Inspection of the Lamb

March 29, 2010- This morning, a tremendous revelation was illuminated for me and I have to share it here...
God instructed the children of Israel concerning the purity of the lamb which would be sacrificed at Passover: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats” (Exodus 12:5).

There could be no spot or blemish. Nothing!

The inspection process, from the very first Passover, was extremely thorough to guarantee a lamb that met the strictest of standards set by God.

The Lamb of God, without question, fulfilled every criteria. The Lamb of God is perfect. He is without blemish. He is holy, righteous, and just: “For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

In fact, if you look closely through the Scriptures, you will see that before He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), Christ Jesus actually went through seven distinct inspections:

Pilate inspected Jesus, and in John 19:4 we read, “Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.” No fault!

King Herod inspected the Savior. Jesus, by King Herod’s own admission of Christ’s blamelessness, did nothing worth of death (Luke 23:13-15).

Annas, father-in-law of the high priest, inspected Jesus. Annas obviously found no fault, for he passed Him along to his son-in-law (John 18:12-14, 24).

Caiaphas, the high priest, inspected Jesus, as reflected in John 18. Again, no blame could be placed on the spotless Lamb of God.

The centurion inspected the Master. The commander of the Roman soldiers, when it was finished, gave the awe-filled result of his crucifixion scrutiny: “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54).

The thief hanging beside Jesus inspected the Lamb of God closely during Christ’s final hours on the cross, and this common criminal made a powerful confession that propelled him into an eternity with the Savior: “But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward for our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” (Luke 23:40-42).

Seven inspections came and went. Seven confessions pointed to the irrefutable fact that no one could find fault in Him. As proclaimed truthfully by the thief, the fault is in each of us. We are to blame.
But check this out. When a person would bring the lamb in to the priest, the priest would inspect the lamb for flaws, not the person. Now that my friend, will preach.