Like a lamb led to the slaughter

John 1 : 29
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'."
Isaiah 53:6-8
"We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way.
But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.
He was beaten down and punished, but he didn't say a word.
He was like a lamb being led to be killed.
He was quiet, as a sheep is quiet when its wool is being cut; he never opened his mouth.
Men took him away roughly and unfairly.
He died without children to continue his family.
He was put to death; he was punished for the sins of my people."

Oh, how white the wool of the Lamb was. Not a blemish to be found on the Lamb. But because of our innate sinfulness he was slain. He had to be; He had to make a way for us.
But even as he was mocked by His own people, He did not say a word. He did not put an end to it. He endured the unjust murder, and has risen and is living now as our justice! He has risen and is living now as our righteousness! He is our salvation! Rejoice in the Lamb that was slain!

Proverbs 5: 22-23
"An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his incredible folly."

Isn't it great that we are no longer held captive? That we are no longer held by the grips of sin and the death that it brings? That we are no longer lost, but are found in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God?

Yes!

It was never meant
to burst from the body
so fiercely, to pour
unchanneled from
the five wounds
and the unbandaged brow,
drowning the dark wood,
staining the stones
and the gravel below,
clotting in the air
dark with God's absence.

It was created for
a closed system-
the unbroken
rhythms of human blood
binding the body
of God, circulating
hot, brilliant,
saline, without
interruption
between heart, lungs
and all cells.

But because he
was once emptied
I am each day refilled;
my spirit-arteries
pules with the vital red
of love; poured out,
it is his life
that now pumps through
my own heart's core.
He bled, and died, and I
have been transfused.

Luci Shaw

Smile! Because Jesus loves you! :]