More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
MTM - The Lamb's Redemption: Mary had a Little Lamb - Part One
Can a meek lamb hold the key to humanity's redemption? Join us on More Than Medicine, where Dr. Robert Jackson, along with his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller, unravels the profound symbolism of the Lamb in Christian theology. Drawing from a cherished message by Dr. Michael Clore, we delve into the deep tapestry of prophecy and divine planning that surrounds Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem. By linking the manger to the cross, we explore how the Lamb of God was destined to fulfill a purpose preordained from the foundation of the world, emphasizing the eternal theme of redemption woven throughout Scripture.
Journey with us as we revisit the Israelites' deliverance in Exodus, where the gentle Passover lamb becomes a symbol of salvation amid spiritual adversities. We reflect on the enduring battle between good and evil, showcasing how faith and sacrifice can overcome darkness. This episode is a thoughtful exploration of how the Lamb’s role in redemption transcends time, offering inspiration and a renewed understanding of faith during Christmastime. As we trace the Lamb's significance from biblical history to the essence of Christian life, may you find inspiration in the timeless message of salvation and sanctification.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, with his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Speaker 2:Welcome to More Than Medicine. I am your host, dr Robert Jackson. Merry Christmas to you. I would like to share with you a message that I first heard in the 1980s by one of my favorite pastor friends, dr Michael Clore. At the time he was the pastor of Siloam Baptist Church in Powdersville, south Carolina. I have read this message every year for the last 30 years at Christmas time for my own personal inspiration, edification and instruction. I'm going to share it with you as it was printed in the 1980s. It'll be a two-part message. I will start it today and finish it in my broadcast next week.
Speaker 2:The title is Mary had a Little Lamb. A baby is born every second. Why all of this fuss over the birth of just a little baby? The truth of the matter is on that first Christmas, mary did not have just another little baby, but Mary had a little lamb. A little lamb was born in Bethlehem. The great I Am was born a lamb.
Speaker 2:The birth of Jesus Christ was not an interruption in the natural course of history. It was planned and prophesied from the beginning of time. Jesus was born at just the exact time in just the exact way. All the events surrounding his birth and life were already planned, prophesied and purposed by his father. Sometimes some may look at the Christmas story as though things just got out of hand and events happened so fast that Mary and Joseph were absolutely unprepared. Fast that Mary and Joseph were absolutely unprepared, caught out in the cold, it was just poor planning on their part. However, we know that all that transpired in that event was preordained by God, the Father. When we look at the place where the birth occurred, the people who came and the prophecies fulfilled, we know this birth had been carefully planned. It was not accidental, nor was it incidental that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Speaker 2:Bethlehem is a beautiful little village now under Palestinian authority, about five miles south of Jerusalem. Most of us would have heard very little, if anything, of this village had not a little lamb been born there. It was not accidental because God had already prophesied centuries before in Micah 5, verse 2. But you, bethlehem, ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting, as I will show you. Bethlehem was not known in those days for its tourist attractions and olive wood, but for its lush fields where shepherds could find ample food in its green pastures. In those fields around Bethlehem, multiplied thousands of little lambs were being raised for the Passover sacrifices in Jerusalem. How fitting it was for Mary's little lamb to be born in Bethlehem. And who was the first and only group invited to celebrate this birth? It was shepherds. Why? Because Mary had a little lamb. And where was this little lamb born? In a hospital, in a house? No, in a stable. How fitting it was for Mary's little lamb to be born in a sheep's stable and laid in a lamb's manger.
Speaker 2:To many people, easter would be the Christian holiday that we should remember blood redemption, and I agree we should redemption, and I agree we should. However, christmas is not just a time for parties, parades, pageants and presents, but in Scripture it is a time when God reveals to all mankind His Passover lamb. I submit to you that Mary did not just have a baby, she had a little lamb. The Lamb of God is a dominating theme throughout God's Word. No wonder so many of our songs are about the Lamb. And to the Lamb. Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own. Here's another one, would you be free from the burden of sin. This power in the blood, power in the blood. There is power, wonder, working power in the blood of the lamb. Our faith, our fulfillment and our future are all wrapped up in Mary's little Lamb. The New Testament refers to Jesus Christ as the Lamb 33 times, one for each year of His earthly life. Precious Lamb of glory, love's most wondrous story, heart of God's redemption of man worshiping the Lamb of Glory. Well, the second part of this message, preached by Dr Clore, is entitled the Trail of the Lamb.
Speaker 2:In order to understand the cradle, you have to understand the cross, because Christmas was not an afterthought in the mind of God. The little lamb did not come into existence at Christmas. Before there was any fold, any field or any food, there was a lamb. Before there was a pasture or a place called Bethlehem, there was already a lamb in existence Even before there was a planet Earth. God's Word tells us that this lamb had been slain. Quote from the foundation of the world in Revelations 13 and verse 8.
