Worthy Is The Lamb
- Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
- Thou Shalt Make His Soul an Offering for Sin – In Mat 1:21, we learn, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins”. The only way that He could save His people from their sins, was to become sin on their behalf. This is why He is “…the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. He forfeited His own Soul (Life or Spirit) in the Atonement in order to ransom His people from slavery to Satan and bondage to sin, as Isa 53:12 expresses: “… he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many …”. Thus the Lord Jesus was intimately identified with all the ceremonial offerings and sacrifices in the Old Testament, which all pointed to Him. Heb 10:11-18 further explains the rich significance of His infinite Sacrifice. We must remember that Christ’s greatest suffering in the Atonement was spiritual – not physical. That is, He was under tremendous stress and turmoil in His soul existence because He was undergoing the fiery blast furnace of God’s eternal wrath – the equivalent of eternity in Hell – to pay for the sins of those God chose to save from before the foundation of the world. Jesus also spoke of eternal damnation in Hell as being in the “heart of the earth” in Mat 12:39-40, referring to the account in Jon 2:1-2. The agony of Lord Jesus under the wrath of God started in Garden of Gethsemane. A very significant passage is Zec 13:7, which foretells the account of all the Disciples who forsook the Lord when He allowed Himself to be voluntarily captured in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones”. God is again reminding us that He is wielding the Sword of the Spirit – the Law of God – which is bringing judgment upon “… my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow…”. Luke 22:44 serves to highlight the unspeakable agony that Christ had to undergo in order to accomplish the salvation of His people (the elect): “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”. Mat 26:39 continues, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt”. Psa 75:8 reveals what that “cup” contained and what was transpiring spiritually: “For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them”. This refers to the “cup” of the eternal wrath of God. Christ’s sufferings commenced in the Garden of Gethsemane, which means “winepress”, where he drank that cup for each [born-again] Christian. Isa 63:1-5 helps us to gain a deeper appreciation of what this means. Grapes being crushed in a winepress symbolizes “shedding of blood”, or “death”. It is a vivid picture of the incomprehensible anguish associated with the “second death” in hell that awaits everyone who has not become a child of God.
- Isa 53:10 “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.”
- Mat 26:39, 42, 44 “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt… He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done… And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.”
- John 18:11 “Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”
- Psa 75:7-9 “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. 8For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. 9But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob [Jacob typifying the Elect].”
- Rev 14:10 “The same [unsaved, for whom Christ didn’t drink the cup] shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:”
- Jon 2:1-2 “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, 2And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.”
- Mat 12:39-40 “But he [Jesus] answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas [or Jonah]: 40For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man [Jesus Christ] be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
- Isa 63:1-5 “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 3I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.”
- Isa 53:12 “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.”
- He Shall See His Seed – Abraham, of course, is the progenitor of national Israel. The Jewish people have, therefore always assumed that they are the seed of promise. Since the Old Testament Scriptures make up over 70 percent of the Bible, those who fail to recognize the typology between the OT and NT miss out on much of what God has to teach us about His salvation program. For eg; in Gal 4:22-28, Hagar and her children and Sarah and her children are two covenants, “Which things are an allegory [typifying the two Gospels, the gospel of works where people trying to get rigt by keeping the law of God and the Gospel of grace where people are saved by God’s grace and mercy. In Genesis 17 God further told Abraham that he is making “everlasting covenant”. The word “everlasting” immediately tells us that “thy seed” there refers to those who are in Christ, because they are the only ones who will inherit the new heaven and the new earth, as everything on this earth will be destroyed by fire on the last day (2 Pet 3:10). The seed in Christ are who are saved by grace through faith, which is the gift of God. God specified in His will that the beneficiaries were to be Abraham and his seed. In Gal 3:16, the apostle calls particular attention to the word “seed”, as distinguished from “seeds”. And that singular seed that God had in Christ, NOT all the blood descendants of Abraham. The promises, as we learned in earlier, is the free gift of eternal life. As the testator of the will, Christ had to die to activate the bequest (Heb 9:15-17). But because Lord Jesus Christ is testator of the Will and also a Beneficiary of that will and because the Lord Jesus is the promised seed of Abraham, all those who are in Christ are joint heirs according to the promise.
