April 15: A Once-for-All Sacrificial Lamb
♫ Music:
Day 42 - Tuesday, April 15
Title: A Once-for-All Sacrificial Lamb
Scripture #1: Leviticus 14:12–13 (NKJV)
And the priest shall take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. Then he shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy.
Scripture #2: Hebrews 9:22–28 (NKJV)
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Scripture #3: 1 Peter 1:18–21 (NKJV)
Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Poetry & Poet:
“None Other Lamb”
by Christina Rossetti
None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other hope in Heav’n or earth or sea,
None other hiding place from guilt and shame,
None beside Thee!
My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart’s desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to Thee.
Lord, Thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love’s fire Thou art, however cold I be:
Nor Heav’n have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but Thee.
A ONCE FOR ALL SACRIFICIAL LAMB
Our Scriptures today are full of echoes. Both the Hebrews passage and the 1 Peter passage use the phrase “the foundation of the world.” Hebrews tells us what did not have to be repeated many times since the world was founded; Peter tells us what did happen before the world was founded.
Christ did not have to be sacrificed over and over and over, from the foundation of the world till now.
But His one sacrifice of Himself was always the plan —even before the foundation of the world.
Which explains why the sacrifices commanded in Leviticus were able to foreshadow Christ’s own sacrifice: because when God gave the command for those acts of worship, He already knew what they meant.
This is a comfort to us as Christians: we can be sure that it is okay for us to read the Old Testament seeking to learn about Christ. Truth about Jesus Christ really is present in the text of Leviticus—and of the Psalms, and of the histories, and of the prophets, and of all the rest. It’s such a gift when a passage like this one from Hebrews makes this clear to us.
It is also a gift to know that the Lord has always cared for us. Always. Since before the foundation of the world.
So, in Leviticus we read of the sacrifice of a lamb, as part of the offering of a leper who is cleansed. And this is far from the only place in Leviticus where a lamb, an unblemished lamb, is offered to the Lord. It was a regular sacrifice—made over and over.
But the sacrifice of Jesus, as the writer of Hebrews points out, was a once-for-all sacrifice—never to be repeated. It didn’t need to be repeated because it was a perfect sacrifice. Jesus, as Peter points out, was not a corruptible, earthly sort of a thing. He is more precious than that. He is also not a copy of a heavenly thing—He is the Lord of both heaven and earth.
He is also a lamb. He was meek and bowed His head to the task set before Him. Both pieces of art help us with a picture of what a meek lamb looks like—and yet an earthly lamb is just a copy of the heavenly reality.
Still, the art helps us. Because we are earthly, and earthly things can give us ideas of what the heavenly reality is.
Another way the art helps us—and I think this is especially clear in both the poem and the music—is that they help us know not just how to think, but how to feel. It is possible to have a wrong emotional reaction to something. We all have seen someone young or immature laugh at something that’s not funny—at someone falling, or a friend embarrassing herself. Our emotions, as well as our beliefs, are in need of good formation.
Listening to Barber’s piece helps us feel how beautiful Christ’s sacrifice was. That music lifts us up towards the heavens.
That uplifted feeling is a good and proper emotional reaction to the absolute glory of Christ’s sacrifice. It is wonderful. It is awesome. It should leave us in silent astonishment and gratitude, that He would love us enough to do that on our behalf.
And reading Rossetti’s poem as a prayer helps us bring a proper response up out of the homely place of our hearts. “My faith burns low, my hope burns low…my heart’s desire cries out…to Thee.”
O the weight of our sins! O how we stumble and are bowed down by our own foolishness, by the utter wreck we’ve made of things! And yet, and yet…there is Jesus, the Lamb of God, meekly carrying the weight of sins that we cannot carry, and then utterly destroying it, canceling the debt, lifting the burden from our shoulders forever, and leaving it in the grave that He did not stay in.
And that, thanks to Him, will never be able to hold us either.
Rossetti’s poem prompts us to lift our eyes to Him: “Lord, Thou art life; though I be dead; / Love’s fire Thou art, however cold I be: / Nor Heav’n have I, nor place to lay my head, / Nor home, but Thee.”
We lift our eyes, our hearts, and our petitions to Him who is the Lamb of God, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, the Lamb who is also the Shepherd, who will appear a second time, to those who eagerly await Him, and who will take them home to be with Him forever.
Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within thy wounds hide me. Permit me not to be separated from thee. From the wicked foe defend me. In the hour of my death call me, and bid me come to thee, that with thy saints I may praise thee for ever and ever.
Amen.
