Sacrificial Lamb (10-6-12)

Leviticus 16:17 - "When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel."

All throughout the Scriptures we see lambs being sacrificed for sin. Here in Leviticus 16:17 the high priest offered one sacrifice for himself, for his household and also for the entire nation of Israel. And this is not the only place we see this in the Bible. We're going to see how the revelation of the scope of Gods sacrificial lamb broadened throughout biblical history. And we begin at the beginning.
In Genesis chapter 3, right after the fall of mankind, we read that the Lord God made garments of skin for the man and his wife to clothe them. These garments of skin that God made for Adam and Eve were the skins of an animal, probably a lamb. An animal had to be sacrificed, had to die in order that the result of mans sin might be covered. And from this point on the Lord began to teach us the necessity of having a sacrifice for our sins. This must have been something that God taught Adam and Eve and that they passed down to their children, and so on for generations. Because even as early as the fourth chapter of Genesis we see mankind offering a sacrifice for his sins. In Genesis 4:4 we read this - "Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering." Abel offered to God a lamb, an excellent sacrifice, for his own personal sin. This is a sacrifice for an individual.
As we read on through the Bible we come to Exodus chapter 12, and here we read once again of the sacrificial lamb, only this time it's not for the individual, it's for a household. In Exodus chapter twelve the Lord had already done many signs and wonders through Moses, and He was preparing His people for the final judgment that would take place against the nation of Egypt in order that they would let His people go. This is what we read in Exodus 12 verse 3 and also verses 12-13 - "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household... For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." The shed blood of the lamb would cover anyone in the household. Each family escaped the judgment of God by the blood of the lamb. This event, as you know, is called the passover and it's something that the Lord didn't want His people to forget. He wanted them to remember how they had been covered by the blood of a sacrificed lamb.
So we sae the lamb for the individual in Genesis 4, we see the lamb for the family in Exodus 12, we come to Leviticus 16 and we see a sacrifice for a nation. In Leviticus chapter 16 Israel is instructed concerning the day of atonement, a special day in which the entire nation would come together and their sins would be atoned for by one sacrifice. Leviticus 16:21-22 says - "Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness."

We see the covering of the sacrifice first for the individual, then for the family, then for a nation, and finally in the gospel of John we come to the climax of the sacrificial lamb. In John 1:29 we read  - "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"" First for the individual, then for the family, then for the nation, and now the Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the whole world, Jesus Christ. He is the one to whom all the Old Testament sacrifices were pointing. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 He is called "Christ, our Passover." He is the fulfillment, and He is the only sacrifice who can truly take away sins. And that's exactly what He came to do. In Hebrews 10:11 we read - "Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." But in chapter 9 we read concerning Christ - "but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Isaiah 53:6-7 says - "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth." He is the perfect sacrificial Lamb. Though we were going astray like sheep, lost in our trespasses and sins, He came as the Lamb of God and was led to the slaughter in our place, in order to bear away our sins and accomplish our redemption. We have been reconciled to God through the shed blood of Christ, our sacrificial Lamb.

1 Peter 1:18-19 - "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."