Shank Bone 2 – Good Friday

John the Baptist spoke these words to introduce Jesus the Christ (Messiah) “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! “ (John 1:29)  The Lamb of God is an apt description of Jesus, for indeed it was Jesus who took away the sin of the world. In former times the law of Moses required a sin offering (Leviticus 5:5-6).  The shedding of blood was required for the forgiveness of sin. “The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) The lamb is a symbol of the seriousness of sin.  Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness (results of sin) with a patch of fig leaves. (Have you ever considered what their clothing would have looked like the day after they made them!)  A dried up leaf is really not sufficient. God took a lamb … I do not believe it was just any lamb, but I think it was a pet which was close to the couple.  It had to be killed – that is the lesson, Sin (wrong doing) always hurts someone!  Then the pet lamb was skinned (yes, our foul deeds: ridicule, rape, theft, and others skin people alive); and a permanent cloak was made for the first couple, which would not wither. This offering meant something to Adam and Eve.  They knew the Lamb.  Later on people forgot and made light of the offering.  God said: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” (1 Sam. 15:22; Hosea 6:6) And God knew that the system of offering could (would) not go on forever.  There was a day coming that God would provide his own and only Son, the Son of Man, Jesus the Messiah (Anointed One) to die on the cross for us (Good Friday), to take away the sin of the world. Peter Tells us: “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 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. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:17-21) After the death of Jesus the Temple was no longer needed.  Jesus is the Sin Offering pictured in the Torah.  God allowed the removal of the Temple 40 years after Jesus died on the cross (within the generation) because it was no longer needed.   John writes in Revelation: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne. … Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:6, 12) John tells us: “I did not see a temple in the city (New Jerusalem), because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22) The Shank Bone in the middle of the Jewish Passover table is a reminder to that the beloved Temple exists no longer. It is a reminder in the Christian celebration that “it is finished,” our sin has been removed, and is no more.  Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!