For the first time in his life, Jesus left His hometown of Nazareth and walked the 80-some miles to Jerusalem. He must have loved the trip, for it was springtime and all the flowers were in bloom. He always loved being outdoors. Even today, it’s loads more fun that sitting watching TV.
He made this long walking trip to attend the Passover because He wanted to watch the priests kill the innocent little creature that was called the Passover lamb.
He asked what it meant, why were they doing it, but nobody could tell Him. Not even Mary, His mother.
As He watched, an idea came to Him. The Passover lamb couldn’t save anyone by its death; its blood was animal blood; couldn’t wash away even one tiny little sin. This was only a kindergarten “sandbox” kind of lesson. The little lamb represented Somebody very important who would come to die for the world. Someone was to become the “Lamb of God.” The priests all said that sin could not be forgiven unless the lamb dies, and that was true; but Jesus thought it all through. He understood that when that One comes who is to be the real Lamb of God, He too must die instead of all the people dying. He would put an end to all animals being killed for sin.
Then Jesus began to realize that the Father was calling Him to become the Lamb of God! Can you imagine a Boy of 12 thinking things like that? He chose to say “Yes!” to that call. Yes, He will grow up to say always, “Yes!” to His Father’s will and to say “No!” to His own will. This was when He told His parents, “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49, KJV). Big load for a Boy to carry!
No other 12-year-old child has ever done that. The “government” was on His “shoulder,” and He bore the heavy load. Isaiah says, “He endured the suffering that should have been ours. ... Because of our sins He was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment He suffered, made whole by the blows He received” (Isaiah 53:4, 5).
Oh, how Satan hated Him! Time and again, the Enemy tried to trick Him into doing or saying something selfish, but Jesus defeated Satan every time, right down to the end when on His cross He said No! to the last temptation of Satan. The point is that Jesus won the great battle! This is how He trampled Satan underfoot. And He started doing it even when He was only a Child!
Muslims tell us that when Jesus died on His cross, He died a sad, defeated Man. But they are mistaken. When He finally cried with a loud voice, “It is finished!” His face was shining like the sun. He died so happy, knowing that because He won the victory, you and I will live forever in God’s everlasting kingdom.
Psalm 22 tells what happened in those last few moments. He knew that “all nations will remember the Lord. From every part of the world they will turn to Him. ... The Lord is king.” He died shouting, the great Battle is won! (See Psalm 22:27, 28.) He sang a song of victory as He drew His last breath. Then He bowed His head and died.
When the priests in the temple would kill the Passover lamb, it never came to life again; it was dead forever. Jesus knew that the real Lamb of God when He comes must truly die— not just go to sleep for a weekend and then live again as though nothing had happened. The Lamb of God must make a total, complete sacrifice of Himself, if anybody anywhere in the world could be saved from everlasting death. When Jesus died, He wasn’t thinking about being resurrected. He was glad that we would live forever!
Today people all over the world are making their choice to serve Him because of love. They are the happiest people. They choose all the time to say “No!” to Satan, and to say “Yes!” to the Holy Spirit. They are those 144,000 people* who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes. ... They are faultless” (Revelation 14:4, 5). It’s not that they are better than other people for they were born with the same sinful, self-centered nature we all have. But they have chosen to let Jesus save them from sinning.
You make that same choice, too, don’t you?
This looks or sounds like a big number of people, but it’s very small compared to the big population of the world. No one knows whether it’s a literal number, or whether it’s a number that stands for a much larger number. Of course, we all hope that Jesus will find very many people ready when He comes the second time.