Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: When you think of power, you don't think of a lamb. When you think of a conqueror, you don't think of a lamb. Yet the most transformative figure in history was announced to the world not as a king, not as a warrior, but as a lamb. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll begins a remarkable three-day journey through the Bible's most profound symbol. From the very first pages of Scripture, God was weaving a single crimson thread through history, pointing toward the one who would come, suffer, and surrender His life.

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: If you brought a Bible with you today, you will want to locate the writing of Isaiah the prophet, chapter 53. Mark that place with your finger, and you may wish to put the outline of the message today back at Genesis chapter 22, where we will begin in a few moments. But the reading will be from Isaiah 53, beginning at verse 3 down through verse 7.

Isaiah 53, verse 3: He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. Because this section of Scripture speaks of our Savior, we desire today that He be honored and magnified as we live out the truth of what we have just read.

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into today's topic on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message "The Lamb That Was Slaughtered."

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: When you think of a lamb, you don't think of something powerful or mighty or strong or all that impressive, do you? For example, if you were the campaign manager of the one running for president, I doubt that your motto would be, "Vote for our man. He is a real lamb." As a leader, a real lamb. And isn't it interesting when they come up with names for cars, you will never see one called a lamb. Think of them. How about the Cadillac Lamb? It just doesn't work, does it? Or a Hummer Lamb? It’s not what you'd expect.

I even thought about some of the ball team names that come to mind. We have the Lions, don't we? And there's the LSU Tigers. That's another one. And you've got—I hate to say this because I'll get a response—we have the Aggies, and that's another group that we have to put up with. But I—and the Broncos in Denver and the Vikings in Minnesota. But you'll never read of the New York Lambs. It’s just not going to be there. You'll have Giants, but you won't have lambs. Why? Because it's not very impressive. It's not very significant.

Surely, surely the thought of a lamb did not impress the shakers and movers of the first century in the Middle East. I mean, there certainly were some Type-A individuals who got word of this man who was taking Galilee by storm. I mean, people were being swept into his teaching, and they were following him by the thousands. And then word gets back to someone's headquarters, and they hear, "Did you hear that he's known as the Lamb?" The Lamb?

You sang the words to the song, and that's my favorite part of the song we sang: "Who would have thought that a lamb could rescue the souls of men?" Now why would the songwriter put that in there? Because you don't think of lambs as rescuing anyone. You rescue lambs. Lambs don't rescue you, unless, of course, the lamb is the Lamb of God. It was all of this in my mind that led me to open my concordance. Now, there's a word. Concordance. If you're a serious student of the Bible, you need to have in your library a concordance, which is an alphabetical listing of all the words in the Bible and Scripture reference providing where they are mentioned.

And I got my concordance on my desk, and I turned to "lamb," and I was amazed how many references there were to this little animal. I mean, you would think it plays a role that no other animal in Scripture plays. In fact, it does. One of the early references to lamb is found in Genesis chapter 22. If you've not yet turned there, please open your Bible to that 22nd chapter. It is a tender, touching story of a father who is told to take the life of his son. We have to pause at that moment and believe what we just heard.

Every time I read Genesis 22, I'm taken aback by Abraham's obedience. Look at the command from God, verse 1: "It came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham.' And he said, 'Here am I.' He said, 'Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac. Go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.'" Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled the donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac, his son.

And he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place which God had told him. Yes, you read that correctly. Abraham is an aging, aging father. The son is born to the family late in life, and many years have passed since the birth, and Isaac is now a young adult. We know that because he carries the firewood up the mountain for the altar to be built. Look at verse 6: Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. The two of them walked together.

When I was growing up in Sunday school, I remember seeing pictures of Abraham and Isaac, and Isaac was just a little lad. But little boys can't carry firewood, certainly not up the side of a mountain. This is a grown man. Isaac is smart enough to realize that in his hand is that which will be the makings of an altar. In his father's hand is the torch which will set fire to the altar. So his question makes sense. He says to his father, verse 7, "My father." He said, "Here am I." And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Of course, you would wonder. Where is the lamb? Isaac doesn't know the story. Isaac is living it out. "Father, we have the wood, we have the torch. We're going to build an altar. Where's the sacrificial lamb?" I love Abraham's response: "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together. You know what is also impressive? There was no wrestling match at the top of the mountain. There was no fight. Not only do we admire the obedience of Abraham, but the submission of Isaac to lie down on the altar to be bound, and his father to take the knife.

