THE PASCHAL LAMB LIVES
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE: MATTTHEW 28:1-10
KEY VERSE
Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will meet me.
Matthew28: 10
INTRODUCTION AND STUDY
The life we have been given by God is precious. Because we have been given life we can enjoy the beautiful flowers and plants, enjoy the tasty food we eat, enjoy having our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, cousins and grandparents around us and enjoy the love and affection we experience.
However, the life we have comes at a price. The Creator, the One who made us and gave us life, had advised us that when we sin we will suffer the punishment of dying. We cannot change this rule no matter how much we can try and make excuses as to why we should not lose our precious life.God also has done great things for usG
But God made a way out for us. He constantly reminded the nations and the people of Israel of this promise He made by having them select the very best lambs, sacrifice them on the altar, and thus shed their blood, offering their life as a substitute for our life.
But that was a temporary arrangement until the perfect Lamb appeared to shed His blood so that the Father would no longer allow men to die. If they accepted the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood shed on the Cross they would live and no longer have to worry about death. His death would conquer death, the enemy of all men.
The Lord Jesus was called the Paschal Lamb and this name is explained in Exodus 12:6When they were captured and taken into exile away from their countryW. God had required that a young lamb be selected, kept for 4 days to make sure it was a perfect lamb without any blemish or bad spot and then sacrificed on the Passover Day to make the sins of the people be covered over for the coming year. Every year this had to be done so that God the Father would accept this sacrifice until the perfect and spotless Paschal Lamb would comeSometimes people who should know better
And so finally the Lord Jesus Christ came as promised. He was perfect and had never sinned. He followed the commandments of God perfectly. He had come down from Heaven, voluntarily agreed to be born as a complete and true man and live as a man, dying as the Paschal lamb at the time of Passover so that God would forgive the sins of people and finally take them to be with Him as part of His family, enjoying all kinds of benefits, joy and happiness.
The leaders in Israel and in Rome did not like Jesus and so they made an agreement among themselves to get rid of Him for they were afraid this Paschal lamb would have power to make them behave and not abuse and kill people.
So they killed the Lamb and put Him on a Cross after shamefully torturing Him. They put His body in a tomb, and closed up the entrance with a 1 ton stone which it would be very difficult to move. Then they put armed guards at the tomb so the disciples could not get to His body. But God had other plans for He would resurrect His son Jesus Christ after He had shed His blood as the Paschal lamb.
A powerful angel with garments dazzling and shimmering came down after Jesus was resurrected and left the tomb and he rolled away the stone at the entrance and the guards collapsed and became as dead men. Some women disciples had come to put spices around the body of Jesus to preserve His body and when theysaw the angel they were terrified. But the angel comforted them and showed them the Tomb was empty for Jesus had long been resurrected. The angel told them to go and tell the other disciples that were too afraid to come to the Tomb that Jesus was alive. They should go to Galilee to meet Him as He had previously arranged with them.
They were overjoyed and rushed to take the message that the Paschal lamb Jesus was alive. On the way they met the risen Jesus and they held on to Him and worshipped Him. But He told them not to be afraid but to go and tell the other disciples He was alive as He had told them He would be after staying in the tomb for three days and three nights.
The lesson is clear. You should be very careful to listen to everything Jesus had said. These disciples had heard Jesus talk about His death and resurrection but none of them believed what Jesus had said. But at least some of the women loved Him and tried to find out what had happened when He was in the tomb. They were afraid but they still came. So Jesus allowed them to meet this angel and then meet Him, They became witnesses to seeing the living Paschal lamb and became messengers to tell the other disciples that Jesus was indeed alive. They were given this great honour.
So let us learn the lesson to hear and believe. Remember we have been saved from death because of the work of the Paschal lamb. This work showed us that God the Father loves us and would have such a great love that He would allow His only Son to come to earth, live among us, do great miracles, teach us, suffer and die for us.
So remember always the love of the Father and accept His Son who died for our sin. The perfect Paschal lamb worked and saved us perfectly. Our reward for believing and doing what the perfect lamb had told us to do will be greater than we can ever imagine.