Each year, our family adds one piece to the nativity. This year's addition was the woman at the well. Today, she pours water for Mary's donkey. This coming spring, she will stand by a well, waiting for Christ to change her life by offering her a living water so she will never thirst again.
A few years ago, though, was the year for adding sheep. Five of them came in one box, so they technically counted as "one" piece. At that time, the lambs outnumbered the few shepherds circled around Mary and Joseph.
Each year I set them out, I have thought, "that's quite a lot of lambs," but five days ago, I realized how wrong I was.
It's not too many lambs....it's not enough.
This week, I've been dwelling on the babe in the manger, on His role as the Lamb of God.
In preparation for Passover, Old Testament tradition required that on the tenth day of the Hebrew month Nisan, the people were to choose a sheep or goat "year-old mal[e] without defect" for sacrifice so that God would literally "pass over" their sin (Ex. 12:5). Then, each family was to take that sheep in the house and care for it "until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight" (Ex. 12:6).
One lamb for the sin of each family. MacArthur says this would have meant the sacrifice of at least a hundred thousand Passover Lambs*
A hundred thousand lambs. But not just once. A hundred thousand lambs each and every Passover year.
Yet still, it wasn't enough to save the world from sin, to reconcile mankind with God the Father.
But then came one in a lowly manger, a perfect, spotless lamb.
And one Passover, He hung in agony on the cross, until 3 p.m. when the shofar blew, announcing the time when a lamb would be sacrificed for the whole nation of Israel.**
At that exact moment, He intentionally gave up His life as a sacrifice, saying, "'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last" (Lk. 23:46).
Five lambs. A hundred thousand lambs. A million lambs.
Ironically, they weren't enough. But one was and is enough.
As Peter reminds us, "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, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:18-19).
When you see that babe in a manger, picture in its place a spotless lamb being born for the sole purpose of dying as a sacrifice. Look at his chubby baby hands, and imagine them pierced and hanging on an old rugged cross. Look at his feet that both fit into one of your hands, and see them walking willingly to his slaughter. Hear the tiny cry of a helpless infant and remember his words, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Lk. 23:34).
In the hustle and bustle of Christmas, take time to remember the Lamb.
* MacArthur. The Murder of Jesus: A Study of How Jesus Died, p. 47.
**Ray Vander Laan. The True Easter Story: The Promise Kept (video, 2000).
Pub. 12.19.10
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