Revive Our Hearts

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The Lamb of God will either bring you comfort or terror. Listen, one day you will face the Lamb as your Judge, or you will face Him as your Savior. Which will it be for you? He will conquer you, or you will be one of those who conquers with Him.

Dana Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Adorned: Living out the Beauty of the Gospel Together. For April 2nd, 2026, I’m Dana Gresh.

It might sound a little odd to say that Jesus is our Lamb, but it’s true. And Nancy’s about to show you why this name of Jesus is so meaningful. This message is part of the series "Holy Week Heart Prep: The Wonderful Names of Jesus."

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Yesterday we looked at the name Redeemer, Jesus our Redeemer, and we talked about how we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That’s the ransom price that was paid for our redemption. Lambs play an extremely important part in Israel’s history and in the redemptive story. Throughout the Old Testament, lambs are a symbol that point to Christ, who is the Lamb of God. That’s the name we want to look at today.

As with so many of these names, we have to go back into the Old Testament to see how Jesus fulfills a type, how He fulfills a picture or a symbol that we find first in the Old Testament. The first mention of a sacrificial lamb is found in the book of Genesis, chapter 22. You may want to turn there, but you know the story of how God told Abraham to take his son Isaac, the one son that he had longed for, he had waited for, the son that had been promised to him, the son that he loved with all his heart. And God said, "Take that son and offer him as a burnt offering to God."

Abraham obeyed God. He got up early in the morning. He didn’t know the end of the story the way we do. He cut the wood for the offering, he headed out with his son to that place 45 miles away at Mount Moriah, where God had told him to make the sacrifice. On the third day, they arrived at the mount. He told the servants who had come with him to wait, and then he put the wood on his son’s back. Abraham picked up a knife and a fire and carried them with him, the fire to light the sacrifice.

Then we read in verse seven of Genesis 22, "Isaac said to his father Abraham, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' He said, 'Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' Abraham said, 'God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.'" Some of the older translations translate that a little differently. They say, "God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering."

Either way, when you come to the New Testament, all of that makes a whole lot more sense. God will provide for Himself the lamb. God will provide Himself the lamb for the burnt offering. You remember how at the last moment, from a human perspective, as Abraham took the knife in his hand to offer up his own son to God, how God provided a substitute, foreshadowing, of course, the day when God would one day sacrifice His only Son, the Lamb of God, who would die in our place. So we see the significance there of the lamb offered up for a burnt offering.

Then we come to the story we’ve talked about earlier in this series, in Exodus chapter 12, the initiation, the inauguration of the Passover. Let me read just a little of that from Exodus 12, beginning in verse one: "The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt..." Verse three: "Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household."

God is getting ready to ransom, to deliver His people out of Egypt, and first there has to be this ransom price paid, the redemption price. So God says every family is to take a lamb. Then verse five: "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old." Verse six: "And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month." You get the lamb on the tenth day, you bring it into your household. How long would it take your kids and your family to get attached to that lamb? Is four days long enough?

By now those kids have this lamb named, it’s their pet lamb, and God says, "Now on the fourteenth day, you tell the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel to kill their lambs at twilight. Take a lamb, kill the lamb." Verse seven: "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night." So the lamb is killed, the blood is spread, the flesh is eaten, it’s roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

Verse 11: "It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments." Verse 13: "And when I see the blood," the blood of those slain lambs spread on your doorposts, "when I see the blood of the lamb, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt."

The story is much longer than that, but you see the juxtaposition here, that this is a night of judgment on the Egyptians who did not kill the lambs and spread the blood. It’s a night of judgment for the Egyptians, but it’s a night of great amazing salvation for the Israelites. You see those twin themes of judgment and salvation going all the way through the Scripture. I make a little note in my Bible each time I come to it: judgment and salvation.

There’s no salvation without judgment, but wherever there is judgment, there is salvation offered. The only difference was the lamb, the blood of the lamb. From that point on, once every year, the Israelites commemorated this night. They sacrificed a lamb. They offered up and ate a Passover lamb. They did not want to ever forget their deliverance out of Egypt, and they didn’t want their children ever to forget either. So we see the inauguration of the Passover lamb.

Through the books of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers, we see lambs all the time. Just circle those references when you come to them in your Bible, to make Leviticus come alive to you. In those three books, there are 93 references to lambs being offered up as sacrifices. That’s in addition to other sacrificial animals, bulls and goats and birds, but 93 references to lambs being sacrificed. As the people of Israel would enter the gate of the Tabernacle, just inside the courtyard, there was an altar.

