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Advent: The Lamb of God

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December 21, 2025
Revelation 5:6-14
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Death of Christ (The Cross)

Sin & The Fall

The Birth of Christ (Advent)

Transcript

0:16Well, good morning and Merry Christmas. I'm glad we're here together as we observe the fourth week of Advent and as we look at Jesus as the fulfillment of the Lamb of God. If you are a visitor, maybe you're here with family, maybe you're a guest. We're really glad you're here this morning and we hope that this will be beneficial for your soul. Would you join me as I pray and as we look at God's word, father in heaven, would you come now by the power of your spirit and give us eyes to see our hearts, to feel the very love of Christ here this morning? Help us to see more of Jesus. We pray in your name.

1:08Amen. Consider the following statements. People are basically good at nature by nature at heart. Everyone wants to do what is right. Human nature tends towards kindness and people are fundamentally trustworthy and altruistic. These phrases capture the beliefs that people at their very core are good. And if people are primarily good, then the problems in our world are not because of our fallenness, but they're actually outside of us. And so the solution to the world's problems is more of our true selves. We need to accept our weaknesses. We need to be kind to ourselves. We need to walk in authenticity.

2:06We need to love ourselves more. I was looking at uh, some research coming out of the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and civic culture, and they concluded that self-care has become a new religion. We've replaced the concept of sin falling short of God's perfect standard with other definitions. Instead, we're victims of our traumatic experiences. We're victims of unfair systems. We're victims of our circumstances. We live in this broken and fractured world, but we're primarily victims in it. Never moral agents who disobey and rebel against a holy God. And this way of thinking is not confined to academia or pop psychology, but it's everywhere.

3:01There's a popular kids movie that has burst into public consciousness that assumes this battle between good and evil. But salvation comes through the heroes embracing their scars and wounds and being their authentic, true selves. We save ourselves through courage and self-belief and empowerment, and yet this way of thinking is deadly. It's like jumping out of an airplane and thinking, I believe I can fly. Well, gravity would beg to differ. People no longer believe they are sinners. Guilt and shame are just toxic relics of religion. And yet, if there is no sin and in no one is a sinner, then we have no need for a savior.

3:55We have no need for salvation. We need to just discover our true selves, believe in ourselves and be our true selves. And yet the Bible paints for us a very different picture. The scripture suggests that at the root of all of our problems is our sin. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We fail to do what is right and we actively do what is forbidden. And so what shall we do? Well over advent, we've been looking at Jesus as the fulfillment of all of these Old Testament prophets, uh, excuse me, all of these Old Testament prophecies. He comes as the prophet, as God himself who speaks for God and as God, he comes as the priest to mediate between God and man.

4:53He comes as the king who rules and reigns. And this morning we're gonna look at Jesus as the lamb of God who comes to die as a substitute. And so the passage that we just had read in Revelation five is where we will conclude. That's the picture of this glorious consummation when all of the creatures of the earth are gathered around that throne and they're praising the lamb. And the question becomes, how did we get there? What are the prophecies? What are the signs that get us to that place? 'cause revelation five is sort of that climactic moment where everyone is singing worthy. Are you all the creatures give blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.

5:46If you're a music person, this is the Hallelujah chorus in Handel's Messiah. But what are the promises and fulfillment that help us arrive at Revelation five? How do we get there? So what I wanna do this morning is trace the theme of the sacrificial lamb from the Old Testament all the way to the new. And we're gonna be kind of all over the Bible. This is not what we typically do, which is just expand one section of scripture. But we're gonna kind of look at several passages in the Old Testament and then in the new, and we're gonna unfold this in three phases. We get the Old Testament promises, the person of Jesus, and then the response of praise.

