MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB

By Robert R. Breaker III

 

copyright 2004

All rights reserved

This tract in printed form can be ordered from Breaker Publications.

 

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB

 

We all know the old nursery rhyme that says:

Almost everyone has heard this little children's poem. And it's almost impossible to read the words without remembering the tune that goes with it!

Most believe that it's just a fable or made up song. But does this little rhyme hold some truth?

Yes it does, for the Bible records that there really did exist a woman named Mary who had a little lamb. Luke 1:26-33 says:

And the little lamb she had was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist said of Him in John 1:29, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

Yes, Jesus Christ was God's Lamb! He was born of a virgin named Mary, but also according to the Bible, He was God manifested in the flesh:

And where was Jesus born? In a manger (Luke 2:6,7). What better place for a lamb to be born than in a manger?

The Lamb of God was born for one reason and one reason only-to save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21 prophesied this:

To understand this more clearly, we need to look at his people, the Jews.

The Jews, according to the Bible, are God's chosen people (Deut. 7:6, Ps. 105:6, 135:4, Isa. 41:8,9). And God chose them as a nation to serve him. Let's see how this came to pass.

It all started with a man named Abram, whom God chose and told to leave his family and go live in the wilderness (Gen. 12:1). Because he obeyed, God promised him all the land of Palestine (Gen. 13:14-17) and told him he'd make of him a great nation (Gen. 12:2.) God then changed his name to Abraham (Gen. 17:5), which means the father of many nations (because he's also the father of many Arab nations).

Abraham later had a son named Isaac, whom God told him to sacrifice on a mountain. God did not want to see the boy die, nor did he intend to kill him. He just wanted to see if Abraham was willing to obey God in everything.

When Isaac journeyed up the mountain with his father and asked, "Where's the sacrifice?" Abraham answered with these prophetic words, "God will provide himself a lamb" (Gen. 22:8). As we'll see a little later, this is exactly what he did. God provided himself as the Lamb of God who died on the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

Abraham obeyed the Lord and tried to sacrifice his only son as he was told. But God stopped it and told him that because he did not disobey, God would bless him and multiply his seed and that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (See Gen. 22:9-18).

God also gave this promise to Isaac (Gen. 26:1-4) and to his son Jacob (Gen. 28:13-14).

Jacob's, whose name was changed to Israel, had twelve sons and God extended this promise to them as well (Gen. 35:10-12). As the years went by, the children of Israel eventually wound up in bondage to the terrible Pharaoh of Egypt. During their enslavement, God intervened and sent them a Deliverer named Moses (Acts 7:35). Through ten plagues and several miracles wrought by the hand of God through Moses, God tried to persuade the Egyptian King to let His people go. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not harken unto the voice of the Lord, so God exhibited his power one last time. He commanded all the children of Israel to take a lamb without blemish (who's fleece was white as snow, as the nursery rhyme says), and kill it, putting its blood on the doorposts of their houses. Why? Because that very night the angel of death would visit every home in Egypt and kill the firstborn of every house that had not the blood on the door (Exodus 12:1-13).

Yet if the angel saw blood on the door, he would Passover it and the firstborn would be saved, but only by the blood. This is still known and celebrated among the Jews today as "The Passover."

After this horrible slaughter, God's people-the Jews-were set free from Egypt and went into the wilderness. There, God gave Moses the law that man was to follow to please God. If a man broke the law, he had to have a sacrifice for his sin (usually a lamb) in order to have remission and forgiveness of his sins.

Hebrews 9:22 says, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

Leviticus 17:11 states:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Only a blood sacrifice could make an atonement for one's sins. And according to the law, when a man sinned, he had to bring a lamb to the priest and cut it's throat. As it's blood poured out, he had to put his hand on the head of the lamb, signifying it was for his sins, and allow the priest to offer it upon the altar for him, as he trusted the blood of that lamb as a substitute in his place for his sin (See Leviticus chapter three).

But one day not just a lamb, but the lamb of God was born into this world–Jesus Christ! He lived on this planet for 33˝ years as God incarnated in the flesh. He never did anything against the rules (even though the nursery rhyme says otherwise), and at the end of his life he willingly offered himself up on the cross of Calvary as a sinless, substitutionary blood atonement for the sins of the whole world, as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:36)!

After his death, and burial, he rose again the third day according to the scriptures (See the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4), and went up into heaven where he offered his own eternal blood as an everlasting sacrifice upon the mercy seat of God (Heb. 9:7-12,23,24). And, now every one that comes to Jesus Christ and accepts his payment and substitutionary blood atonement for their sins shall be saved!

Jesus Christ sits in heaven upon the right hand of the Father saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

Won't you trust Jesus Christ by faith, so he can wash your sins away with his precious shed blood?

Romans 3:25 says, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."

Won't you trust the Christ shed blood to save your soul from hell?

The Bible says there is only one way to heaven. It's through the Lamb of God. Jesus himself said in John 14:6, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Some people elevate Mary higher than Jesus (as does the nursery rhyme). But the truth is that can only come to God and gain entrance into heaven through God's holy lamb.

In John 2:5, Mary says, "...Whatsoever he [Jesus] saith unto you, do it." This is very important, because Jesus in John 6:47 says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."

Acts 4:12 exclaims, "Neither is there salvation in any other [than Jesus]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Salvation is by faith, and eternal life is a free gift of God to all that come to him through his sacrificial Lamb.

Ephesians 2:8,9 proclaim, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Won't you today come to Mary's Little Lamb for salvation? He's waiting for you! He wants you to go to heaven. That's why he came and died on the cross for your sins!

 

TO BE SAVED:

If you trusted Christ Jesus as your Saviour, tell others about the decision you've made and try to win them to the Lord Jesus Christ as well. Also, please write to me at the address below and let me know about your decision! I'd be happy to rejoice with you!

 

 

CONTACT ME AT:

 RobertBreaker3@hotmail.com