The Crippled Lamb

Sign of the Crippled Lamb

There was a man and his wife who raised sheep.  This man and woman loved YHWH with all their hearts and it was their supreme desire to live in a way that pleased their heavenly Father.  One day one of their ewes had a lamb during the night.  In the morning when the man went out to take care of their sheep as he did every morning, he found the new lamb.  However, there was a problem: the lamb could not stand up on its own; the only thing that the lamb could do was lie on its side and flail its legs.

So the man put the lamb up on the milking stand so he could help the lamb drink some milk from its mother.  After he did this he then went about doing the rest of his chores, with the plan of coming back to the newborn lamb after the rest of the milking and chores were done.  His wife also came out to help with the chores and suggested later to take the new lamb in the house for a while.

After all the chores were done he once again put the ewe back up on the milking stand and fed the new baby lamb (a ewe also) once again.  It was at that time that the man noticed that the lamb’s tail was not quite right.  In fact, he noticed that the ewe lamb had been born with a deformity that was not allowing the lamb to stand up and walk.  It was born with a small portion of its spine exposed; this was just above the tail.  So the man took this ewe lamb into the house for a short time to examine it more closely.

 It was determined that the lamb was most likely not going to make it and that the humane thing to do was to put it down (euthanize it).  This was the determination of the man and his wife together.

Later that morning the man went out to dig a grave for the lamb.  Then he went back into the house and got the lamb and took it out to the grave.  However, the man was a praying man and he had already been talking to his heavenly Father about this little lamb.  As the man sat on a large rock by the open grave holding the lamb he openly cried.  He cried out to his heavenly Father as to what this might mean and the purpose of this lamb being born this way.  It could not have been an accident that this new lamb was born crippled and deformed as the man knew that YHWH was sovereign over His creation. 

As this man sat there caressing this ewe lamb he put it upon the ground.  The lamb tried and tried to stand up, but it just could not stand up.  With a little assistance from the man, the lamb could stand up as long as the man steadied it so it would not fall over.  It could not stay standing for long as it was weak.  It also did not have the coordination to stand on its own.  The more the lamb struggled, the more the man cried.  The lamb was so very determined that the man could not bring himself to put the lamb down.  If the lamb was not willing to give up, then why should the man give up?  Perhaps, he thought and prayed, “If I take it in to the mother ewe again and help it to nurse again, it will gain the strength to stand on its own.”  So that is what he did.

He soon discovered that the lamb was, in fact, gaining a little strength to be able to stand on its own; it just needed help getting there.  But it could not stay on its feet for long without falling.  It just simply did not have the coordination to walk.  It was very alert and knew its mother and wanted to follow its mother, it tried to follow its mother, but it was simply not able to do so.

This is what the Spirit of YHWH impressed upon the man as to the meaning of this crippled lamb.  The lamb is a ewe lamb because it represents Israel.  In the same manner as this crippled lamb was not able to stand on its own, so too Israel has never been able to stand on its own.  Israel needs help to get to its feet, but even when she gets to her feet, she then quickly stumbles and falls.  The ewe lamb knows that it needs to nurse from its mother.  Likewise, Israel knows she needs to feed from the Spirit of YHWH.  Israel knows she needs to follow the Spirit, but when she attempts to do so, she quickly falls and cannot get back up on her own.

Not only is this true of the nation of Israel, but it is true of the individuals of that nation.  As it was discussed and decided by the man and his wife to put the lamb down, likewise the individuals of Israel often look at one another (instead of looking at Yeshua Mashiach) and see a cripple who cannot walk properly and think and decide on their own, “that cripple needs to be put down”.  However, each one in Israel is in that same condition; each and every Israelite is a cripple in some way.  One has trouble following the Spirit in one area and another has trouble following the Spirit in another area.  But all of Israel is crippled.  One cripple looks at another and thinks, “He should be put down.”  The one being looked at looks back and also sees a cripple and thinks the very same thing: that the cripple he is looking at who is looking at him should be put down.

This man who owned these sheep, to which a crippled lamb was born, had great compassion upon his new lamb and did what he could for it to see if he could help it learn to walk on its own.  Likewise, our heavenly Father has great compassion upon us as it is not His desire to put us down.  Sometimes we give Him no choice.  But as long as one of His lambs is still struggling to get up and to walk, He will have mercy. 

Don’t you think that it is time that we showed this same amount of mercy towards one another?

