No 34
(Lamb of God)
This is a very familiar title that we
attribute to Jesus but surprisingly, it appears only twice in the New Testament
and both times it is pronounced in the Gospel of John by John the Baptist. In all, the word lamb appears 31 times in the
New Testament and mostly in Revelation (27).
So we could ask ourselves where did the authors of the New Testament get
this title? Well,
I believe the answer is simple – the Old Testament because the word lamb (s)
appears 148 times and in each case, it has to do with a sacrifice or atonement
for sin. The relationship of lambs
between the Old and the New Testaments is explained very clearly with the
following verse in a book that speaks entirely of the work of Jesus Christ “For the law having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” (Heb 10:1).
In the Old Testament, the Lord instituted
the continual sacrifice, that is to say a lamb of the first year was to be
sacrificed twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. The Bible tells us in Exodus 29: 38,39 the following words
“Now this is that which thou shalt
offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning;
and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:” So,
over the centuries, thousands of lambs were sacrificed as a covering (Yom Kippur – see study # 95)) and according to the above verse in Hebrews, no one
was ever made perfect. Even Daniel, the
great statesman in his intercessory prayer for his people prayed “about the time of the evening oblation”
(Dan
One can only imagine small children
asking their parents “why do they kill innocent lambs every day as they do?” And their parents, probably at a loss, would answer “it is what the Lord
wants us to do.”
In the New Testament, John the Baptist
came on the scene and spoke these monumental words “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Up until then, lambs could only cover sins
but Jesus could take away sin? This must’ve been astonishing to the people
listening. Unfortunately, some were very receptive to this message but others
were very hostile because their system of sacrificing had just suffered a devastating
blow; the priests were basically out of a job.
Again in Hebrews, we read in chapter 10:4 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
(lambs) should take away sins.” On the cross, Jesus became the Lamb of God
and said “it is finished”
(John