lamb.

No Grudges.

He was also the spotless Lamb. Not only did nothing escape His lips,
but there was nothing in His heart but love for those who had sent
Him to the Cross. There was no resentment towards them, no grudges,
no bitterness. Even as they were putting the nails through His hands,
He was murmuring, "I forgive you," and He asked His Father to forgive
them too. He was willing to suffer it in meekness for us. But what
resentment and bitterness have not we had in our hearts--toward this
one and that one, and over so much less than what they did to Jesus.
Each reaction left a stain on our hearts, and the Dove had to fly
away because we were not willing to bear it and forgive it for Jesus'
sake.

Return, O Dove!

These, then, are the acts and attitudes which drive the Holy Spirit
from our lives, as far as present blessing is concerned, and they are
all sin. Sin is the only thing that hinders the revival of His
Church. The question of all questions for us just now is, "How can
the Dove return to our lives with His peace and power?" The answer is
again just simply, "The Lamb of God," for He is not only the simple
Lamb and the shorn Lamb and the silent Lamb and the spotless Lamb,
but above everything else He is the substitute Lamb.

To the Jew the lamb that was offered to God was always a substitute
lamb. Its meekness and submissiveness was only incidental to its main
work, that of being slain for his sin and of its blood being
sprinkled on the altar to atone for it. The humility of the Lord
Jesus in becoming our Lamb was necessary only that He might become on
the Cross our Substitute, our scapegoat, carrying our sins in His own
Body on the Tree, so that there might be forgiveness for our sins and
cleansing from all their stains, when we repent of them. But inasmuch
as there is no past or future with God, but all is present and
timeless, there is a sense in which the suffering of the Lord Jesus
for the sins of which we have not repented is present too. What a
vision it is when we see these sins wounding and hurting Him now! May
this solemn thought break our proud hearts in repentance! For it is
only when we have seen these sins of ours in the heart of Jesus, so
that we are broken and willing to repent of them and put them right,
that the Blood of the Lamb cleanses us from them and the Dove returns
with peace and blessing to our hearts.

He humbled Himself to the manger,
And even to Calvary's tree;
But