Behold The Lamb of God! Part 1
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The foretelling of the Resurrection of Jesus—that’s the focus of this study. It may initially seem like a series of rabbit trails. However, please carefully consider what is written as it may give you some deeper insights by helping you to review both Old and New Testament Scriptures to gain a better Scriptural record of the relationship between Jesus and God, and the Resurrection.
This teaching has been divided into three parts: Part 1 introduces John the Baptist; gives a brief overview of the entombment and Resurrection of Jesus, and discusses the differences between the titles, Resurrection Sunday and Easter. Part Two poses the question, “Who Is Jesus?; the third, brings us back to John the Baptist and the supernatural connection between Jesus and John and his parents who were filled with the Holy Ghost.
Few recognize the miraculous and supernatural history behind the prophetic statement, “Behold the Lamb of God.” It was made by John the Baptist more than two years before the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This was when John proclaimed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Son of God … the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29 How was it possible for John to KNOW this?
When John made this statement, there were no newscasts or Internet messages to explain his seemingly strange proclamation. And Who was this “foretold” Resurrected One so boldly introduced by John to those who greatly opposed his many poignant messages of repentance? After all, what would be your response if you came to an outdoor concert to hear John the Baptist speak and he called you and your friends, “O generation of vipers,” because you and your friends had sin in your lives? Such were the “cut-to-the chase” tenor of statements given through this seemingly untamed, rough, desert man, John the Baptist.
His clothing reflected his mannerisms. It was described as … raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins … Matthew 3:4 Jesus said of John’s appearance: But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts. Luke 7:25
It was this same outspoken, seemingly societally “unpolished” man, who boldly told wicked King Herod and his adulterous wife Herodias that their marriage was evil in the sight of God. And it was those two who were responsible for putting John in prison and beheading him for telling them of their egregious sin against God—their adulterous marital relationship (a non-covenant marriage). See Matthew 14:1-11; Mark 6:14-28; Luke 9:7-9.
John KNEW Jesus on a deep spiritual level. Sadly, however, some misinterpret Scriptures that appear to imply that he doubted Who Jesus was when he was incarcerated. They overlook what is written of John and are remiss to focus on the fact that it was his disciples who did not understand Who Jesus was, and it was John who repeatedly reminded his doubting disciples that He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
The Scriptures tell us that John … was a man sent from God … John 1:6 And I [John] saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God John. 1:34. Jesus said of John: Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist … Matthew 11:11 See also John 3:25-36.
There are two titles used for same event.
It’s an important and exciting journey to review how the lives of Jesus and John are intertwined to not only help give enlightenment for Whom Jesus is but to also spotlight the consistent, miraculous recording of events preceding the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. The historical, theological recording of the aforementioned includes both Old and New Testament Scriptures. However, before taking you back to the beginning, the Book of Genesis, let’s first clear up some basic misunderstandings between two titles used for the act of restoring a dead person back to life: Resurrection.
Resurrection Sunday and Easter have differing meanings.
Resurrection Sunday and Easter are two names used for the same supernatural event in the life of Jesus Christ, the well-documented fact that He arose bodily from the dead. The name, Resurrection Sunday, succinctly captures the reason Christians celebrate: the fact that Jesus arose from the dead, without which, we would have no hope for our resurrection to eternal life after our physical deaths. It is only through repentance from sin (totally turning from sinful lifestyle patterns) and faith in Jesus that anyone can be saved and experience a life-saving resurrection.
The miraculous Resurrection of Jesus was after He had been subjected to a mock trial, brutally beaten, nailed to a
cross through the palms of His hands (NOT HIS WRISTS) and His feet until He physically died. He was removed from the cross and wrapped in strips of linen dipped in … a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight [John 19:39] and placed in a guarded tomb which was sealed shut with a huge rock, potentially weighing two tons.
Yet, three days after His entombment, with the massive stone sealing the opening to the tomb still in place, Jesus emerged bodily, not as a spirit, but fully alive in the flesh. An angel of the LORD descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. Matthew 28:2 The angel told the women who came to the tomb: He is not here; for he is risen … Matthew 28:6 After His Resurrection, Jesus was seen by more than 500 people with whom He interacted—those with whom He walked, talked, taught, and ate. Yes, this was Jesus Christ, born of a virgin. It was He Who taught repentance and faith and died; however, the crucial pinnacle of His life was His Resurrection.