When the man would look at the little ewe lamb struggling so, he had no hope that the little ewe lamb was going to make it.  Then, when the man thought of Israel and looked at how Israel struggles with walking and following the Spirit of YHWH, he also wondered if there was any hope for Israel for this generation that he was a part of.  He thought of how in Moshe’s generation only two men were able to stand on their own and go into the Promised Land.  And one of those men was not Moshe.  He wondered if there was much hope for this generation.

Then, the Spirit of YHWH brought back to his mind that there was an open grave waiting for the little ewe lamb.  Likewise, there is an open grave waiting for each one of the members of this generation of Israel.  Just as in that first generation which came out of Egypt, all but two died in the wilderness, so too have many generations died in the wilderness because they did not know how to walk in a way that was pleasing to our heavenly Father.  Those in Israel know how to walk in a manner that is pleasing to themselves.  Some within Israel seem to know a little bit about how to walk alone in His commandments, but have no idea how to truly walk in His commandments together as a nation.  Few seem to know how to walk in a manner worthy of the high calling He has placed upon each one.  Few seem to know how to put to death the works of the flesh and walk in His Spirit.

The man looked at that grave and knew that that grave was for every person who was a part of Israel today.  He wondered if this generation would get it right in following His Spirit.  He wondered if there was any hope for this generation in walking in the love of Mashiach.  Many generations of Israel had already been put down because they could not walk together to keep and do His commandments according to His word without adding to or taking away from His commandments.

The man knew that he must do whatever he could for this little ewe lamb.  He knew that this was a sign to this generation.  He knew that he personally must change how he thought and how he acted in following the Spirit of YHWH.

The man continued to help the little ewe lamb nurse from its mother and to strengthen the bond between the mother and the ewe lamb.  The ewe lamb gained some strength and some coordination.  But it was slow, very slow.

Many times as the man would hold the little ewe lamb under the mother so it could nurse, the little ewe lamb would go to sleep while eating.  Since it was not able to stand under the mother on its own strength all it had to do was suck because the man was holding it.  So, many times while it was sucking, it would go to sleep.

Likewise, many who are babes in Mashiach Yeshua while being fed spiritual food from His Spirit, simply go to sleep.  Many have to be held up to the Spirit of YHWH by others in order to feed for they cannot feed themselves; they do not have the strength or coordination to do so.  They do not have the knowledge and understanding to feed themselves, let alone feed another.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 5:12-14 
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again that someone teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of Elohim; and have become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food.
13 For every one that partakes of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe.
14 But solid food is for full grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

It would seem that the majority, including myself for the longest time, misunderstand the use of the term “solid food” in this context.  While we get what it means partially, we do not get it fully.  However, when we understand solid food as being compared to milk in the context of sheep, then we can understand it to its fullest meaning. 

This crippled lamb needed its mother’s milk to survive.  However, it could not get it on its own like a normal lamb.  It needed help.  A normal lamb by the time it is three days old has already started to eat grass and hay – solid food.  Now the significance of this is important when we consider how a ruminant such as a sheep, goat or cow digests its food.  After grazing upon grass or hay, it will then later bring that grass or hay back up from its first stomach into its mouth a little at a time and chew its cud.  It will do this for hours.

Likewise, this is the picture that the writer to the Hebrew talmidim is contrasting between milk and solid food.  When we eat solid food we must chew on it, we must bring it back to our minds again and again to meditate upon it.

Tehillim (Psalm) 1:2 
But his delight is in the Torah of YHWH;
And on His Torah he does meditate day and night.

What do you spend most of your time thinking about?  Be honest!  Is it TV programs, your job, problems in your life, a hobby?  If one truly has the desire to grow and mature in His faith and walk in Mashiach Yeshua, then he needs to meditate upon the commandments of YHWH.  He needs to chew his cud.

So the man watched, particularly upon the third day, for this little lamb to begin to eat hay. 

Tehillim (Psalm) 30:5 
For His anger is but for a moment;
His favor is for a life-time;
Weeping may tarry for the night,
But joy comes in the morning.

The man noticed that by the third day the lamb was able to lie on its haunches and not be on its side all the time.  So the man gained a spark of hope.  However, the lamb still had not begun to eat solid food yet by the third day.  The man wondered at this and thought that this surely could not be a good sign.

This ewe lamb was white with a few red spots, two different color red spots.  The red spot on the back of its neck was a very bright blood red.  The rest of the spots were much lighter red in color.  As the man contemplated these spots as to what they might mean, the Spirit of YHWH came to him and revealed that they did have meaning.

