The Final Lamb

I am winding up my time in BSF for the year. We have been reading the book of Matthew and as we have approached the time of the crucifixion my prayer has been that I will see the Lord more clearly and love Him more as a result. God is already answering that prayer! He is so faithful. Things have been clarified for me that I have never seen before. I have been brought to tears many times as I have reflected on my sin and the cup of wrath that Jesus would obediently drink on my behalf and the behalf of so many others. What a mighty God we serve. He is the suffering servant, He is the lamb who was to be slain for our sins. He is my sacrifice! He is my savior. It is by His blood that I am healed.

We read in Matthew 26 where the Lord had the last meal with His disciples and He introduced them to the Lords Supper. We also had a chance to go back and look at the Passover. At this time the Disciples and all Jews would have been preparing to partake in the passover meal which represented the deliverance from the rule of Egypt for them. They would be sacrificing a lamb whose blood represented their covering from death that had occurred at the first passover event. The symbolism has amazed me. The Lord in His sovereignty would determine that the right time for His son to die would be during passover. He would be the ultimate Lamb whose blood would represent freedom from death due to our sin. We are washed and made clean because of His blood!

One thing that I have always missed in the past is that after the Israelites sacrificed the Lamb they would be commanded to eat of the lamb. How did I never get the fact that the Lord was asking us to eat this bread (His broken body) and drink this cup (his blood poured out for our sins) to remember the sacrifice He had made just like He commanded the Israelites to eat the Lamb. Slavery to the Egyptians and the passover existed so that we may be able to understand the great sacrifice that the Lord was going to make. It is no coincidence that the Lord would be crucified at Passover. It was no coincidence that His people had always understood that freedom came from sacrifice. It is no coincidence that the Lord set this historical time in place and used it to point to Him and His final fulfillment. The yearly sacrifice is no longer needed! He paid it all! He drank the cup of all the wrath of the Father. Oh, Lord Jesus, you paid a debt I could never pay! May I never forget, even for a moment, the cost of my sin and the sacrifice that you made becoming my Lamb.