Easter Eggs and Bunnies?
Pagan “Queen of Heaven: Babylonian occult Easter against whom the LORD warned associating
Resurrection Sunday is better known to many by the name Easter with its images of the Easter bunny, colored eggs (even though rabbits do not lay eggs!), and candy. In its original paganistic form, Easter was a celebration of the earth regenerating itself after the winter season. This pagan* festival involved a celebration of reproduction and much illicit sexual activity. At the center of attention was Astarte, the female deity, also known as Ishtar and the Queen of Babylon. She is also identified in the Bible as the “queen of heaven.” See Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25.
(The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a *pagan as one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods: an irreligious or hedonistic person.)
However, because someone uses the name Easter is not saying that person is a pagan. The above is to give factual background information with what the name Easter was initially associated.
Solomon,* even with all his wisdom, fell prey to the worship of the goddess Ashtoreth. See 1 Kings 11:5: For Solomon went after Ashtoreth [Astarte/Ishtar] the goddess …” That beautiful but abandoned queen of Babylon was not only herself a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness, but in the Mysteries which she had a chief hand in forming.” (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons)
*Solomon’s fall into apostasy followed his marrying of pagan wives. To not be unequally yoked is the principle against which God warns——especially in marriage—as an unsaved spouse can greatly affect a saved spouse to accept ungodly beliefs.
It’s all about context for correct interpretation of Scripture.
Some point to the King James Bible as wrongly including the word Easter in Acts 12:4. This is because of the underlying Greek word pascha which is translated Passover elsewhere in the New Testament.
However, there is a contextual reason for the one time pascha is translated Easter in Acts 12:4 in the King James Bible. It’s in Acts 12:1-4 where we are told of some of the many heinous acts of the wicked King, Herod. He vexed the church and killed James, and because these actions pleased the Jews, he put Peter in jail … intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Acts 12:1-4.
The contextual key to correct translation of the word pascha as Easter in Acts 12:4 is two-fold. First of all, Herod was a pagan who did not practice Jewish festivals; and, secondly, Acts 12:3 gives the reader important clarifying information: (Then were the days of unleavened bread.).
The days (feast) of unleavened bread were AFTER the Jewish Passover; thus Herod would not have been waiting for the Jewish Passover. The text clearly states that it was the days of unleavened bread. (Study Numbers 28:16-17 for confirmation.) Thus, Herod seemingly would not have been waiting for Passover* as it had already been celebrated. Instead, what Herod was likely awaiting was his pagan holiday Easter that would have been AFTER the Jewish days of unleavened bread.
*The word Passover did not exist before William Tyndale coined it for his Version of the Scriptures of 1526-31 and likewise it was the first English Bible to use Easter. Previously, the Hebrew and Greek were left untranslated. (See Conies, Brass, and Easter by Jack A. Moorman pages 13-14.)
Who was this Resurrected One: a similitude?
You may have heard it said—that familiar quote from Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances.” This is what one might say typifies the entire Bible, but specifically for this study, Genesis 22:1-19.
God tells us in Hosea 12:10: I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. Genesis 22:1-19 is a similitude (a picture of a future event—the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son … John 3:16). Who are the key players “on this world’s stage”? They are Abraham, his son Isaac, and God—but don’t overlook the ram!
Abraham is a type or similitude of God the Father. That’s because in Genesis 22, it is recorded that Abraham took his “only son” to Mt. Moriah and offered him as a sacrifice. Isaac, believed to be in his thirties (as was Jesus when He was crucified), is a type or similitude of the Son, Jesus.
That’s because he was a similitude of a son offered for a sacrifice. Abraham was doing this as directed by God. It was by faith that Abraham obeyed: And he [God] said, [Abraham] Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Genesis 22:2
God, however, interceded as this foreshadowed crucifixion event would not be actuated until
Jesus carried the WOOD on His shoulders and back.
after God would be manifest in the flesh some 2000 years later. Thus God interceded, as recorded in Genesis 22:7-14 when Isaac asked his father Abraham … Behold the fire and the wood [which was placed on Isaac]; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham’s reply set the stage for the redemption for every person in the entire world.
Part Two of this series provides insight into the answer Abraham gave to his “only son,” Isaac.
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In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh
President/Founder
Restoration of the Family
PO Box 621342 Oviedo, Fl. 32762 RestorationOfTheFamily@gmail.com; www.RestorationoftheFamily.org
