Who Do You Say That I Am? #5 Lamb of God

Who Do You Say That I Am? #5 Lamb of God

The Bible tells us “the wages of sin is death.” From the time God put the law into place, He gave us a visual reminder of this fact. There had to be a sacrifice for sin, an atoning sacrifice had to be made. We sinned, now something had to die. His selection to pay this price? One of the most beautiful, innocent things He ever created, a perfect lamb had to die because of the sins of the people. Something of value reminded them that sin had a cost, but it goes beyond that. The innocent paid the price for the guilty. Whether they knew it or not, it was a symbol of what was to come.

John the Baptist knew what was coming. When he pointed out Jesus to the surrounding crowd, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World.” The sacrificial system prepared us to receive out Savior—the innocent Son of God who willingly laid down His life for your sins and mine. He is the Lamb of God. Have you accepted His gift of salvation? He paid a high price for you because you were worth it to Him. Receive Him today.

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: Perennial

IllustrationFriday.com Challenge: "Perennial"

This week’s challenge is the word Perennial. My first thought was to do a nice floral piece in reference to the many perennial flowers my wife, Dawn and I have planted around our backyard pond over the past few years. You have to love perennials, you plant them once and the come up year after year with no further effort.

Instead, I felt like there was something more important to touch on—something that has been coming up year after year, day after day, minute after minute since the beginning of time. It’s the perennial question. It was first asked by a snake in the first Garden and it goes something like this, “Did God really mean what He said?” Our first parents got that question wrong, took the wrong action and we have been paying for it ever since. Every bad thing you’ve ever experienced in your life can be traced back to that one incident. It’s perennial. We’ve also been getting the same question wrong ever since and it’s destroying us.

What we need to see is that the answer is yes. God means what He says every time. His Word, the Bible, means what it says. It shows us the right way to go and it shows what happens when we go the wrong way. It is to be obeyed and followed. Now I know someone will be tempted to take us to the Old Testament and look at some of the brutal things that happened and want to mock this statement, but don’t go there. Context is important. The Old Testament paves the way for the new. It prepares the people of the world to receive the ultimate answer to the perennial problem, salvation through Christ, God’s ultimate gift of love and in the end that’s the real point. Does God really mean what He says? Yes! and He says over and over again that He loves you. If you believe He loves you and wants what’s best for you, as only a perfect Father can, it’s much easier to see that He means what He says.

God’s love is perennial!