It was a wood altar covered with bronze, the bronze altar. It was an altar of sacrifice. In fact, the Hebrew root for the word "altar" means to slay or slaughter. It’s the place where the lambs and the other sacrificial animals were slaughtered, and they were offered up to God. You see these lambs being offered up for many different reasons. For example, when the priests were consecrated, lambs were offered each day for seven days.

Those priests had to sacrifice lambs to cover their own sins before they could perform their duties on behalf of the people. Lambs were sacrificed for peace offerings, for sin offerings, as restitution for guilt. Lambs were offered up regularly by the priests on behalf of the Israelites. Every morning and every evening, a lamb was offered up. Two additional lambs were offered every Sabbath, and seven additional lambs were offered on the first day of each month.

There were lambs offered on the seven annual feast days or holy days of Israel, extra sacrifices of lambs that were offered on those days. It’s been calculated that over the course of one year, 1,086 lambs were sacrificed in these regular, recurring rhythms of offerings. That’s in addition to other offerings that were made for individual and corporate sins. That’s a lot of lambs being slain. That’s a lot of blood being shed.

In addition to all this, there were other special occasions when lambs were to be offered. In preparation for the Lord to meet with His people and speak to them, lambs would be sacrificed. Women would sacrifice lambs for purification after childbirth. When lepers were cleansed, a lamb would be offered. A lamb would be sacrificed in fulfillment of religious vows. When they consecrated the Tabernacle, a lamb would be offered. Lambs killed, lambs killed, innocent, young, male lambs without blemish, shed, slain, killed, slaughtered, and their blood running through the Tabernacle.

When we come to Isaiah chapter 53, this was such a way of life for the Israelites. We don’t sacrifice blood and lambs and all this stuff; it’s not part of our everyday life. It was part of the everyday life of the Israelites. So when we get to chapter 53, that speaks into their culture, their milieu, as we have this prophecy of the Messiah suffering, and He is likened to a lamb.

Verse six of Isaiah 53: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." They were used to their iniquity being laid on the heads of lambs. But God’s word promises there’s one coming, there’s a suffering servant coming, the ideal servant of the Lord, the Messiah. He is coming and our iniquity will be laid on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

Every Jew knew this prophecy. They could quote it; they were familiar with it. You fast-forward 700 years from the time when this prophecy was written, and John chapter two tells us that the Passover of the Jews was at hand. More lambs being slain, more blood being shed. That’s the feast that observant Jews are celebrating this week, the Passover.

In that context, John one tells us that John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Verse 35: "The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God.'" That was a stunning declaration to the Jews in that day.

It should be a stunning declaration to us, because in that one sentence, "Behold, the Lamb of God," in that sentence is the whole heart of the gospel message in one sentence. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The lamb symbolizes innocence and submission and vulnerability, quiet suffering, and sacrifice. Here the Creator, the King of the universe, comes to this earth as a meek, humble, gentle, sacrificial lamb. Innocent, blameless. He suffers quietly for sins not His own. He doesn’t resist.

The historian Josephus tells us that in the time of Christ, that at the time of Passover, there would be a quarter of a million Passover lambs that were slaughtered. The blood of those lambs would flow out through viaducts down into the river, the brook Kidron. As those lambs were being slaughtered on that Passover, a carpenter from Nazareth named Jesus was put to death on a hill outside Jerusalem as the blood of God’s Passover lamb ran down from His hands and head and feet onto the ground below.

In that moment, Jesus the Lamb of God, slain, slaughtered, fulfilled all of those Old Testament types and pictures and sacrifices. So Paul tells the Corinthians, "Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed." Sacrificed once and for all, not repetitively like those lambs that were slain again and again and again, but now once for all. Our works, our efforts, cannot add anything to what Jesus the Lamb of God did for us there on the cross that day.

That’s why Peter says, "You were ransomed, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." During this Holy Week, we celebrate, we marvel at, we wonder at, we cherish Jesus the slain Lamb of God, slain for sinners to take away the sin of the world. But I want to remind us that that picture of Christ being the Lamb of God is not just something that is for our past tense salvation.

The Lamb of God figures prominently in God’s future and eternal plans for His people. In fact, in the book of Revelation, you have more than 25 references to Jesus as the Lamb. I wish we could take a whole session on just those, but let me give you a taste of it over these next few moments. In Revelation chapter five, one of the elders says to John the apostle, "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lion, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

Between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw, not a lion, but what? A lamb standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. The conquering lion turns out to be a slain lamb. The greatest paradox of history, that Jesus conquered by His death.

