Jesus, the Lamb Who Takes Away the Sin of the World

I want to spend some time this week remembering Jesus sacrifice for us. Holy week begins on Palm Sunday and while I grew up Lutheran and we celebrated Palm Sunday more so than I have experienced in the non-denominational churches I have attended since. I think that’s kind of sad because Palm Sunday is really quite a remarkable event. Before I talk about what happened on Palm Sunday, I want to spend some time talking about the Jewish celebration of Passover.

We learn about Passover in Exodus 11 when God told Moses that he was going to kill all of the first born children in Egypt. He told Moses to have the Israelites put the blood of a lamb over the doorpost of their houses so that the Spirit of God would pass over their house and not kill the firstborn in the house.

God told the Israelites that this would become the first month of their year and that this would become a festival for them for all generations. The Passover was to occur on the 14th day of the month. But on the 10th of the month it was the designated day for the Passover lamb to be selected outside the city and would have been walked in to the city to the person’s home.

Exodus 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

This was the day that Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem even though he always walked everywhere. He did this to fulfill a prophecy.

Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

In that day Kings rode on horses to show their power. Jesus rode on a donkey to show his humility.

John the Baptist introduced Jesus by saying, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29). The Jews had been celebrating Passover for 1,500 years. They would have understood the significance of John's statements.
Isaiah 53, written many years before Jesus was born, details the trials the lamb would experience.

Isa 53:7-10 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

The High Priest would then take the lamb to the Temple, where it would be tied in public view so that it could be inspected for blemish. In the same way, Yeshua sat and taught in the Temple courtyard for four days. He was inspected and questioned as the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law sought to trip him up in His words and entrap Him. They could not, because He was perfect and without blemish (Lancaster1996).

Jesus is our Passover lamb. Hosanna in the Highest!

Psalm 1

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

My first inclination when I read Psalm 1 today was to whiz through it like I usually do but right away I was stopped because when I read verse 1 I just had to stop and think on it. I think sometimes the Spirit in us just says; hold up here, there’s something I want to show you.

Verse 1 is a very simple verse, it’s not difficult to understand, it doesn’t require a lot of explanation, but there are so many implications that even for my own sake I feel the need to write about it.

The first phrase is blessed is the man. The Hebrew word for blessed is “esher” is in the pleural form and is used here as an interjection. Because of that, the translation isn’t quite accurate. Instead of “blessed”, it would be more accurate to say “Oh how blessed!” or “Oh how happy is the man!” including the exclamation point. It is intended to be forceful.

Who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
You could say; “who does not order his life according to the advice of unbelievers”. Man, this really gripped me. Don’t we do that all the time? I mean, seriously. Most of our lives look a whole lot like the lives of unbelievers. We do take their advice. Maybe I don’t go to an unbeliever and ask for advice on matters related to my faith. But I might on other matters. And it strikes me as I read my own words that everything is a spiritual matter. Our finances, our job, our plans, where we live; are all spiritual matters. But this doesn’t just mean physically asking for advice. More so it really means that our lives shouldn’t look like their lives. We send our kids to schools run by unbelievers. We put money into the stock market so we can retire to the beach in Florida. Even in many churches, we take marketing advice from secular firms to try and figure out how to get people to come. Some churches play secular music and dumb down the messages calling them “spiritual” rather than Christian so as not to offend. My point here by the way is not to pick out any particular thing like schooling, retirement, or church marketing and call it evil. Each of us should consider our individual situations before God and arrive at our own conclusions. What I am saying is that I think sometimes I’m a bit too quick to simply accept the world’s way and pattern my life like anyone else rather than going to God and asking Him how He would have me order my life. This brings me to verse 2.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD
The alternative to patterning your life after the unbeliever is to go to the bible for advice for living. Instead of patterning our life after the world, we should be patterning it after the Word. When we take delight in the word, when we meditate on the word (think about it) rather than on the worlds ways what happens?

Psalm 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

When we go to the word we find there the source of life and growth that will not dry up, it is always there to provide the nourishment we need to continue growing and eventually produce fruit.