6:24So we get promises, person and praise, or you could say sign substance, and then the song of the redeem. So first we come to the Old Testament promises. Now first, the Old Testament doesn't just come right out and say, A man shall come to serve as this human lamb sacrifice who will bear the sins of the world. Rather, it often has kind of signs and symbols that are pointing forward to this reality that is going to be fulfilled. There's these shadows of the substance that are to come. There are signposts that create this anticipation and expectation. It's like if you've ever taken the long drive on Highway 90 from Minnesota all the way to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, how many of you done that drive?

7:17If you haven't, you should. What do you see on the way? Not rolling hills? You know what I'm gonna talk about? You see hundreds of signs for wall drug By the time you arrive. It almost feels wrong to not stop there. Like didn't you see the sign until you figure out it's a Taurus trap? But that's a separate thing in a sense. The Old Testament is littered with all of these signs and symbols and shadows that anticipate Jesus as the lamb of God. So what I wanna do is walk through five signposts for the Lamb in the Old Testament, five signposts for the Lamb in the Old Testament. The first is in Genesis chapter 22.

8:02You can turn there if you'd like. I'm gonna read them, but I'd love for you to follow along. Here. We get the substitute lamb in Genesis 22. So in this scene we get God testing Abraham. He tells him to bring his son Isaac up onto the mountain in order to sacrifice him before the Lord. And during the ascent up the mountain, Isaac turns to his father. Genesis 22, verse seven, he says, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And then verse eight, Abraham replies, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. And you know how the story unfolds? As Abraham pulls back his arm to kill his son, God stops him, provides a ram for the burnt offering, and the place was named the Lord will provide.

8:58We see that in verses 13 and 14. And so Abraham's statement there, God will provide the lamb is pregnant with meaning even beyond what he can see in this particular moment. God provides a substitute for Isaac. This animal dies in place of another one. Commentator says this about Genesis 22. No other story in Genesis indeed in the whole Old Testament can match the sacrifice of Isaac for its haunting beauty and its theological depth. What we see is Abraham's loyalty to his God is on one hand, his love for his son is on the other and they're being tested. And what happens is he emerges with his son intact and his obedience rewarded.

9:51The point of that story is that God provides a substitute. So this is the first sign on the road that points to the unique role of the lamb. This lamb would serve as a substitute sacrifice for others. Next we come to Exodus chapter 12. You can turn there next book of the Bible. This is the final plague that God inflicts upon Egypt before the exodus. And the Lord tells Moses and Aaron to tell the people to slaughter a lamb, 1-year-old, no blemish. And then Exodus chapter 12 verse seven. This is what they're to do. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lentil of the houses in which they eat it.

10:39And then skip down to verse 12, for I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are. 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, notice that there's two parts to this animal sacrifice. The first is the special meal that this animal provides. They're not to eat the meat raw or boiled, but it must be roasted over a fire.

11:26Why? Why can't it be boiled? I think it's because this underscores that this animal is to be a burnt offering, a sacrificial meal. And this animal would both provide nourishment, they're to eat it, fully dressed, dressed in their cloaks and sandals and staffed in order to display their trust in God, who would deliver them even prior to when the deliverance has happened. But the second act, the second part is this act of smearing the blood on the doorpost. This blood serves as their protection from God's judgment that is going to befall the Egyptians, the blood functions as a shield or a protection, a boundary marker, a covenant boundary marker so that if you're in the house, you're covered by the blood and you're protected from judgment and death.

12:17So the Passover lamb nourishes to partake is a sign of trust and its blood serves as protection to deliver us from certain death and judgment. So you can kind of begin to see what this lamb symbolizes substitution and protection and deliverance from judgment. And so we have the substitute lamb, now we have the Passover lamb. Next we turn to Exodus 29. We get the sanctifying lamb there In Exodus 29, God gives instructions on the daily burnt offerings of two 1-year-old lambs the lamb, one lamb is sacrificed in the morning with flour and oil and wine, and the second lamb is sacrificed at twilight.