He would have cut his throat had God not intervened. So it is with lambs. So it has always been. Thank goodness the Lord intervened, and Isaac lived on, but it was a test of Abraham's faith in his God. If you trace the word further, you'll come to Exodus chapter 12. Turn there next. Exodus 12. We've come all the way to the days of Moses and the time in which the Hebrews are living under the authority of the Egyptians. And God is about to lead them into what is known now as the Exodus. And He's preparing them for the departure out of the land.

They've lived there for over 400 years. And the Lord now gives them instruction on how to prepare for the departure from the land and to go into and toward the land of promise. Exodus 12:3. These are the Lord's words to Moses: "Speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves.'" Look at that. Each family is to take a lamb for themselves, according to their father's households, a lamb for each household.

If the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them, according to what each man shall eat, you are to divide the lamb. Verse 5: "Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight." That would be the night they would be exiting from the land of Egypt.

But you're to keep it there and have it ready. Verse 7: "Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire." Verse 11: "Now you shall eat it in this manner, with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste." Why? It is the Lord's Passover.

You who know the story know that—well, let's read it, verse 12: "I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses." So when the death angel passed over—that's where the word comes from—when the death angel passed over, as the blood was seen, he would leave the house and leave it untouched.

But if there was no blood on the door, then the angel would enter and a life of the firstborn would be taken. This was what it took to break the back of Pharaoh. Finally, Pharaoh says to the Israelites, "Let the people go." He says to Moses, "Go, go, be on your way." But the lamb, the lamb was an essential part of the Exodus strategy. We could look at Leviticus 23 or Exodus 29. In Exodus chapter 29, you will see another reference to lambs. Verse 38 of Exodus 29: "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs each day."

And do that continuously. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Verse 42: "It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you to speak with you." Merrill Tenney, in his work, *Encyclopedia of the Bible*, writes this: "The lamb was the principal animal of sacrifice among the Jews, being the offering each morning and each evening in the Mosaic system, and especially on the Sabbath."

"Also, the lamb was the sacrifice on special days of religious significance. Lambs represented innocence and gentleness." To this day—to this day—the presence of blood is still seen as significant in the household of the orthodox Jew. The feast, the festivals, the holy days, the special days, even the Nazirite vow was to be accompanied with the offering of lambs. And here in Exodus 12, we sort of have the seed plot for the rest of the festivals and feasts of the Jews as lambs were offered up.

Our faith today is, if you will, bloodless. But in those days, there was not a time when there wasn't blood running from the altar of the place of worship. Strange to us, but very familiar to those who would follow in the generations to come. Now we turn to the New Testament, Mark chapter 14, and we come across yet another reference to the lamb. Mark 14, beginning at verse 12: On the first day of unleavened bread, when—here it is—when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, his disciples said to him—the "him," of course, would be Jesus—"Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

Verse 16: The disciples went out, came to the city, found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. These are all grown men. Throughout their childhood and teenage years, young adult years to the very age they are, they have been familiar with the Passover meal. They knew how to prepare it. They knew the ingredients. They knew the way to fix the lamb so that it would be appropriate for the Passover meal. And they told the Lord Himself, "We'll go and prepare it," completely familiar with it. And it answers back to what we just read in Exodus 12.

Just a couple more. 1 Corinthians 5, beginning at verse 6. Paul is writing the people of Corinth, and he's urging them to clean up their lives. They were a people who danced near the edge of disobedience. They were what we might call a fast culture. And because of that, Paul had to rein them in. And one of the ways of doing it was to remind them of the importance of getting rid of the leaven. In the scriptural days, leaven was a symbol. It was a word representing sin.

Look at how Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6: "Your boasting is not good." They'd been boasting about how full of grace they were when, in fact, it was license. He said, "That's not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?" Do you not realize that when you put just a little leaven, the dough will all rise? It's not just a little part of it. And it's a picture of sin. A little bit of sin and the life is contaminated. It was illustrated to me in one time, a pin and a balloon.

How many pins does it take to burst a balloon? One pin and the whole balloon bursts. The presence of sin and the life is on its way to becoming shattered. So he says, "Clean up your life. A little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump." When I was taking Greek from Dr. Stan Toussaint years ago in my days at seminary, he told the funny story of one of his students earlier than when I was a student of his. He said the student could not get that translated: "The little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough."