Aliens Among Us

Deut 10:17-19 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

As a staunch conservative I have traditionally opposed Illegal immigration. I have opposed amnesty, healthcare, education, and government benefits as well. But like Randy on American Idol, I have to “Keep it real” so, I have to say I was a bit surprised when I read Deuteronomy 10 where it says that God loves aliens. Not little green ones but aliens, as in immigrants. In fact, they are grouped right in there with orphans and widows. But then it goes a step further to say that we should love them too. Right, we’re supposed to love everyone including our enemies I get it. But that’s not why God says we should love them. God says we should love them because WE are aliens too!

When God removed the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt they became aliens among the nations. We know also that in the same way Christ saved us from slavery to sin and now we are living as aliens in the land until he comes for us to take us home to the Promised Land.

So what does this mean for us? One thing it does not mean is that illegal aliens should necessarily be given amnesty. Illegal immigration is just that…illegal. The United States has the right to create laws to protect its borders. It has the right to stand on the border and stop those from entering who should not be here. But what about those who are here? The Bible gives some insight into this:

Aliens should not be oppressed.
Exodus 22:21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.

Aliens should be allowed to eat the leftovers from the farmland.
Lev 19:10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

Aliens should be treated with respect and decency.
Lev 19:33 "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.

Yikes!
Lev 19:34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

They should be given access to justice in our courts
Deut 1:16 And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien.

They should not be subjected to substandard working conditions.
Deut 24:14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.


A portion of the tithe should be set aside for the alien.
Deut 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

These are just a few of the many verses in the Bible that deal with aliens, but these verses represent the common themes that the Bible discusses with regard to aliens. I think the Bible covers the topic relatively comprehensively.

So how are we doing? If I had to give us a grade, I’m not too sure I could give us very high marks. Aliens live all around us; they work on our farms and in our factories. They have little access to work, justice, protection, or healthcare.

Every year, between 14,500 to 17,500 foreign men, women and children are trafficked into the United States. Ohio is the fifth worst state for human trafficking.

Ohio businesses employ migrant labor in many different sectors throughout the state. Most of the migrant labor in Ohio and the United States is concentrated in poorly regulated industries that demand cheap labor. Such industries include textiles, agriculture, restaurants, construction and domestic work. In 2004, Ohio employed over 15,000 migrant workers where most worked in the agriculture sector. Agriculture is Ohio’s most lucrative sector in which it generates over six billion annually. The majority of migrant laborers are Mexican and they are recruited from Texas, Florida and Mexico. The dairy, nursery and landscaping industries in Ohio also experienced large growths in migrant laborers, especially because others are unwilling to work in unfavorable conditions (e.g. long hours and no insurance).

Because these industries experience minimal governmental monitoring, both documented and undocumented migrant workers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation that can lead to bonded labor or indentured servitude. In its 2002 report, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services estimated that over seventy percent of the migrant workforce in Ohio does not have legal status in the United States. This places migrant workers at risk of becoming victims of forced labor and trafficking. Law enforcement’s lack of training and understanding of trafficking has further made many experiencing or witnessing forced labor to come forward, fearing reprisal from traffickers or punishment from legal authorities. Most cases of forced labor have been treated by law enforcement as illegal immigration issues where the victims are often treated as criminals. This is most likely the case with Ohio.

http://www.ccv.org/downloads/pdf/Ohio-Report-on-Trafficking.pdf


Aliens living among us allow our food to be produced at prices which are below the actual cost of production. This cheap labor allows us to have cheap groceries. However many of these aliens are not treated well and they are not paid fair wages for their work. Fear of deportation and poor language skills keep them from seeking available and necessary healthcare services. Their children do not always receive schooling ensuring that the cycle of poverty and neglect continues. We make excuses for this saying that they shouldn’t be here anyway. Agreed, but they are here, so we should not be turning a blind eyed to their plight. They deserve basic human decency. I’m praying that some with the skills in the church would step up and offer ministry to them.

The next time I go to the grocery and buy corn or cucumbers for under a dollar I’ll be thinking about this verse and then saying a prayer for the aliens among us who made it possible.