13:05And this is to happen every day, day after day, night after night, year after year. So the question is, well why? You can look at Exodus 29, 42 and 43. You can fall along there. Let me read it. Exodus 29 42. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel and it shall be sanctified by my glory. So this twice daily sacrificial lamb is this daily reminder that to access to have access to God is costly. It requires the shedding of blood to sanctify God's people so that he might meet with them and so that he might speak to them.

14:03So what's the point here? The point is that we are all sinners and rebels and estranged and enemies and God's wrath burns hot against sin and sinners. And we forget this because we fail to see God's holiness. And yet this passage reminds us that there must be a shedding of blood. And this sacrifice purifies and consecrates and sanctifies god's people so that he can be in their myths. The blood itself did not cleanse in, but it reveals mankind's desperate need for cleansing. The blood of the lamb is this daily reminder that we need to be sanctified. So we see substitution protection, deliverance, sanctification, cleansing.

14:58Number four, we get a sin offering lamb in Leviticus. This is Leviticus four, also Leviticus 14. You can just listen as I read those. There's this detailed and elaborate breakdown of all the offerings that Israelites are to offer specifically in Leviticus four, A person sins unintentionally. They're to either bring a goat or a lamb as a sin offering and the priest takes its blood and puts it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering and pours out its blood at the base of the altar. And then the animal is to be burned on the altar. And Leviticus 4 31 says, and the priest shall make atonement for him and he shall be forgiven.

15:42This word atonement means to make right what is wrong or to literally cover over. And so this animal sacrifice is because of sin. Or similarly, in Leviticus 14, when one is clean from leprosy, Leviticus 1419 says, the priest shall offer the sin offering to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncles. So again, the the picture here is that the lamb is instrumental in providing cleansing, atonement and purification. The impurity of sin is transferred to the lamb and then communion with God is restore. So you can begin to see all of the overlapping categories. If you're like a math person, you like those graphs.

16:32You can imagine the Venn diagram, what provides purification and then cleansing and then atonement, and then serves as a substitute and sanctification. And the right at the center is the lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb. And so these things have shown that our great problem is not our lack of self-care. It's not our lack of self-confidence or self-love. Our problem is not that we're repressing our true selves. Our true selves are the problem. We are sinners who fall short and who rebel and reject God. We fall short of his standards. We commit intentional and unintentional sins. And by nature we are fallen and sinful.

17:21This is the bad news of the Bible. This leads to our fifth and final signpost, Isaiah 53. Up to this point, all the signs have pointed to the need for a sacrifice that sheds blood for cleansing, atonement, purification. And this has all been animal sacrifices. But Isaiah 53 begins to speak not of an animal, but our need for a man, the suffering servant. If you look at Isaiah 53, you can see in beginning in verse five, he is to be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. By his wounds we are healed. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Verse seven, he was oppressed and he was afflicted.

18:11Yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shears is silent. So he opened not his mouth, verse 10, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. Verse 12, he bore the sin of man and makes intercession for the transgressors. So the human sacrifice would bring cleansing and atonement. He is a sin offering and he bears the punishment of sin. And so we begin to see that the Bible has this thread of a lamb that runs all the way through it.

18:57And it begins in Genesis 22, foreshadows our need for cleansing, for atonement, for a substitute. And now we need a lamb like person who will be this sufferer. And while some Jewish commentators speculate that this speaks of the corporate identity of Israel as a sufferer, it's clear that it's speaking of a singularly unique individual whose suffering will absorb judgment and bring healing. So the Old Testament end DAOs lambs with meaning and symbolism, signifying substitution in the sacrifice of Isaac deliverance and protection from judgment at the Passover cleansing and sanctification as these daily offerings so that we can have access to God a a sin offering in Leviticus.

19:49And it anticipates this human lamb that would suffer on behalf of others in Isaiah 53. And so each of these signs points forward to this future fulfillment found in Jesus. So now let's look at the person of Jesus. The most obvious passage is in John's gospel. John chapter one, John chapter one, verse 29, John the Baptist sees Jesus from afar. And then what does he exclaim? Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And again, in verse 36, he says, behold the lamb of God. John calls out Jesus mission and purpose. He has come to fulfill all of the signs and symbols and shadows of lambs in the Old Testament.

