The Enemy is Defeated

God spared the son of Abraham, and God provided a ram. God spared the Hebrews in captivity because of the blood of lambs.

But he did not spare his own Son. His Son was the ultimate Ram in the thicket; Jesus was the true and final Passover Lamb. He was slaughtered, and his blood was spilled. In Communion, we remember that when we prayed for the cup of God’s wrath to be removed from us, He removed it. God removed it because he did not answer the same prayer which Christ prayed in Gethsemane when he prayed, “Father, remove this cup from me.”

We drink the cup of Christ’s atoning, redeeming, grace-filled blood because God’s cup, full of wrath, was poured out completely on his Son, and Christ’s atoning blood is poured out on us so that the wrath of God would pass over us.

When we eat the bread and it is pierced by our teeth, we remember the flesh of Christ pierced for our transgressions. Christ bore on his brow the curse of the thorn that had cursed the earth since Adam. The thorns which were pressed into his temples became a crown of victory that signified the uprooting and destruction of all thornbushes. So, instead of thornbushes, there will be fruit trees, and instead of thistles, a vineyard. We will no longer be trampled underfoot by our enemy. Instead, we will be firmly rooted by streams of living water that never run dry.

In his tender, protective care, the vinedresser will prune us and clean us so we will bear fruit. Because of the Passover lamb, we will live and thrive forever with no fear because our enemy has been defeated once and for all.