James 5:1-4 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

Spiritual Amnesia

Deuteronomy 6:10-14 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.

In this section of scripture Moses outlines a concept for us I’m going to call spiritual amnesia. This is the amnesia that we get when things are going well and we forget about the One who made our success possible.

In this case, Moses was speaking to the Israelites right before he was going to send them off into the promised land. Moses has also been told by God that he is about to die. He will not be going into the promised land with the Israelites. So in this section of scripture we see the picture of a man who has devoted most of his life to freeing these stubborn ungrateful people from slavery, giving them his last appeal. These are the last words he is going to get to tell them before he dies. It’s like a parent sending their kids off to college, permanently. You want to tell them everything you think they should do so they don’t get into too much trouble.

Moses tells them that God has given them so much blessing. He was about to take them into a land that they did not own. God alone would do the conquering so they could occupy the land. Once complete, the Israelites were promised a land flowing with milk and honey, houses they didn’t build, wells they did not dig, etc. But the warning that follows is what I would like to focus on.

It says be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. See, we have a tendency to get amnesia. We know that the story of the Children of Israel’s release from slavery is not only a literal historical occurrence; it is also a metaphor for our salvation. God brings us out of slavery to sin through Jesus into a new world, His kingdom. In that kingdom we have access to Gods provision, protection, and care. However, like the Israelites we tend to get amnesia. When things are going wrong we have no problem focusing on God, usually because we’re questioning him, crying out to him, asking for help. But when things are good we tend to forget that it is God who brought us out of slavery and into this new world. Its is God who’s provided all the blessings that we have to lose.

So how do we keep from getting spiritual amnesia? That question is answered in the verses that directly precede the ones above.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Gods answer to spiritual amnesia is simple. Love God more than anything else. How do we do that? By taking his word and making it part of our every day lives. His word is to be written all around where we can see it. I love that my wife does this. At any given time you will find bible verses written on the walls in our house for our kids to see. We take them in the car. They are on my iPOD. His word is at my work. Everywhere. I am almost never without his word in one form or another. Of course just having it along is not the point. We have to internalize it by reading it and memorizing it.

Now that solution may seem a bit extreme to you, especially if you struggle even reading it a little. But think about it like this. Some people are never without their sports. They listen to it in the car. ESPN is never off the TV when they are home. They get it on their cell phones and on their computers. I have known many people like this. They LOVE sports. You see, we love what we give ourselves to. If you give yourself to sports then you will love sports. If you give yourself to a job, then you will love your job. If we give ourselves to God, then we will love God and whether things are going good or bad, we will not forget where our help comes from.

Management God's Way

I’m reading in Numbers and I’m about halfway through. Up to this point it appears that the book is largely about spiritual leadership, or more accurately submission to leadership. The reason say this is because of the following verses:

Situation 1:

Num 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD

Situation 2

Num 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.

Situation 3

Num 14:1-2 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!

Situation 4

Num 16:1-2 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.

It seems as though Moses spent a good bit of his time fighting off one mutiny after another. This is somewhat amazing to me because after all the Israelites had been through I’m not sure how in the world they could have arrived at the conclusion that Moses was not God’s appointed leader for them. I’m not sure how they could have possibly thought that God would put up with these insurrections.

As a manger of people I can really identify with Moses to a certain extent. Whenever you lead people, especially from a Christian viewpoint you try to do what is right and best for the group. You try to lead them in the best way you know how. But there always seems to be a few in the bunch who just don’t accept your leadership. They just don’t want to be led. They typically gossip with others about decisions that have been made. They try to stir up trouble and build coalitions against you. It’s very difficult for me to not want to retaliate when these situations occur. I feel justified since I am the appointed leader. I have been placed in that position.

The first thing I want to point out is Gods response:

Situation 1:

Num 11:1b and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Situation 2:

Num 12:10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy;

Situation 3:

Num 14:12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."

Situation 4:

Num 16:21 "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."

