The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Day 30, Jesus as the Lamb (con.)

Genesis 22:6-8 (NKJV) So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.  But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

The images in the Passover predate the actual Passover. Anyone descended from Isaac, from Jacob and from the patriarchs, knew the story of Abraham’s test by God. Would he be willing to sacrifice the chosen son, the promised lineage, just because God said so? I mean, it seemed so unfair.

But Abraham, Hebrews tells us, believed that God would fulfill his promise through Isaac, even if He had to raise Isaac from the dead.

Was God testing how much Abraham loved Him? Well, yes. But that was not the main point. He was testing how much Abraham believed Him. He was testing his faith. And Abraham passed with flying colors.

So what can we learn about Jesus in this passage?

He would be the Lamb that God provides for himself. On this day, God gave a ram in the thicket—not a lamb. The difference? A lamb was pure and innocent. A ram was an adult and had done what adult rams need to do.

In Passover, the leftovers were burnt as this offering was. The Lamb was totally consumed by and for God.

The Lamb had to be male. The ram provided this day was older, but still the type that would come.

What else can we learn? Abraham knew the promise. Not just the initial one about Isaac and his descendants, but the long term one about the seed of the woman, the Lamb to come that remove the curse of Adam.

All these Scriptures and images hid behind the words of Simeon. He saw, more than most, the price that the Messiah would pay to redeem mankind.

A Sixty-Day Countdown to Christmas


More Days

Introduction to The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Holding Jesus

Day 3, A Sketch of Simeon

Simeon Was a Godly Man

Day 5, Simeon's Testimony

Day 6, Prophecies for the Gentiles

Day 7, Blessing to Nations

Day 8, A Holy People

Day 9, Welcoming God's Firstborn

Day 10, The Name of Simeon

Day 11, Staying Alive

Day 12, Following the Spirit

Day 13, Taking Up Jesus

Day 14, God's Slave

Day 15, True Peace

Day 16, Seeing Reality

Day 17, The Intent of the Law

Day 18, For All Peoples

Day 19, Making Mary and Joseph Marvel

Day 20, A Blessing

Day 21, Hinting at the Rest of the Story

Day 22, Mary Will Grieve

Day 23, Making Simeon into Simeon

Day 24, Prophet to the Prophets

Day 25, A Priest Like Melchizedek

Day 26, Destined for Sacrifice

Day 27, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, part 1

Day 28, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, part 2

Day 29, Jesus and the Passover Lamb, Part 3

Day 30, Jesus as the Lamb (con.)

Day 31, Simeon as a Man of Gratitude

Day 32, Sacrificing Lambs in the Old Testament

Day 33, The Silent Lamb

Day 34, The Messiah as Light

Day 35, Jesus the Stumbling Block

Day 36, Jesus as the Rock

Day 37, The Precious Cornerstone

Day 38, The Stone in Zion

Day 39, The Cornerstone and the Gate

Day 40, The Stone of Judgment

Day 41, Into Zion First

Day 42, Restoring the Booth of David

Day 43, Forgotten Stones

Day 44, Blessed to Receive

Day 45, Crown Him with Many Crowns

Day 46, Identifying the Son of God

Day 47, The Best Storyteller Ever

Day 48, In Bethlehem, the City of David

Day 49, Born a King

Day 50, The Living Jesus

Day 51, The Mountain Tree (Part 1)

Day 52, The Mountain Tree (Part 2)

Day 53, The Root of Jesse

Day 54, David's Branch

Day 55, The Cursed Tree

Day 56, Time Fulfilled

Day 58 through 60

Day 57, Born David's King