Speaker 2:In order to understand both the cross and the cradle, we need to look at the cycle of all history. With each event, a grand spiral was forming. It was the lamb's trail circling toward the final fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. From the beginning of time God has been saying to mankind there's no way to approach me except by coming with the Lamb. The trail of the Lamb began in eternity past and continued with the first couple on earth. The sacrifice of the Lamb was ordained by God and instituted by Him in the very beginning of the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve had never seen death. They did not know what it was like, but when they disobeyed God they received the punishment of death. Like the history of man, they tried to cover themselves, only to find out no self-made covering will stand the gaze of a holy God. Therefore the Bible says Also for Adam and lamb to cover the guilt of Adam and Eve. God was teaching us from the very beginning and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, no remission of sin.
Speaker 2:The lamb next travels down the trail from the first couple to the first brothers, cain and Abel. Cain brought his offering to the Lord, which was an offering of the fruit of the ground. However, abel's offering was totally different. The Bible says Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, and the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but he did not respect Cain and his offering. Abel offered a little lamb and his offering was accepted. Why would God reject Cain's offering? As the old saying goes, abel offered a little lamb and his offering was accepted. Why would God reject Cain's offering? As the old saying goes, you can't get blood out of a turnip.
Speaker 2:God was teaching mankind, from Adam and Eve onward, that without the shedding of blood there was no remission, no forgiveness of sin. We follow the lamb out of the Garden of Eden, out of Ur, of the Chaldees. God's promise beckoned to Abraham I will make you a great nation, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Yet as the years passed and Abraham saw his earthly strength failing, he began to question God and eventually began to doubt. God reiterated his promise of descendants from Abraham's own loins when he said this man, eleazar, will not be your heir, but one who shall come forth from your own body. He shall be your heir.
Speaker 2:You probably remember the story that God did give to Abraham and Sarah, even though they were aged in years, a son of their own named Isaac. There's so much about Isaac that is a beautiful picture of the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac's birth was a miraculous birth. Although Sarah was beyond the proper time of life and Abraham was as good as dead, isaac was born. Mary's little lamb was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit without any human father. Both of these births were miraculous births In the same way. Isaac was a son of promise. Mary's little lamb was a son of promise.
Speaker 2:In Genesis 22, we have one of the most important stories for the Jews, as well as for those of us who are Christians. The Jews refer to it as the Akkadah, which is interpreted the binding of Isaac. Religious Jews recite the story daily and in many prayer books used in synagogues, the entire story of the Akkadah is printed as part of the early morning service on Sabbath. God told Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, abraham told his servants you stay here while Isaac and I will go up and worship and we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the offering and the knife, and he and Isaac walked up that mountain. Isaac asked his father Look the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering. Abraham answered his son saying my son, god will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.
Speaker 2:After Abraham prepared the altar of wood, this 100-year-old man took his strong, virile young son by the name of Isaac and placed him upon the altar. Isaac lay there without struggling. You see, the Lord Jesus did not die as a martyr. He did not die against his will. He was not murdered. Jesus said I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
Speaker 2:Now watch Abraham as he looks up to heaven and says Lord, I don't understand it, but your word is sufficient. See him as he takes that long, curved sacrificial knife. He lifts it above his only son, whom he loves, who is looking into his face with love. And just as he is ready to plunge it into his son, an angel stops him. Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
Speaker 2:So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering. Instead of his son, there was a ram wearing on his head a crown of thorns, and that lamb was offered as a sacrifice in place of Isaac. He was a substitute, a transfer. Isaac gets up and a lamb was substituted in his place as a sacrifice. That is what the lamb of God did for us on Calvary's cross, for he made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Isaiah, the prophet, said it this way all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, with the world, and do you have the communication skill and dedication?
Speaker 1:If so, let's talk. Send an email and a short description of your idea to bob at bobsloancom. That's bob at b-o-b-s-l-o-n-ecom. Now let's get back to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Well, now we're back and nearly 500 years later, we see the lamb on the trail, this time in Egypt. The descendants of Abraham, the Jews, are now slaves in Egypt. There are so many Jews that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, feels threatened by them, so he makes them slaves of Egypt and forces them into cruel and inhumane labor. The Jews are dying in Pharaoh's bondage. Finally, in their misery and despair, they cry out to God to deliver them. God hears their groaning and he remembers his covenant with Abraham groaning, and he remembers his covenant with Abraham. He has a plan on how to deliver them and set them free, and that plan is centered around guess what? A little lamb Working through Moses. God sends 10 terrible plagues upon the gods of Egypt. This is God's way of getting Pharaoh to let the Jews go. But each time God sends a new plague, pharaoh's heart hardens. Finally, god declares a tenth and final plague, which is to kill the firstborn of every family in Egypt.
Speaker 2:Land Along with the decree of death, god gives specific instructions on how to be saved from this death. What he said is recorded in Exodus, chapter 12. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his fathers, a lamb for the household, and if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons, according to each man's need. You shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight and they shall take some of the blood and put it on the door, two doorposts, and on the lentil of the house where they eat it.
Speaker 2:What is God going to use to deliver his children out of bondage? Not a lion, a little lamb Of all God's creatures that he could have used. The most gentle, the most loving, the most loyal, the most meek and defenseless of God's creatures is a lamb. But in order for that lamb to deliver them, that lamb had to be slaughtered and sacrificed. They could not be redeemed by the lamb's life but by its death.