God is quick to come to Moses’ defense. He did not leave Moses on his own to deal with these people by himself. God quickly came to his aid and was ready to destroy the whole Israelite community if need be. The takeaway from this is that when we are placed in a subordinate position under another we better think long and hard before we criticize or undermine their authority. Bible says that God places leaders in their positions for a reason and even if they are not very good at what they do, when we work against them we are really opposing God. This is not a place you want to be as is indicated in the three situations above.

Another interesting piece of this however is Moses' reaction to these issues. He probably would have been well within his rights to say, "God, you do whatever you want with them. They drive me nuts and they don’t want to be here, just kill them and I can get back to my life." But of course he didn’t do that:

Situation 1:

Num 11:2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down.

Situation 2:

Num 12:13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "O God, please heal her!"

Situation 3:

Num 14:19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now."

Situation 4:

Num 16:22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"

In every case Moses intervened on behalf of those he was leading. In each case he prayed for them and asked God to spare the people who had wronged him. The takeaway from this is that to lead properly we have to have love for those who we lead. We have to be willing to forgive the wrongs of those who don’t care for us. We have to be willing to let God fight our battles. Most importantly we have to be willing to set our ego aside and simply lead knowing that God is actually the one in charge and we are simply his chosen instruments for a time. There will always be those who oppose us. They don’t actually oppose us, but in reality they oppose God and God will fight his own battles. He will defend his honor.

Oh Brother, Here We Go...Ed's Talking About Parenting

Well…I’ve decided to deviate just slightly from the topics that I have been writing about because I’m currently reading in Numbers and to be quite frank, I got nothin’.

Ok so here’s what I need to tell you. You probably don’t want to hear it because you haven’t yet accepted the truth. Someday you will, but that day hasn’t come yet. This blog however is all about getting at the truth so here we go. This is a profound truth of the universe that you just simply are going to have to accept. Here it is…

Your child is almost certainly not a genius.

I know, I know, I’m an ignorant fool. You hate me and how dare I! Now that we’ve dispensed with the indignation, just take a minute and let that sink in. Dwell on it. Accept it. Make it part of you.

While we’re at it, here are a few more truths you are going to need to accept.

1. Your child is not a genius
2. If your child is smart, its not because of anything you did
3. If your child is dumb, it probably is at least partially your fault but don’t worry, whey will learn enough to survive without you.
4. Your child does not deserve to be three grades ahead of the other children their age, not two, and not even one.
5. If your child is well behaved, it’s not because you are a wonderful parent. And you should know that most gifted children are treated for behavioral issues so there’s more proof that your kid isn’t smart.
6. If your child is a brat, it probably is at least partially your fault and they will probably be a brat till they die.

Why am I telling you all of these shocking things? Because I am tired of all of the prideful people I come in contact with bragging about their average children as though they were the next Einstein. Only two percent of children are “gifted”, so what this means is that ALL of your children CANNOT be gifted.

It’s sometimes annoying for me to talk with people about their kids and while I try to do that as little as possible because quite frankly I just don’t care that much; I try to act interested for your sake. So when you get all braggadocios and ridiculous I just tune you out. When you wax philosophical to me about your parenting technique and you haven’t yet had a challenging child or haven’t had any child I laugh and remember when I felt the same way before I had kids.

God has taught me a very important lesson about my kids. My kids were given to me for a reason and that reason is not that God just thinks I’m going to be a really great parent. God created my kids with their own personalities. They were born with their own penchant for sin and mayhem and troublemaking. I didn’t instill in them most of the good things they have at their disposal and I’m not responsible for most of the rotten things they tend to do either. They just are who they are. So why were they given to me? Were they given to me so that I can make them like God, or make them like me, or simply make them behave? No…I believe they were given to me because I need them to refine me, to make me softer, to make me more loving, more gracious, more merciful, to make ME more like God.

I have noticed a disturbing trend among some Christians. This trend is the belief that as a parent it is my job to drive out all of these negative things from my children and to turn them into perfect little God fearing Christians. I think that is a very haughty sinful attitude. I lived under that oppression for a while and unfortunately my children did too to my discredit. Sure it is my job to present them with the truths of the gospel and to show them Godly love and discipline so they don’t reject the truth out of spite because of my hypocrisy. It’s also my job to discipline them, to keep them alive, and to teach them to act correctly in society so that God’s name isn’t disgraced by their behavior. But the problem with the heresy that teaches that I need to drive every little problem out of them with a switch from the oak tree out back is that it leaves no room for God in the equation. I read a book recently that said that if I don’t beat my children with a switch till they submit to me totally that I have failed them as a parent, I don’t love them, and that they will likely grow up to be ax murderers. I have talked to well intentioned Christians who espoused the same attitude.

