two live birds that are ceremonially clean, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch.

Another priest steps out of the mist with a bird in hand  He will take the live bird, the cedar stick, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop branch, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water.

A priest stands before a doorway  To purify the house the priest must take two birds, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch.

He will take the cedar stick, the hyssop branch, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, and dip them into the blood of the slaughtered bird and into the fresh water. Then he will sprinkle the house seven times.

Numbers 19  Eleazar the priest must then take a stick of cedar, a hyssop branch, and some scarlet yarn and throw them into the fire where the heifer is burning.

Another scene  Then someone who is ceremonially clean must take a hyssop branch and dip it into the water.

All is mist. It clears and there is the stench of death. Soldiers are milling around three crosses. A crowd of Jews gather nearby

John 19 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 

A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so [a soldier] soaked a sponge in it, [we see the soldier take the sponge and attach it to something. He saunters to the middle cross and lifts up the sponge on what he holds in his hand. Someone in the crowd of Jews points. “Look what he has. Is that…it’s a hyssop branch.” The others around gasp. They remember the stories they had been taught from childhood. With wide eyes they watch as a religious symbol comes to life.]

The mist begins to envelop the man on the cross…

When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. [as the fog gathers over him.]

When our view clears we are standing before Moses, again

For the LORD will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the LORD will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down. …

When you enter the land the LORD has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. 

Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ 

And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, …

And the fog closes in and we are moved again. A old man who carries the remnants of one who was strong in body and will sits before a parchment and writes.

1Peter 1 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 

So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 

For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” 

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 

It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 

God chose him as your ransom long before the world began…

We feel ourselves leaving Peter behind and as we float through the fog we approach an island. As we move toward it we hear the insidious voice again. “Exile him to Patmos. John will have no one to preach to there.” Suddenly the mist evaporates in the blaze of visions that defy description.

Revelation 5 Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. 

And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” 

…

Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. 

…

Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, …

He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. 

And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. …

And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 

It is hard to see for the brilliance radiating around us.

Revelation 19 Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 

Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. 

…And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” …

Revelation 21 Then one of the seven angels …came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 

So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 

I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 

And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. …

Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, …but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 

We see the Lamb step forward. Ours eyes seem to adjust to the blinding light emanating from him. As we look he transforms into the Son of God and begins speaking.

“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” 

…

“I, Jesus,…am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.” 

The light fades as the scene is shrouded in the mist. The last words of Jesus echo in our ears.

… “Yes, I am coming soon!”

Surrounded by cloud, the voice of Moses sounds distant to us.

On this night the LORD kept his promise to bring his people out of the land of Egypt. So this night belongs to him, and it must be commemorated every year by all the Israelites, from generation to generation. 

The mist fades and we have returned to the place where we began. We reach out our hand with the strong desire to keep the connection with the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us and the future that is promised to us. We feel a plea rising in our hearts.

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! 

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. 2015. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. As found in the e-Sword Bible study software program.