20:42And he has come to take away our sins. And the question becomes, how does he do that? Well, like a sacrificial lamb, he sheds his blood in order to be a substitute for us. He provides cleansing and sanctification. He atones for sins. He purifies the ungodly and he bears the wrath of God. He was pierced for our sins and transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Jesus does not come to help us reach self-actualization, but he grants forgiveness to all who believe in him. So this morning, the question for each and every single one of us is very simple. Have you received the forgiveness of sin through the work of Jesus?

21:35Have you received the forgiveness of sin through the work of Jesus? Have you come under the blood of the lamb? Imagine an Israelite back in Exodus 12. It's the night before the angel of death is to kill every single firstborn. And everyone, all the Israelites have killed their lamb. They've eaten of the meat, they've smeared the blood on their doorposts. And imagine an Israelite, and we'll call him David. David says, isn't this all really superstitious? Like how do we know this is gonna work? It doesn't really make sense for a lamb's blood, this animal that we're killing all the time, eating all the time to keep away the angel of death.

22:26It's an angel that can do whatever it wants. Or perhaps David is much more modern and enlightened like we often think of ourselves. And so maybe he says, blood rituals that seems really primitive and grotesque. It's so violent. Or perhaps he balks at the binary nature of the blood marking whether one is in or out. And he's like, what if someone doesn't even trust the blood but they're inside of a house that has the blood or, or what about the animals welfare? Pete is gonna have a field day with this. Isn't this unnecessarily cruel? And there's some even in our world today who would attack the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement that Jesus willingly takes the punishment that our sins deserve in our place in order to satisfy God's justice.

23:19And yet the reality is if we don't see our sinfulness, we don't see our need for a lamb to take away our sin. We don't love the saving work of a savior. You can ask questions all day long, but only those who come under the power of the blood are cleansed. And so the thrust of advent is this, stop questioning God's purposes and come under the power of Christ's blood. Advent is the inbreaking of good news, of great joy for all people, but only if you will receive the solution for your sin, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Paul, later in one Corinthians, one Corinthians five, seven shows how Jesus fulfills all of this meaning and symbolism and foreshadowing.

24:17He says, for Christ are Passover. Lamb has been sacrificed. He makes that direct connection. Jesus is this Passover lamb who nourishes his people. If they will trust in his work and his blood serves as this covenant boundary marker so that all who are in Christ can go through the flood waters of judgment. They are protected in Christ. We are delivered and cleansed and made new. And like in the Exodus, Christ liberates us from sins, captivity, and enslavement. And so Jesus not only saves, but this morning for all those who are in Christ, he sanctifies us. He purifies us. He transforms us as his sons and daughters.

25:11Peter picks up on this language in one Peter one 17 to 19 and he says, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways, inherited from your fa forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. And so again, he calls out that Jesus is this perfect lamb of God. He lived a perfect life so that he is without spot, without blemish. He offers a perfect sacrifice once for all so that we would have forgiveness of sins. So the Old Testament imagery of the lamb is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.

26:00He is this sacrificial lamb who has come, who has laid down his life so that we might have life this morning. He is perfect without blemish or spot. He has accomplished his work to take away the sin of the world. And he has served as a substitutionary atonement for us. And now this leads to this explosion of praise in Revelation five. Let me encourage you to turn there in your Bible and especially if you have a ESV, I wanna read that together actually. So if you don't have a ESV, you can use the pew Bible in front of you. It's on page 1031 I believe. And here we get this climax in revelation that reveals Jesus as that slain lamb who has redeemed his people, who possesses great power, is this mighty conquer, the triumphant ruler redeemer and judge.