—the Anima Christi prayer, as found in the ACNA Book of Common Prayer, 2019
Jessica Snell
Writer and Editor
Alumna of Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Art #1:
The Mystic Lamb
Benozzo Gozzoli
1459–60
Fresco
Palazzo Medici Riccardi Chapel
Florence, Italy
Public domain
In 1459, artist Benozzo Gozzoli was summoned to Florence by the powerful Medici family to carry out the prestigious commission of decorating the walls of the Magi Chapel in the Capella of Palazzo Medici-Ricardi. One of the frescoes, inspired by the book of Revelation and entitled The Mystic Lamb, depicts a snow-white lamb, with the cruciform halo of Christ the Redeemer, crouched upon an altar in front of seven gilded candelabras. From beneath the body of the lamb, seven red seals hang down from the altar table, which is covered in a red-and-white embroidered brocade fabric with a pomegranate motif. In Christian symbolism, pomegranates are commonly used as a symbol of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life. The book of Revelation uses visions and symbolic imagery to depict the ultimate victory of good over evil, the return of Jesus Christ, and the establishment of God's kingdom at the end of time. Revelation, written by the apostle John, is filled with symbolism and visions of future events and the final judgment of mankind in a series of twenty-one events—inaugurated by the breaking of seven seals, the blowing of seven trumpets, and the pouring out of seven bowls. This grand judgment on the sinfulness of humanity shows the seriousness with which God views unrepentant sin—and symbolizes the hope we have in the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ. https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/gozzoli/3magi/03chapel.html
http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/benozzogozzoli/mysticlamb.htm
About the Artist #1:
Benozzo Gozzoli (c. 1421–1497) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence. The chapel's fresco cycle reveals a new Renaissance interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. According to the sixteenth-century Italian biographer Vasari, in the early part of his career Gozzoli was a pupil and assistant of Fra Angelico, the Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco painters of his generation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benozzo_Gozzoli
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1355.html
About the Art #2:
Revelation
Kateryna Kuziv
2023
Egg tempera and gilding on gessoed wood panel
Private Collection
Drawing upon the traditions of icon painting, Ukrainian artist Kateryna Kuziv is one of the new iconographers who brings a fresh treatment to this traditional art form. Here Kuziv uses Benozzo Gozzoli’s work The Mystic Lamb as inspiration for her interpretation of the book of Revelation. Kuziv adds several additional elements to Gozzoli’s composition by including the celestial bodies of the sun and the moon over the skies above the cross to represent the darkness that occurred during the crucifixion, imbuing the scene with rich cosmological significance. In addition, Kuziv also adds a communion cup and wafers upon the altar.
https://ima.princeton.edu/2018/04/04/the-iconography-of-crucifixion-darkness/
About the Artist #2:
Kateryna Kuziv (b. 1993) is a Ukrainian iconographer. During 2009–2015 she completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Lviv Academy of Arts, and is currently on the faculty of fine arts there. Kuziv says of her work and process, “I believe that art should testify of beauty. The search for it always leads to God as the original source—that is why I choose iconography. Beauty always points to something more, a sense of God's presence. Creating icons for me is a pursuit of God, of paradise as a state of being with Him, a reproduction of the transformed reality, of the purified nature of humanity from sin. The time when I create the icon is my way of praying, questioning, searching, the time of being with God, before God, the state of happiness and peace. The aim is to express the ‘incarnation’ of God's Word in a visual image, where a touch of God's reality must take place to awaken a longing for God, to promote the pursuit of Him.”
https://iconart-gallery.com/en/artists/kateryna-kuziv/
About the Music: “Angus Dei” from the album Enchanted Isle
Lyrics: (Latin)
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona nobis pacem.
Lyrics: (English Translation)
Lamb of God,
Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God,
Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God,
Who takes away the sins of the world,
Grant us peace.
About the Composer:
Samuel Osmond Barber II (1910–1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-twentieth century. Principally influenced by nine years of composition studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and more than twenty-five years' study with his uncle, the composer Sidney Homer, Barber's music has usually refrained from the experimental trends of musical modernism in favor of traditional nineteenth-century harmonic language and formal structure, embracing lyricism and emotional expression. “Agnus Dei” by VOCES8 is an arrangement of Barber's choral composition based on Barber’s 1936 piece “Adagio for Strings.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Barber
About the Performers:
Formed in 2005, VOCES8, an a cappella octet from the United Kingdom, has a diverse repertoire ranging from early English and European Renaissance choral works to their own original arrangements. The ensemble is dedicated to supporting promising young singers and awards eight annual choral scholarships through the VOCES8 Scholars Initiative, at which amateur singers of all ages are invited to work and perform with the ensemble. VOCES8 tours extensively throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, and their artistic collaborations have included the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, period ensemble Les Inventions, violinist Hugo Ticciati, and cellist Matthew Sharp.
https://voces8.com/
About the Poetry and Poet:
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional, and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember.” She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Britain: "In the Bleak Midwinter," later set by Gustav Holst, Katherine Kennicott Davis, and Harold Darke; and "Love Came Down at Christmas," also set by Darke and other composers. She was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and was featured in several of his paintings. Critical interest in Rossetti’s poetry swelled in the final decades of the twentieth century, a resurgence largely impelled by the emergence of feminist criticism; much of this commentary focuses on gender issues in her poetry and on Rossetti as a woman poet. The importance of Rossetti’s faith for her life and art can hardly be overstated. More than half of her poetic output is devotional, and the works of her later years in both poetry and prose are almost exclusively so. The inconstancy of human love, the vanity of earthly pleasures, renunciation, individual unworthiness, and the perfection of divine love are recurring themes in her poetry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/christina-rossetti
About the Devotion Writer:
Jessica Snell
Writer and Editor
Alumna of Biola University
Jessica Snell is a freelance editor who loves helping authors polish their books till they shine! She is also a writer, and her work has appeared in Compelling Science Fiction, Christ and Pop Culture, Focus on the Family, and more. In her free time, she reads, knits, and spends time with her husband and their four children. You can follow her on Twitter at @theJessicaSnell, and her website is jessicasnell.com.