Sacrificial Lamb

“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15

Yesterday I was listening to Kathie Lee Gifford’s video, “The Rock, The Road and the Rabbi”. Rabbi Jason Sobel recounted that it was so significant that baby Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes after His birth. You see swaddling clothes was not a blanket or clothes wrapped around a baby. It was composed of strips of cloth wound about the body. 

Just outside of Jerusalem, Levitical shepherds were chosen and trained to take care of flock that were to be sacrificial lambs in the Temple. When a sheep gives birth in a clean and sterile cave, the shepherd would then wrap the newly born lamb in swaddling clothes to keep it “spotless and unblemished” as required by the Law. Exodus 12:5 requires, “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” It was necessary to take care of the baby sheep because otherwise they would get hurt in the rocks and crevices of the cave. These sheep would be brought to the Temple in Jerusalem just 4 miles away, and they would be sacrificed by the priest. 

So Jesus our Lord was also treated as a new born lamb specially set aside for sacrifice. When Jesus willingly laid down His life for us on Calvary’s cross, He died at the same time that an unblemished male lamb was sacrificed in the Temple. Every single day, an unblemished male lamb was sacrificed, one in the morning, and one in the evening, as specified in the Torah. (Numbers 28:1-8)

When Jesus said He was the good shepherd, that He knew each one of His sheep, He was thinking about you and me. He was willing to lay down His life just so we would be able to be with Him and the Father in His eternal Kingdom one day.