Saturday, January 20, 2007
"Behold, the Lamb of God!" ~John 1:29
Edith Schaeffer, by virtue of common sense and logic, knows there were some Jews who got it, right then and there! They would explain to their child’s question, “What lamb?” with a gasp and a whisper, “Ha Meshea”. It had only been thirty years since Anna ran through the streets with her good news (see Thus Spake Anna) of the baby in the Temple. Some still had the star over Bethlehem etched in their memory when the shepherds did the same. Repeated prophecies from David’s psalms, Isaiah, Micah, to name a few, the countless prophetic sacrificial lambs seen over the years since the nation’s birth—you might wonder at how the Jews could miss it? But not all Jews missed it—Jerusalem had a Christian church, one of the first, because some DID see and hear! John the Baptist’s words were tantamount: “My God, could this be Him, the Lamb of God?”
The fact that so many Jews missed it seems a fluke of history. Yet the fluke does NOT stop there! Today, Christians, for the most part, have missed it. I mean, blind as a bat, MISSED IT! We read over the words as if they weren’t even there! It took an entire book of explanation from the co-founder of L’Abri for me to realize the Lamb…Oh! THE LAMB! Actually, I needed two books. I came across Marvin Rosenthal and Kevin Howard’s book, The Feasts of the Lord, and then my heart leapt! THEN is when I realized, “So you’re trying to tell me ALL the ritual and prophetic mumbo jumbo actually has meaning?” Here’s me, a despiser of ceremony and sleeper during history lessons, way too free-spirited for such mundane things! And I have not been the same since. There is a very solid chance, John the Baptist had this same effect…it was an awakening moment!
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Matthew 3:11
“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”’” ~Matthew 3:3
That is exactly the cry in today’s wilderness from believers who are rooted in the Old Testament. The Lord’s path does become straight when the relativistic dissection of God’s Word stops and attention is given to heeding every Truth made known.
“[John] came as a witness to testify concerning that Light, so that through Him, all men might believe. He himself was not the Light; he came only as a witness to the Light…he cries out, saying ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.”’” ~John 1:7,15
Remember, Elizabeth became pregnant before Mary. John was the elder cousin.
The fact that so many Jews missed it seems a fluke of history. Yet the fluke does NOT stop there! Today, Christians, for the most part, have missed it. I mean, blind as a bat, MISSED IT! We read over the words as if they weren’t even there! It took an entire book of explanation from the co-founder of L’Abri for me to realize the Lamb…Oh! THE LAMB! Actually, I needed two books. I came across Marvin Rosenthal and Kevin Howard’s book, The Feasts of the Lord, and then my heart leapt! THEN is when I realized, “So you’re trying to tell me ALL the ritual and prophetic mumbo jumbo actually has meaning?” Here’s me, a despiser of ceremony and sleeper during history lessons, way too free-spirited for such mundane things! And I have not been the same since. There is a very solid chance, John the Baptist had this same effect…it was an awakening moment!
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Matthew 3:11
“For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”’” ~Matthew 3:3
That is exactly the cry in today’s wilderness from believers who are rooted in the Old Testament. The Lord’s path does become straight when the relativistic dissection of God’s Word stops and attention is given to heeding every Truth made known.
“[John] came as a witness to testify concerning that Light, so that through Him, all men might believe. He himself was not the Light; he came only as a witness to the Light…he cries out, saying ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.”’” ~John 1:7,15
Remember, Elizabeth became pregnant before Mary. John was the elder cousin.
