Learning the Lingo

            Have you ever noticed that Christians speak a unique language with terms that are unfamiliar to most people?  To name just a few: Saved, sanctified, spirit-baptized, born-again, propitiation, washed in the blood, and regeneration.  We also have some strange names for Jesus.  One of my personal favorites is, “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”  If you’ve been an insider for a few years you should recognize most of these.  Unfortunately, we tend to use these words and phrases when talking to folks who don’t have a church background, which means we might as well be speaking Chinese.

            Let me explain why we often to refer to Jesus as the “Lamb”.  Lambs are cute little baby sheep that are totally innocent.  They’ve never do anything to bother anyone.  My grandfather used to raise sheep, and I remember visiting his farm as a child and playing with the newborn lambs.  They would snuggle into my arms and romp around playfully in the dirt.  They seemed so fragile that I worried about hurting them.

            In ancient Biblical times, when the Jews still practiced animal sacrifices, lambs were commonly offered on the altar.  Their innocence took the place of the peoples’ guilt, and the shedding of their blood was a temporary payment for the Jews’ sins.  It was temporary because the lamb’s blood didn’t remove sins, but only covered them until more sins were committed.  When that happened more animals had to be sacrificed.  Sounds kind of barbaric, but God had a very specific reason in mind for setting up that system.  We discover that reason when Jesus showed up on the scene.

            John the Baptist was a very controversial Jew because he had a habit of telling the people they were sinners, and that they needed to repent and get baptized. So he spent a lot of time dunking people in the Jordon River.  One day Jesus walked down to the river to get baptized by John, not because he was a sinner, but to set an example.  Anyway, when John saw Jesus he shouted out these words: “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

            Just like a lamb, Jesus was completely innocent.  The Bible explains that Jesus lived a sinless life, which is the only reason he could be called the “Lamb”.   Why was that such a big deal?  Because our sins could only be paid for in blood – the blood of a perfect person.  So Jesus died on the cross to pay for something we could never afford: God’s forgiveness.  He was the final blood sacrifice between man and God.  The difference between the blood of Jesus and the blood of a lamb is that Jesus’ blood washed our sins away instead of simply covering them up.  That’s what true forgiveness is all about – canceling debt.  In order to live a debt-free life with God, all you have to do is believe and receive what Jesus did for you on the cross.

Derryck McLuhan

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