And he said he finally, in an exasperated moment, simply said, "Well, a little dab'll do ya." That seemed to say it for him. That's true with sin. Just a little dab, and it's amazing what it does. Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap your character. Sow your character, reap your destiny. That's Paul's concern here. And so he now turns to the picture of Christ the Lamb, Christ the Passover, verse 7: "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened," meaning in your position you are as righteous as the Son of God is righteous, so in your life you must be as well.

"For Christ"—here it is—"Christ our Passover has also been sacrificed." Isn't that a marvelous statement? We no longer come to an altar and slice the throat of an animal and the blood pours out, as happened day after day after day on Jewish altars. We come to our Savior who is our Passover, and in Him, in Him forgiveness is found. In Him alone there is purpose and reason to go on with our lives. The Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. And let me add this, He never needs to be sacrificed again.

It is called a finished work. Christ said, while hanging on the cross, "Tetelestai." The very word he used: "It has been finished. It has been completed. It is done. Paid for. Paid in full." At that moment, the Lamb of God took care of that which had forever plagued humanity. Past, present, and future, the sins of humanity taken care of. Now, this isn't an afterthought with God. This is part of the plan since the foundations of the world. In fact, Isaiah chapter 53 prophesied of it way back 700 years BC.

Isaiah writes of a lamb who was to be slaughtered, picturing the coming Messiah. So Isaiah is looking ahead 700 years or so for the coming of Messiah. Verse 3 of Isaiah 53: "He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." It’s a picture of shunning. But look at verse 5: "He was pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities." The chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scourging we are healed.

Bill Meyer: 700 years before it happened, Isaiah saw it coming. A Messiah who would be despised, rejected, crushed. Not for His own sins, but for ours. Pierced for our transgressions, wounded for our iniquities. The weight of that prophecy is staggering. This is Insight for Living. Chuck Swindoll titled his message "The Lamb That Was Slaughtered." There's more teaching from this passage Chuck wants to show you. Plus, we'll hear a closing comment from him in just a moment, so stay with us.

Today represents a milestone here at Insight for Living because every year on June 30th we close the books on another ministry year. And tomorrow we'll walk into a brand new one, beginning our 48th year of ministry with you. With that in mind, we're inviting you to join us in giving generously, so that listeners far and wide can experience a real, personal, life-altering encounter with the cross we proclaim. To send your donation in the mail, write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034. You can also call 800-772-8888 or give online at insight.org/donate. Chuck?

Pastor Chuck Swindoll: I came across a quote not long ago that I haven't been able to shake. It was from a man named John Allen, a Salvation Army saint who was near the end of his life. John made this shocking statement: "I deserve to be damned. I deserve to be in hell. But God interfered." That last part is worth repeating: "God interfered." Wow. I love that more than I can say, because that's the story of the cross. We were running hard in the wrong direction, and God stepped in.

He didn't send a memo. He didn't offer a suggestion. He hung on a cross and bled and died and rose again. That's not a metaphor, that's history. And that interference has changed every life that's ever truly reckoned with it. Here's what keeps me up at night. Millions of people are still running the wrong direction, and they don't know it. They're busy. They're sincere. Some of them are sitting in church every Sunday, but they've never had a real, personal, life-altering encounter with the cross we proclaim. That's the whole reason Insight for Living exists.

And here's what I want you to understand. As we approach June 30th, when you send a gift to Insight for Living, God's Word doesn't just sit in a quiet studio. It goes through radio, through the internet, through social media, through printed resources, into homes and hearts all over the world. You are the one who sends it. Your generosity is your ministry. Someone, somewhere, is about to have their own "God-interfered" moment. The cross is going to reorient their entire life. Your gift makes that possible. Please don't wait. Give today and give knowing that what you're investing in is genuinely, permanently, eternally important.

Bill Meyer: Thanks for responding to Chuck Swindoll today. When you do, we'll say thanks by providing a brand-new booklet from Chuck. It's called *The Cross We Proclaim*. Life is hard, and I'm sure there are more mornings when you wonder if you have anything left to give. In *The Cross We Proclaim*, you'll be reminded you were never meant to conquer your challenges in your own strength. The key is understanding how to deploy, in practical ways, the power of the cross. Don't forget, the deadline is today. To send a donation and your request for the booklet in the mail, address the envelope to Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034. You can also call 800-772-8888 or give online at insight.org/donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us again when Chuck Swindoll presents critical context for the sacrificial lamb tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "The Lamb That Was Slaughtered," was copyrighted in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2019, and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.