What seemed to be a massive victory for Jesus' enemies at the cross turned into their ultimate defeat and the eternal victory of the Lamb. So we see throughout the book of Revelation that the Lamb will defeat all of God’s foes, and He will bring judgment on unrepentant sinners. Chapter six of Revelation: "Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, 'Come.'"

Thus begins a whole series of passages about judgment being poured out on the earth. It’s the Lamb who opens these seals, who reveals and then executes the judgment of God, the wrath of God on unrepentant sinners. Then verse 15 of Revelation six: "Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.'"

Could you imagine that a lamb could strike such terror into the hearts of all those big, famous, rich, influential, powerful people? A lamb sends them running for cover, cowering and begging for the mountains and rocks to fall on them so they can escape the wrath of the Lamb. The Lion is a lamb-like lion, and He is a lion-like lamb. Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Chapter 14 of Revelation, verse 10 tells us that anyone who worships the beast will drink the wine of God’s wrath poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Chapter 17, verse 14: "They will make war on the Lamb." All these kings of the earth will gather together, the beast, the dragon, all the forces of hell, and the people on earth who have followed Satan, they will make war on the Lamb.

Who would you expect to win a battle like that? They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them. Hallelujah, the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. A conquering Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world for the sin of the world to take away the sin of the world, and then the Lamb is the one who conquers, who executes the wrath of God, the judgment of God on unrepentant sinners.

We see something else, another thread running through Revelation: the death of the Lamb results in salvation. Salvation and victory for the people of God. Unrepentant sinners, they’re consumed by the wrath of the Lamb, by the judgment of God. They are conquered by the Lamb. But those who have believed in the Lamb, who have trusted in His death and His slain blood, will be saved, and they will be victorious.

Chapter seven of Revelation, verse nine: "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes." They’re not running from the Lamb, they’re not cowering from the Lamb. They approach the eternal throne bold through the blood of the shed Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

The Lamb that strikes terror in the hearts of unbelievers strikes rejoicing and praise and worship in the hearts of those who have believed in Him. Verse 14: "And he said to me, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" Revelation chapter 12, verse 11: "And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."

Listen, one day you will face the Lamb as your Judge, or you will face Him as your Savior. Which will it be for you? He will conquer you, or you will be one of those who conquers with Him. Then a precious scene in the unfolding of Revelation, how the Lamb will have an eternal relationship with those He died to save. Revelation 7:17: "For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd."

The Lamb is our shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water. Does that remind you of Psalm 23? It’s a picture of Jesus. Not only is He the shepherd of His sheep, but He is the bridegroom of the church. Chapter 19, verse seven: "Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready."

The marriage of the Lamb. Who is the bride of the Lamb? It’s the church. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." The Lamb is our shepherd, the Lamb is our bridegroom. Chapter 21: "Then came one of the seven angels and spoke to me, saying, 'Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.'"

If you don’t have a relationship with the Lamb now, you will not have one with Him for all of eternity. But if you do have a relationship with him now, he will be your shepherd and your bridegroom for ever and ever and ever. On this Holy Week, as we observe and commemorate the passion of the Christ, behold the Lamb. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb.

Trust the Lamb. Place your faith in Him who died to take away your sin and worship the Lamb. Worship the Lamb. Did you know that the worship of the Lamb will be the eternal occupation and preoccupation of heaven? Let me close by reading this passage from Revelation chapter five: "And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen!' And the elders fell down and worshipped. Amen."

Dana Gresh: Jesus is the Lamb. That’s such a fitting topic for us to meditate on as we prepare for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday this weekend. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been helping us appreciate the significance of that name of Jesus, the Lamb of God. This teaching is part of a series called "Holy Week Heart Prep: The Wonderful Names of Jesus."

If you missed hearing the other names of Jesus in this series, you can go back and listen to each episode on the Revive Our Hearts app or at ReviveOurHearts.com. We want to continue walking with you beyond our daily time together here on the podcast, and when you support Revive Our Hearts with a gift of any amount throughout the month of April, we’ll send you the Refresh 30 Days of Personal Revival journaling set. It’s our way of saying thanks.

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You probably use the word amen all the time. But do you know what it means? It doesn’t mean "I’m done praying," and it doesn’t exactly mean "I agree with the speaker." Tomorrow Nancy will show you what it means and why it matters. Please be with us for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.