Christ as the Lamb of God Took away our Sin and Opened the Way for us to Enjoy God!

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) – Christ as the Lamb of God came to take away our sins and our sin, and He opened the way for us to enter into God and enjoy God! Hallelujah!

This week we want to enter into a deeper appreciation of Christ as the trespass offering, and for us to do this, we first need what is sin and what are sins.

Eph. 2:1 tells us that we were dead in offenses and sins. The condition of the entire fallen Adamic race is being dead in offenses and sins. Offenses are acts that overstep the limit of one’s right, while sins are actually evil doings.

Before we were saved, we all were spiritually dead in offenses and sins, and for this, we need Christ as the fulfillment of the sin offering and trespass offering for our redemption from sins.

According to the word of God, which we should be faithful to keep, be one with, and not adulterate, we all are born in sin, sin dwells in our flesh, and we commit sins.

The Lord Himself said that what comes out of man’s heart defiles man, for these acts are the fruits of the indwelling sin; these things are evil reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnessing, and blasphemies. Paul also lists these works of the flesh and manifestations of the sin in our activities and conduct in some portions in Rom. 1 and Gal. 5.

In Rom. 1:29-31 we see that God may give us up to three things: uncleanness, passions of dishonor, and a reprobate or disapproved mind. Such a giving up by God is especially manifested in the sin of fornication, which violates the governing and controlling principle of God as seen in the Bible.

Nothing is more serious than fornication, for it damages God’s purpose, the individual, his humanity, his family, and the society.

The evil acts coming out of sin indwelling man manifests as being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, senseless, faithless, affectionless, merciless.

Furthermore, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these (see Gal. 5:19-21).

The works of the flesh emanate from the fallen body, belong to the fallen soul, and some of them have to do with the deadened spirit; all three parts of our fallen being are involved with the corrupted flesh.

We need to see this in the word of God – in God’s eyes sin is clearly laid out, and the Spirit has spoken clearly through the apostles what is sin and what are the offenses.

Trespasses, on the other hand, are different from sins; to trespass is to go beyond and pass over your right, in place and action, so that you cause harm to other people and violate the law.

In the Old Testament there was the violation to God’s ordinances, and in the New Testament to trespass to overstep, do wrongdoings or errors, commit misdeeds, and offend.

We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, whether we committed big sins or small sins, obvious sins or not so obvious sins, seen sins or not seen, conscious sins or sins that we are not so conscious of.

Because we are sinful, we need to take Christ as our sin offering for the indwelling sin and as the trespass offering for the sins in our doing; these two offerings are absolutely necessary if we want to have fellowship with God and worship Him in a proper way.

Christ as the Lamb of God Took away our Sin for us to Enter into God and Enjoy God

John 1:29 is a wonderful gospel verse resounding throughout the ages, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Christ as the Lamb of God was manifested to take away the sin of the world.

All the bulls, sheep, goats, and lambs in the Old Testament are but types – Christ is the unique Lamb of God who was foreordained and foreknown by God before the foundation of the world, and Christ as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.

Christ is the unique redeeming Lamb, the unique sacrifice that God wants for sin. He died on the cross as the Lamb of God to deal with sin and sins, and to take away sin from the human race. In redemption Christ is the Lamb of God.

Through Satan, sin entered into man, for Satan injected sin – his poisonous nature – into the human race; but praise the Lord, Christ as the Lamb of God has come to take away sin and sins from the whole world, the whole mankind.

Christ died on the cross as the Lamb of God to deal with sin and sins; in 1 Cor. 15:3, 1 Pet. 2:24, and Heb. 9:28 we clearly see that Christ as the Lamb of God died for our sins, and in 1 Cor. 5:21 and Heb. 9:26, His death dealt with sin.

How can Christ be the Lamb of God as the unique sacrifice for sin and sins? Christ as the Lamb of God fulfilled the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory (Gen. 3:24; Rom. 2:5; Heb. 12:29; 9:5).

In the second section of three hours of being on the cross, Christ as the Lamb of God was made sin for us; His living and work on the earth fulfilled and satisfied all of God’s requirements, so on the cross He was the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.

Christ became sin on the cross, and all the sins that were ever committed and will be ever committed by any man were laid on Him.

