Resurrection Life
THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD: BIBLICAL SEEDS
Today is March 7, beginning of a new month. Our month theme is Resurrection LIFE. Which is fitting, as we, at Megamorphic are continuing in our Relent fast, which started April 17. Allowing us the space to focus on what is coming up, Easter! Focusing, celebrating, remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus! He is alive!
I am focusing today on the topic of Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world: biblical seeds. I’ll break it down a bit, so get excited!
While preparing for the briefing, one night I was praying and said to my myself “Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world” and this image popped in my head, like a movie trailer, superhero movie! The big words(WHAM), the bright colors, and it’s Jesus(at least the image in my head of what Jesus might look like) a man in a tan tunic. It was a funny experience but thinking through that, Jesus has great power and He takes away the sin of the world. When you think about superheroes, especially the movies coming out lately, the superhero saves the world and everyone then can go about their day as if nothing happened, with Jesus, He has saved the day and we are transformed! When we choose to accept Him, what He has done for us, we are transformed. We go from an ‘old creation’ to a ‘new creation’/resurrection life, our daily lives should change, for the better, because that is the impact of having a relationship with God, being covered by the blood of Jesus, working in relationship with the Holy Spirit and despite what some may say, we can have that right now! Resurrection life goes on forever, it is a gift and it empowers us to LIVE supernatural lives.
So let’s get into it, let’s break it down and first look at the statement, “Jesus, the lamb that takes away the sin of the world” then we’ll get into biblical seeds and wrap it all up!
THE LAMB
Let’s talk about Hollywood again, Dwayne Johnson, famous actor, been around for years now, known better as “The Rock”. It carries “ooooo” with it. He’s built this reputation around that name, it makes you think.
When we see “The Lamb” what is it that we think of?
John 1:29 says “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
What a statement to make, “here is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Say it again) “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. That carries a punch! THE LAMB! The son of God, Jesus Christ being described as “The Lamb”. Thanks to the Old Testament, we see the role a lamb played in offering, sin offerings and the first passover.
We first see the act of sacrificing a lamb in the Old Testament. I can speak for myself that the OT can be hard to read. First time you read OT books like Exodus and Leviticus you’d be forgiven for thinking - what kind of blood bath is this? - however all the intricate details of the law and sacrifices POINT TO JESUS. More specifically, in Exodus 12, we see the first Passover. The Lord instructed Moses and Aaron that the Israelites were to kill a lamb, roast it, and put the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintel of the home. It goes on to say in chapter 12, “Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”( Exodus 12:13 NKJV).
That’s a powerful act, the blood of a lamb protected the people from death! The Israelites were literally passed over by the Spirit, morning broke, the plague had come through and killed those who were not covered. This points to what was to come, Jesus and the Cross. This passover was pointing to what Jesus was going to do so many years later. We see in the Gospels, Jesus' death and resurrection taking place at the time of passover.
As we mentioned, throughout the OT we see that sacrifice of the lamb was a part of life, to atone for uncleanliness/sin and it all pointed to Jesus, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” I Peter 1:18-19 NKJV
This notion of Jesus being the lamb of God is Bible ‘parable’ language. Jesus spoke in parables because in order to please God, Faith is required. If we don’t exercise faith, then we won’t understand parables. The specific parabolic picture of Jesus being the lamb, as partly mentioned already, is all throughout the entirety of scripture. It’s concealed in the old and revealed in the new. And at the heart of this picture is the Bible truth that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Heb 9:22/Lev 17:11). Such is the depth of the consequence of sin, justice cries out for death to the sinner, but mercy triumphs over judgement and Jesus chose to take our place and shed his blood in our place. He died so we could live, so our sin nature could be washed away.
*TAKES AWAY THE SIN
Notice here that it doesn’t say “took”, it says “takes away”. Jesus taking away the sin of the world is an active process, it never ends, His blood covers those 100 years ago, today, and those who live 100 years from now! It covers all who chose to be covered! It is a process that is continuous, it doesn’t stop! Jesus act of shedding his blood for us, covers us each and every day!
Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
This scripture is discussing the renewal of Israel, God telling Ezekiel how he will redeem Israel, how he will change the people to a new disposition of mind, excellent in itself, and vastly different from what it was before; a frame of soul changed from sinful to holy, from carnal to spiritual; a heart in which the law of God is written. Again, we see how it points to Jesus, because this is not possible without Jesus and his death and resurrection.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
1 Peter 2:34: who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
1 John 3:5-6: And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
1 Corinthians 15: 3-8: For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
We have this continual process of Christ taking away our sins, through this we become new creations, our carnal selves are gone and we are able to live and walk by the Spirit.
Isn’t that amazing! Jesus, THE LAMB, takes away our sins each and every day, His mercies are new every morning and we get to walk in resurrection life!! Just as we saw with the first passover, those who covered their doorposts with blood from a lamb, were passed over by the plague, I hope they had an appreciation for life after that night, imagine walking out of your home, knowing that people were not passed over, but because of the blood, you get to walk in life! That is what we get to do each day when we choose and confess Jesus, walk in resurrection life! Walk and live in the Holy Spirit, which is the promise of the Father! Not only that, but our sin is removed as far as east is from the west (Psalm 103)
OF THE WORLD
John 3:16-18
16“For God loved the world in this way, He gave His •One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.
What is that telling us? 1) God’s love for us is AMAZING! 2) Jesus came to take away sin not just from the Isrealites but from the world. The world includes everyone! We see in the OT, and NT that God was making a way for Jews and gentiles.
Romans 1:5-6: Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
Acts 18:6: But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
Acts 22:21:Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’
Gal 3:14: that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Ephesians 3:6: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel
BIBLICAL SEEDS
We’ve just talked about Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world, we’ve seen how the OT laid out the framework for what Jesus was going to do on the cross. We see in the NT, when Jesus was around and hanging with his disciples he shares a parable.
Mark 4: 3-8: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
Mark 4:13: Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?”
The reason this parable is foundational to understanding all parables, is because the cross - death and resurrection - are fundamental to the preaching the gospel and every seed has to die before it grows.
Biblical seeds are a matter of the heart. Just as in the natural, new life comes through sowing seeds that must die in the soil and then resurrect into a fruitful plant. So in the spiritual, our heart is the soil and God’s kingdom seeds are sown in the heart.
We see in the natural, the development of pesticides to protect crops. We also see recently, an increase in the want for organic foods/crops. Realistically, we don’t know in the long run what some pesticides may do to our bodies, will they harm us or not, etc. So people are turning to organic foods, ‘get back to nature” so to speak. Just as in the natural, in the spiritual we want protection and God has Megamorphic protection for us!
His blood, His Holy Spirit, the angels, His harvest team the Church, and His Word all work together to bring forth eternal fruitfulness in our lives that is much greater than simply being organic. Organic will keep you healthy during your life on earth, Megamorphic protection will keep you healthy for eternity.
Way back in Genesis, God’s word shows us that life in his kingdom is supernatural, which involves the miraculous. We see in Genesis a prophetic promise of Jesus being born miraculously and it states that the woman’s seed would be at enmity with satan. One of the ways that Satan seeks to destroy, is by attacking God’s seeds and crops, just like birds and pests in the natural do.
Not only was Jesus the LAMB, he was also the word. The WORD is the seed that must enter our hearts, die, and bring forth fruitfulness. John 12:24 “Truly truly I say to you, unless the wheat seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. If it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”
God longs for us to till the soil of our hearts that we might be receptive to the seed of his word and bear fruit.
Matthew 13:23: “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
To have growth/fruitfulness in your life, you’ve Got to be sowing. Just praying and asking god to do stuff, he will respond, however, we’ve got to play a part in it, to take part of his promises we’ve got to learn to sow and reap.
BID
1 John 1:8-9: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
To receive all this in our hearts, to be covered, we’ve got to CONFESS our sin, and our old creation can die.
If you’re dealing with fear, in resurrection life it’s gone!
If you’re dealing with anxiety in resurrection life you can lay that at Jesus’ feet
If you’re dealing with depression in resurrection life the power of the Holy Spirit will give you JOY
This briefing should have helped you to understand and realize that to have growth and fruitfulness in your life, you’ve got to be sowing! Just praying and asking God to do stuff of course he will respond, however we’ve got to play a part in it, to take part in his promises we’ve got to learn to sow and reap.
Are you wanting God’s help? I encourage you to make a decision to be a sower and a reaper. Make a decision to learn how to operate this death and resurrection principle so you can thrive in His kingdom