Which is better, more powerful?

The commercial says such and such a truck is the best, the most powerful. The next commercial focuses on a different brand and says it is the best and most powerful. A third commercial features a third vehicle and says it is the most powerful, the best truck. When I was young, my brothers were Ford fans who argued with Chev fans. Now they contend with Dodge Ram fans and fans of those trucks made in Asia, all claiming to be the best.

Today’s Scripture points to a person, not an assembly of metal, fiberglass, nuts and bolts, as the most powerful and the best. Uncountable witnesses testify to the worth of this person, but instead of first describing His power, they point to His death and call Him “a Lamb who was slain” — quite the opposite of powerful.

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:11–13)

Jesus is called the Lamb of God because He ended the Old Testament sacrificial system by offering Himself for sin. Prior to that, lambs were slain as substitutes, but they could not remove sin. As the book of Hebrews proclaims, Jesus is the better, more worthy sacrifice.

That is, Christ entered not into the tabernacle, or the temple, but into heaven itself, appearing before God on our behalf. Then the high priest entered the holy places every year with the blood of a lamb, but Jesus appeared once for all to put away sin by sacrificing Himself. (Hebrews 9:23–28)

The first covenant was one of faith in a future promise. The second is one of faith in the fulfillment of that promise. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” (Hebrews 8:7)

It was faulty because people could not do their part. Their faith failed and their lives were continually in need of sacrificial lambs to cover their sin. God told them He was going to make a new covenant: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:8–12)

Jesus made this possible. First, “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:12–14)

This explains His worth as the Lamb of God, a better sacrifice. But there is more. Jesus died, and rose again. That is power. No one else has ever done that!

And long before sinners came along who needed God’s grace, He did something also very powerful; He created all things, not on a whim but for a reason:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

“The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” (Proverbs 16:4)

Jesus made us. Even those who reject Him are products of His power. Jesus saves sinners; without Him we would need to pay the price for rejecting God and refusing to obey Him. That price is too high! The good news is that Jesus is worthy — because He paid it for us.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Our part is simple:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, You are the best Savior, the only Savior. We need You; all fall short of even our own standards, never mind Yours. We cannot claim that our way is better or more powerful than Your way. Obviously, no one can cover their own sin or satisfy the penalty required. The only thing left is to drop to our knees and, “Behold — the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”