As the lamb was crippled, it also had spots or blemishes.  It had two different colors of spots signifying two different things.  The first thing it signified was that Israel has spots or blemishes.  Israel is not perfect.  The individuals within Israel are not perfect.  Only our Redeemer is perfect, which is, in fact, why we need a Redeemer.

The one spot which was the color of blood on the back of its neck signifies the need to have the Blood of the Redeemer applied to each one in Israel.  It is significant that there was only one spot this blood red color as His Blood is applied to a person for salvation only one time. 

Ivrim (Hebrews) 6:4-6
4 For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and tasted the good word of Elohim, and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of Elohim afresh, and put Him to open shame.

Ivrim (Hebrews) 10:26-27
26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.

This is not to say that we cannot plead that Blood of Mashiach which has been applied to us many times, because we can and should do this as needed.  However, that does not mean that the Blood of Mashiach is being reapplied for salvation, just used to do His work in our lives.

Matithyah (Matthew) 26:41
“Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

This little ewe lamb wanted so badly to get up and to follow its mother around and to do what little lambs do, but its body (flesh) was not able to do it as it was too weak and did not have the coordination to do so.  As much as it wanted to stand and walk, it was not able to make its body do what its mind was telling it to do.

Now about the second day of this crippled lamb’s life YHWH’s Spirit impressed upon the man to watch for something on the sixth day.  The man did not know what he was to watch for but he was hopeful that the Spirit of YHWH was telling him to watch for something on this day.  So the man continued to feed and care for the lamb.

The sixth day came and as the man watched, he did not see anything significant at first.  Everything seemed to be the same as the previous days.  Then YHWH opened his eyes to see what the little ewe lamb was doing.  It appeared that the little ewe lamb had resigned itself to living in the box.  It was no longer trying to get up and walk.  The man watched for another day or so to be sure, and sure enough, the little lamb had given up.  All hope in the man for the little ewe lamb died.  The man did not understand why the little ewe lamb had given up and resigned itself to a life of living in a box.  But his real concern was for Israel, whom the little lamb represented.  Did this mean that Israel had given up?

Then a question formed in his mind.  Did he help the lamb too much?  When the little ewe lamb had trouble latching on to the mother’s teat to eat, did the man hold the lamb’s head steady too much?  Is there such a thing as too much compassion?

The man knew that it was only a matter of time before the little ewe lamb would die.  He knew that when an animal or a person gives up, death is not far away.  He sought some answers from YHWH, but YHWH did not answer right away, not until the tenth day of the little ewe lamb’s life did YHWH answer the man.

The little ewe lamb would die when it was twelve days old, on the thirteenth day of its life.  The Spirit impressed upon the man that this too was a part of the sign and that this was YHWH’s will for this little ewe lamb.  The man knew that the grave was still open and waiting for the little ewe lamb and that he would lay that little ewe lamb in that grave in a couple more days.

Romans 8:12-13
12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh;
13 for if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.

The Spirit of YHWH showed the man that if Israel was going to live in the manner in which YHWH desires for her to live, then she is going to have to die.  This is why the lamb lived for twelve days and died upon the thirteenth day, to show that this truth applies to all twelve (thirteen) tribes.  If a person is going to be a part of Israel, then he must die to self and the desires of the flesh.  He can no longer walk after his own will seeking to do whatever he believes is right in his own mind.  It is time that Israel learns to walk in the fullness of His Spirit.  In order to do this each and every person who is a part of Israel must die.

Matithyah (Matthew) 16:25-26
25 “For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
26 For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?”

Yeshua challenged us with many words.  These words challenge us that if we are going to be His true talmidim, then we are going to have to lay down our lives and allow Him to live His life through us once again.  There is nothing in this world that can give us what we truly need.  It cannot give to us joy, shalom, or love.  Only a right relationship with our Creator can do that, and that can only be attained through the Blood of Yeshua our Mashiach. 

If Israel is going to walk as Israel, that is as the people of YHWH our Elohim, then we have to die to self.  We have to die to all our own plans.  We have to give them up and seek to do only His will.  If there is any vestige of seeking after the self life, then that person will one day fall in the wilderness and not be allowed to enter into His land and His covenant!

ABBA YHWH, please open the eyes of Your people to see themselves as You see them, then, may each person fall on their faces before You in total and complete repentance of doing whatever is right in their own eyes and obey You; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.

Amein and amein.

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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