Christ came in the likeness of the flesh of sin with no sin in the flesh, and on the cross Christ as the Lamb of God received the judgment of the wrath of God; in doing so, He fulfilled the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, because He was without blemish or spot.

Christ died for us, and God was satisfied. God was waiting for thousands of years for the moment that His Son would come to die for man as the Lamb of God; He created man and loved man, and He wants man to be the same as He is, but for this to happen, Christ had to die as the Lamb of God.

Now the way is open for us to come to God once again, for the righteous God is satisfied! God who is a consuming fire burned Christ – not physically but as a divine fire He consumed Christ as the sacrifice.

Christ is the reality of all the offerings to satisfy God – He is the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace-offering, the wave offering, the heave offering, the free-will offering, and the drink offering.

Through Christ as the Lamb of God fulfilling all the offerings we can enter into God and participate in the divine life and nature (John 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:4). We can now boldly come into God, knowing that He cannot reject us, because we have full redemption in Christ; we can enjoy God, enter into God, and partake of God! Hallelujah!

Thank You Lord Jesus for dying for us on the cross as the Lamb of God. You dealt with our sin and sins, and You took away sin from the human race. Lord, we believe into You and we accept Your sacrifice on the cross as the Lamb of God. Thank You for fulfilling all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory to open the way into God! Hallelujah, we can now come forward to enter into God through Jesus Christ! Lord, we come boldly to God based on Your blood to enjoy God and partake of God!

Christ as the Lamb of God was Foreknown by God and was Slain from the Foundation of the World

We should not think that Christ dying on the cross as the Lamb of God was something that God did in a hurry to take care of man’s sin, as if God was taken by surprise by man’s fall.

According to 1 Pet. 1:20, Christ as the redeeming Lamb was foreknown before the foundation of the world, that is, before the creation of the universe, but was manifested for our sake. Hallelujah!

Christ was foreordained and prepared by God to be His redeeming Lamb according to His foreknowledge before the foundation of the world; this was done according to God’s eternal purpose and plan – it was not an accident.

Christ was foreordained by God before the foundation of the universe was laid; He was approved by God and appreciated by Him. God ordained Christ to be His anointed One who would come in time, being commissioned to fulfill in time what God has planned in eternity.

In particular, Christ was foreknown and foreordained by God to be the Lamb of God to accomplish redemption. In God’s eyes, Christ as the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world (see Rev. 13:8).

We would think that Christ died two thousand years ago, but actually God foreknew Him, selected Him, chose Him, anointed Him, and commissioned Him in eternity past. Christ as the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world, from the time creation came into existence.

We may not know how this happened or understand this, but when creation came into being, the Lamb was slain – God saw it! Christ’s death on the cross as the Lamb of God was not a momentary decision or accident, but something that God planned for a long time.

God selected Christ as the Lamb of God, and this Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world; but in time, at the completion of the age of the Old Testament (Heb. 9:26), Christ offered Himself to God in His first manifestation for the putting away of sin.

Christ was manifested that He would take sin away (1 John 3:5). Praise the Lord! In the sight of God, Christ was slain from the time creation came into existence, since the fall of man as part of the world! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah, Christ as the redeeming Lamb was foreknown by God before the foundation of the world! God approved Christ, chose Him, selected Him, appreciated Him, and foreknew Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Thank You Lord Jesus for coming at the completion of the ages to be the Lamb of God. You were slain from the foundation of the world, but two thousand years ago You came to offer Yourself to God as a sacrifice for sin. Praise the Lord for Christ as the Lamb of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 28 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 9, Appreciating Christ as the Reality of the Trespass Offering.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lamb of God! our souls adore Thee, / While upon Thy face we gaze; / There the Father’s love and glory / Shine in all their brightest rays; / Thine Almighty pow’r and wisdom / All creation’s works proclaim; / Heav’n and earth alike confess Thee / As the ever great “I AM.” (Hymns #236)
  # Just as I am, without one plea, / But that Thy blood was shed for me, / And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, / O Lamb of God, I come! I come! (Hymns #1048)
  # Lamb of God so pure and spotless, / Lamb of God for sinners slain. / Thy shed blood has wrought redemption, / Cleansing us from every stain. / Lamb redeeming, Lamb redeeming, / Bearing all our sins away. (Hymns #1089)