Sarah Joseph Hale (1830)
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow--
Everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
……………..
Mary Had a Little Lamb
author unknown
Mary had a little Lamb,
He was born on Christmas day.
She laid him in a manger bed
To sleep upon the hay.--
Angels filled the night-time sky
And they began to sing.
Shepherds heard them all proclaim
The birthday of a King.--
Wise men saw a blazing star
Up in the sky that night.
They followed it until they found
The King of love and light.--
Mary had a little Lamb,
But He wasn't hers, you know,
He was the very Son of God,
The One who loves us so.--
The Father of this little Lamb
Loved the world so much
That He sent his only Son to earth
So we could feel His touch.--
He came to give us joy and peace
And take away our sin.
So when He knocks on your heart's door, Be sure to let Him in.--
Why do I love this precious Lamb?
What can the reason be?
The answer is quite plain to see,
It's because He first loved me!
Luke 1:26-33 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
I. The Lamb of God!
Not all my prayers nor sighs nor tears, Can ease my awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, Can ease this weight of sin; Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, Can give me peace within.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:35-37 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
a. The Unblemished Lamb
1 Peter 1:18-21 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
b. The Passover Lamb
The price of lambs varies from season to season and farmers listen to the radio farm reports to learn the current price of lambs. The Lamb of God remains priceless, his values never changing. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... but with the precious blood of Christ"
1 Cor 5:7 For Christ, our Passover lamb , has been sacrificed.
c. The Lamb of Peace
Jesus Christ exhibited a divine paradox of the lion and the lamb. He was the Lion in majesty, rebuking the winds and demons. He was the Lamb in meekness, "who when he was reviled, reviled not again." He was the Lion in power, raising the dead. He was the Lamb in patience who was "brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." He was the Lion in authority, "Ye have heard that it hath been said ... but I say unto you." He was the Lamb in gentleness, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." - Oswald Chambers
Isa 11:5-9 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. 6 The wolf will live with the lamb , the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
d. The Silent Lamb
Acts 8:32-35 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." 34 The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
God’s Lamb - See the Lamb and the Lion. The Lamb says: simplicity, meekness, white fleece, smallness, innocence, purity, helplessness, submission to sacrifice. The Lion says: strength, size, golden mane, grandeur, courage, untamed power. How paradoxical that both images speak of Christ! Neither is a perfect image; each symbolizes different characteristics of the same infinite Person.
II. The Lamb of Sacrifice
Under the Old Testament system, every worshiper had to bring his own lamb. If he had no lamb, he had to buy a lamb. He could not borrow a lamb. No one could give him a lamb. He had to provide his own lamb. In the New Testament everything is reversed. God provides the Lamb!
Gen 22:6-8 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
a.Throughout the Old Testament, there was requirement for a sacrificial offering to be made to God.
b. Under the OT law there was a process through which the people would find symbolic forgiveness of their sins
c. The Sin offering Lamb
Lev 4:32-33 "'If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he is to bring a female without defect. 33 He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered.
d. The purifying lamb
Rev 7:14-17 And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb . 15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
There's a line in the Old Testament written by Isaiah that tells the result of God's gamble, Isaiah 53:6: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way." Although God has a right to own us because he created us, he gave us the option of freedom, and we all left. We chose sin and did not love him as he wanted to be loved. In response, he chose to send out his own son to look for us, to hunt us down, to find and redeem us at a terrible cost--the cost of his own life. … A shepherd notches the ear of a lamb born to his flock and has rightful ownership. That lamb deliberately walks away. The shepherd searches near and far to get that lamb back. A long time later, he finds not a baby lamb but a grown sheep for sale at an animal auction. The shepherd recognizes his mark on that sheep's ear. He goes to the auctioneer and says, "I can see the mark. That sheep is mine." The auctioneer says, "Listen, you must bid and pay just like anybody else." The shepherd bids and pays an outrageous price, far above any reasonable market value in order to get his lamb. He now has a double right to own this sheep: from birth, from redemption. God has a right to own us as creator and because he has paid the blood of his own Son--an outrageous price far above our market value--in order to redeem us back again. -- Leith Anderson, "The Lord Is My Shepherd,
III. The Victorious lamb
Rev 12:11 "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
a. The Wedded Lamb
O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
Rev 19:6-9 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb !'" And he added, "These are the true words of God."
b. The Shining lamb
God is holy with an absolute holiness that knows no degrees. There is a holiness which he shares with angels and seraphim in heaven and with redeemed men here on earth as their preparation for heaven. This holiness God imparts to his children. He shares it with them through the blood of the Lamb, he requires holiness of them.
Rev 21:22-23 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
c. The Worthy Lamb
The Christian faith engages the profoundest problems the human mind can entertain and solves them completely and simply by pointing to the Lamb of God. - A. W. Tozer
Rev 5:11-13 In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb , who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"
What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him-I give Him my heart.