27:04And so I'm gonna read Revelation five, six to 14, but where it speaks of a corporate singing. So verse 10, nine and 10, verse 12 and verse 13, sing it with me or read it with me. Well, rather than read it like how we read it, when we read things like almost like we're in school and we don't wanna read, read it as if you were there as if we were saying these things to the lamb. So listen, as I read starting in verse six, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

27:52And he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bulls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song saying, say with me, now worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransom people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth.

28:35Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the voice of many angels numbering, myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them saying to him, who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped this explosion of praise in revelation is because Jesus is the lamb of God who has redeemed people from every tribe, every language, every nation, that there will be some gathered on that final day who will praise Jesus afresh by his blood.

29:49He ransoms people. And so at Advent there is real hope for the hopeless. There is real hope for the hopeless. I know many here are just torn up inside the songs. You can't sing of joy to the world because you're, you're grieving all sorts of things. Maybe your own sin, maybe the consequences of sin, maybe the loss of a loved one. And and you're feeling the weight of this world that you just feel the groaning of this world under the weight of sin, of brokenness, of things that are not the way they ought to be. And there is real hope for the hopeless. This morning in Christ, God has kept his word, he has promised a savior and a savior has come.

30:43He has come to fix all that is broken and fractured. And he has dealt with our biggest problem, the paralyzing power of sin. And he has shown the light of Christ into the darkness. At Advent, there is now true peace. We are now made whole. Our sin induced dislocation is now made right. Once again, we have been reconciled to the God of the universe and we can come near into His presence. Imagine if every time you prayed to God, you'd have to go kill a lamb Every single time or maybe a turtle duff, we'd be killing a lot of animals.

31:37But now because Christ has come, we can be reconciled to the God of the universe. We can come near into his presence. He has redeemed rebels who hated him. And we can stop striving because he grants us peace. And at advent we can now take hold of unspeakable joy This morning, even in the midst of great sorrow, we can take hold of unspeakable joy, like those in revelation. We can give thanks for the son of God. We can bask in the comfort of being forgiven of our sins. Of the things you did this week, of the things you've done 10 years ago, the things you did 30 years ago who still plagued you and haunt you, the things you said to someone that they can't forget, God has forgiven us.

32:35We bask in the comfort of being forgiven, wearing white robes without guilt. Our shame has been washed away and we are now called this morning his holy and beloved children. That is your primary identity if you've come under the blood of Jesus. And so this is the wondrous love of Christ on display and and I think at Advent we can very easily say, oh, of course I know that. And then move on. Can't wait for opening presence.

33:15If you knew that you would suffer torture, humiliation, and shame to rescue people who hate you, would you do it? No, of course not. I wouldn't do it yet. This is the wondrous love of God in Christ. No greater gift was given. No greater news ever proclaimed, no greater glory revealed, no greater grace ever was bestowed upon Man. Jesus decisively dealt the death blow to the damning effects of sin so that we might have life and light. This morning there, there's a song that we'll often sing at Easter that goes like this. What wondrous love is this, that cause the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul.

34:16And then verse two says, when I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown, Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul. Some of you are singing in your heart right now. And then how does that song conclude to God and to the lamb, I will sing, I will sing to God and to the lamb, who is the great I am while millions join the theme I will sing. And so our prayer for you this morning is that you would walk out of here with a new song in your heart and a new song on your lips because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished as the lamb of God. You have a substitute, you have a savior, you have someone who has cleansed you, who has sanctified you, who has reconciled you and who has brought you near so that you can approach the throne of God.

35:23You have been reconciled to the God of the universe and you have the lamb. And so may we be those who sing of his praises this morning. Amen. Let's pray. Father O, our deep longing is that we would treasure Christ in all of life and above all else. So make that our hearts cry this morning some for the first time who will have sung worthy Is the Lamb some for the umpteenth time? And may this be a dress rehearsal for the worship that will take place around the throne. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Revelation 5:6-14

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