Speaker 2:I once heard the story about a man who worked in Mississippi in a slaughterhouse. For years he had the responsibility of slaughtering beef cattle for the market. It was his job and he thought nothing of it, until one day that slaughterhouse began processing lambs. A lamb came through the chute. The man said it was my responsibility to cut the throat of that lamb. I had never done that before. For years I had grabbed the heads of those steers and they would wrestle and fight and do all they could to get away. But when I took that lamb it did not do one thing. I pulled its head back, put in the knife and the blood poured out onto my hand. Then that little lamb looked up at me and licked the blood off my hand until it died. That strong man said. I then laid down my knife, resigned my job and have never gone back since. What a meek, mild animal a lamb is.
Speaker 2:And God is going to use this lamb to deliver all of Egypt's slave labor from their bondage. Do you know what the symbol of Egypt was? It was a serpent. If you will look at ancient artifacts of Egypt or movies about Egypt, you will notice that on Pharaoh's crown there is a coiled serpent. In the center, upon Pharaoh's scepter, sat a coiled serpent. The battle in Egypt was between a serpent and a lamb. On one side is an aggressive, venomous, stalking, lethal snake and on the other side, a defenseless, innocent, meek lamb. And do you know who won? You're right, it was the Lamb. In the Bible, the serpent represents Satan. What God is saying with this story is that in His own appointed time, he will use the blood of the Lamb to destroy Satan's power and set people free from bondage to Him. In Revelation 12, verse 9, he is referred to as that serpent of old and is the only way you and I who are born again can overcome the power of Satan today is by the lamb, the scripture says. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives, even unto death.
Speaker 2:Notice several things about this lamb in the story of the first Passover. You will notice it was a very special lamb. Even one blemish or one spot would disqualify this lamb. Those Jewish priests would take those Passover lambs and examine every detail of them. They would look into their mouths, their gums and teeth, even examine their eyelids and look inside their ears. They would make sure there was nothing wrong on the outside nor on the inside. If there was any blemish at all, it could not be a substitute for someone else. This was also a slain lamb, as God says. They were to kill it.
Speaker 2:That lamb was taken on the 10th day, kept until the 14th day, and then at 3 pm the father of the family would pull back the head of the lamb, cut its throat and catch the blood in a basin. Then, while he stood at the door of his house, he would take that blood and put it upon the doorpost. That means this lamb was also a saving lamb, for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 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.
Speaker 2:God said they were to take hyssop, dip it in that blood and make a vertical stroke on the doorpost of the house. Then they were to take the blood and make a horizontal stroke upon the lentil of the house. Do you see what that is a picture of? It is a picture of the cross. When anyone would come into the house, they would be saved because they would come in through and under the blood of the Lamb. They could have put poetry and good literature on the door, but would not have saved them. They could have strung jewelry around the door, but it would not have saved them. They could have strung jewelry around the door, but it would not have saved them. They could have tied a perfect living lamb to the doorpost, but it would not have saved them. We are not saved by learning lessons from the life of Christ, but we are saved by receiving life from the death of Christ. God said when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Why blood? Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, no forgiveness of sin.
Speaker 2:This little lamb was also a shared lamb. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire. Its head, with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. It was not enough that the lamb had to die, it was also roasted and eaten. Try to imagine the scene in the land of Goshen that night One quarter of a million barbecues cooking lamb all at the same time. Can you imagine the smell all over the land that night, the smell of roasted lamb? And not only were they to roast it, they were to eat it and eat all of it.
Speaker 2:As they were receiving the lamb, this bunch of ragtag Jewish slaves were becoming a nation. As they walked out of Egypt, a lamb walked out also because the lamb was in them. There were many lambs sacrificed and eaten that night, but in the people's minds, as they ate the lambs, it was the one life of God coming into them. Although they were 12 different tribes, they were all part of the same lamb. As they ate the flesh of the sacrifices, they were symbolically becoming one with God. This is the essence of the blood covenant.
Speaker 2:That is what the basis of the Christian life is all about, dear friend, it is not you, it is the Lamb in you. The New Testament says it this way Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians, chapter 1 and verse 27. As you continue through the Old Testament, sacrifices and offerings, not only in the tabernacle but also in the temple, you will see the Lamb traveling on the trail of redemption. God is giving us a picture that Mary's little lamb is the sole basis of our salvation, our strength and our sanctification. Well, brothers and sisters, next week we will talk about the time of the lamb and then the triumph of the Lamb. This is a message preached by my good friend Dr Michael Clore in the 1980s and, as I shared with you. I read this every year at Christmastime for my own edification, instruction and inspiration, and I hope this year at Christmastime, this message will be just as inspirational to you. Merry Christmas to you and your family, and we'll pick up where we've left off next week in our radio broadcast and our podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. If you'd like to contribute to further the efforts of the ministry, you can support them at patreoncom forward slash jacksonfamilyministries. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