Another problem with the whip first ask questions later crowd is that it causes people to live with incredible guilt. Because despite their best efforts and all the whipping, their kids still don’t behave. Then they get told by fools who think they know that they just aren’t consistent, or they aren’t doing it hard enough, or often enough. Let’s get serious for a second; kids have died at the hands of loving parents because of this garbage. Some kids don’t submit, some kids rebel all the more.

This is the part where many begin quoting bible verses. Folly is bound up in the hart of a child…etc. Isn’t it interesting that there are so few verses in the bible about parenting. Isn’t it interesting that there are next to no verses about parenting in the New Testament? Isn’t it interesting that Jesus had almost NOTHING to say about child rearing? Oh wait. He did say we should approach God like a child. We tell our kids that we have to hit them because God wants them to act like adults! People, there’s something very wrong here.

Is it possible that some folks have elevated the act of childrearing to almost the level of idolatry? Is it possible that people are overly hard on their kids because they are too proud to admit that they are embarrassed when their kids don’t act just right? If Mary and Joseph followed some of this so called wisdom they should have beaten Jesus within an inch of his life when he stayed behind in the temple instead of coming home with them. The bible says that they were greatly distressed. It’s notable that the scripture doesn’t mention the whipping he should have received. It’s also notable that the New Testament talks more about parental restraint and not discouraging your children than it does about punishing children (which it is almost completely silent about).

So here’s my question. Is it ALL my responsibility? I’ll answer for you, of course it isn’t. God has some responsibility here too. The bible teaches that it is God who draws the unbeliever to Him. It is God who grabs the heart of a person and snatches them from obscurity into a new life with Him. It’s God’s presence in the life of a believer that causes them to want to change. The bible says we are incapable of changing without God.

We CANNOT drive our children to God and we CANNOT make them Godly.

And think about this…what if God held you immediately and severely accountable for every sin? No grace, no patience, no mercy. No, this is not the God of the bible. The God of the bible is a just God certainly, but he is endless in love and grace, and mercy. He waited patiently for me to get my act together and now he has given me little people to show me just what He has had to put up with all these years. I owe it to them to show them just a little picture of His justice AND grace. But in the end they belong to God and He will call them if and when He chooses and one thing is for sure…just like my salvation had nothing to do with me, neither will theirs.

Old Testament Sacrifices

I learned something new about the sacrificial system of the Israelites recently. If you have an NIV Study Bible you can find this info in the notes of Leviticus 4.

There were 5 main types of sacrifices offered by the Israelites.
1. Burnt offering – This was a voluntary act of worship for unintentional sin.
It was an expression of devotion and surrender to God.
2. Grain offering – This was also a voluntary act of worship and a recognition
of Gods goodness and provision.
3. Fellowship offering – This was also a voluntary act of worship.
It was intended to be thanksgiving and fellowship.
4. Sin offering – This was a mandatory atonement for specific unintentional
sin, confession of sin, and cleansing from defilement.
5. Guilt offering – This was also a mandatory atonement for sin requiring
restitution, cleansing from defilement.

There was a specific order these offerings was to be made:
1. Sin or guilt offering – Sin has to be dealt with first.
2. Burnt offering – Next the worshiper pledges complete devotion and surrender.
3. Fellowship offering and grain offering – Finally there is thanksgiving for
God’s goodness and fellowship with God.

I thought it was interesting that the sacrificial system of the Israelites so closely matches the process of salvation described in the New Testament. Christ (our high priest) made the sin offering on our behalf. The high priest for the Israelites made the sin offering on their behalf. Once we accept this offering made for us and surrender our lives to him as an act of worship we are ushered into fellowship again with God.