Since the beginning of time, God has promised that the seed of the woman (Messiah) would crush the head of Satan, yet His heel would be bruised in the process (Genesis 3:15). Abraham foresees this great promise when he declares to his son, "God will provide Himself a lamb for the sacrifice" (Genesis 22:8).
The covenant between God and man was sealed with the sacrificial blood. Because of the offering of the Passover lamb during the final plague upon Egypt, the Lord God spared his doom from the firstborn children and cattle within Israel. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13).
Within the fold, one of the sheep would have to be offered as a sacrifice. This lamb must be spotless and without blemish (Leviticus 22:19-25). He will be chosen to cover the sins of "his" people — those who accept God's atonement acknowledged by the blood. The Levitical offerings present "in type" what Messiah must first accomplish in order to bring redemption to Israel and to the world.
"All we like sheep have gone astray," Isaiah proclaims, but "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 53:6-7). One from the fold of Israel would have to be sacrificed. That One would be Messiah! "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him... when You shall make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed... the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand" (Isaiah 53:10).
Prophetically, as well as historically, Messiah is the Shepherd and One of the Sheep. The sacrifice has already been offered and accepted. "Behold the Lamb of God!" (John 1:29). The New Covenant has confirmed that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd, as well as the Lamb of God. His sacrifice is able to take away the sins not only of Israel but also of the whole world (John 1:29). Jesus proclaimed, "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep" (John 10:11).
Peter, an apostle chosen by Jesus, acknowledges that we are redeemed by the "precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:19). He continues that we were "as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls" (I Peter 2:25). And the writer of Hebrews complements the words of Peter by concluding his arguments with the statement that "the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13:20).
Rob Zapotoski,
SMS Acting Director