- Isa 53:10 “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.”
- Gen 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee [or Satan] and the woman [the elect], and between thy [or Satan’s] seed and her seed; it [referring to Christ] shall bruise thy [Satan’s] head, and thou [Satan] shalt bruise his [Christ’s] heel.”
- Gal 3:15-22, 29 “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
- Heb 11:17-19 “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
- Rom 9:7-13 “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac [typifying Christ, Gal 3:16] shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob [typifying all the Elect] have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
- The Pleasure of the LORD Shall Prosper in His Hand – Considering that man is born spiritually dead as a result of sin and is under the just wrath of God, it is staggering to think that God would save anybody – but He does. He first included them in His will, which is also known as the Lamb’s Book of Life! The Heirs for this eternal glory are completely unworthy. Heb 7:22 declares, “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament”. Heb 12:24 also explains, “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel”. Both “covenant” and “testament” refer to a will, and we see that Heb 9:15-17 speaks about the “testator”, or maker of the will, who “by means of death” secured the “promise of eternal inheritance” of the beneficiaries named in the will. John 10:18 further illustrates the fact that Christ laid down His life voluntarily: “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father”. The reason this statement is so significant is that, Jesus is asserting that this power to lay down His life and take it again is a commandment that He has received from God the Father. From the moment of His divine conception by the Holy Spirit until He voluntarily gave up the Spirit, every thought, every word, every action that Jesus ever committed was done to the absolute glory and praise of God, His Heavenly Father. Listen to the words of Heb 10:7: “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God”. The Lord Jesus Christ not only obeyed every “jot and tittle” in the Scriptures, but He came to fulfill them, as Mat 5:17 indicates: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil”. The Lord Jesus is even typified by the pagan king, Cyrus, in Isa 44:28, “… He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem [typifying bride of Christ], Thou shalt be built; and to the temple [typifying the believers, body of Christ] , Thy foundation shall be laid”. 2 Cor 6:16 informs us that believers “…are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”.
- Isa 53:10 “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.”
- Heb 9:15-17 “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.”
- Heb 10:8-10 “Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
- He shall See of the Travail of His Soul, and shall be Satisfied – The heirs named in God’s Will, or Testament, have been granted eternal pardon by God Himself through the atoning work of Christ, as we read in Psa 103:3-4: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;”. 1 John 4:10 maintains, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”. In John 10:11 Jesus proclaims, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”. Keep in mind that Christ was enduring the wrath of God because He had become sin for His people, to have their sins paid for in order to satisfy God’s justice. What this signified is that the punishment for sin – eternal damnation – must be paid either by the Lord Jesus or by each guilty human being himself. This underscores the fact that God is incapable of merely “pronouncing” a person to be “righteous” or “holy” without His divine justice being actually satisfied. Of course, Christ made that payment for all who are named in the Will. He drank the cup of God’s Wrath that’s reserved for them and gave them the cup of His blood that they might have everlasting life. Psa 32:1-2 further reveals, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile”. Lord GOD do not delight in the destruction of a sinner (Eze 33:11) but delight in saving a sinner (Luke 15:7), in having people for himself. Heb 10:16-18 emphasizes the total forgiveness that God bestows upon those whom He has elected to save from sin and eternal damnation. Christ’s atoning death completely satisfied the demands of the Law of God. Because God Almighty poured out His eternal vengeance on His own dear Son, whom He loves with an everlasting love, we can know with absolute assurance that each unsaved human being on Judgment Day “… shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb” according to Rev 14:10.
- Isa 53:10-11 “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 [or work] of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”
- John 6:53-54 “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
- 1 Cor 11:25 “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”
- Heb 10:11-18 “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.”
- Rev 1:5-6 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
- God bless you everyone