Dear Pilgrim, have you beheld the Lamb of God?

Dear Pilgrim, have you beheld the Lamb of God? The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world? Have you looked upon the Lamb who was slain?

Come, Pilgrim. Let us ascend, let us climb up to Golgotha, the place of the skull. Oh, Pilgrim, let us take off our sandals as we climb, for this is holy ground.

Pilgrim, well might you be trembling beside me. I am trembling too. For here He has taken up our pain, and bears our suffering. He has been pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Oh, Pilgrim, He is bearing our sins in His body on the cross. He is bearing my sin. He is bearing your sin.

When Abraham declared to Isaac “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Gen 22:8), could he have known how these words would be fulfilled? On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided, and here, on the mountain of the Lord, the Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, was provided.

Just as the Passover Lamb was a lamb without defect, so Jesus Christ was a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Pe 1:19). Pilate declared after examining the Lamb, “I find no basis for a charge against Him” (John 19:6). Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth (Isa 53:7). For Jesus made no reply, not to a single charge that was brought against Him (Mt 27:14). Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

He was like one from whom people hid their faces, for He was despised and held in low esteem. Oh, Pilgrim, let us not hide our faces from Him! Let us kneel here, at the foot of the cross, let us gaze up at our Saviour, our precious Redeemer, who is spilling His blood for you and for me, who is pouring out His blood for many for the forgiveness of sins. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

See Him on the cross, the Bread of Affliction (Dt 16:3). The bread of affliction, bread made without yeast, was eaten along with the Passover Lamb by the Israelites in remembrance of the night they fled Egypt. The Bread of Life, the living bread that came down from heaven, became the Bread of Affliction that we might eat of His flesh which He gave for the life of the world.

Hear the Bread of Affliction crying out “I am thirsty”, in order to fulfil the Scriptures. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. As they did so, they lay before us the meal that Ruth’s Kinsman-Redeemer offered to her, when he gave her a meal of bread dipped in wine vinegar (Ruth 2:14).

Pilgrim, as we kneel at the foot of the cross, gazing at our Saviour, in repentance feeding on Him as He gives His life for us, listen to the words Boaz speaks to Ruth as she shares this meal: “I’ve been told…how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (Ruth 2:11-12). Oh Pilgrim, how can it be that He would speak in this manner to us? How can we have found such favour in His eyes? How can it be that He would give such comfort to us, and speak so kindly to us, when it is our sin which has caused His suffering, when it is because of our own sin that He hangs on this cross? Yet He does indeed speak these words to us, who have left everything to come and kneel here, at the foot of His cross, we who have fled the city where we dwelt to find refuge in the mountains. We will be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings we have come to take refuge. For it is in His cross that we have come to take refuge, it is in His cross where we shelter in the shadow of His wings, it is in His cross that we are covered by His blood – His blood in which a rich reward is to be found.

For His blood of the covenant was poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. We, who were in slavery to sin, have been redeemed through His blood! We, who were far away, have been brought near by His blood! He has cleansed our consciences from acts that lead to death through His blood! We have been reconciled with our Father in heaven through His blood! We have peace with God through His blood! He makes us holy through His blood! We have been purified from sin through His blood! He has freed us from our sins through His blood! We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb!

Oh, Pilgrim, what precious blood this is! What riches there are in His blood! Oh, Pilgrim, at one and the same time are our hearts not filled with grief that He had to pour out His blood, yet filled with rejoicing at what has been accomplished? What can we do but bow down and worship? Let us fall down before Him and worship! Oh, sing with me, Pilgrim, sing, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”